“Lady Crawford.”

“Mmm. Mmmmm. Sleepy…”

“Lady Crawford?”

When she didn’t respond to his calls, only mumbling, like she was sleep-talking with her eyes closed, Dominic called her again in a low voice.

“Karina.”

Her eyes opened slowly. But they soon closed again.

A large man was approaching her.

That was the last thing Karina saw before her vision went dark.

And soon, something soft touched her lips.

There was no telling who initiated it. It was a kiss that could be described as combative rather than sweet. Neither of them showed shyness or tried to avoid it.

Wet, erotic sounds of soft tongues intertwining echoed in the carriage. Perhaps because her eyes were closed, the sounds seemed even clearer.

In the rattling carriage, worried he might press his body against Karina’s, Dominic braced himself against the wall with his arm. Karina wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as if begging.

It was an unavoidable natural reaction. For days, thoughts of Karina had been disrupting his daily life. The fabric of Dominic’s pants grew taut.

He knew he should separate their lips now, for his own dignity’s sake. It would be terrible if she were to sober up. Yet Dominic couldn’t stop this act of kissing Karina.

This strange sensation of pleasure mixed with maddening desire was completely foreign to Dominic. He was experiencing the greatest ordeal of his life due to his lower half growing without discretion.

That’s when it happened.

Something unexpected touched an unexpected place.

As if oblivious to Dominic’s predicament, Karina’s hand lightly brushed the front of his pants.

Though it was just a light touch, Dominic’s manhood twitched noticeably. He could feel Karina’s small laugh against his lips.

The carriage stopped. In an awkward atmosphere, they separated their joined lips. But Karina’s arms were still wrapped around his neck.

Before the coachman could open the door, Karina whispered.

Come to my house.

“Would you like to have some cake?”

* * *

Count and Countess Crawford were currently attending a gathering of close acquaintances after the ball. Lucas too was still tied up at the ball, having to keep Her Highness company.

On days like this when all the masters were away, the servants would finish their work early and rest. Only the gatekeeper remained to guard the house through the night.

The carriage left shortly after entering. Therefore, the gatekeeper watched the Winchester family’s carriage leave with indifferent eyes. The carriage seemed oddly lighter, probably because the young lady had gotten out.

However, in reality, there was no one left in that carriage.

“You go home first.”

Confused by the sudden instruction from the second young master who said he needed to stop by the Crawford residence before returning home, the coachman rolled his eyes and asked Dominic.

“Pardon? Young master, what do you mean?”

“Lucas said he’d be home soon. I plan to have another drink with him.”

The coachman nodded then. His eyes turned to the woman in his arms.

“She’s quite drunk. This is better than supporting her.”

An unsolicited explanation came. The coachman quickly nodded while shrinking his neck. A servant’s true duty was to mind only their assigned tasks, not the private lives of their superiors.

“So head back first. I can borrow the Crawford family’s carriage.”

“Understood, young master. I’ll relay that to the butler.”

The coachman hurriedly drove the carriage back to the Winchester residence. When the carriage was sufficiently far away, Karina, who had been pretending to sleep, slightly opened her eyes.

“Liar.”

“…The drunk should stay quiet.”

“Yes, sir.”

The alcohol scent wafted sharply whenever she giggled. Dominic walked while carrying Karina in his arms.

Whether ‘having cake’ was some social code or whatever, he wasn’t sure. Sometimes things other than words speak more volumes. Dominic could feel in his skin that she was clearly seducing him.

And he was too weak a man to resist Karina’s seduction.

Happy to be in Dominic’s arms, Karina sang. Though Dominic worried the butler or head maid might hear and come out, Karina found his tense appearance amusing and laughed out loud.

“Be quiet. Are you trying to wake everyone in the house?”

“So even the Brigadier General gets nervous? Don’t worry. All our household servants return to the annex to rest at night.”

Though there were a couple of maids on night duty, they were all heavy sleepers who rarely woke up, Karina explained and laughed again. What was so funny? This bright side of her that she never showed when meeting him was new and more stimulating.

Dominic’s steps quickened.

