Her back hit the wall with a heavy thud.

Perhaps that was when it all began.

She took a step back. Then another.

She kept retreating, trying to escape the person who was steadily advancing towards her, until she could not move any further.

Until she realized there was nowhere left to run.

And then—

“Wait…”

A cold breeze brushed against Martiana’s bare shoulder where her nightgown had slipped down.

Martiana glanced behind her, then slowly turned around again, her unease evident on her face. A shiver ran through her, chilling her to the bone, yet the man standing before her seemed to radiate heat.

His crimson eyes locked onto hers.

His breath was ragged and feverish.

“Haah.”

His body pressed so tightly against hers that not even a sliver of space remained between them.

“Martiana.”

“Wait, Siliar. Just—wait.”

Martiana gasped at the sound of his voice beside her. Her attempts to calm him were urgent and echoed through the vast room.

“Wa—hngh, wait. Just a moment.”

Martiana shook her head and grabbed her husband, Siliar, by the shoulders. She pushed him away with all her might, but to no avail.

It felt as though she were pressing against a solid wall. Their skin was pressed together so tightly that it almost hurt, and she wriggled beneath him.

“Don’t do this. This is—ah!”

She tried to push him away. But his hot breath had already begun to caress the nape of her neck. His lips trailed downwards over the loosened fabric of her gown, across her bare shoulder and arm.

Press. Press.

Wherever he touched her, heat flared and crimson marks bloomed, as though he were claiming her as his own.

His lips slipped into the open neckline of her gown.

His tongue traced the curve of her collarbone before sliding lower.

“Haah.”

When his wandering mouth finally found its destination, a low groan escaped him. As though he had waited far too long for this moment, his movements became urgent. He bit down on her br*ast, not gently. His tongue circled and drew her in, while his other hand gripped her firmly to hold her in place.

“Ah—! No…!”

Martiana jerked in response as his hands moved over her body. Although she tried to resist verbally, the unfamiliar sensation slowly unfolding within her was deeply unsettling.

A sharp shiver raced down her spine. Without realizing it, she arched against the wall behind her, her fingers scrambling for something to hold onto. It had been a long time since she had experienced such intense stimulation, and her body responded of its own accord, twisting despite her will.

The hand gliding up her thigh only heightened the sensation, the fingers pressing into her soft flesh as they climbed steadily higher.

Desperately trying to create distance between them, Martiana pushed her husband away more forcefully than before.

“No. No.”

Of course, it was useless once more. She shook her head and pleaded, but her words were easily dismissed.

Instead, a pair of long, thick fingers slithered between her legs like a serpent.

“What isn’t allowed?”

Siliar raised his gaze from her br*asts and looked up at Martiana.

Unfulfilled desire burned openly in his blood-red eyes.

Unfiltered desire.

Raw.

Instinct itself.

This was not something that could be restrained by mere protest. He would not retreat until he had what he wanted.

Seeing that resolve clearly reflected in his eyes, Martiana trembled.

“Don’t do this. We—we shouldn’t be like this.”

Nevertheless, she pushed him away again. In his arms, her resolve to resist wavered. But it faltered further when he touched her backside.

“Ah!”

“Shouldn’t?”

Kneading her soft flesh, Siliar raised his head. His free hand reached for the lips that kept voicing opposition.

“Mm—”

Martiana turned her head away. But the moment she avoided his gaze, a hand seized her chin and forced her back.

“Why shouldn’t we?”

Silar held her small chin between his thumb and middle finger, tracing her lips with his index finger. From her soft upper lip to her full lower lip.

His finger, which had lazily caressed her flushed skin, slipped inside her mouth.

“Mm—”

Thick fingers parted her teeth and explored along the line of them. Sticky saliva clung and trailed down his finger.

“Mm—stop.”

Martiana shook her head.

“We’re—!”

“Ah, right.”

Siliar withdrew his finger, one brow lifting slightly—as though to say he would refrain from what she disliked.

But—

“We’re in the middle of a divorce cooling-off period.”

That did not mean his other hand stopped.

“We’re still married.”

If one hand was withdrawn, the other had to take its place. The fingers that had been circling her thighs now slipped beneath her underwear.

“Ah—!”

He gently rolled over the swollen bud, then pressed deeper, invading the tender flesh. His touch moved without hesitation from the entrance inward.

It felt natural, as if he already knew exactly where his wife wanted him and how she wanted him to thr*st and search.

“Hah—ah, ah—!”

Martiana threw her head back and clung to Siliar. The sensation burrowing inside her made standing impossible without holding on to something — anything.

This was unfamiliar.

It was a feeling she had forgotten over the past five years.

No — she had believed she had forgotten it. She had not expected the heat to surge through her body so quickly.

