“Hah, no, don’t—don’t look….”

It was a night when the cold moon shone beautifully. The sky was cloudless, and soft moonlight caressed Castillia Castle. The white, elegant castle, seemingly carved from a single stone, flaunted its dreamlike appearance like a mirage.

From the main castle standing proudly in the center came a cheer—waaah—brimming with excitement. Both the gathering of so many people and their revelry of eating, drinking, and merrymaking were rare occurrences at Castillia Castle. 

It was all thanks to the castle’s lord, Marquis Castillia—famous for being a miser befitting his snake shapeshifter nature—who had finally opened his purse to receive guests.

Ten years ago, the previous marquis had died in the Elector War, and since then, the current marquis had holed himself up in his territory. His behavior could be called cowardly, but in the end, the snake had survived once again. 

And not just that—he had even managed to get his name on the Elector Council that selected the emperor. When it came to tenacity, he was second to none.

Caldeon of the eagles, Palmellano of the lions, Orsenath of the orcas, Arabenya of the wolves, and Castillia of the snakes. These five families currently controlled everything in Alvidion. Yet Castillia still holed himself up in his territory and refused all invitations. Because of this, rumors circulated that he refused guests because he hated spending money.

But this time was different. He seemed truly committed—even the lowest errand boys received generous wages. Thanks to this, despite the freezing weather that cracked hands red, the servants’ faces never stopped beaming with smiles.

The person who had loosened the tight-fisted lord’s purse strings was the leader of the bear clan who guarded the north like an iron wall—the Border Duke of Mutheira. He, who rarely left his territory, had moved his heavy body all the way to Castillia.

Since this was such an unusual occurrence, suspicions about his motives could have arisen. 

However, any budding doubts dissipated like heat haze with the news of the martial arts tournament hosted by Marquis Castillia. 

An enormous prize—enough to live off for a lifetime without working—had been offered. At the rumor of striking it rich overnight, the entire Alvidion Empire heated up.

Even without the prize money, there was nothing to lose by standing out in the martial arts tournament. 

Castillia, the owner of the wealthiest trading company in Alvidion and an Elector, and the Border Duke who protected the empire’s north—catching the eye of either one would clearly lead to a solid future. 

For this reason, not only shapeshifters from nearby who could throw a decent punch came, but participants flooded in from across distant seas.

Though Castillia was the center of Alvidion commerce and lacked nothing, this was the first time such a crowd had gathered. 

Every inn was packed with guests filling even the warehouses and stables, crying out in delighted distress. Restaurants churned out food without pause, their ovens never cooling.

A strange excitement bubbled throughout the city. Thanks to this, Castillia’s knights were frantically busy. Large and small conflicts erupted throughout the vast castle and commercial city.

Because of this, if there was one space in the castle receiving the least attention, it would be the training grounds. 

In the most secluded corner of this place where not even an ant wandered—a makeshift structure consisting of nothing more than planks set up near a stream to wash off dust.

There, the marquis’s daughter Ivona, in a predicament, was sobbing. Even the distant, faint cheerful shouts were nothing more than fear to her.

“It’s embarrassing… Please…”

Her cheeks flushed as her eyes wandered through the air—clear blue eyes resembling an autumn sky. 

Beautiful enough to make one’s heart ache at first sight, those eyes had long been a mess of tears. Her hair, seemingly spun from golden thread and glittering, was disheveled and tangled carelessly around her delicate body.

Not knowing what to do, Ivona belatedly raised her trembling arms to cover her face. It was an action born from unbearable shame, but a useless gesture. Her skirt was crumpled and flipped up in a mess, exposing her lower body completely.

The silk dress she wore was unseasonably thin. It would be more accurate to say it merely mimicked the appearance of a dress. 

The single-layered skirt easily fluttered up in the slightest breeze, revealing what lay beneath. Because of this, her legs—white and smooth enough to be called voluptuous—were fully exposed. Even the plump mound between them, without a single hair.

Realizing that merely raising her arms was useless, a frightened look filled Ivona’s eyes. She soon looked up pleadingly at the man casting a shadow over her. Because he had his back to the moon, the backlight made it impossible for her to see what expression he wore. 

