Prologue

The midnight bell chimes faintly echoed into the tightly closed bedroom. The heavy metallic sound that cut through the pitch-black night’s curtain rang out at regular intervals.

Before the twelfth ring ended, Chloe’s gaze turned to one direction. Specifically, it was toward the door that connected to her husband Andert Dietrich’s bedroom. Naturally, only one person could come and go through that door. And after exactly two knocks, Andert crossed the threshold.

The man in plain navy robe always visited Chloe’s bedroom at a late hour after finishing all his duties. As always, he announced his presence with a knock before striding in.

“Andert.”

Chloe quickly stuffed the paper she was holding into the drawer and jerked upright. The hasty movement caused the drawer to close with a rather loud sound.

But Chloe wasn’t particularly worried. Andert was a man indifferent to everything related to his wife.

He wouldn’t be curious about what she was doing or what she had hidden in the drawer. As expected, he briefly glanced at the cleared desk, but that was all. Andert soon averted his gaze.

Chloe remained frozen awkwardly in the suffocating silence. He had been attending a meeting in the office since evening. Not expecting him to visit this bedroom today, Chloe blinked several times before carefully asking.

“Are you tired? Have you finished all your busy work?”

“It took a bit longer than expected.”

His response was immediate. As though he had nothing more to say, Andert turned his head and, following his usual routine, removed his robe and draped it over the sofa.

After several years of marriage, one might think she would be used to it by now. But Chloe still couldn’t feel natural about the tension in these moments.

Of course, being married to Andert, the only son of House Dietrich, pregnancy was a responsibility that couldn’t be ignored. That would be no different for him, who had been pushed into marriage through the king’s arrangement.

Perhaps that was why. Despite their distant relationship as husband and wife, that was the reason he occasionally visited this bedroom.

Chloe could only guess at the inscrutable man’s intentions. While acknowledging the bitter reality with a numbing heart, the tall shadow approached and loomed over her.

“Chloe?”

At the low call, Chloe loosened her tightened throat.

The divorce papers hidden in the drawer had already been signed. But even after two weeks, she hadn’t been able to hand them to Andert. It wasn’t because she was reluctant to leave the comfortable life of House Dietrich.

She just kept hesitating whenever she faced him. The fact that she had to end this love with her own hands. Although it was a one-sided love on her part alone. She knew better than anyone that she couldn’t deny that.

Nevertheless, whenever she faced her husband, a corner of her heart would flutter. This was truly a stubbornly lingering first love.

As Andert pulled her, Chloe’s vision spun as she fell onto the bed. As if it had been waiting, his short blonde hair smoothly burrowed into her nape.

Chloe lowered her gaze with inexplicable sadness. After his robe was removed, his touch over her thin nightgown felt both familiar and strange. When his cold fingers gripped her br*ast firmly after pulling down her undergarments, Chloe drew in a sharp breath.

The shadows that stretched long against the dimly lit bedroom walls rippled. Chloe, now completely n*ked without a single piece of clothing, soon closed her eyes. With her vision blocked, the sensations she felt on her skin became even more vivid. The movement of his lips sliding from her nape to her chest was too real.

Chloe wrapped her arms around his firm shoulders, her hands having found nowhere else to go. She wanted to see him right in front of her. After all, these moments in bed were almost the only times she could be this close to Andert while living with him.

But Chloe hesitated. In their marriage, she was always the only one pouring out one-sided emotions. She didn’t want to confirm this fact even during their intimate moments.

His moist tongue now entwined and licked her n*pple. It was a warmth that contrasts with the cold hands that had been there moments before. At the same time, the sensation of him rubbing the *rect peak of her other br*ast was added. When her stiff flesh was pressed by his firm fingertips, a tingling pleasure washed over her.

Chloe bit her lower lip slightly as she clenched her teeth against the numbness steadily rising from her toes. Meanwhile, the heaviness pressing against the inside of her thighs grew even harder. Her eyes reddened at the pressure she felt against her skin.

The sensation of his taut manhood rubbing against her thigh was enough to evoke thoughts of what was to come. When he slowly thrust his hips, the thrill of their flesh brushing against each other doubled. Chloe could only breathe heavily at that raw feeling.

“Ah…”

Chloe let out a single moan when his fingers touched her womanhood. Andert spread her reflexively closed knees and positioned himself between them.

The hand touching her sensitive lower region was neither rough nor hasty. That was the kind of man Andert Dietrich was. His emotional detachment, never fully revealing his feelings in any moment, was no exception even in bed.

One finger slid into Chloe, gliding through her moistened womanhood. The sensation of his firm fingertip parting her slick inner walls was persistently obscene. The finger gradually pushed deeper inside. With that movement, her interior, now drenched with *rousal, made wet, squelching sounds.

Chloe opened her eyes that had been tightly shut, overwhelmed by the swirling sensations. It was because she could no longer bear the friction sounds tormenting her ears alone.

Through her blurry, heat-hazed vision, she saw his sharply defined face. Short blonde hair and vivid blue eyes. Even the harmony of his features seemed carved to perfection.

The man who had captured Chloe’s heart at first sight long ago was still dazzling. No, his handsome features seemed to shine even more as time passed.

But his eyes looking at her remained the same then and now. While her vision swam with rising heat, the very cause of her state maintained a cool expressionlessness. It was hard to believe he was the same man messily rubbing and touching her below.

It was a reaction contrary to the heat she felt where their lower bodies met. His lowered eyes showed no particular emotion, and she alone was completely disheveled. She was always the only one panting with unfulfilled desire.

