“Hk—!”

Her shoulders jolted sharply.

The moment the cold touch brushed against her skin, she realized how much heat had already gathered in her body.

“This is not written in the etiquette manual.”

Larinne pointed it out calmly, yet he did not stop.

“I told you, did I not? I would proceed according to my own taste.”

“That is not a proper manner of conduct.”

“My apologies. It seems the man who appeared in your companion dream happens to possess a most vulgar taste.”

His tone carried not the slightest trace of remorse, which only made him seem more savage.

“You said this before, did you not? That if there was something I wanted, and if it was something you could give, you would offer it as thanks.”

Larinne quickly reached out to try and stop Libehi Winterd’s hurried movements.

She could feel his chest rising and falling beneath her palm.

Even though her hand was not touching his bare skin, this apparently disturbed him — his breathing became noticeably rough.

“I will accept that gratitude today.”

He straightened up and quickly took off his shirt.

The firm, balanced body that had been barely concealed beneath the thin fabric was revealed before her eyes.

The cords of muscle beneath his tanned skin stood out and shifted with each movement.

‘Would it taste like chocolate if I licked it?’

The absurd thought rattled her mind.

Her head truly must have been affected by the companion dream.

“That expression will cause problems.”

Unsure what he meant, she followed the direction of his gaze.

Her eyes trailed downward across his neatly defined abdomen—

and then she saw it, boldly asserting its presence between his hips.

“!”

Compared to her dream, it looked even larger and hotter, charged with an almost resentful longing.

It was close enough that she could reach it with a single stretch of her arm.

She could not measure it precisely, but it certainly wasn’t ordinary in size.

‘That…’

Although she had never seen one before, she knew exactly what it was.

Thanks to her etiquette lessons, she also knew what that swollen state meant.

Libehi Winterd’s impure desire for her had been fully revealed.

Even without experience, she was certain that it was not something the body of an ordinary person could easily handle.

If he were to push inside…

She shook her head unconsciously.

“That… might be impossible.”

“You’re making judgments before even trying.”

What part of this had excited him so much?

The expensive dress was roughly torn apart by his hands.

“D-Duke Libehi Winterd!”

Startled, Larinne cried out, hurriedly covering her exposed body with her arms.

Clever as he was, he deliberately pressed his lips only against the places she had failed to cover, teasing her relentlessly.

“It’s too late to cry now.”

His large, rough hands seized the most delicate and vulnerable flesh, which had long been hidden away.

Like an explorer venturing into an unknown world for the first time, he boldly explored this unfamiliar terrain, touching, rubbing, and observing every change.

She felt as though she had been thrown into the desert’s scorching sands.

Every place he touched burned with heat long after he moved on.

“Th-this is different from the dream—”

The rest of her words were scattered by the warmth of his breath and dissolved into the air.

The marks left by the first explorer continued to spread across her pale skin.

His lips moved along every gentle curve, releasing heated breaths as they went.

Where the desert wind had passed, a faint moisture began to gather.

It felt strange.

The mark of water had not even been activated yet.

The places that had always seemed soft slowly began to tense and harden, and the valley she had never imagined could become wet felt like damp earth after rain.

Sparks flared through her body all at once, leaving her mind in complete disarray.

At last, she managed to reach out and grasp his arm.

“Because of the blessing of water… it might be dangerous… for you.”

Her body felt like a burning ember.

She lowered her gaze, checking whether she had unknowingly used the power of water.

Mocking her concern, the area near the water mark was perfectly normal.

Instead, the skin there was flushed a deep, unfamiliar shade of red.

“Have you already forgotten? The blessing of water cannot harm me.”

“How is that possible?”

“Because I possess more than enough life force to devote to you.”

After whispering words she could not understand, he gave her no time to think about them.

A firm thigh slid between her legs. The movement that parted her knees and settled there was swift and sure.

Now she lay completely beneath him.

Like an explorer who had finally reached the summit, he revealed the token he had kept hidden, ready to claim the land as his own.

The sight of it was terrifying.

What exactly did he intend to do to her with it?

Her reaction was not admiration, but pure shock.

“Duke Winterd… this never appeared in the dream.”

“It will appear in the dream you are about to have.”

“Won’t the symptoms of the companion dream appear beforehand?”

He did not answer—he simply laughed quietly.

Then—

“Ah—!”

The impossible had become reality.

As her body did something she had thought impossible, Larinne’s back arched sharply, like a fishing rod bent by a fish that had taken the bait.

Her breath caught in her throat.

For a moment, she felt as though she had forgotten how to breathe.

A sharp pain mixed with unfamiliar sensations, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“There, there. Good.”

He licked the tears that gathered at the corners of her eyes and lifted her limp arms over his shoulders.

