The fertile land of Castillia had lived up to its name, serving as the continent’s granary. 

Because of this, even before the Alvidion Empire existed, Castillia had been something like a sanctuary. No matter how powerful, no one dared invade this place recklessly.

The reason was simple. 

Long ago, the snake ancestor who coiled around this land proclaimed to the entire continent: the moment ominous hoofbeats rang across Castillia’s borders, they would set fire to the vast granaries. If they couldn’t have it, they’d rather destroy it—a truly snake-like mentality.

If Castillia burned, the entire continent would starve. Thanks to this practical reason, Castillia had never experienced war. 

The beautiful walls that focused solely on aesthetic beauty were a luxury they could maintain because of this. Even so, a castle’s purpose was fundamentally as a fortress.

The Northern Tower, where dawn’s light touched first, was the only remaining trace of Castillia Castle’s fortress past. Originally, it had been meant for lighting fires upon seeing dust clouds raised by invading enemy hooves from afar.

Just looking at the walls with rough stone exposed made it clear this wasn’t a space suitable for a young lady like Ivona. Rather, it was closer to a prison for confining criminals. 

As dawn brightened, the shabby and rough furnishings revealed their shameful state.

The tapestry covering the walls must have been beautiful once. But now, faded and worn, it could barely maintain its form, let alone block the cold. The cracked mirror had clouded over hazily, unable to reflect what faced it.

The bed occupying the room’s center was the only decent piece of furniture. The place where Ivona’s mother had drawn her last breath seemed to have escaped time’s touch.

However, even the silk covering looked precarious, ready to crumble at a touch. The muslin curtains that had once enclosed all sides had long since disappeared, and the bedding’s original colors were hard to discern. 

Things so old and worn they barely maintained their form cast ghost-like shadows throughout the room.

In this room where everything seemed preserved, only Ivona was alive. Her disheveled golden hair shone around her face like a divine halo. Her usually pale cheeks had flushed pink, adding life to her doll-like face.

Her eyes moved busily beneath closed lids, revealing intense dreams. Like someone was tormenting her, her head shaking grew gradually more violent and the flush on her cheeks deepened. And finally.

“…Ah—”

With a sigh that seemed regretful or perhaps relieved, her elegant eyes snapped open. Ivona bolted upright and reflexively pulled the blanket to cover herself while surveying the room. 

Her drowsy eyes swept the old room in confusion. Her jewel-like blue eyes groped through the murky dawn for a moment. The air just before sunrise, neither bright nor dark, felt hazy like a dream. 

Her gaze wavered, unable to distinguish dream from reality, then soon plummeted downward, weighted with embarrassment.

“Good heavens, I must have been crazy…”

Her long, white hands covered her face but couldn’t prevent the red flush spreading across it. Ivona froze like a statue covering her face, not knowing what to do.

No matter how she thought about it, she must have been crazy last night. If she hadn’t been crazy, she wouldn’t have given up her lower half so easily. No matter how many times she reconsidered, she couldn’t understand what possessed her to do such a thing.

But no matter how many times she mulled it over, Calix had definitely asked permission.

‘Then, may I suck it?’

…Though admittedly, it was phrased in a blunt manner that threw courtesy out the window. And Ivona had definitely nodded while trembling, and then…

The more she recalled, the more heat rose to her face like it was burning. In the end, Ivona forcibly cut off her thoughts and blamed Calix instead.

‘Where on earth did he learn to talk like that!’

No matter how much she recalled, twelve-year-old Calix had been kind, innocent, and adorable. She could still vividly see his golden eyes shining purely as he declared he would protect Ivona, calling it a knight’s duty.

Where had that adorable Calix gone, replaced by this foul-mouthed, black-hearted b*stard? 

The moment she recalled his voice grumbling like he was complaining, her face flushed hot again.

‘H-hole and such…’

Just recalling it made her ears burn—such expl*cit and vulgar words. Yet those sun-like golden eyes and night-black hair were definitely the Calix she knew. That was an undeniable fact.

Though the light dwelling in those eyes had changed to something quite dangerous. The moment she recalled those sharp, piercing eyes, something deep inside her body flinched in response.

Now Ivona couldn’t help but know. What she’d thought was mysterious heat had been the man’s raw desire. And what that desire wanted was Ivona’s body. At this fresh realization, her belly tickled and Ivona unconsciously twisted her thighs together.

‘Where on earth did he learn such… eyes…’

No matter how she thought about it, she must have been bewitched by some suspicious trick. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spread her legs and let him probe her intimate place. Even if she’d been desperate because of the bead inside.

But contrary to her mind trying to deny it somehow, her body responded more honestly. The moment she recalled last night’s events, heat she couldn’t ignore kindled inside her body like a thin thread of fire climbing upward.

The moment the sensation of those knuckled fingers digging into her hole came alive, Ivona flinched involuntarily. Even the sensation of them swirling inside, poking and touching sensitive pleasure simultaneously came back vividly. Unnecessarily vivid.

‘If, if you knew chivalry, you shouldn’t, just, th-that, you know?’

The more she thought about it, heat that might be anger or embarrassment surged up and her eyes grew hot. 

Yet below, her body betrayed her head and sought last night’s feelings. The firm feeling of fingers prying apart and spreading her tight hole, and even the sensation of that flexible tongue.