Confirming this unbridgeable gap once again today, Chloe released a hollow sigh.

‘I love you.’

She wanted to confess countless times.

But what meaning would that have? Chloe just stared at the shoulder blocking her view with resigned eyes.

Andert, supporting his weight on his arms, opened her body in an instant. His fully *rect member, which had been bobbing, split Chloe’s body in one thrust. Her green eyes, which had been wavering unsteadily, rippled widely at the heavy fullness suddenly filling her inside.

“Andert.”

Chloe unconsciously whispered and reached out to grasp his arm. Her vision began to swim turbulently as his firm hands gripped her waist.

It wasn’t just her body that was shaking uncontrollably. Her wish to do better, to become someone worthy of him, which she had always tried to maintain, was also being swept away. When he thrust his hips forcefully with a thud, her breath caught, but now she thought perhaps Andert was as excited as she was.

That’s why she wanted to see his face. But the physiological tears welling up kept interfering with that desire. Only after several attempts could Chloe finally see him up close.

Their faces were barely a span apart as he leaned down. His suppressed breathing hitting her ear was hot. A strange light flickered in Andert’s eyes as he took heavy breaths.

It was a fleeting moment that could pass in an instant if one wasn’t careful. Chloe, who had been focusing all her attention on him, didn’t miss that moment. But she already knew it wouldn’t hold any special meaning between them.

Sometimes during these intimate moments, she would catch glimpses of emotions different from his usual self, but that was all. It was probably just a natural reaction born from physical pleasure.

Chloe could only think that.

Everything she knew about relationships and intimacy came from her experiences with her husband, Andert. It was difficult for her to infer or examine anything beyond that.

At that moment, he kissed her roughly. When his familiar scent washed over her, Chloe felt like crying. The kiss was messy, with him biting her lips and sucking her tongue. It was an uncharacteristic wildness that seemed at odds with Andert’s usually pristine and ascetic appearance.

Their tongues tangled chaotically as saliva mixed messily. His tongue rubbed against the softest flesh of her palate and inner cheeks, thoroughly exploring even her neat rows of teeth.

Chloe could barely keep up with him. But in these moments, she felt she could exchange emotions with Andert. She loved the intimacy of their heavy breaths being swallowed by each other.

Her heart crumbled more helplessly from one kiss than when their n*ked bodies joined. Only after her mind was covered in white light while catching her breath did he finally break the kiss. Andert’s head immediately slid down and buried itself in her neckline. Chloe, sensitive around her neck, felt dizzy from his persistent lips and tongue.

Meanwhile, the tingling sensation that had been consuming her body crept up to her chin. He slowly withdrew from the tight passage and suddenly thrust his hips upward.

“Ah!”

Her cry of pleasure seeped into the silence filling the room. It was right after their eyes met briefly that Andert lowered his head.

He grabbed her round white br*asts together and bit them. Then he sucked hard on the sensitive peak that had become aroused from stimulation. The sound of her saliva-slicked skin being rubbed in his mouth leaked out clearly.

Chloe gripped the sheets tightly when stimulation was applied again to an already thoroughly teased area. She didn’t want to appear too excited by herself. It was a pleasure she wanted to ignore if possible. But she was helpless against the heat spreading like a boil in her lower abdomen.

Her lower region tightened snugly in response to the firm pressure kneading her entire br*ast. Then, Andert thrust his hips with a thud. Chloe, who had been writhing, let out intermittent, muffled moans. Her vision flickered on and off.

The waves of desperate pleasure wouldn’t easily subside. Some time had passed like that.

The vigorous thrusting suddenly slowed. An unbearable weight pressed down on Chloe all at once. But she liked that heaviness. She wished the moment when Andert relaxed and leaned his whole body against her would last even a little longer.

That wish proved futile as the afterglow of climax was brief. Andert, who had buried his face in her sweat-dampened neck, soon raised his upper body. After brushing away the disheveled brown hair above Chloe’s forehead, he quickly got up.

“Good night.”

After those brief words, her husband seemed ready to leave the bed without hesitation. Chloe hurriedly pulled up the sheets that had been pushed to one side to cover herself.

“Couldn’t you… stay and sleep here?”

She didn’t know where that courage came from. Chloe weakly grabbed his wrist, which was slick with sweat. She wanted to fall asleep and wake up in the same bed with Andert just once.

But was even that too greedy?

He gently twisted his wrist to free his hand and stood up from the bed. His movements were so composed, it was hard to believe they had just been intimately joined without a thread between them.

“I can’t sleep with someone next to me. Rest well.”

The man immediately averted his gaze, put on the robe draped over the sofa, and left the bedroom. Even after the connecting door to his bedroom closed with a click, Chloe kept staring after him.

She knew. That he wasn’t a man who would let himself be held back by her. That Andert wouldn’t cross that threshold again tonight.

She was used to watching his departing back like this. So there was nothing new about it.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t affect her. Her eyes, having nowhere to rest, eventually turned to the window.

Outside, where frost had formed white borders, harsh winter winds were blowing. The sight of bare branches swaying in the wind was desolate. Like her own situation, drifting like a lonely island in the Dietrich mansion.

Chloe lay on her side, clutching the bedding. Though she wasn’t sleepy at all, she wanted to try to get some sleep. Whoosh, strong winds kept blowing outside the window. Though the tightly closed window frame emitted slight discordant sounds, the cold couldn’t seep inside.

But Chloe pulled the bedding up to her neck against the chill enveloping her body. It was a night when the winter cold seemed to seep into her empty heart.