Cecilia stepped out of the bright palace and into the dark garden. She wanted to hide her shameful state and sob alone somewhere no one could find her.

‘Someone like me……. How dare I……. I can’t be greedy…….’

She had tried to give everything up and leave the empire, but she could not bring herself to do it.

Just a little longer, just a little longer by his side.

She wanted to stay near a man she could never have, even if only like this.

‘Who would ever pity a Saint who sold out her own country and drove her people to their deaths? Just live in pain for the rest of your life. You have no right to have that man.’

“You’re right, Bianca. Hah. What was I dreaming about? Did I really think I could do something like that and still hope for happiness? To think I believed Vana would forgive me and I could live out my days in peace. How foolish.”

Cecilia laughed at herself and sobbed. Her legs gradually gave out beneath her, her knees buckled, and she sank to the ground.

The garden floor was wet as a swamp in the cold night air that had settled over it. She felt herself sinking into the earth and quietly let her tears fall.

“What are you doing out here?”

Cecilia quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand and turned around. Thesius, crown prince of the empire. He was looking at her.

The battlefield killer who brought death wherever he went, whose name alone made everyone tremble.

They said wherever he went, the ground ran red with blood, the sky blazed with fire, and the cries of beasts and men never ceased. The words used to describe the ill-fated crown prince Thesius Vizencerka were this cruel.

But if someone were to see him now, they might think every rumor was a lie. The crown prince of the empire, with his beautiful black hair and dark eyes that glittered like a scatter of stars, looked like the most beautiful creature a god had ever made.

“I just came out for some fresh air.”

“The night air is cold.”

Thesius pulled off one of his gloves and held that hand out to Cecilia. She looked at it for a moment.

A rough, coarse hand hardened with calluses from years spent on battlefields. Whenever that hand swept down her body, the ragged texture sent a sharp shiver through her, and whenever it ground into her skin, the breath slammed out of her like a beast lunging at her throat. His muscles were honed from years of training, so no matter how she cried out and writhed beneath him, no matter how she clawed at him in pleasure, he never faltered. Having lived so long on the battlefield, his whole body was rough, not just his hands.

But she had to end this now. Cecilia crushed her own desire and turned away from his hand.

“I am not feeling well, so I will take my leave and return to my quarters, Your Highness.”

Thesius did not let her walk past him without a word. He snatched her by the arm and forced her to face him.

“What exactly is the problem?”

His voice came out heavy and suppressed, weighted with something long held back, and her shoulders drew inward.

“There is no problem. There couldn’t possibly be…… one.”

The arm he touched burned hot where his hand landed. Her heartbeat quickened and her blood ran warm. Physical changes she had no power to control swept through her in an instant.

If she stayed like this, she would become his prisoner forever and wither away at this man’s side for the rest of her life.

“Oh.”

He gave the hand holding her arm a slight tug, and Cecilia fell against his chest like a petal caught in the wind.

“Is it Colgenbach that has you shaken?”

Not a chance.

“Now that things have come to this, do you feel sorry for him?”

No. Not at all.

“Is that why you kept up your relationship with him all this time?”

He growled at her like he was interrogating a criminal.

“Let go of me.”

“If I let go, where are you planning to go?”

“Anywhere you aren’t, Your Highness!”

His hand showed no mercy. The harder she pulled to free her arm, the tighter his grip became.

She finally struggled and shoved him away, and his hand suddenly dropped. The force of it sent her stumbling backward, and she fell hard to the ground.

“Then go wherever you like.”

He walked slowly toward her where she had fallen and knelt down on one knee. She dug her heels into the ground and tried to push herself away from him, and he grabbed her by the ankle.

“Try to run, if you can.”

The look on his face was cold enough to make her ache, and goosebumps rose on her skin. Cecilia froze and could not run any further.

“Because wherever you run, I will be there.”

This man was a cruel chain she could never escape. He was fate.

* * *

Shoes, stockings, a dress, a corset scattered carelessly from the doorway……. Candlelight cast shifting shadows over the trail of disheveled clothes that marked the path they had taken.

The large and lavish room, furnished with the finest hardwood and gold ornaments, was the room of Crown Prince Thesius.

The shadows of two people fell through the gap in the curtains drawn around the bed. The sound of ragged breathing tangled with the sound of skin meeting skin, filling the room with a thoroughly indecent atmosphere.

The shadow that looked like a single mass writhed and kneaded together, clinging stubbornly without letting go.

“Your Highness, more…….”

“More of what? Say it.”

He tilted his head slightly to the side and played dumb, as though inviting her to beg and whimper more.

“Huh. Deeper, just a little deeper…….”

Cecilia had her legs spread wide and was rolling her hips shamelessly when she looked up at him through hazy, dilated eyes. He kept pushing just the tip of his c*ck in and pulling it back out without going all the way, and it was driving her out of her mind with need.

Thesius enjoyed watching her writhe for him. She grabbed at his backside to pull him in and urge him to put it in already, and he caught that hand and pinned it above her head.

“Tell me more specifically.”

He whispered against her ear.

“Fill up my hole. Haa…… I want to take all of you.”

Thesius laced his fingers through hers and pressed her hand down, the playful curl at the corner of his mouth dropping as his eyes sharpened with something dangerous.

“You want mine, and you want my brother’s too. Our Saint certainly has quite the appetite.”

Thesius was ice-cold, nothing like the man who had been sucking at her body just moments before.

“I…… ugh, I only want you…….”

Cecilia wrapped both legs around his waist and rubbed against him, urging him to put it in. Her hopelessly aroused body clung to him without a shred of shame. It was a clumsy, artless attempt at seduction.

“Why were you meeting Colgenbach?”

Thesius grabbed her waist roughly. His hand slid slowly up along her skin and closed around her full, round br*asts, spread soft and wide in every direction.

“Did he touch you like this?”

Her waist arched slightly in immediate response.

“Are you doubting me? Huh!”

He dragged his fingertips down her n*pple and then slapped her br*ast with a sharp crack.

“Ah!”

It was punishment for the way she had let herself come undone so openly in front of another man.

“I saw it myself, so it’s not doubt. It’s confirmation.”

Cecilia lifted her free arm and took his hand. She pressed her lips to the palm that had just struck her br*ast. Rough but warm, large and solid.

“Then go ahead and confirm it.”

The eyes looking down at her were still sharp, but she did not care.

Whether he believed her or not, he was already the man who had taken everything from her.

“Touch me, s*ck me, f*ck me, do whatever you want with my body. I don’t care. Confirm it all you like.”

Thesius let out a short, scoffing laugh at her boldness and drove his thick c*ck into her without a shred of gentleness.

“If I find that bastard’s traces on your body, I’ll kill you both.”

“Ah!”

Her back arched and Cecilia took his hard c*ck as it drove through her.

She clenched her teeth and endured the rough thrusting.

“Remember exactly whose woman you are.”

Even in the middle of the frenzy, Cecilia nodded and pulled him down to bite at his lips.

How had things come to this?

Why was this man always there, wherever she went? It felt like being trapped in a space that looped back on itself endlessly. No matter what, every end led back to this man.

No wonder she could not help wanting more. No wonder she dared to want even his heart.