“Hngh—”

With a strange moan, Ivona crumbled like a sandcastle. She could feel a bewildered, questioning gaze clinging persistently to her. Flustered, Ivona ended up saying something she shouldn’t have.

“N-no, this is! I mean, a bead went inside!”

“…A bead is, there… inside?”

“…”

“Why?”

Ivona truly wanted to burst into tears. But the golden eyes that had wavered in bewilderment quickly regained their composure. Soon, a voice that had become thoroughly intimate clung sweetly to her eardrums like a devil’s whisper.

“Should I take it out for you?”

“T-take it out… You?”

Ivona repeated Calix’s words with a dumbfounded expression. Hearing those words from Calix’s mouth sounded strangely casual, like it was no big deal.

Like he couldn’t just pass by a young lady shivering in the cold without lending her his cloak. Or like he’d escort a lady stuck in the mud with her carriage wheel trapped to her destination on his horse.

That level of kind offer.

“That bead thing you mentioned.”

“Mm?”

“That’s why you’re here like this right now. So. If I take it out, wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

To her confused mind, the suggestion sounded quite plausible and sweet. The situation as Calix laid it out sounded disappointingly trivial. The problem is that a bead went inside. 

So wouldn’t taking it out solve everything?

As it was, today Ivona had spent the most difficult and confusing day of her life. Too many things had happened, and she’d been treated roughly and rudely. At the end, she’d completely exhausted herself wrestling with that damned bead.

So even if it meant accepting help, she wanted to end this situation quickly and definitively and go to her room to rest. Because her tired and confused mind refused to think anymore, Calix’s suggestion was that tempting.

But would that really be the end of it?

A nagging feeling that it wouldn’t be the end kept stirring up resistance. But her body, which had only lived locked in a tower, was weak. 

Severe fatigue pressed down on her entire body due to her already depleted patience and stamina. Her eyes, which had been crying, stung and kept closing.

If she could just quickly escape this difficult situation and return to the safety of her room, Ivona felt she could do anything.

“Mm…”

When she nodded in a dazed mood, Calix’s face stiffened like tree bark. In that brief moment, his voice dropped considerably and came out raspy, like he was squeezing it out.

“Then, you’re giving permission?”

“Hm?”

Without time to mull over the meaning of her answer, her body was lifted up. His movements were incredibly light, like handling a weightless paper doll.

Seated on the man’s knee in an instant, Ivona was dumbfounded. The thigh touching her back through her clothes felt like a stone. Every time he moved, she could clearly feel the muscles packed with strength.

The cold air that had made her body tremble was pushed away by the man’s body heat and no longer felt. Instead, her heart fluttered in a different sense because of the masculine scent conveyed along with the warmth.

“…Excuse me.”

“Hic—!”

Something cold suddenly burrowed below and dragged Ivona’s consciousness back to reality. When she lowered her gaze, a large, knuckled hand was caressing her opening. 

Seeing moisture flowing, he must have rinsed it in the nearby stream. The very stream where Ivona had tried to look at herself below just moments ago, the stream that had been the root of all this.

The man’s hand was too hot and the water was cold, and the sensation touching such a sensitive place was excessively vivid. When she tensed her body at the unfamiliar sensation, a pleasant voice burrowed into her ears along with hot breath.

“Sorry, the water’s cold…”

Ivona had intended to say it was fine, not to worry and just hurry up and take out the bead. 

But she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Every time Calix’s hand brushed against her, moans kept forcing their way out of her throat.

That wasn’t the only problem. That large hand was boldly touching the place below that even Ivona herself had looked at for the first time today.

Calix’s skin, which had closed the distance without hesitation, was pale and spotless, unlike what you’d expect from a knight. But the large, knuckled hand with calluses was unmistakably a man’s.

Such a hand gripped her thigh in one palm while the other carefully parted her folds. It was a hand that felt like it could break Ivona’s thigh if he applied even a little force.

That felt strangely sensual enough to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The reason for the unceasing ticklish sensation, like dozens of snakes crawling through her belly, was probably because of that.

“Ah, ahhng…”

When she finally couldn’t hold back and let out a moan, Ivona was startled. She hurriedly bit her lip but it was already too late. 

Once the moan had forced its way past her lips, it kept leaking out like a burst dam. When the finger that found the entrance dug into the hole, the sounds only grew louder.