‘When a, a lady is in such an embarrassing, state, if you can’t cover her, at least…’

Of course, Calix had removed his cloak for her. But that wasn’t to cover Ivona’s lower half—it was when he laid her down on the ground to suck freely.

‘Why on earth did he suck there like that? It’s not like it makes the man feel good… right?’

The more she thought about it, nothing made sense. Her heated head fumbled to recall stories Rona, who attended to her, had shared.

Local girls married around sixteen or seventeen. They needed to bear children as quickly as possible to create helping hands for farm work. In Castillia with its vast fertile plains, children who could work were blessings.

Because of this, by Ivona’s age, having two or three children was normal. Rona’s friends were the same. By then, embarrassment disappeared and practicality filled in.

So the stories Rona shared with mixed sighs were quite expl*cit, but even those had been filtered through Rona’s censorship. Nowhere in them were raw stories like what she’d experienced last night. At most…

‘Men just thrust away as they please and that’s that.’

Rona had definitely said this while frightening her that all sorts of riffraff had entered the castle aiming for the martial arts tournament. She’d warned not to wander around carelessly or she’d suffer terribly.

But last night, Ivona hadn’t hurt at all.

‘So, does that mean he was being considerate in his own way?’

Ivona was startled by the thought she’d come up with herself.

‘No, get a grip. What strange thoughts am I having!’

Even shaking her head in denial, the heat and confusion coiled in her belly only deepened. Ivona’s mind had already returned to last night’s cold air.

The man’s hot body temperature, rudely drawing close, had pushed away the cold air. Even the resilient sensation of his solid body pushing between her legs was vivid.

Ivona had to admit her honest feelings. It was a sensation she’d never felt before, and it was gentle, and…

‘…It felt good.’

As the thrilling sensation from last night revived, her ears grew hot. The dozen years they’d been apart hadn’t passed idly. They’d grown the innocent boy into a dangerous young man, and Ivona wasn’t the young girl from back then either.

‘…Come to think of it.’

A suddenly realized fact heated her chest where warmth already lay scattered. When confining Ivona to the tower, Marquis Castillia had acted like he was some omnipotent god.

Seeing Calix dragged away like a dog and her mother crawling on the floor begging forgiveness, Ivona’s spirit had broken and she’d easily complied with such oppression.

‘…But Father doesn’t know about last night.’

Yet last night, she’d deceived the Marquis. So easily it was absurd, after all those days when she’d cowered in fear. The time she’d spent trembling, not knowing when her father might discover her, felt foolish.

Thinking about it, it was obvious the Marquis couldn’t know everything happening in the castle. Yet Ivona had been conscious of and feared her father’s yellow eyes even when alone.

But last night she’d succeeded in transgression absurdly easily. And she hadn’t been caught. In the very way that would enrage the Marquis most in the world. 

Just thinking about how much the Marquis would rage if he knew sent chills down her spine, but it was also thrilling.

‘…I wasn’t caught.’

On top of that, last night Calix had held Ivona and crossed the tower window ledge so easily.

She hadn’t been caught.

It felt like something tightly binding her head was breaking. An unfamiliar sense of liberation flooded a corner of her chest she hadn’t even known felt stifled.

However, Ivona’s sweet reverie couldn’t continue. Urgent knocking suddenly echoed through the room.

“Lady Ivona!”

The urgent voice, like being chased, belonged to Rona who attended to Ivona. Ivona grew urgent as well and called out lowly.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

Before the answer could form, the door burst open and a small shadow tumbled in like rolling. Ivona hurriedly grabbed her shawl and rushed to Rona.

“L-Lady, something terrible has happened.”

But Ivona couldn’t ask what was wrong. The moment Rona finished speaking, chaotic footsteps rang through the corridor like pursuing her. Soon the door burst open and crashed roughly against the wall, seemingly about to break.

At the abrupt noise, Ivona’s shoulders flinched, but she stood politely in the room’s center. The person who entered the room with a displeased face was the castle’s tyrant, Marquis Castillia.

“F-Father…”

The Marquis’s sharp gaze turned to Ivona, who wore only nightclothes with a shawl thrown over. His gaze sweeping her up and down like appraising her held not a trace of affection. 

Rather, it was closer to a merchant’s gaze, furious at finding flaws in goods to sell and pricing them.

It was a merciless gaze that would tear her to shreds the moment it found any flaw. At the familiar fear, Ivona reflexively lowered her eyes.

The cold gaze swept over his daughter’s appearance, then reached Rona crouched at her feet. Seeing his face sharpen unpleasantly, the sound of Rona swallowing nervously came clearly.

“You, get out.”

“What? Yes!”

Rona, who’d responded stupidly without thinking, froze solid the moment her eyes met the Marquis’s. Being a squirrel shapeshifter, Rona was natural prey to snakes. Her head knew she should leave quickly, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

However, the Marquis was never a patient master. At his merciless kick, poor Rona rolled across the floor like a ball.

“Eek!”

“R-Rona!”

Rona rushed out without even thinking to tend to where she’d been hit, casting a frightened glance through the door crack.

‘Poor young lady of ours.’

Her brown eyes seemed to say that before being blocked by the closing door. Though Rona’s presence wouldn’t have helped anyway, being left alone made helplessness press down on her entire body. 

The enraged Marquis’s threatening pheromones filled the small room.