She cleared her throat and spoke again.

“I… need some time…”

The food she had eaten threatened to come back up. Her heart was beating madly. Did he know how terrifying it was to say just these words?

If she, already a useless wife, couldn’t even share his bed, the prince might be disappointed. Perhaps unable to contain his rising desires, he might hit her or bring another woman to take in front of her.

She was afraid of the reaction that would come from saying these words.

Would he get angry? Or would he find it ridiculous? Or maybe he would continue ignoring her existence like he had been doing.

She didn’t want that.

The sense of alienation she had felt these past few days was worse than before. At least in prison, she had no expectations or attachments, so she could easily give up her life. But now it was different.

Reizen was the only man she had chosen for herself. The first person she had ever wanted to stay beside. So, so please…

Tears welled up hazily. As she lowered her gaze while clasping her hands as if in prayer, a low voice resonated in her heart.

“…I know.”

Melissa’s wildly trembling pupils stopped.

He didn’t mock her. He didn’t pretend not to hear, let it go in one ear and out the other, or get angry. Instead, his voice continued, slow and calm.

“I heard you went through some rough things before.”

In that moment, everything around Melissa turned black and sounds became distant. It felt like there was a hole under her chair and she was falling through the floor.

Her eyes became empty.

‘Rough things.’

Could those things be expressed with such a brief phrase as ‘rough things’? The scars were still all over her body even now. But since everything that happened to her was swept under the rug, few knew the specific truth.

It was because her ex-husbands were nobles, and Marita Loge was reluctant to disclose information for her next customers. But then.

How did this man know? How much?

“I heard everything. From the servants who worked there.”

Everything.

For a moment, Melissa raised her hand but hit the table instead. The cutlery set placed in front of her clattered to the floor.

Reizen calmly gestured with his chin and a servant replaced the cutlery set before leaving.

In the silence-filled space, only a strange tension flowed between the two. Swallowing hard, she spoke.

“Even so, is there a reason you chose me?”

“A reason.”

There was something her last husband had said. That he liked seeing her cry. That it was thrilling to feel like an emperor himself when he could freely toy with and make the proud Duke Grey’s granddaughter cry.

According to rumors, Prince Reizen had also lived as a commoner until three years ago.

Though the prince she saw with her own eyes was different from the rumors, she couldn’t know what feelings he harbored inside or what his preferences were in bed.

“Will Your Highness also, perhaps…”

“Will I what?”

Hot tears welled up in her eyes.

“Will you… hit me?”

Melissa’s lips turned pale blue as her voice trembled. Reizen, who had been wiping his lips with a cloth after finishing his meal, stopped his hand.

“If I hit you, will you just take it?”

He raised his head with a cold expression.

“Your Highness.”

“Tell me, Melissa Grey. If I hit you, will you just sit there and take it?”

Though she tried to answer, her throat kept closing up. Melissa tried to grab the water glass in front of her. She couldn’t put strength into her hands.

While she was fumbling, the man stood up from his seat. His voice was clearly angry.

“Who’s being violent here, and it’s not like I’m trying to drive someone crazy.”

Melissa grabbed the water glass with trembling hands but dropped it. Water spilled onto the table and her dress. At the same time, Reizen strode over with large steps. With his long stride, he was there in an instant.

Melissa jumped up from her seat in tension. Thinking he might be coming to hit her, she squeezed her eyes shut and bent her head down when he came right in front of her.

But contrary to his imposing presence that seemed about to strike at any moment, there was no physical blow.

Instead, there was a popping sound as several buttons fell off and bounced up. The woman stared at the floor, unable to raise her gaze as she held her breath. Her hands clutching her wet dress hem trembled.

He commanded in a low voice.

“Look.”

The woman who had shrunk her shoulders in fear slowly raised her head.

The shirt was torn near the neck. The man who had exposed his left chest was glaring at her with a fierce gaze as if he would tear her apart.

An intense heat could be felt in that gaze.

“I have the same mark as you. With this, we should normally be desperate to touch each other. But you…”

The man let out a small groan and bit his lip, holding his breath. He sighed and pulled off the shawl draped over Melissa’s shoulders.

While the red mark engraved on his chest shone as if it were starved, Melissa’s mark was quiet and still. It neither shone nor caused pain.

“Look, it doesn’t affect you at all.”

Reizen frowned, feeling wronged. The shadow cast on his face wavered with the candlelight.

“This drives me crazy. That it doesn’t affect you.”

When he put strength into his hand, pain shot through the arm he was gripping. Though Melissa tried to pull her arm free, the man remained as immovable as a mountain.

Fear filled Melissa’s eyes completely.

“Your High…ness…”

Her voice trembled weakly as she called out pleadingly. If it wasn’t with the intention of driving someone crazy, one shouldn’t call someone like that.

Strength entered Reizen’s hands. He only pulled slightly toward himself, but the woman was helplessly drawn into his arms. She was already small, but she was so thin there seemed to be nothing but bones to hold onto.

Being pressed close in front of his tall frame, her face only reached his chest.

Reizen lowered his chin to examine Melissa’s face. Whenever she tried to drop her head, he gripped her chin to make her look up at him.

When their gazes met, blue eyes burning with desire stared directly at her while moving slightly to the side.

A woman who looked gentle with round eyes.

Reizen’s gaze moved from Melissa’s red, tear-filled eyes, past her long black eyelashes and small upturned nose, down to her lips.

Lips so small they looked like they could be swallowed whole if he gave in to his desire.

Even her thin arched eyebrows, contorted as if about to cry, were beautiful. He wanted to lick those eyes if they shed tears, rub against her hot cheeks, then follow her neckline to breathe in her scent.

He wanted to roughly pull off that cumbersome dress covering her body, take her white br*asts in his mouth and roll his tongue over them. He wanted to possess her while leaving his handprints all over that white, delicate skin. He wanted her desperately. Truly, desperately.

“Ha…”

This is why. This is why he tried not to get close.

Reizen bit his lip until it bled and pushed Melissa away. Easily pushed back, she made an “uh” sound trying to keep her balance. The fact that even that sound, which wasn’t even a moan, made him react down there was truly maddening.

Should he take a whole bottle of medicine? Damn it.

Reizen covered his forehead and eyes with one hand.

“Sorry. This wasn’t what I meant to do. I’m just a bit, crazy right now.”

He staggered backward. The man leaned against the wall with a thud, breathing heavily like a wounded beast.

The mark on his torn chest now shone brighter than the candles, tempting him.

Take her. Devour that woman.

The man who covered his face with both hands slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

He thought he could endure it since he took medicine, but he was wrong.

How was he supposed to spend the night like this? Even sharing a meal across a long table was difficult.

The symptoms were more serious than he thought. Already in his mind, he had seated the woman in front of him on top of him over a hundred times after stripping off her clothes, and still wanted more.

The more he resisted his instincts, the more the heat increased. Pain washed over him and it felt like his whole body’s skin was being cut with a knife.

As he panted in place, Melissa came closer to check his condition.

“Is it because of… the mark?”

Even though he deliberately covered his eyes to block his vision, when she came close his lower half throbbed madly. He really felt like biting his tongue off and dying.

“I’ll go call a physician.”

It was a voice deliberately kept calm.

Reizen grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“The only physician in our castle right now is that bastard Horrux.”

If Horrux saw him like this, he’d probably just clap with joy rather than prescribe anything.