“Ah—!”

Her hips had already jerked several times. She could even hear the slick sound of warmth pooling below.

“You want it.”

As he slipped another finger inside her, Siliar murmured against her skin.

His low, breathy voice brushed against her ear as he licked it, and Martiana trembled. It was his roughened voice more than his fingers moving within her that stirred her.

“Say you want it.”

When she lifted her head, she saw his face. His eyes were filled entirely with her, and they revealed nothing but desire.

This was supplication rather than coercion. Although he moved as he pleased, disregarding her protests, there was an underlying note of pleading.

“Mm—ah! Hngh!”

“Please, Martiana.”

The thrusting inside her quickened. Driven by urgency, he continued, and Martiana bit down on her lip.

She tried to endure it. She repeatedly shook her head, clinging to the thought that it couldn’t go any further.

“No, we can’t. We shouldn’t—”

“Haa—!”

Yet, although her heart resisted, her body betrayed her. Her husband knew her weaknesses all too well. It was as though he had never forgotten them in the past five years.

With practiced familiarity, he added another finger to the slick, soaked heat within her.

“Ah—!”

The way he scraped inside her—

“Hngh—ah!”

The force of his movements caused her body to tilt. She could barely stand on her own, her waist bending helplessly beneath him.

The only thing she could do was lean against Siliar’s shoulders and grip his collar tightly.

“Haa—hah.”

Soft m*ans escaped her lips as she trembled. The obscene, wet sounds coming from below, coupled with her desperate pleas, aroused him immediately.

“Ha—d*mn it.”

Siliar swallowed, cursing under his breath. His thick tongue invaded her mouth mercilessly. Releasing all the desire he had kept hidden, he devoured her, sucking and searching.

“Mm—”

Martiana swallowed and took a strained breath amid his rough movements. The only sounds in the room were their ragged breathing and the faint, wet sound of their lips meeting.

At some point, she started moving against him, winding her tongue around his without thinking.

Her body was already prepared to receive him. A heat spread across her skin, her breath trembling as she exhaled. She felt her hips lift subtly, seeking him out. At this rate, she could have taken him inside her at any moment.

He wanted that too.

However, instead of going any further, Siliar pulled back just enough to free himself, pressing against her thigh and rubbing it without going any further.

“Martiana.”

He was waiting. Until his wife granted the final permission.

“Please, Mari… haah.”

The hardness that had been pressing against her thigh moved between her legs, replacing his fingers. Through the parted fabric of her underwear, flesh met flesh.

She was drenched, wetter than she could ever remember being. It had been such a long time since they had touched like this.

“Kh—”

His breathing grew strained, reaching its limit.

“Let me put it in.”

A plea.

“Ah—hngh…”

As his p*nis brushed against her entrance, she felt the sensitive bud between her thighs press tightly against him.

Martiana buried her face in his shoulder as her thoughts scattered in all directions.

“This isn’t right. We shouldn’t cross this line.”

They were husband and wife, but their five-year marriage had not been a happy one.

That was why they had decided to divorce. He had agreed. Though neither of them could fully accept it, they chose to take some time apart to cool down.

When that time was over, they were supposed to part ways cleanly. If they went any further now, it would only make things harder for them both.

What would rekindling something like this lead to?

“Ah! Siliar—Siliar!”

Martiana shook her head and called his name. Overwhelmed by desperation, she was unable to decide what to do.

The heated ache between her thighs yearned for him relentlessly.

It aches here. Fill me.

She knew it herself. Her hips kept lifting, pressing her against him. Yet her head continued to shake from side to side.

She didn’t even know what she was trying to do.

“Please.”

Siliar pleaded once more. He wrapped his hand around himself and pressed firmly against her, seemingly unaware of how maddening his restraint was.

After five long years, her body was already welcoming its rightful owner back.

Martiana squeezed her eyes shut.

In truth, she had no real choice. She could end this now and be left with nothing but aching frustration, or she could accept him.

Had she been capable of thinking clearly, she might have chosen the former.

But instinct drowned out reason. No other option crossed her mind. Martiana wanted Siliar, and Siliar wanted Martiana. In that moment, that was the only truth that mattered.

At last, she nodded slightly.

No spoken words could have conveyed her consent more firmly.

“Mari.”

“Ah—!”

As though he had been waiting for that one sign, Siliar thr*st into her. Martiana gasped, her voice breaking as she took him in.

She quickly wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck, kissed him and clung to him as a surge of pleasure coursed through her body, scattering the last of her tangled thoughts.

‘I don’t care anymore.’

Not about how she had tried to leave him.

Not about how she had been prepared to give everything up and walk away from their marriage.

***

“Divorce him.”

It had all begun with that single sentence.