“Ha, haaaah…”

“Ha, kh, please, relax a bit…”

Only after hearing the pained request did Ivona realize she’d been tensing up and squeezing Calix’s finger hard.

“Hng, I-I’m not trying to do that…”

It was utterly bewildering. Ivona tried to relax below but it wasn’t easy. The hole opened and contracted on its own like it was a separate creature, munching on the man’s hand. 

The more Ivona panicked, the stronger the hole’s grip became.

“Ha, you might as well lean back. Yes, on this arm like this.”

Eventually, unable to watch any longer, Calix laid her down and held her like a baby, and only then could she breathe. But when the hole relaxed and the finger that had stopped easily burrowed in, Ivona regretted being held.

“N-no…”

Her body, leaning back like she was lying down, was completely nestled in Calix’s embrace. A masculine scent rose from the solid body that stably supported her.

Her heart was beating so hard she thought it might burst. Every time Calix stirred his hand, her belly churned unbearably. 

An anxiety that if she let out a moan this time there’d be no turning back pounded wildly at her chest. Having no choice, she buried her face in his solid chest and pressed her lips firmly with her hand, but—

“Does it hurt?”

All her efforts came to nothing at the low voice that resonated through the chest pressed close against her. It felt like learning about sensuality for the first time in her life. 

At the voice asking with concern wrapped in affection, Ivona couldn’t resist and melted. And the impact that realization had on her body was utterly devastating.

Even in the cold air, the hot body heat that warmly enveloped her was excessively vivid. A precarious feeling surged up that if she opened her mouth, something deep inside her body would collapse and open wide. 

So instead of answering aloud, Ivona could only barely shake her head.

Whether he knew of such struggles or not, Calix continued speaking.

“Then, I’ll keep looking.”

His firm finger carefully but decisively dug into the embarrassing hole. In the quiet surroundings, only the sound of wet flesh rubbing came through clearly. 

The sensation of the increased number of fingers spreading the narrow inner walls was overwhelming, but Ivona endured it.

“Ah.”

Eventually, an ambiguous exclamation burst from Calix’s mouth as he stopped moving. When she raised her curious gaze, beautifully curved golden eyes met hers prettily.

“I think I found it. I just need to take this out, right?”

“Y-yes!”

Joy transferred into Ivona’s voice too. Excited, Ivona sat up without realizing it. It was a reflexive action from wanting to confirm it with her own eyes. In that motion, she tensed below, squeezing the already tight hole without knowing it.

“Hngh…!”

“…”

When the expression disappeared from the face pressed close before her eyes, Ivona suddenly grew anxious. 

She didn’t even realize a moan had leaked from her lips since it had been a reflexive response. When tendons finally rose on the jaw that turned away from her, anxiety surged rapidly.

“Wh-why…”

Even after hearing the question, Calix didn’t immediately return an answer. Only after a long while did Calix answer in a slightly cracked voice.

“…It’s nothing. I’ll take it out.”

“Mmng…”

There was still something unclear, but it didn’t matter. Once the bead was out, all problems would be solved. Calix instructed in a voice that had somehow stiffened.

“Lean back, again. And relax…”

As she leaned her back, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the newly vivid body heat. Now that she thought about it, she was realizing just how dangerously she was acting.

‘But it’s Calix…’

Wasn’t he the boy who had shouted he’d protect her even though he knew he’d get beaten badly if her father caught him? If he’d intended to do something wicked to satisfy his greed, he would have done it long ago.

So Ivona relaxed her body with a somewhat softened heart. At that moment, the finger caught below roughly stirred and burrowed in.

“Haah, nngh…!”

Along with the scream that suddenly burst out, Ivona’s body jumped up. She anxiously looked around in all directions and reflexively raised her hand to cover her mouth, but it wasn’t a very good response.

Because her body, having lost its support when she covered her mouth with the hand she’d been leaning on, slid downward. 

As an inevitable result, the finger’s insertion deepened. When she reflexively tensed her body at the foreign sensation that suddenly thrust in, an intense sensation incomparable to anything before surged over her.

Tears naturally welled up at the sensation that rushed in violently enough to be brutal. Her hand involuntarily flailed through the air and her forehead rubbed against his solid chest, shaking her head wildly. 

But from above her head, a calm voice sounded like nothing had happened.

“Ah, this…”

Ivona blinked to shake off the tears and barely managed to open her mouth to ask.

“Wh-why…”

The man’s thick eyebrows, seen from her upside-down view, drooped apologetically.