She clung to him tightly, as though he were her lifeline.

“That’s right.”

His voice, faintly echoing by her ear, was so sweet it almost felt like a dream.

“It will be easier if you relax your body.”

The distance between them, which had momentarily widened, disappeared in an instant as his hips moved again.

“Ah—!”

An overwhelming sensation pierced her very core.

It numbed her mind, and she collapsed backwards with a cry.

There was no time to catch her breath.

Another deep thrust made every hair on her body stand on end.

From where the mark had been driven into her, hot blood surged through her entire body.

With each subsequent movement, she experienced sensations unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Pain and pleasure mingled, bringing tears to her eyes.

“Don’t cry.”

The gentle whisper brought back memories of someone she had once longed for.

Although she was trembling helplessly, Larinne tried to keep her gaze fixed on him.

Within her fading consciousness, the eyes that had burned like the twilight sun seemed to blur and the redness gradually drained away.

What happened next?

Had they turned golden?

By the time Libehi Winterd’s mark had fully claimed the summit, Larinne finally lost consciousness.

“Come with me. Let’s run away together, Larinne. The ones who treat you worse than beasts—I’ll destroy them all. So come with me and leave this h*ll.”

A whisper meant for someone dearly loved lingered softly beside her ear.

***

She did not know how deeply she had slept.

Even after waking, she could not move, as though she had become a piece of soaked paper.

Her mind was clear, but every muscle in her body ached.

‘Larinne… you truly have lost your mind.’

One by one, fragments of memory resurfaced.

Moments when their bodies had tangled together, drenched in each other’s sweat, returned with relentless clarity.

Her once pale cheeks flushed red.

‘Perhaps I should simply be grateful that I survived.’

To be honest, she had thought that if she accepted it just as it was, she might end up crossing the river of death.

But now it seemed there was nothing in this world she could not swallow.

Then again—was that man all right?

‘After doing all those things to me.’

Everything Libehi Winterd had done was clearly marked.

She could see it with the slightest glance downwards.

If Marchioness Lily, who had been in charge of Larinne’s etiquette lessons, were to see it, she would probably faint with shock at such barbaric behavior.

The sensations he had awakened in her only yesterday began creeping back into her thoughts.

Larinne shook her head violently.

‘Stop. Stop thinking about yesterday.’

If she let such embarrassing thoughts continue, she felt she would not be able to face Libehi Winterd again.

‘As for whether he’s safe from the blessing of water… I can check that later.’

After gathering her unsettled thoughts, Larinne rose from the bed.

“Ah—!”

A sharp pain shot through her, causing her to clutch her waist.

She longed to lie down and rest, but she couldn’t afford to be lazy.

After leaving the banquet so abruptly yesterday, the Emperor would certainly be in a bad mood.

First, she needed to seek an audience with him, resolve yesterday’s matter and assess the political situation.

‘Only one week left now.’

If she could just endure one more week, she would be free from this h*ll.

Until then, she had to keep a close eye on the situation as it unfolded, ensuring that nothing interfered with the escape plan.

She wanted to avoid her fiancé more than anything, but there was nothing she could do about it.

‘Someone has to do it, after all.’

And it had to be her.

Today was the day of the State Council meeting, after all.

The date for opening the dam on the Pactio River upstream would be decided today, in accordance with the agreement reached with the Kingdom of Lirmen.

‘I need to pass the information to Pellet.’

As she methodically reviewed the tasks ahead of her day, Larinne suddenly paused.

“…What should I do about the traitor?”

Turning her head, she opened the drawer of the bedside cabinet.

Inside the first drawer, the gold ornament she had placed there earlier remained exactly where she had left it.

‘I should investigate this as well.’

With a troubled heart, she rose to her feet and instinctively called out for someone.

“Chardi, is the bathwater ready?”

No reply came.

Only then did she notice the flat stone resting atop the cabinet.

It was a letter Chardi had left behind.

[I will be a little late because I am taking care of my brother. I am sorry.]

Chardi had never learnt to write properly, so her spelling was poor, but her meaning was clear.

Larinne thanked Libehi Winterd once again before walking towards the wardrobe.

Then she suddenly noticed something strange.

The room was far too quiet.

“Huh?”

On further inspection, Horus was nowhere to be seen.

He was neither perched on the wooden stand they had set up for him nor perched by the window.

A thread of unease tightened in her chest.

“Horus?”

All the windows in the room were closed.

Even if the door had been opened, Horus was not the kind of bird that would just fly off.

He was an intelligent, well-trained messenger bird.

He had also only recently recovered from an injury. Yet that desert falcon had vanished.

He disappeared without leaving a trace in the vast imperial palace, which was surrounded by enemies on all sides.