“But, but from what I heard……”

“What did you hear?”

“The House of Tevant doesn’t usually……”

“You dare tarnish the names of House Tevant and the Duke……”

“……”

“Are you hoping for leniency?”

At that question, the woman’s pupils shook violently. They were eyes that looked like they would make the clear sound of glass marbles if tapped. It was quite enjoyable to look into them.

“Tarnish?”

“Let’s see.”

Elroy leaned against the old wooden wall with a deliberately stern face. The creaking sound from the wall made Annelie flinch.

“Shall we start with spreading false information?”

“What?”

“If you drew someone in such an absurd way, you should take responsibility.”

Seeing the woman’s already large eyes grow even bigger, Elroy held back his laughter. After a moment, a more solemn voice flowed out.

“Defamation.”

“……”

“Who knows? Defamation against a high-ranking noble is quite a serious crime, Miss Heich.”

“Your Grace.”

“It’s a serious crime that could land you in prison right away. When should we start the trial?”

He wondered how she would react when cornered like this. Would she shed tears from those big eyes, or would she grab his hands and try to charm him like when she was being kicked out of the lodging? Though he knew it was somewhat mean-spirited, he couldn’t stop himself.

Elroy straightened up from his leaning position, anticipating the reaction from Annelie Heich, whose already pale face had turned even whiter. Either way, he planned to enjoy her reaction for a while and then, as always, settle it with a light warning.

Still, it seemed better to make her quit this place. If she’s dismissed from the newspaper, she could at least leave this old, moldy room and perhaps go to one of House Tevant’s welfare facilities.

While casually contemplating her punishment, what fell on Elroy’s ears was an unexpected, absurd response.

“What if… what if it’s not false information?”

“What?”

In truth, even Nelie realized what she had blurted out a beat too late. A wave of shock overwhelmed her mind.

‘You’re crazy, Annelie!’

Splash. A dizzyingly high wave struck her head as if in rebuke. But the words she had already spilled out sounded quite bold even to her own ears. It was a statement born from extreme denial of reality.

‘If I get arrested like this…’

She didn’t want to report Jerome. But she also didn’t want to go to prison alone taking all the blame. She had just come of age, and her father was waiting for her back home. She wanted to succeed and return to her father safely.

Having hit rock bottom, there was nowhere lower to go. As soon as that thought occurred, Nelie’s mind raced beyond control.

‘Then… wouldn’t it be fine if it wasn’t a lie?’

Though Nelie didn’t know much about the law, she felt that if she had stated the truth as it was, she might not end up in prison. Whatever it was, it seemed the crime wouldn’t be as severe as making up non-existent things. Her brain processed this thought, traveled down her spine, and resulted in those words from earlier.

“…You’re saying it’s not false information?”

The Duke raised the corner of his mouth, dumbfounded. Like an extension of that unsettling smile he had shown Nelie.

Her intention to try to resolve this by begging shrank helplessly the moment she saw that upturned corner of his mouth. An instinct warned Nelie that taking back her words now would lead to worse consequences.

So despite her trembling voice, Nelie nodded.

“…Yes.”

“……”

“Well, Your Grace is beautiful, so…”

Nelie continued stuttering. With each word she uttered, the corner of the Duke’s mouth rose higher.

“So your body must be good too.”

“And?”

“Na-naturally.”

Nelie answered in a crawling voice with her eyes tightly shut.

“Naturally that too.”

“That too must be as big as an elephant?”

When the Duke responded as if incredulous, Nelie nodded with a bright red face. Though she was just spouting whatever came to mind, even she thought it was truly shameless.

‘When I’m about to be charged with defamation.’

She had nothing to say even if the Duke added insolence to her charges now. However, unexpectedly, the Duke maintained his silence. The corner of his mouth seemed to tremble slightly.

“How can you be so sure, Miss Heich?”

“Pardon?”

“How can you be so sure about that?”

The moment the Duke said that, Nelie’s brain once again produced a reflexive answer without thinking.

“If-if I see it!”

“……”

“If I see it, wouldn’t I know…?”

