Prologue

The faint chirping of insects flowed gently around the two people. Iella looked at the flowers swaying in the light night breeze behind him.

‘Maybe I’m just intoxicated by this atmosphere.’

Under the soft moonlight, she wondered if her heart was swayed by the refreshing tranquility of the vast flower field. It was such a beautiful place that it made her think that way.

But in fact, all of that was just an excuse. She deliberately looked elsewhere and found something to blame so as not to reveal her tense body and the breath she couldn’t properly exhale. Still, in a state of tension so high that her waist nearly touched the ground, Iella swallowed a small gulp and lowered her eyes.

“Don’t close your eyes.”

As if he couldn’t allow it, a somewhat brusque yet gentle voice softly resonated. The touch that caressed under her eyes was more careful and tender than when handling a precious piece of art.

“Look at me.”

At the words that sounded almost like a plea, Iella slowly opened her closed eyes. He filled her brightening vision completely. His eyes, which seemed to be looking only at her, were filled solely with her.

“……Too close.”

What was it about that? Just his persistent gaze made her body, which had been cooled by the night breeze, heat up. Iella’s hand, which was lightly holding his clothes without realizing it, flinched and shrank. At the same time, she let out a small voice like a soliloquy.

Then a laugh escaped from his lips. Was the touch on his chest so amusing? Not understanding the meaning of the laughter, she quietly watched as he tightened the arm wrapped around her slender waist. Iella, who was sitting on his lap, was lightly pulled closer.

“So suddenly.”

“……Hng.”

“—It’s not the first time.”

Resting his chin between her ample breasts, he moved his head and gently bit her collarbone. His lips rubbed her for a long time, as if leaving a mark. Then, slowly, he slid up her soft skin and buried his face deeply in her neck.

Haah, he exhaled a languid breath soaked in the sweet scent that touched his nose and sucked hard.

At the tingling sensation that made her fine hairs stand on end, Iella gripped her clothes tightly, and he strengthened the grip on the other hand that was interlocked with hers. His fingers clung together stickily, leaving no gaps.

“Don’t go any further away.”

His voice, sinking like the growl of a beast, scratched out. He lightly kissed the red, warm blossoms clearly left on her fair and smooth skin and then pulled away.

“Don’t disappear, don’t run away.”

The voice was somehow more desperate than threatening. Iella looked down at him, holding her as if he would crush her.

She couldn’t see his face properly, but somehow she felt like she knew what kind of expression he would have.

A face that was both sorrowful and deeply longing. He had been looking at her with that face for some time now.

Perhaps it was from then that she unconsciously started to care about the man she once feared and wanted to avoid.