She had been so small back then. When did she grow up like that?

After her fiance, the crown prince, died and she was kept in Grofen, the one person in the palace who had looked after her was the third prince, Oscar. The little prince who used to climb over the wall of the detached palace to come find her.

The ladies-in-waiting of the detached palace, who had been accustomed to palace life, treated young Adeline coldly now that she had become an awkward outcast.

〈They dare not even feed you properly?〉

Oscar, two years her junior, visited her from time to time, looked after her, and kept her company, and so she barely managed to endure those painful years. Oscar was, in that sense, Adeline’s benefactor.

〈I plan to remain in Varsen for the next two years. So I expect we will have the chance to meet again before long. Please take care on your way home.〉

Adeline recalled the polite farewell he had left her with, so different from the little Oscar she remembered, and let out a quiet laugh. She pressed her cheek against the cold glass window to cool herself down.

It was hot.

Not much had been said between them, but talking properly with a familiar face after so long seemed to have lifted the suffocating weight she had been carrying.

Just then, a voice sharp as a blade cut through the peaceful quiet. Or perhaps she had been the only one who found it peaceful.

“It seems you had quite a wonderful time on this rare outing.”

Like a puppy with spring fever.

Kailen caught a glimpse of Adeline smiling to herself and his lips twisted. At the unmistakable sneer, Adeline felt her mood sink again.

“Yes, I got to meet an old friend.”

“An old friend… You have so many old friends. Just the ones I know of alone… Well, it is not only friends you have in abundance. You had even more fiances.”

“…Those were engagements I never once wanted.”

“Of course not. How could you have wanted to be engaged to that many men.”

“…”

“Still, it seems the prince of Grofen was quite to your liking. You looked absolutely delighted.”

“What… you know full well what my situation was, how can you say something like that. And Oscar was never my fiance. He really is just a friend.”

“Fine, let us say he really is just a friend, like you say. Then you should have managed your expression better.”

“…”

“How many eyes were on you. And with reporters there too, did you want to get photographed like that, smiling away so freely?”

“Kailen!”

How could you say that to me… You, of all people, who never said a single word about Eva Lorenz to the very end…

Adeline had cried out in humiliation, then exhaled sharply. It had belatedly dawned on her that the driver and the attending secretary were there, unable to breathe under the tension between the two of them.

“I, I’m sorry for suddenly raising my voice. Let’s talk more when we get home.”

“Stop the car.”

Kailen murmured darkly without taking his eyes off Adeline. The startled driver turned the wheel, and the moving car came to a stop at the side of the road.

“Get out.”

At his command, the driver and secretary quietly opened the door and stepped out. The feeling was like being doused with cold water all at once, and Adeline felt a sudden stab of fear.

“Why are you stopping the car. It is late already. Let’s just go home and talk.”

But the driver and secretary turned away from Adeline, who trembled with fear. Thud. The sound of the car door closing felt ominous. Sure enough, a large hand reached toward her moments later.

“Kaile… mmph!”

He grabbed the back of her head and pressed his lips against hers roughly.

His tongue invaded without warning and ransacked the inside of her mouth. She could feel his tongue, pushed deep to the back of her throat, forcing her own saliva back into her. The strength in his hand as he wielded that brutal tongue pinned her completely. Not long ago, his kisses had been nothing short of intoxicating, but right now this felt deeply wrong.

“St, stop…”

Her small fist struck and pushed at his shoulder. For Adeline, it was quite a fierce resistance.

How much more does he intend to humiliate me?

Adeline resisted with everything she had. Her face burned so hot it felt ready to burst.

What does he think of me?

To treat me like something so worthless…

At the very least, she did not want to be physically close to him right now. When they were alone together, she could steel herself and accept it, because she loved him and he was her husband.

But the knowledge that the driver and secretary were nearby only deepened her aversion to Kailen. She did not want them, standing outside, to catch any glimpse of this shameful scene unfolding inside the car.

“Mmph!”

She only wanted to make Kailen stop. In that moment, that was the only thought in her head.