Taking two steps at a time, Dominic soon reached Karina’s room. She kicked her feet, asking to be put down in front of her door. She looked at Dominic with drowsy eyes.

“Want to come in?”

“After calling me all the way here, were you planning to just send me away?”

Feeling somewhat teased, Dominic spoke gruffly.

“You’re the one who said to come have cake.”

“Actually, it’s not cake but ramyeon…”

“Ramyeon? What’s that? Is it some new dessert trending among ladies?”

“Hehe. You don’t need to know.”

Karina grinned as she opened the door.

“Brigadier General?”

Her eyes curved prettily. Her plump lips moved as she spoke.

“Count to twenty before coming in.”

“What do you mean?”

He genuinely asked, not understanding. And Dominic heard an answer that made his heart feel like it would burst.

“I need time to undress.”

* * *

Dominic counted to twenty twice. The first time seemed too fast. Though she said count to twenty, it felt like it took less than 5 seconds. So he counted twice.

Thump thump thump thump.

His heart was beating insanely fast. Even when running ten laps around the Naval Headquarters training ground, his heart hadn’t felt like it would burst like this.

Dominic grabbed the handle with nervous hands and turned it. With a creaking sound, the door opened. He slowly stepped into the room.

However, the atmosphere in the room was very different from what Dominic had expected.

Dominic ran his hand through his hair irritably.

“I need time to undress?”

Feeling wronged, he repeated Karina’s words.

Far from undressing, she had fallen asleep on the bed without even taking off her shoes. He asked,

“If this is a joke, it’s not funny.”

But there was no answer. Hearing her steady, peaceful breathing, Dominic felt deflated.

“Playing with people like this…”

Dominic slowly sat on the bed. It was to remove her high heels. After placing the shoes neatly under the bed, Dominic knew it was time to leave.

Yet he couldn’t get up from his spot. More precisely, he couldn’t take his eyes off Karina’s defenseless sleeping form.

The dress was too revealing. Since it was a strapless design, lying down naturally caused her br*asts to spread sideways, creating a gap.

Looking at a sleeping woman with such eyes. Though he felt like garbage, he simply couldn’t look away.

If she slept like this, she would surely catch a cold. The night was still chilly to sleep in such revealing clothes. But unable to wake Karina who had fallen asleep on top of the covers, he returned with a blanket from the sofa.

Just cover her with the blanket and leave now.

Thinking this, when Dominic was about to cover Karina’s body with the well-spread blanket…

“Mmm…”

Karina mumbled, seemingly waking from light sleep.

“Cold…”

“First cold, then hot. If you’re awake, get under the covers properly. You’ll catch a cold like that.”

“I’m cold…”

“Hah. I said get under the covers.”

“But I’m coooold.”

At her whining voice, Dominic reluctantly approached her side. Though knowing he didn’t need to respond to every request from Karina about blankets, his body moved first.

“Lift your body a bit. I’ll cover you with the blanket.”

But at that moment, Karina grabbed Dominic’s coat lapel and pulled hard. With his center of gravity shifted forward, Dominic nearly fell on top of Karina but managed to fall onto the bed beside her.

“What are you doing!”

But it was too early to get angry.

If he was going to get angry, he should have been more angry at Karina’s actions as she climbed on top of his fallen body.

Dominic froze, unable to say anything to the woman who brazenly straddled him with her legs spread wide. Finding his expression amusing, Karina giggled.

“Do you know how funny your expression is?”

“Wait, Lady Crawford. This…”

“Hmm, hmm. Hmm.”

As if she couldn’t hear Dominic’s words, Karina opened his coat to the side and slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. With each button undone, his firm abs and chest muscles began to be exposed.

“Making someone troubled about touching br*asts.”

“Wait, wait please. Lady Crawford.”

“I said they were quite nice.”

As Karina leaned forward, her upper chest came clearly into view and Dominic hurriedly looked away. Something warm and moist touched his chest.

It was her lips. With soft pecking sounds like a bird picking at feed, Karina’s kisses on his chest caused his lower half to begin swelling tautly again.