Edmund’s momentum was anything but ordinary. Olivia retraced what she’d said, wondering if she’d misspoken. Nothing particularly stood out.

“…”

She needed to finish explaining that she’d agreed to give Ted advice. But Edmund’s chilly atmosphere crushed her spirit, and she couldn’t open her mouth.

Fortunately, Edmund seemed to have lost interest and didn’t ask further. Olivia watched him carefully, then subtly leaned her body into his embrace.

The wind that had felt fierce just moments ago no longer did. Same with the cold. Thanks to the thick cloak wrapped around her body and the warm heat supporting her back. Edmund’s body temperature was particularly hot, perhaps from driving the horse.

But no matter how firm and warm Edmund’s embrace was, the horse’s saddle remained unavoidably uncomfortable. Especially the hard, unidentifiable thing pressing against her lower back was extremely bothersome. Olivia squirmed around trying to find the most comfortable position.

“…Hah. Olivia.”

Suddenly Edmund’s breathing, which had been calm even while riding, grew rough.

“Stop stimulating me. It’s hard to endure.”

His rough voice, like gritting his teeth, resembled a beast’s growl. It was a voice she could only occasionally hear above the bed. Instinctively, memories of nights spent entangled with him like one body surfaced. Olivia’s face flushed bright red.

When Olivia stiffened her body rigidly, a low laugh came from behind her. After that, Olivia couldn’t even breathe comfortably.

* * *

They arrived at the ducal residence in the capital incomparably faster than traveling by carriage. Olivia dismounted from the horse unsteadily with Edmund’s help. Having tensed her body the entire way, her stamina had noticeably depleted.

“Your Grace, my lady. You’ve arrived.”

Servants rushed out to greet them at the residence entrance. Olivia nodded weakly, then spotted a face among them that wasn’t a ducal house servant.

“Priest?”

Olivia’s eyes widened. The priest who had officiated her and Edmund’s oath glanced at Edmund once, then stepped toward Olivia.

“I came to deliver a reply to your letter. I knew you weren’t at the residence and was going to leave correspondence, but Duke Dustin told me to convey it to you directly, my lady.”

Olivia bit her lower lip hard. She hadn’t expected the priest to visit in person.

How much had he told Edmund? How much had Edmund figured out? Did he realize she knows about his mistress’s existence?

“You asked about breaking the divine oath. There’s only one method.”

The priest looked straight into Olivia’s confused eyes and spoke.

“Death.”

“…”

“If you wish, I can minimize the suffering leading to death as much as possible. If you need my help…”

The priest stepped closer to Olivia. Edmund wedged himself into the narrowed gap.

“Leave now.”

The priest looked like he had much more to say, but when Edmund firmly waved his hand dismissively, he muttered harsh words and withdrew.

Edmund showed no sign of disappointment from failing to find a way to break the oath. Instead, he examined Olivia’s complexion. 

Olivia’s color, having imagined Edmund’s death, was worse than ever. That’s when Edmund’s face, which had remained expressionless throughout, contorted.

“Please, think wisely. Even for your own sake.”

He murmured in a choked voice, then pulled Olivia into his arms like crumpling her up and moved toward the room.

The bedroom door slammed shut roughly. Then words like a bolt from the blue fell.

“Today is a day for marital duties.”

“What?”

“Since you’re a diligent contractor, you won’t neglect the contract terms.”

A tender kiss fell on her hair, disheveled from the wind. Olivia looked up at Edmund with a face layered with fatigue.

The usual Edmund would have noticed her exhaustion first and let her retire early, but today he seemed to have no intention of showing tenderness. She wasn’t unaware of the reason for his foul mood.

Olivia bit her lip.

“Understood, Your Grace.”

It was rather fortunate. Better to endure sorrow than be cast away from his side. Even as a substitute for his lover… she could bear it.

When Olivia obediently answered and headed toward the bathroom to wash, Edmund grabbed her shoulder.

With a sensation of her body spinning, their lips collided immediately.

“Mmph.”

Strong force pushed Olivia back. Her body pressed backward, Olivia stumbled back and hit the back of her knees against the bed, collapsing onto it with a thud. 

Thanks to the soft bedding and Edmund’s hand cushioning her head, there was no physical impact, but the mental shock was vivid.

Having suddenly invaded her mouth in an instant, he acted terribly rough. He caught her tongue and sucked it strongly, clinging to it. The way he roughly moved in and out, probing her narrow throat, evoked thoughts of *ntercourse.

At the kiss that seemed to strangle her breath, Olivia struggled, unable to breathe. Edmund paid no mind and concentrated on removing her dress.

“…Hah. D*mn it.”

But the elaborate dress with many knots wasn’t easy to remove with one hand. Edmund exhaled an irritated sigh, then immediately tore apart the delicate, high-quality dress like butterfly wings in one go. With one sweep of his hand, the expensive dress instantly became rags.

Olivia was quite flustered but didn’t miss the brief moment their lips separated.

“Let me wash, just let me wash… Ngh.”

Edmund, impatiently stripping off Olivia’s garments, covered her again. Once more their lips locked, and simultaneously Edmund’s large hand reached her s*x. It was a rushed development unlike past lovemaking that had faithfully followed the steps of f*replay.

“No, you can’t!”

