Yeah, that was the problem. She’d told him not to look because the embarrassment and tension were unbearable, but if it were something he could easily stop, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad in the first place.

And the man before her knew that fact better than anyone. Just moments ago, hadn’t he been stirring his fingers inside Ivona, claiming he’d remove the bead lodged within her? Yet now he had the nerve to ask if she wanted him to stop.

‘When he knows full well he can’t stop…!’

She glared at him with a surge of frustration, but the moment their eyes met, Ivona couldn’t say a word. His ridiculously handsome face had suddenly drawn close enough to leave her speechless. 

Even in the darkness, she could clearly see the corners of his mouth curving upward with faint mischief.

Ivona felt like a lost child. The words telling him to continue wouldn’t cross her lips, no matter how desperate her situation.

Just this morning, she’d been trapped in a tower, unable to even step outside. Far from exposing her bare skin to a man, she’d been forbidden from exchanging even a single word with one.

Even with Rona’s help—the maid who attended to her—her brief glimpses of the outside world never took her beyond the tower’s vicinity and the training grounds. Even then, she’d only watched from a distance, hurrying back the moment anyone turned to look her way.

To think she’d end up pressed against a man’s body, feeling his warmth, showing him such shameful sights. She never could have imagined it, not even in her dreams. 

And what Calix was about to do from here on… Just thinking about it made her face burn hot enough to burst.

But the golden eyes fixed on her from right in front seemed to have no interest in their owner’s flushed and pale face. His straight forehead creased impatiently as he urged her on with irritation.

“What will it be? Should I stop? Or should I continue?”

“…”

At the voice tinged with faint impatience, Ivona’s heart grew urgent as well. As her head boiled over, her eyes stung and fresh tears welled up. 

She must have tensed without realizing it, because the bead hidden deep inside her body asserted its unpleasant presence.

Right, that bead. That damned bead that had gotten Ivona into this predicament. The man she’d met for the first time today at their matchmaking meeting had told her to practice pleasuring herself with it. 

And Ivona, unable to refuse, had ended up in this state. Her father hadn’t taken her side either.

All the circumstances that had cornered her came pouring out, tangling her already messy thoughts even more. But what was done was done. 

As long as that damned thing was inside her body, Ivona could barely take a single step. 

At this rate, she might not make it back to the tower before the soldiers came to check on her. Her petal-like lips trembled with fear.

In that moment, the mischievous playfulness coloring the man’s eyes and mouth evaporated without a trace.

“Ha—”

At the voice that burst out from above her head, seemingly exasperated, Ivona flinched and her shoulders trembled. Unlike before, a voice overlaid with strange heat struck down decisively.

“If we’re caught in this state, Miss, I don’t think I’ll get away unscathed either.”

“…”

Ivona knew that fact better than anyone. The ears of a rabbit shapeshifter, more sensitive than most, had even picked up on the fact that the noise from the main building was dispersing. 

In other words, it meant the time when those drunk on alcohol would come pouring out was approaching.

Really, there was no time.

“Say it. Ask me for help.”

Seeing her lips tremble like she was about to cry, the man’s voice cracked slightly. She was the one who should be begging, so why was he pleading? 

The thought that floated into her dazed mind was rather absurd. A beast with eyes burning intensely like the sun, pleading? That couldn’t be right.

But Ivona had no other choice. Her soft lips moved hesitantly.

“…Help me.”

The voice soaked with moisture was so small it was hard to hear. But for the beast that had been straining its ears while targeting its prey, that was enough. The man, whose eyes had only been gleaming, twisted into a smile and tightened his grip on her thigh.

“Then spread them, wide open.”

“Haah… nnngh—”

Unable to control the moan that forced its way out, Ivona bit her lips. But the confused feelings weren’t something that could be handled with just that.

The tears that had been pooling finally couldn’t bear their weight and flowed down her cheeks. Her blurred vision cleared, but the sight she saw thanks to that was unbelievably lewd.

“Hk, hnngh—”

Unable to endure it, Ivona turned her head and twisted her waist. Ivona had been confined to the northern tower the moment her first menstruation started and had lived there until this day. 

Aside from the maid who attended to her, no one could enter her room without permission from the head of the household, Marquis Castillia. The reason for all that oppression was only one thing. To be delivered with a clean and perfect body to the groom who would someday come for her.

