Chapter 1.1 – The Palace Knight in Search of Her Unrequited Love  

“Ahhk, this position is… Ahh! It’s too deep…”  

Despite being cursed, her stamina as a knight was extraordinary. Evelyn couldn’t simply let herself be overwhelmed.  

The thick part of the organ touched deep inside her. Evelyn felt as exhausted as she did during her early days running laps around the training grounds. Donovan’s hands gripped Evelyn’s hips.

“I suppose you’re disappointed that I’m not a mage? Knights, huh, they say, can go on for three days and nights without tiring.”  

Even while seated on Donovan’s thigh, Evelyn could see he wasn’t the least bit fatigued. On the contrary, his thrusts upward grew even more forceful.  

“What? Who would spout such nonsense… Ah! Stop poking me while I’m talking!”  

His aristocratic, smooth hand slid down Evelyn’s waist and kneaded her b*ttocks as if urging her to move.  

Evelyn, panting heavily, hopped along like a rabbit. Her eyes lost focus, and her mind gradually became blank. She felt herself growing a little dumb.  

“Evelyn. Admit it. Hah, you enjoy this.”  

Donovan pushed Evelyn down onto the bed. Her long hair spread out across the bedding.  

He handled her, one of the kingdom’s most skilled knights, as if she were a twig. Donovan adjusted the angle and drove himself deeper into her.  

“I… I just recovered from a mage’s treatment, ahng! Ahhht… Is this really okay?”

“There isn’t a mage in the kingdom better than me… You can rest assured.”

A prodigy coveted by the Mage Tower and a noble young earl clung to her like a frenzied beast, his eyes reddened.

His hard member mercilessly tore through her walls. It had been a long time since Evelyn, now a knight, had felt such helplessness. As fireworks exploded in her mind, Evelyn was suddenly struck with fear.  

“Stop…! Enough, ahh, ugh…”  

“Don’t push me away. You’ll end up traumatized.”  

When Evelyn tried to push him away, Donovan pinned her hands above her head. Even with just one hand holding her down, she couldn’t move an inch.  

In that state, Donovan lowered his lips to hers. For someone claiming to punish her, his kiss was surprisingly sweet. Evelyn, like she was drinking life-saving water, desperately pressed her lips against his.  

“Mm, uh, ahhh.”  

Unable to move again, Evelyn trembled beneath Donovan. Now, he was targeting only her most sensitive spots with precision. Evelyn opened her mouth wider and wider.  

Like a starving beast given its prey, ecstasy surged within her. Her mind boiled over with searing heat.  

The kingdom’s greatest mage and royal palace knight. The reason their bodies were entwined went back to a few days prior.  

***  

“You’ve been cursed with a nasty spell. It’s true that your aura has completely disappeared.”  

At the mage’s words, a ringing sound buzzed in Evelyn’s ears. From the start, the only reason she had been able to become a royal palace knight was thanks to her aura.  

“A curse? What about my career as a royal knight that I’ve worked so hard to build? That’s impossible. Check again.”  

“Denying it won’t change anything. Even if you were an elite who became a royal knight immediately after graduating from the academy, what can you do now?”  

When a commoner became a knight, it had caused quite a stir throughout the kingdom. Without her aura, her glory would turn to ashes in an instant.  

“I should’ve run away as fast as I could when I was assigned the mission to infiltrate the dark mage’s laboratory!”  

Evelyn burst out in frustration. Blinded by ambition, she had ignored her instincts, and this was the result.  

– Sir Stina! Don’t touch the potions in the lab carelessly!  

– What? When did this get here?

In the laboratory, Evelyn accidentally nudged a suspicious-looking potion with her elbow.  

– Oh, you’ve… Oh no, it fell to the ground, didn’t it?

– I barely touched it, but it just dropped and broke on its own. Did you see that?  

– I saw it too, Sir Stina! This gives me the creeps. What if something bad happens?  

Immediately, black smoke rose. After being exposed to that smoke directly, Evelyn could no longer manifest her aura.  

“Why me… How unlucky can I be?”

Sitting in her chair, Evelyn bit her lip hard. The mage looked at her with a sympathetic expression.  

