“Mm… hah…”

God, it felt like a spear had been driven into her. Taking in his massive c*ck while seated made the feeling of fullness unbearable. She hung from his neck, gasping, and once she felt she had adjusted somewhat to the sheer volume of him, she lifted her hips slightly and lowered them again.

“Hah… move.”

D*mn it. A low curse slipped from his lips. Adeline, who had flinched, wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and began to rock her hips.

But that faint movement did not last long. Driven mad by the clumsy penetration, Kailen grabbed her trembling hips on both sides, spread them apart, and drove her down with a sharp, wet sound.

“Ah!”

The depth of the penetration, made worse by her own weight, sent her head spinning. Adeline, whimpering and moaning, buried her face in his shoulder. 

When his c*ck grazed a spot deep inside her that it should never have reached, a terrifying surge of pleasure crashed through her. It felt like lightning had struck directly above her head. He, too, let out a sharp breath as he thr*st upward again and again.

“Hngh… mm. Ahh.”

After that, she could only be tossed about as he pounded into her relentlessly. The wet, slapping sounds were mortifying. Every time he dragged against her inner walls and pulled back, she could feel the rush of slick heat flooding out from below. 

He buried himself deep and grabbed her waist, rocking her back and forth. Her body pitched forward, and her swollen cl*t ground down against him, sending flashes of white across her vision.

I can’t take it. I can’t handle this. It feels so good, but it’s terrifying. She had completely lost control of herself.

“Ahh… mm. Stop, ah!”

The relentless pleasure made her inner walls clench and flutter. He seemed to feel the tightening around him too, because his expression twisted. 

Kailen had been driving his hips upward in a frenzy, focused entirely on the movement of his waist, but he could no longer hold back. He buried himself as deep as he could go and spilled inside her. A long, heated groan tore from his throat.

“Hah…”

He closed his eyes in a languid daze and tilted his head back.

Adeline, too, went limp in his arms after the waves of cl*max that had crashed through her. She still held him inside her.

The sound of his heartbeat through his thin shirt gave her a sense of calm. She wanted to fall asleep just like this. She had been slowly letting her eyes drift shut when it happened.

“Ka, Kailen.”

He scooped her up, supporting her hips, and walked toward the study door.

“W, wait, hic, ah!”

How long had it been since he finished? She could feel him swelling inside her again. As the fullness grew, she gripped his shoulders tight.

“Already trying to run away?”

“No… ugh. Ah, let, let me walk. What if someone sees us.”

“Shh, then you’ll have to stay quiet so we don’t get caught.”

Creak. The study door swung open, and Adeline, horrified, smacked his shoulder.

She could not bring herself to ask him to put her down. All she could do was pray that the corridor leading to the bedroom was empty.

He strolled down the hallway, kneading her trembling hips that still held him inside her, looking so utterly unbothered, so completely at ease, that Adeline felt her own mind starting to unravel right along with his.

* * *

After the Eva Lorenz incident, an invisible wall had settled between Kailen and Adeline. But after the night Adeline clung to him, desperate for his affection, warm words began to pass between them again.

When they had the time, they shared breakfast, lay in the same bed, called each other by name. Sometimes they exchanged idle, pointless small talk.

It seemed like the subtle, simmering resentment between them had finally dissolved. Or so it had seemed, right up until the night before last.

Kailen ran his fingers through a handful of Adeline’s curling golden hair, twisting and untwisting it idly. Adeline lay on top of him, using his firm chest as a pillow, and parted her lips. She traced his collarbone with her index finger.

“Kailen.”

“Mm.”

The languid satisfaction of a good night together made Kailen’s eyes droop at a lazy angle.

“Actually, your mother told me… that she isn’t your birth mother.”

“I see.”

She had not looked at his face, but his slow, low voice was calm. That steadiness pushed away the last of her hesitation.

“Right, she also told me your birth mother’s name.”

“I see.”

“But she didn’t tell me anything beyond that. I didn’t ask, either… I thought that if I were to hear more, it should come from you…”

“And so?”

