The tension squeezed her inner walls. The muscles surrounding his shaft gripped tightly as if knowing what was supporting their owner. With a determination to never let go. How ecstatic! Even when he grabbed her bottom hard enough to leave marks, rather than refusing, she clung to him as if begging to be held tighter. 

 “Ha, should we, do it, standing, more often?”

“Huh, ugh!” 

 It must be torture. For her, that is. Being taken while suspended in the air meant her only escape was upward, but unfortunately for her, the woman’s arms around his neck had no muscle. 

 “At least pretend to run away. That’s what you’re good at. Can’t do it while suspended in the air?”

“I’m sorry, ugh…!” 

 The depth of his penetration was deep compared to his movements. Standing s*x had great cost-effectiveness. Though it took some arm strength, the pleasure he felt was enormous. Not only was the penetration deep, but most importantly, when lifted and held, Celian voluntarily depended on him. 

 Conversely, these slender arms couldn’t lift him. The overwhelming difference in strength clearly defined their relationship of dominator and dominated. 

 Those little things elevated the man’s mood to its peak. 

 “So pretty.”

“Huuuh…” 

 Drop. Liquid flowing down the woman’s bottom wet his leg. Soon the shaft, sticky with his essence and her wetness inside, pulled out. As fluids gushed out with a squelch, making Celian tremble like a seizure, Izer carried her limp body back to the bed and laid her down. 

 The hand patting her while covering her with a blanket pretended to be quite affectionate. Celian breathed as quietly as possible to avoid stimulating him further. There had been many nights when it started again with comments about her heaving chest being lewd. 

 Fortunately, today really ended here. Soon a click sounded as handcuffs were fastened to one wrist. While deliberately avoiding looking at the marble pillar where the other end of the chain was attached, she caught her breath. The sound of water running came from the bathroom. 

 She didn’t know if he planned to shower alone or come get her soon. What was certain was that there was something she needed to do before he returned. 

 Her weakened legs crawled across the carpet. The chain followed her with a dragging sound. The nightstand she was looking for was at the maximum range allowed by the chain. Celian’s hand stopped as she opened the drawer. 

 It wasn’t there.

The white medicine bottle that should absolutely be there had disappeared. Frantic hands desperately searched through the drawer. A thin envelope with Beth’s name and an unfinished embroidery were pulled out. 

 She thrust her hand into the black drawer that seemed ready to swallow her and stirred around. There was nothing. As her trembling hand was about to reach for Izer’s drawer…

 A hot hand stroked the flat stomach of the woman lying face down.

“What are you looking for?”

Celian moved her hand, deliberately ignoring the firm sensation touching her b*ttocks. Izer allowed her to touch his c*ck.

She inhaled sharply at the sight of the white medicine bottle, but soon realized it wasn’t what she was looking for and dropped her shoulders. She was so focused on cycling between hope and despair that she couldn’t even feel the sensual kisses being poured onto her back.

Izer waited patiently. Until she finally accepted despair, it would take no more than a few minutes. He could wait as long as needed.

All three drawers were empty.

“Have you seen everything now?”

“……”

Before Celian’s eyes, the evidence of her despair returned to its place one by one. When Izer put away the last medicine bottle and closed the drawer, Celian parted her dry lips.

“What did you do with the medicine?”

Among dozens of white bottles, Izer’s sleeping pills were just one. The rest were all empty containers.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Where did you hide the birth control pills!”

Celian twisted her body. The desk drawer, wardrobe, or storage room. They could be anywhere. Her cycle was regular, and that’s why she absolutely had to take the birth control pill today.

The man watching the female body trying to escape from his arm smirked and thrust his hips up in one motion.

Thwack.

“Huh!”

“You don’t need them anymore. We’re about to be married. Why didn’t I think of getting rid of them sooner……”

“……!”

Celian screamed. Izer’s eyes flashed at her sharp rebellion that she rarely showed, but she didn’t see it.