“No one must know that I’ve lost my aura. Can you keep it a secret?”  

“That’s not difficult. But you won’t be able to hide it from Young Earl Donovan for long.”

“…”  

Evelyn lowered her head. Donovan despised how she recklessly pursued success, putting herself in danger as if there were no tomorrow.  

“He’s the kingdom’s greatest mage. A talent even the Magic Tower covets. Surely, you’re not planning to hide it from someone like him?”

Donovan had never been fond of Evelyn taking on missions directly from the start.  

– You’re tracking the traces of a dark mage? Isn’t that too soon for someone at your level?  

As the heir to the Yerenst Earldom, he would never understand why she was so desperate.

“I’ll keep it a secret from Young Earl Donovan for the time being.”  

“What? Didn’t you say you wanted to dedicate your soul to your career?”  

“If this goes wrong, I’ll be fired from the knight order. Please, help me find a solution.”  

“Hmm. It would probably be faster to consult Young Earl Donovan.”  

Evelyn slammed a pouch onto the table with a bang. Jingle. The heavy sound of gold coins filled the room, making the mage’s eyes widen.  

“I’ll pay you as much as I can.”  

The royal mage scratched his cheek with a troubled expression, as if the situation had become quite complicated. Glancing at the heavy pouch on the table, he finally seemed to make up his mind.  

“Well… since you’re asking so earnestly, I’ll find a solution.”  

Much later, the mage returned from his laboratory with a peculiar look on his face. It was impossible to tell whether the news was good or bad.  

“There’s good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”  

“The good news.”  

Evelyn anxiously tapped her foot. The mage stroked his chin, hesitating before he spoke.  

“Fortunately, I’ve figured out how to break the curse.”  

“Really?”  

Evelyn nearly jumped out of her seat with joy.  

“Hmm. It’s too early to celebrate. It’s a witch’s curse, and the method to break it is rather… peculiar.”  

The mage motioned for Evelyn to calm down and took a seat across from her.  

“What’s so peculiar about it?”  

“It’s simple… in a way.”  

The mage hesitated to speak further. The young mage glanced at Evelyn nervously. Evelyn felt a foreboding sense of dread.  

“What is it? Don’t keep me in suspense; just tell me. It can’t be worse than losing my aura.”  

Evelyn thought lightly of the situation. When she pressed him to speak quickly, the mage let out a deep sigh and finally said:  

“I’ll tell you how to break the curse without meeting the witch. You need to sleep with a man who has unrequited love for you.”  

“With whom and do what?”  

Evelyn’s jaw dropped. According to him, there were many types of curses, and the one she was under was a mischievous curse related to love.  

“To suggest such a ridiculous method… Are you insane? You’re telling me to pick a man?”  

“It can’t just be any man on the street. It has to be someone who has feelings for you.”  

Evelyn let out a laugh that sounded almost deranged. As the mage’s words slowly sank in, the unbelievable reality clouded her mind.  

“Just when I thought I could finally enjoy some peace after becoming a royal knight, my luck turns out this bad.”  

She clicked her tongue at her misfortune. Since a witch was involved, the situation had become even more complicated. Witches were harder to find than dark mages.  

“Is there no one who has unrequited love for you?”  

“No, there’s no one like that.”  

“Not even an ex-lover or someone you’ve crossed paths with?”  

“No. I’ve been too busy working to date.”  

The mage looked at Evelyn as if she were the most pitiful person in the world.  

“With such a respectable job, what have you been doing all this time?”  

“Sadly, the life of a royal knight isn’t easy enough to leave room for romance.”  

However, the only men in her life were her fellow knights and Donovan Yerenst, a mage and young earl she met at the academy.

“Try to find someone who secretly loves you. For now, that’s the only way.”  

“Is there really no other way?”  

“Unless you ask the witch to break the curse, which is unlikely.”  

“…”  

It felt as though iron weights had been placed on both her shoulders. Ah, but the heaviest thing of all was her heart.  

With no other choice, Evelyn left the mage’s house empty-handed. Her shoulders drooped.  

“All that’s left now is to find a man who secretly loves me… if such a person even exists in this world.”