They had been stuck together for almost a week due to his unusually long heat cycle. This was beyond what could be described with polite terms like relationship or intercourse. It was so bestial that calling it bestial would be unfair to beasts. “f*cking like animals” was the vulgar expression that perfectly described that week. They had been connected as one the entire time, as though they were born as a single body from the beginning.

“What if I got wounds down there?”

“For someone with wounds, you seemed to enjoy it plenty when I touched you with my fingers……”

Olivia tried to tease Alois but failed to get the upper hand, so she quietly closed her mouth. She tried hard to ignore the c*ck between her butt. She truly couldn’t bear the thought of having s*x again today because her body hurt too much.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to put it in anymore today either.”

Alois buried his head in her mostly dried hair, reassuring her. Though the duke’s thoughts and what his c*ck was thinking seemed quite different, Olivia decided to trust Alois anyway.

After the heat cycle ended, the two had bathed and emerged clean, though still n*ked. Despite being completely n*de with the room light on, allowing them to see each other’s bodies fully, it no longer felt strange due to the familiarity. They could only marvel at the beauty that remained unchanged, even after seeing it countless times.

They slipped under the fluffy, freshly changed blanket. The room had been neatly tidied, making it hard to believe that just hours ago they had been copulating all over the place. She couldn’t remember how much of his s*men she had received on this bed, or how much of her juices she had soaked it with.

Occasionally, Alois had pushed Olivia to her limits, causing her to squirt clear liquid all over the sheets in ecstasy beyond climax. Thinking about it made her face burn with embarrassment again.

Olivia quickly snuggled into his arms as he got into bed beside her. She just wanted to fall asleep quickly in his warm embrace.

“I’m glad we safely got through this heat cycle too. I was really worried on the train……”

Could this really be called “safely”? With her eyes closed, Olivia couldn’t see Alois’s hardened expression. His gaze swept over the mottled marks left on her body. From simple traces of caresses to purple bruises from his lack of self-control, marks of pain remained.

Even Alois couldn’t predict how intensely his heat cycles would come. Some days it would be weak enough that he could control himself after releasing the heat once or twice, while other days his rationality would completely fly away, erasing his memories of the entire heat cycle.

When he endured heat cycles alone, he could tell their intensity by how deep the wounds left on his own body were. But now, seeing those traces on Olivia’s body instead of his own made him furious. He felt so wretched that he thought it might be better to go back to the old days of enduring by clawing at his own body. Olivia’s offer to help felt like salvation, but now he felt like a demon dragging her into hell.

“Why do you help me to this extent?”

As he patted Olivia’s dry back to help her fall asleep, Alois’s inner thoughts suddenly spilled out. Since she had been tired all day, he assumed she hadn’t heard him and was about to move on, but Olivia opened her eyes with difficulty and looked at him.

“I was about to fall asleep comfortably…… If you have something to say, say it quickly.”

With the determination to blow away his unnecessary worries in one go, Olivia urged the hesitating Alois.

“When I first met you, you stayed in the beast’s castle to protect the boy, and you willingly threw your body into my heat cycle to save the poor wolf-dogs. Are you really okay with carelessly throwing yourself away for such pitiful and weak things? Do you have no regrets about throwing yourself at me like this to help me?”

She didn’t dislike Alois worrying about her. It was rather touching, but she felt that the words contained in his sentences were slightly missing the point, so Olivia fell into quiet contemplation.

“It was certainly like that when it started. I stayed at this mansion to save Kale, and I participated in your heat cycle because I wanted to save the wolf-dogs. But that’s not all there is to me now.”

“It’s not?”

“Our first meeting was certainly like that, but if you’re asking me now, even without Kale, even if it wasn’t to help the wolf-dogs, if you needed help, I would have stayed by your side like this to help you anytime.”

“Why? Because I look pitiful like that boy Kale or the wolf-dogs?”

Ah, this was it. The reason why she felt the answers kept missing the point. Olivia rubbed her eyes and got up, turning her body around to climb on top of him. Their n*ked bodies overlapped, fitting together without any gaps.