Feeling the air drastically distort, Nelie tightly shut her eyes again before opening them. Now there truly was no going back. The Duke, wearing an expression of utter disbelief, finally let out a chuckle.

“Can you take responsibility for those words?”

“I-I-I can!”

“Are you sure?”

“Well… yes!”

It’s over.

Even as she claimed to be sure, that thought alone overwhelmed her. Nelie waited for the impending sentence. Now, on top of defamation and insolence, she was about to add blasphemy. How long would she have to rot in prison?

‘Father.’

Just as she was unconsciously biting her lips and mourning her past life…

“Then see it.”

“…Pardon?”

The response was unexpected. Nelie’s lips parted involuntarily.

“I said see it, Miss Heich.”

Saying that, the Duke suddenly loosened his tightly fastened tie and took off his jacket. As he unbuttoned his shirt, the smooth silk flowed down his perfectly sculpted body.

Nelie could only watch the entire scene with her mouth agape without realizing it.

“If you see it and it’s not true…”

“……”

“You already know what happens next.”

Those words, more frightening than any others, fell with a thud onto the floor of the old boarding room. 

 * * *

 …And that’s how they got here.

“Hnngh.”

Nelie gasped for breath with the Duke’s member in her mouth. She clearly hadn’t intended to go this far at first.

When she came to her senses, she had been gaping at the Duke who was slowly undressing in front of her, then at his urging to look properly, she even held his thing, and when told to come closer and look, she had brought her face near it.

And now.

“Ah, ugh.”

Feeling the vivid pillar throbbing in her cramped mouth, Nelie unconsciously swallowed. With that motion, the pillar was sucked in further. The crease between the Duke’s brows deepened slightly. The fingers on the back of her head also applied more pressure.

In a dazed state, Nelie moved her lips carefully to avoid touching it with her teeth. Despite the vivid sensation and the feeling of thick veins brushing against her tongue, it felt strangely unreal.

‘It still feels like a dream.’

She recalled the obscenely vivid dream she had just before the Duke came. How at the end, the Duke had pulled her close saying she needed to take responsibility. How she had unconsciously anticipated what would happen next.

‘Perhaps… really?’

Could this too be an extension of that dream?

Was her guilty conscience about wanting the Duke to be lewd creating such a scene?

Though such thoughts crossed her mind, the sensation of the thing filling her mouth was too vivid to be a dream. It felt like the scorching heat that made her vision blur was traveling down from her palate and throat to her inner organs.

“Mmph.”

As Nelie’s eyes grew hazy, the thick tip scraped against her soft palate as if urging further action. At that movement, Nelie unconsciously stuck out her tongue to lick the base. When she noticeably felt the Duke flinch, another strange pleasure swept through her solar plexus. The floor where she knelt felt like it was rippling like water.

Wet sounds repeatedly echoed in her cave-like mouth. Her flushed cheeks bulged and hollowed repeatedly following the movement of the member.

Plop.

Saliva mixed with clear fluid dripped to the floor from her inexpert tongue movement. Nelie clenched her fist against the Duke’s thigh. Despite having an angelic face like a celestial being descended to earth, the Duke’s muscular thigh was hard as stone. 

 When she scratched the skin of his thigh with her fingernails, his member pushed even further inside. As the Duke’s hand pressed firmly on the back of her head, Nelie let out gasping sounds between her teeth while breathing heavily. She could feel her protruding chest’s peaks rubbing against her knees through the negligee.

‘This is too….’

As she kept swallowing, the veins of the pillar in her mouth became even more pronounced. It seemed to be growing slightly bigger too. Feeling this, an unprecedented courage welled up impulsively.

‘So, so….’

Even if she couldn’t make it like in the illustration, like an elephant, couldn’t she still insist? That it got even bigger from there. Though she had thought such a large thing couldn’t possibly get bigger, wasn’t it actually growing larger?

‘Just a little more.’

“Mmph.”

While Nelie was intensely moving her tongue while dripping saliva, Elroy too was looking down at her with clouded eyes.