But when her scattered senses came back to her, she found herself biting down on his lip without even realizing it.

“Ah!”

Adeline startled and released his lip, jerking her head back in a panic. But she could not get far from the hand gripping the back of her neck and the base of her skull.

“…I, I clearly.”

The taste of blood on the tip of her tongue made Adeline’s face contort. The tip of her tongue trembled. Yet Kailen, the one who had been bitten, laughed without a sound.

“…I, I said stop. Why do you ignore what I say…”

Kailen dragged his thumb across his lip, looked at the smear of blood it left behind, and let out something like a hollow laugh.

“Interesting.”

Then he grabbed both her hands together, pushed them up above her head, and shoved her back. Thud. Adeline’s back fell backward.

“Wh, what are you… what are you trying to do right now?”

“Looks like you already know what I am trying to do.”

Kailen pulled out his necktie, and his long, narrow eyes curved.

Ah…

She would have been less frightened if he had raised his voice. But he remained composed throughout, and not knowing what lurked beneath that composure made her feel cold all over.

“Don’t. I don’t want this! Kailen. No. Not here.”

Adeline had gone white as a sheet and tried to twist her waist free, but it was already too late. He bound her hands with the necktie and flipped her over in an instant. The low voice that scraped down her throat was sincere, and that made it all the more devastating.

“Not here? Why?”

His hand moved naturally, lifting her skirt, pulling down her undergarments, and spreading apart her pale white hips.

“Th, there are people outside. Let’s just go home and do this. Don’t do this… this is really not the place.”

Old friend? What a joke.

Were those the eyes of someone looking at an old friend? The two of them were practically dripping with lingering feelings for each other.

Kailen’s eyes blazed as he looked down at her trembling hips and slender waist.

“Then outside the car is fine?”

“You’re cra… you are truly out of your mind.”

“The night breeze should be quite cool.”

In his heart, he had wanted to bend her over right there at the table where Oscar sat and take her. He wanted to drive himself into her to the hilt and make Adeline understand clearly who she was beneath right now, and under whose protection she was living.

Kailen grabbed the door handle right in front of Adeline’s face as she lay bent over. Adeline’s green eyes, fixed on the prominent veins on the back of his hand gripping that handle, filled with clear tears. The fear that he might actually open that car door blurred her vision.

“Don’t… hngh… don’t, don’t open it…”

“Of course not, madam.”

Kailen let go of the car door and undid his trousers, and his already *rect c*ck sprang free. He pressed the head against her slit and ground it against her cl*t. Adeline swallowed the m*an that leapt to her throat, and her hips jerked sharply.

“Hng…”

The place he had trained now grew slick and ready with nothing more than friction. Her body knew the familiar sensation and trembled as it chased the pleasure on its own. He seemed to know it too, and only continued to work between her folds, grinding and parting them.

“It is a shame about the breeze, a little. I almost wish I had just taken you in front of that bastard earlier. It is not like your body picks and chooses locations anymore anyway.”

“…You are insane. You are truly not in your right mind.”

She condemned him with a look of utter disgust, but the knowledge that the slick heat flowing from between her legs was soaking his c*ck made it all the more unbearable. The sensation of his c*ck, veins flushed red, sliding against her parted flesh with that wet friction made her skin crawl.

Adeline, trembling all over, turned her head and looked at him. Sure enough, he was toying with her on purpose. He scoffed, and his lips curled up for all to see.

From Kailen’s perspective, the only reason he had not lifted Adeline’s skirt right there at the venue was because his self-restraint was extraordinary.

“You are the one who is out of her mind. Not even knowing how the world sees you, doing things that give people something to hold over you. Is that not right?”

Adeline forced down the grief that had risen all the way to her throat and parted her lips.

“…I have nothing to be ashamed of. No matter what others think of me. And… I don’t know about you. But I, in that regard, am completely without sha… ah!”

Adeline could not finish. His merciless c*ck pushed through her slick folds and drove itself inside her.