She began her desperate pleading.

“Izer, pregnancy isn’t a good thing for you.”

“Why is that?”

“When I’m pregnant, you won’t be able to do these things you like so much. And is that all? I’ll get chubby. My face will get puffy too.”

Izer sneered and pulled his body back slightly. His c*ck, which had retreated until only the tip remained, thrust back in to the root with a thud.

While listening to what could have been either a scream or a moan, Izer parted her hair and kissed her nape.

“You’ll be pretty even when pregnant. You’ll be pretty even if you gain weight. They say your br*asts will get bigger too.”

“Izer, you…… hate children……”

“Ah, that’s true. They’re noisy, whiny, and say lots of strange things…… I saw enough of that for five years. But he wasn’t my child, was he?”

He hated everything about his stepbrother. Not just his appearance that took after his stepfather, but his bright innocence always following him around calling him ‘brother,’ his worship of Celian, and Celian’s affectionate gaze in response…….

Izer pulled her waist.

“I want a child, Lian. A healthy child to inherit the Chesterfield name. I’d prefer a son who looks like me, but a daughter would be fine too. At least they won’t be blonde.”

Her voice, containing tears, shook in rhythm with his thrusts.

“You want, to have a child, just because, you don’t want, to pass down, the family name, to Percy?”

Her pain is deserved. But continuing the lineage is different. He could already hear people’s whispers.

The child is innocent but the pain continues. If there were any more sins she could commit, it would be bearing a child. The body that had been struggling with all its might lay down on its back.

Izer, who easily subdued her struggles, smirked and fitted himself below. As if comforting his mate who was refusing the purposeful penetration, he pressed his lips to her neck.

“You keep forgetting something important.”

“Izer, please……”

“I ‘love’ you. Is it so twisted to want to see a child with my blood from the woman I love?”

Ah, he sighed as if she were quite pitiful.

“Since you don’t love me, you can’t understand these feelings of mine.”

“Hic, huuh……”

“Who do you think is more pitiful, Lian.”

The woman being forced to bear the child of a man she doesn’t love, or the man who can’t accept anyone but that woman despite her desperate refusal?

Who do you think is more miserable? 

 * * *

 The royal family confiscated William Winston’s title and property and exiled him. Edmond argued that the criminal should rot in prison for life, but James III firmly stated he couldn’t yield, citing his friendship with the previous Count.

Heinrich Montes and Cain Montes, who failed to establish connections with the king in the previous generation, were killed in prison.

The police officers showed bewildered expressions upon hearing the jailer’s confession that he had killed the father and son. When Edmond heard the report that the perpetrator’s brother was one of the children sold through Montes, he ordered them to make it look like the two had committed suicide in prison.

Ophelia Montes disappeared. Since no one knew where she was, they couldn’t tell her about the tragedy that befell her father and brother. When asked, her former fiancé, the Duke of Chesterfield, also said he didn’t know.

Amidst this turmoil that swept through high society, people’s attention naturally turned to Chesterfield.

Surprisingly, the Duke of Chesterfield, who had been in marriage talks with Montes, was free from all suspicion.

The young duke responded that his father also seemed unaware of Miss Montes’s drug addiction. His innocence was largely helped by the fact that it became known that the duke himself had reported the Montes father and son to the prince after they were dragged out of the duke’s residence.

Prince Edmond also took his side. Though he was the first to suspect Winston, people nodded in agreement that Chesterfield was also a victim when the prince said they couldn’t have caught Winston and Montes without the duke’s cooperation.

These individual incidents were closely connected like mud pulling at each other, resulting in dispelling even the suspicion that the young duke, harboring resentment against his stepfather for trying to force an unwanted marriage, had attempted to murder his predecessor.

Above all, if he had planned to kill his stepfather, there would be no reason why the duke’s funeral hadn’t been held yet.

Harris Chesterfield was alive. 

 * * *