“I’m sorry. It’s slippery, so it doesn’t seem to want to come out.”

Even though the corners of his eyes drooped downward, his upturned lips looked mischievous. She had a feeling that wasn’t really the issue, but Ivona couldn’t protest. Hot breaths kept rising because of the rough stirring motions of his increased fingers.

“Just, wait, a little…”

In contrast to the low, soothing voice, the hand stirring her tender flesh moved without restraint. 

Just pressing his knuckled fingers firmly against her inner walls made it impossible to keep her wits about her. Then he even sneakily pressed against her protruding cl*toris.

The sensation of having both her hole and her pleasure ravaged simultaneously left Ivona nearly senseless. Covering her mouth with both hands, afraid she’d make embarrassing sounds, Ivona protested desperately.

“Mmph! Mmmph!”

But all that came out were pathetic, heavily suppressed moans. Calix didn’t bat an eye at her protests either. Instead, without changing his expression one bit, he said something outrageous.

“Isn’t this all because your hole is too tight? Relax, I said. There’s no other way if I’m going to get the bead out.”

He kept spouting shockingly vulgar things, like how her hole was too tight.

“Is that so? Do I need to try a little harder?”

Yet perhaps because the situation was so urgent, the thought that maybe she did need to try harder naturally raised its head. Her hazy vision filled with his excessively trustworthy face.

Right. That face.

That unnecessarily proper and handsome face. When he spoke seriously with even a hint of melancholy on that face, she couldn’t help thinking there was no way he’d pull tricks with a face like that.

Because of that, even while unable to shake the feeling that something was off, Ivona tried to relax as Calix said. Of course, the fact that she already had her legs spread wide and was full of the man’s fingers also played a part.

‘Th-there’s no other way now, is there?’

To finish quickly, cooperating was the fastest route. So Ivona desperately tried to relax her body.

But Ivona had never even put her own hand there, let alone had relations. If she could have relaxed at will, this situation wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“Hic, haah—!”

Plus, Calix was a problem too. He slowly pushed his knuckled fingers in and just kept spinning them around the bead. Because of that, heat that slowly warmed her insides spread strangely. So even though Ivona didn’t want to, she kept tightening below.

“If you keep squeezing like that, won’t the bead go further inside?”

Even his chiding voice could no longer embarrass Ivona. The ticklish sensation dominating her entire body greedily made her want more.

More, this isn’t enough. Deeper, stronger.

Desire rose precariously, ready to overflow at any moment. At this rate, she didn’t know what disgrace she might show. Ivona barely suppressed the heat rising inside her and opened her lips.

“I-I’m not squeezing…”

It was good that she managed to respond while suppressing her moans. But she couldn’t help how pathetically her voice trembled. At that moment, Ivona felt the golden eyes hidden in shadow curve slightly.

“Then there’s no other choice. I’ll have to suck it out for you.”

“What?!”

A shocked gasp rang out unfiltered, but she couldn’t even think about recovering. Ivona couldn’t believe what she’d heard and asked reflexively.

“S-suck? With your mouth?”

Did he mean he’d put his mouth there? But Calix’s face looking down at Ivona was incredibly casual. Instead, he tilted his head quizzically.

“Then, do you know a way to suck with something other than a mouth?”

It was utterly correct without a single flaw. At the same time, it was terribly obscene. Shocked beyond her tolerance, Ivona could only gape like a fish, unable to even object. 

But Calix didn’t let Ivona regain her senses.

“Or do you have some other method besides sucking to get the bead out?”

Though his face was shamelessly unbothered, every word that came out was a bombshell. 

As she just stood there with her mouth hanging open at the successive shocking words, her weakened body slid down.

Calix lifted her up like picking up a baby and adjusted her position. In that motion, his smooth jawline was fully revealed in the moonlight. His obedient expression looked like he’d follow whatever she said, without even a speck of ulterior motive visible. 

The disconnect between his improper words and his clean face in contrast was enough to throw Ivona into complete confusion.

‘Th-this doesn’t seem right…’

Belatedly, dismay spread through her chest like spilling ink. Even so, she ultimately couldn’t say anything. The man’s threatening shadow fell over her as she gaped like a fool.

“Then I can suck it out, right?”