“…”

“And so what is it you want to hear?”

The fingers that had been toying with her hair went still. Even without any particular inflection, his tone had an edge to it. She could feel that he was displeased, and so Adeline forced herself to take back the words she had let slip.

“No, I just wanted to say it. I know, and it didn’t feel right to pretend I didn’t…”

Her voice trailed off, and she gave an awkward smile. But she could not bring herself to lift her head. She had no idea what expression she was making right now, and she had no confidence to check what expression he was wearing either.

“…”

Kailen, too, pressed his lips together, as though he wanted this conversation to go no further.

Conversations that no longer flowed the way they once had, the small gaps left behind by little awkward moments, and the nights that passed by without filling those gaps. Time drifted on like that for a while.

Adeline wanted to shake off the heaviness that had settled over her, even if she had to force it. So she took short, light walks often, and wrote letters to Mrs. Neumann, Anton, and old friends.

But Kailen remained in low spirits. He had never been a warm person to begin with, but lately he had grown even more distant. He spoke less, and instead spent long stretches of time with his gaze fixed somewhere still, as though lost in thought. And Adeline often froze when she found herself at the end of that gaze.

She had been fretting, trying everything she could think of, but nothing seemed to bring things back to the way they were. Then, out of nowhere, he told her to cut back on going out. The surface reason was simple.

〈The atmosphere in the city isn’t good.〉

Kailen said this, and glanced out the window. After pamphlets flooded the plaza, rumors spread, and a bomb went off at a government building, the mood in Varsen had changed completely from what it once was.

Adeline already knew that newspapers and gossip rags full of sensational headlines were pouring out day after day. She knew, too, that public sentiment toward the current royal family was not good. 

The bombing, which had caused devastating damage, broke her heart. It was a horrifying thing that must never happen again, and the thought made her chest tighten. But separately, the flood of criticism directed at the royal family gave her a quiet, private sense of satisfaction.

Ever since the memory resurfaced, the one connecting her father’s death to her uncle, she had been having nightmares, and her contempt for the king ran just as deep.

That was why she always felt a prickling discomfort whenever she came face to face with Alisha and Ann, the two women the king had sent. Of course, they were only doing as their superior commanded, and she knew in her head that they bore no guilt. But the aversion never went away.

Adeline had been mulling over what to do about it when, about a week ago, the two women were recalled to the main palace due to a reshuffling of personnel at Belmor Palace.

It was at least some comfort that the suffocating surveillance was gone. So Adeline had asked Tanya to bring her some of the newspapers and tabloids that had been circulating lately.

She had spread out the pile of magazines and newspapers Tanya brought and was trying to get a rough sense of what was going on, but before she could get through even half of them, Kailen swept them all away.

His cold remark, that someone who kept complaining of headaches clearly had no sense, landed with a particularly bitter sting.

Then one day, an invitation arrived for Kailen from the mayor of Varsen.

We would like to welcome distinguished guests to our newly renovated city hall and speak about the future of Varsen.

The enclosed guest list named diplomats from various countries residing in Varsen, along with newly appointed ambassadors. Every name on it was someone of considerable standing.

And among them, Kailen spotted a familiar name.

Oscar of Grofen.

The younger brother of Adeline’s first fiance, the former crown prince of Grofen, who had died. After his brother’s death, Oscar had nearly become Adeline’s fiance in his place.

In the end, that engagement was never made official, but talk of it had circulated publicly, and that was a fact.

There was also something he had heard at some point. That Adeline had been closer to Oscar, the younger brother, than to the deceased crown prince she had been engaged to.

Kailen skimmed the list without so much as raising an eyebrow, then folded the paper. He spoke briefly.

“Come with me this time. You could use the change of scenery.”

“Yes… alright.”

When Adeline answered, he gave a quiet smile. The blue eyes within those unhurried, curving lids struck her as oddly out of place. It was not the look of someone simply extending an invitation. It was the look of someone trying to confirm something.