Because of that, Ivona naturally knew nothing about matters between men and women. The only permitted knowledge was one thing. To quietly accept whatever her groom did.

The stories of village girls’ wedding nights that Rona, who attended to her, had shared were the extent of knowledge Ivona could access. But she’d never heard anything like this from either source.

That she’d have to practice with a bead specially crafted for her husband’s pleasure held below. Or that a man would put his mouth on a woman’s intimate place and suck on it like this.

“Nnh, uh, hk—!”

At the sensation of him strongly sucking on her peak, Ivona jumped up in shock. When she looked down, his eyes, filled with hurt feelings in shameless contradiction, narrowed with dissatisfaction. Ivona was dumbfounded.

‘When he’s the one tormenting the wrong place. Who should be angry here?’

The place the bead had slipped into was a hole, wasn’t it? So if he wanted to remove it, even if he sucked, he should be sucking on the hole.

It was an extremely reasonable question, but her thoughts couldn’t continue. Her concentration shattered completely at the sensation of his persistent tongue digging into her tender flesh.

Ivona reflexively flinched below, trying to escape. But Calix never let her run away. His tenacious lips finally found the fleeing hole and burrowed in like he was drilling, sucking it in. 

Even held immobile, her waist twisted and a high-pitched moan escaped from the intense sensation that crashed over her. Unable to bear it, Ivona raised her hand and hit Calix’s shoulder.

“Why do you keep… there…”

No matter how she thought back on it, she hadn’t taught him wrong. Calix had already stirred his fingers inside her several times, so it didn’t make sense for him to not know at this point. 

But the handsome face looking up from between her legs with dissatisfaction was utterly shameless.

“I’m removing the bead just like you told me to, aren’t I?”

He even raised his eyebrows and asked back grumpily, seemingly wondering what the problem was when he was doing well. His attitude was so confident that Ivona was the one left speechless instead.

She wanted to protest somehow, but she wasn’t given that leisure. His impatient lips attached themselves again, seemingly finding even the time spent apart for that brief conversation too precious to waste.

Like he’d reclaimed stolen prey, he devoured her ravenously, even baring his teeth, and Ivona got swept up in it as well. 

Even when she belatedly grasped a thread of thought, it dissolved like foam when pleasure surged up. All that came from her parted lips were panting breaths and dissolute moans.

‘How, how did things end up like this…’

Ivona desperately pulled together her consciousness, which was drifting precariously like a small boat caught in a storm. She was a chaste maiden. 

Though she was an illegitimate child, wasn’t she a body permitted to bear the Castillia name? 

Until now, she’d worked hard to become a body worthy of that name. She’d never once done anything shameful enough to blush before heaven.

If not for that bead that had gone in on its own and now had no way to come out. Allowing something like this would have been unimaginable.

Her thoughts, which had been following one after another, reached the rude and absurd demand from the matchmaking partner she’d met for the first time today. 

If not for that man’s coercive demand in the first place, the bead never would have ended up in there. When her thoughts reached that point, heat surged up in indignation.

“No matter what happens, you must please the young master.”

Marquis Castillia had whispered threateningly to Ivona, who’d been summoned without any warning. 

Unable to understand what was happening, the moment she met her father’s blazing eyes, she quickly lowered her gaze. Above her, a voice that had been lowered discreetly but remained coercive continued.

“If you make a mistake and this marriage falls through… you’ll have to be prepared.”

Before those words even finished, before she had any chance to ask what marriage he meant, rough hands grabbed and dragged Ivona away.

“Heh heh, the young lady is being shy.”

“She’s a daughter you’ve raised preciously, after all. Of course she would be.”

The place she was dragged to was a lounge in the corner of the banquet hall. With candles lit here and there, a man she didn’t know stood in a shadowed corner. 

Ivona’s mind belatedly realized he was the young master her father had mentioned. The man who slowly walked forward to reveal himself nodded his head pompously.

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss.”

Ivona, who’d reflexively bowed her head, was flustered. She and he were meeting for the first time. Then shouldn’t they introduce themselves? At least according to the etiquette Ivona had learned, that’s how it should be.

But the young master, who arrogantly lifted his chin, had no interest in her confusion. His attitude of gesturing impatiently at Marquis Castillia made it seem like he was the master of this castle.

Gritting his teeth as he turned and left, the Marquis gave one last quiet threat.

“Don’t forget what I said.”