Though he was saying obscene things, his voice alone was unnecessarily magnificent and polite.

“Ahh—!”

Her floating consciousness was forcibly dragged back by the sensation of him not only grazing her sensitive peak with his teeth but also thrusting his fingers in and stirring. 

All the sensations she was experiencing for the first time were so overwhelming that tears naturally welled up. Naturally her resentful gaze turned downward, but Calix only looked up with dissatisfied eyes.

“Focus.”

What did focusing have to do with removing the bead? Was he saying the bead wouldn’t come out because Ivona wasn’t focusing? But wasn’t Calix also doing completely wrong things for that?

But the moment she met those brightly shining eyes, such complaints vanished. As a herbivore, Ivona didn’t have the courage to meet those eyes that were clearly a predator’s. 

Just meeting them made her toes curl involuntarily.

Something about this felt wrong. Each time his firmly embedded fingers repeatedly traced her increasingly smooth inner walls, a strange feeling rose in rippling waves. Because of that, her body, unable to fully suppress it, trembled and flinched.

“Ah…!”

The man’s breath pushing toward her bare lower half through the thin-ice air was like a fireball. Wherever the man’s breath touched, sparks transferred and Ivona’s body heated up too. A question suddenly floated up in her hazy mind.

“U-um, Calix.”

At her call, his closed eyelids opened and sun-like golden eyes looked directly at Ivona.

“I-if it’s going to take long, wouldn’t it be better to go to my, my room instead…”

“No.”

Calix cut off her words, which had taken all her courage, in one stroke. When the blue eyes looking down at him shook violently, Calix added in a slightly softer voice.

“You want to let the bastards guarding the tower hear your voice?”

But only his voice had softened. He spoke like grinding his teeth, baring them, so displeased about something. Ivona couldn’t understand at all why he was acting this way.

When she looked down with eyes shaking in bewilderment, Calix closed his mouth like forcibly holding something back. Soon he let out a deep sigh, and hot breath swept over her wet flesh.

“I’ll take you back without anyone finding out, so don’t worry.”

As though noticing Ivona’s anxious heart, a very brief affectionate light crossed Calix’s eyes.

But the gaze looking up as he positioned himself between her legs again soon burned intensely. Without even knowing exactly what emotion was held in the man’s eyes, Ivona felt her belly tighten.

“Focus.”

“Hnnngh…”

At the pouring rough breaths, her tender flesh trembled on its own. Shivers crawled up her spine and her thoughts broke off. But unlike before, Calix didn’t rush.

Contrary to the expectation that he’d devour her below immediately, his hot lips slowly explored and tasted the surroundings. He grazed his teeth to bite the plump mound without hurting, then suddenly stuck out his tongue and licked up her hole.

Shocked by the unexpected change, her constantly suppressed breath burst out. Her heartbeat jumped erratically, matching her irregularly scattered breathing.

She reflexively tried to curl up, but Calix didn’t just watch as Ivona tried to escape. He opened wide his lips that had been persistently clinging and swallowed her entire v*lva at once.

Ivona was startled by the tongue that dug into her folds without missing a spot and roughly caught her peak. Her legs jumped up and squeezed whatever they could reach, but the result wasn’t very good.

She’d ended up not only burying Calix’s face between her legs but trapping him there like strangling him. The moment she realized what she’d done, Ivona writhed and pulled away.

But her clumsy resistance was immediately stopped by his firm hands. Golden eyes that gripped her soft thighs and placed them on his solid shoulders simmered persistently.

The man’s body felt beneath her draped legs was densely packed, solid, and hot. Whether excited, pheromones were even seeping out from the man’s body. Detecting the powerful predator’s pheromones, Ivona’s body stiffened helplessly.

‘I-I’m going to be eaten.’

For shapeshifters, pheromones had two uses. To seduce the opposite s*x, or to assert one’s superiority and overwhelm the other.

Marquis Castillia had fully utilized his predator characteristics to discipline Ivona. Because of that, until now, a predator’s powerful pheromones meant pure terror for Ivona.

Her instincts seemed to rise up, ringing warnings noisily in her ears. At least she didn’t faint because there was no intent to deliberately threaten her. 

Even so, she could tell painfully well.