Olivia shook her head roughly and tried to close her wantonly spread legs. Edmund, instead of the lips that had missed, nibbled at her jaw while easily spreading Olivia’s legs with one hand.

“Don’t think about anything and focus on me.”

“But…”

It was right after riding a horse for a long time. Not only had she sweated, but the animal smell must have permeated her entire body. She’d rather die than press her body against Edmund in this state.

However, Edmund didn’t remove his face buried in Olivia’s skin, like savoring a flower’s fragrance. The sound of him deeply inhaling and breathing echoed in her ears like thunder.

“No, don’t do that, okay? The smell… Ah.”

“The smell.”

Though Olivia pleaded, Edmund showed no sign of listening. He firmly positioned himself between Olivia’s legs, then moved gradually downward, tracing her slender neck with his lips. 

He persistently sucked the hollow above her collarbone, leaving a red mark, then soon took her br*ast in his mouth.

“Ahh. Ah…!”

Her peak, *rect with excitement, was sucked into his mouth. Before Olivia could fully exhale her breath, excited by pleasure, Edmund lowered his lips again.

A hint of regret appeared on Olivia’s face, stained with shame. Reason telling her she should immediately distance herself from Edmund and carnal desire wishing he would touch her br*asts a little more collided fiercely. Her wetly soaked n*pples felt cold.

Edmund’s lips, which had been crawling over her skin leaving brief kisses on her flat stomach, finally settled in one place. Her s*x.

“This is where the scent that arouses me comes from.”

“E-Edmund!”

Olivia, who cried out, bolted upright. She was so shocked she didn’t even realize she’d called Edmund’s name.

Edmund pulled her legs straight. Olivia fell sprawling with her legs spread wide.

Edmund, draping Olivia’s legs over his shoulders, buried his face in her s*x without a moment’s hesitation.

“Not today… Ah!”

His dense breath and greedy tongue dizzily traced her reddened mound. The sound of him swallowing the love juices that had oozed out struck her ears fiercely with a terribly lewd sound.

“Ahh. E-Ed…!”

Olivia shuddered at the violent pleasure climbing up her lower back. Her reason evaporated, leaving no time to feel shame. The intensity of the pleasure was unspeakably strong.

Edmund stimulated her entrance without setting his teeth. He rubbed his nose bridge against her cl*toris and thoroughly licked every fold of her layered s*x with his hot tongue.

“Ngh. Ah! Ahhh…!”

The spark that spread from below soon struck her entire body. Her vision whitened with the burning sensation and her head grew hazy, yet conversely her nerves were sharp like honed blades. 

The entrance twitching repeatedly and the inner walls writhing like waiting for something were vivid like she could see them before her eyes.

When Olivia arched her back, Edmund removed his face from her quivering s*x and thr*st his fingers in.

“Ahh!”

Olivia’s inner walls tightened welcomingly around the unannounced invasion. After months of continued union, one finger or so was now routine. Edmund, seemingly knowing this fact too, consecutively pried open her private parts.

The small hole quickly filled completely with his thick-jointed fingers. Edmund rapidly thr*st the three fingers he’d inserted.

“Hngh. Ah, f-fast… Ah…!”

Squelch squelch, Olivia’s high m*ans mixed over the sound of overflowing love juices and Edmund’s low breathing. Edmund gazed with intense eyes at Olivia’s face, unaware of what sounds she was making.

“Hah. Enjoying it this much… yet saying you’d leave my side.”

Olivia, half-dazed, didn’t listen carefully to Edmund’s words and reached her hands toward him.

“Ngh. Edmund…!”

“Yes, my Olivia.”

Edmund, who had pulled his fingers from her s*x, leaned down. When Olivia clung to his thick neck like hanging on, he kissed her gently. It was a light, playful kiss that only held and sucked her lower lip. 

The ticklish kiss, unsuited to the explicit atmosphere, almost made her want to laugh. If his club-like member hadn’t suddenly pushed in, she really might have.

“Hic!”

Thud, Edmund ambushed her by inserting his darkly swollen member. Her lower belly tightened instantly and strength entered her entire body.

Unlike Edmund’s neat and refined face that always made Olivia’s heart flutter, his member was terrifying. The thick tip that felt unavoidable and the long shaft were even studded with bulging veins, making it tremendously fierce.

“You need to… relax, Olivia.”

Perhaps to loosen Olivia’s rigid body, Edmund gently stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

If she could just endure the thick tip, what followed was bearable. Recalling facts learned through experience, Olivia consciously released her blocked breathing. Not missing that moment, Edmund thr*st his hips up strongly.

“Ahhh. Hng…!”

The sensation of the long shaft penetrating seemed endless. No matter how many times she mixed bodies with him, the feeling of organs being pushed and turned inside out never became familiar. 

Though she knew it was impossible, an instinctive fear washed over her that the blunt tip of his member might reach right below her jaw.

Edmund also frowned and lowered his eyes, seemingly struggling to part her dense inner walls tightly. His ecstatically split pectoral muscles became even more prominent. 

Round beads of sweat slid smoothly down along his body contours carved with intricate muscles. It was such a sensual sight that her already flushed face reddened even more. 

Olivia momentarily lost herself gazing up at Edmund.

Shortly after, Edmund, with eyes brimming with sticky emotions resembling l*st, began fiercely thrusting his hips.