“Alois, you’re not pitiful at all.”

“……”

“At first I thought you were just a scary beast, but even while keeping me imprisoned, you secretly had animals bring me things I needed one by one. I liked how you acted cold but were actually kind, and I found it refreshing how you wouldn’t carelessly handle other people’s lives despite acting arrogant.”

“……”

“And when you first kissed me, I didn’t hate it. I was actually a little excited.”

Looking back, perhaps she had already been opening her heart to the beast from that moment. In the same coercive situation, the hunter’s touch had made her skin crawl, but the beast’s hadn’t.

“So I help you by your side not because you’re pitiful, and not because I’m someone who devotes herself to just anyone.”

“……”

“I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it once more. The reason I’m here now is simply because I like you, Alois.”

“Because you like me……”

“Yes. I like you. So don’t worry about other complicated things.”

Olivia tapped his lips with her fingertips and smiled lovingly. Conveying my feelings isn’t difficult. I can just say it as many times as needed until you understand. So now I want you to think about something other than these sad worries.

“Think about the answer you’ll give me. What meaning you need to find, and what would be the best answer to make me happy.”

Alois’s lips moved under Olivia’s fingers as if he wanted to say something. But he couldn’t yet form complete words. Olivia wasn’t disappointed, though. Alois’s pupils trembled faintly as he looked at her. Many words were mixed in that trembling, but rejection certainly didn’t exist among them.

Then I can wait longer. So take more time to think and find the right answer.

Olivia fell contentedly asleep in his arms after giving him a problem he needed to solve.

* * *

Lime, who had left the mansion early in the morning, ran desperately along the thorn bushes surrounding the forest. Sweat poured down his body and his chest felt like it would burst from his labored breathing, but he paid no attention. Like someone testing his limits, Lime ran through the forest again and again until his thighs felt like they would burst, before finally falling and rolling on the ground.

“Huh, huh, haa……”

His throat hurt as if stabbed with a knife, and he tasted a metallic bitterness. Lying sprawled on the ground looking up at the sky, Lime’s face was flushed with various emotions.

Unforgettable voices and scenes he wished to forget flickered before his eyes.

White, sticky liquid dripping onto her chest, and her being embraced from behind as hips thrust upward. The dizzying movements as she shook her head in refusal saying “no” before soon crying out in pleasure and moving her hips. Blood vessels appeared in the whites of Lime’s eyes as he glared at the empty air.

“Aaaargh!”

Screaming wildly and slapping his own cheeks hard, Lime got up again. His hair, once shining like sunlight, was now soaked with sweat and stained with dirty mud, looking unsightly. Lime began running through the forest again, dragging his heavy legs.

Until those terrible scenes no longer appeared in his mind. But no matter how far he ran, he couldn’t escape the hands of desire following him.

* * *

Though she had said she was fine, it was clear that Olivia had physically overexerted herself these past few days, as she couldn’t easily get up in the morning. Fortunately, she didn’t have a fever—she was just very sleepy. Alois quietly left the bedroom so she could sleep more comfortably, and as usual, he read a book in the indoor garden, occasionally petting the animals that gathered around him.

“Let’s have a talk.”

It would have been the start of a very pleasant, peaceful day if not for this unwelcome visitor. Alois gestured for the animals to move away and pointed to the chair opposite him. Despite this rare courtesy of being offered a seat, Lime paced around, unable to easily calm his excitement. Though he usually wore a skillfully crafted smiling face for someone so young, today for some reason he couldn’t hide his impatience and anger at all. Finding this change interesting, Alois leisurely waited for the “talk” Lime had requested.

“What is your relationship with Olivia?”

Oh. Alois was impressed. Considering the ominous atmosphere, he expected this would be about Olivia, but he hadn’t expected such a direct question without any beating around the bush. Based on what he understood of Lime’s character, he had expected that even if Lime suspected something between them, he would try to extract her while showing as little of his suspicions as possible. At times like this, Lime really showed his youth.