All she could tell was that his golden eyes gleaming in the shadows burned with terrifying intensity. Whether her heart pounded fit to burst from fear or from the man’s handsome face, she couldn’t distinguish.

Behind the man casting a shadow over her, she could see the crude ceiling of loosely woven planks. This building, carelessly built like a makeshift structure from the start, couldn’t block wind or even sound. 

Ivona, who lived in the tower adjacent to these training grounds, knew this fact best. She constantly heard the noisy chatter of knights washing off sweat after training.

If they were doing something suspicious in a place like this and failed to suppress their voices like just now, if even one of the drunk shapeshifters filling the main castle happened to pass nearby, it would only be a matter of time before her appearance was discovered.

The moment she realized this, her legs—spread wide and floating in the air—trembled even more violently. Turning her face burning with shame, Ivona tried to close her legs.

However, her small gesture of rebellion was too easily blocked by a large hand. Against her cold skin, the man’s body heat felt hot like a brand. 

Ivona flinched in surprise and reflexively tensed her legs. But it was meaningless resistance against the large hand that could grasp her thigh and more with room to spare.

The man, seemingly annoyed by her resistance, simply folded her leg up toward her body. Then the obscene place that had been hidden between her legs was laid bare under the moonlight. 

As the cold early winter wind brushed against her sensitive skin, her face felt like it was burning up with heat.

Her naive body, which hadn’t grown a single hair even after coming of age, hid nothing. The reddened folds, the hole between them with its mouth slightly open, and even the dew that had formed from what they’d been doing until just moments ago—all of it.

As her thoughts reached that point, her waist twisted again though she knew it was useless. Despite her feeble resistance, the tightly muscled arm holding her leg didn’t budge. 

As the man’s massive body, like a barrier, closed the distance, her mouth went bone dry. Feeling her lips trembling, Ivona forced herself to move her tongue with courage.

“Pl-please… Calix…”

Her voice, trembling thinly, was desperate enough to melt stone. When the man’s body stopped abruptly upon hearing her plea, Ivona swallowed hard. 

As the distance closed, the man’s smooth profile was revealed in the moonlight. His face, where ferocity and elegance blended exquisitely, suddenly drew near, and her heart sank.

“Hah…”

Seeing her slender shoulders trembling violently, Calix let out a suppressed sigh. As he swept his hair back with the hand not holding her, his marble sculpture-like facial lines became more prominent. 

Mixed with his body scent that pierced her chest was a faint pheromone. 

A pheromone containing raw desire to devour her, pressed down tightly. She could clearly feel the man’s instinct ready to burst at any moment. A belated, obvious realization pierced her mind.

‘A beast…’

At the word filling her head, her heart pounded madly. Why hadn’t she realized? 

Eyes burning in the darkness were a characteristic of predators optimized for hunting. The beast-type shapeshifters who occupied the top of the food chain here in the Alvidion Empire.

He was a predator who could tear apart and devour a rabbit like Ivona however he pleased. As his shining gaze lingered thickly over her g*nitals, Ivona flinched and trembled, seemingly actually touched. 

This was behavior the innocent young boy in her memory would never have done. In place of the grain-sized intimacy that had faded, what suddenly intruded was the tension of facing an unfamiliar male.

Not knowing what to do at all, her stomach trembled. It wasn’t a comfortable sentiment like embarrassment. If the man before her decided to take what he wanted, Ivona would have no choice but to be helplessly taken.

However, the moment Calix’s gaze finally fixed on the hole with its mouth slightly open, Ivona trembled like she’d been struck by lightning. In contrast to her body pulled taut with fear, her insides became unbearably itchy.

It was such an intense reaction she wondered if something had broken inside her. The inside that Calix had clumsily touched trembled. It cried out for more stimulation. 

Something somewhere in her body must have completely, irreversibly broken. Otherwise, how could she feel this way toward a man she’d seen for the first time today as an adult?

Regardless of her mind in chaos, her body craved stimulation. The hole twitching on its own beyond its owner’s will hurt. In this bewildering situation, Ivona’s heart became precarious, like hanging from a cliff’s edge.

At that moment, a heavy voice descended from above her head.

“Do you wish to stop?”

“…”

Ivona unknowingly bit down hard on her innocent lower lip.