Chapter 8. The Pure Love of a Tamed Dog

She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It had been quite a while since she’d checked the time.

At first, she thought escaping to a resort to avoid Dominic would be somewhat refreshing. However, as the day of the ball approached, Karina’s mood was becoming worse.

She’d grown tired of eating and resting, so today she just lay in bed all day staring blankly at the ceiling. The ceiling was white like a canvas. Dominic’s image flickered on the rectangular ceiling.

“Maybe I should have just gone through with it without knowing.”

He said he would take responsibility, maybe I should have just pretended not to know anything and done what Dominic wanted.

No.

That would only make everyone unhappy.

Either way, it gave her a headache.

She hated seeing Dominic smiling happily by Olivia’s side.

And watching him live unhappily regretting his marriage to her for life was also something she couldn’t do.

“I shouldn’t have accepted such a proposal in the first place.”

Regret washed over her, but it was too late.

Why was time moving so slowly? The sun was still high in the sky. By her rough calculation, only about 5 days had passed since she came here. There were still two days left until the ball.

“Maybe I should just drink.”

Karina got up, thinking that if she got drunk and fell asleep, time might pass better. The lodging had a bell rope installed so that staff could be called when needed. Just as Karina was about to pull the rope to order strong alcohol.

“Lady Crawford. This is the manager. May I come in?”

The manager’s voice came along with a knock. Surprised, Karina’s eyes widened. For such a luxury hotel, were they coming to ask if she needed anything before she even spoke?

‘If they can bring what I need, I need something other than alcohol.’

Karina smiled bitterly while trying to forget the image of Dominic that wouldn’t leave her mind.

After tidying her clothes, Karina opened the door. The manager greeted her with a bright smile.

“Have you been resting well?”

“Ah. Perfect timing. I was just about to ask for some alcohol.”

“Alcohol, you say? Yes. Understood. I’ll prepare it with glasses. We have a special course prepared at our hotel, and I’m very happy to be able to present it to you, my lady.”

“Course? No, I just need alcohol.”

“Please don’t say such disappointing things. As someone hoping for both of you to visit again, I really want to serve you properly. Then I’ll go prepare the alcohol. Have a good time.”

“W-wait. Both of us? What do you mean?”

The manager stepped aside. The man who had been hidden behind him finally came into Karina’s view.

At that moment, Karina forgot to breathe. Like someone doubting her own eyes, Karina froze, unable to even blink her wide eyes, but Dominic, completely unfazed, grabbed her shoulder.

“I told you I’d arrive around today, but it seems you forgot the date, Karina.”

With a completely unsmiling face, Dominic exhaled dryly.

“Let’s talk inside first.”

Before closing the door, Dominic instructed the manager.

“Leave the alcohol at the entrance and just go. I don’t want our time together interrupted.”

The door closed before the manager could even nod. He clicked his tongue. He’d heard Winchester was a gentle gentleman, but the Brigadier General’s intimidating presence was much more than he’d imagined.

‘He’s quite different from the rumors…’

Well, what did it matter? The important thing was that these two were the hotel’s first guests. This was clearly good fortune for the hotel. The manager walked away from the lodging humming a tune.

* * *

The door closed. Karina, who had been dazed by the situation that unfolded without giving her time to react, finally came to her senses.

Dominic stood with his back to Karina while locking the door. However, even from his back view alone, Karina could tell how angry he was. The completely frozen atmosphere was intimidating.

The face that turned toward her was neat as in her imagination. However, the face that would normally hold a gentle smile showed no expression to a chilling degree.

She thought his personality wasn’t rough enough for a soldier, but she realized that was her misconception. An angry Dominic Winchester was quite, no, very frightening.

“What are you doing here?”

Unable to show that she was scared, Karina tensed her legs firmly. If she didn’t, she felt she might collapse. Fortunately, her voice didn’t shake. His face grew colder at her tone that was almost no different from usual.

“You ask what I’m doing here? I came to find you, Karina Crawford.”

“But why did you…”

No, this wasn’t the time for such words. Karina stole a glance at the clock. Why was time moving so fast now when it had been crawling by so tediously before?

“Didn’t you hear I ran away? Wouldn’t I return on my own when the time comes? Don’t interrupt my vacation and just go back now. With Olivia, the ball…”

She was about to say ‘don’t you need to attend,’ when Dominic’s composed expression suddenly crumpled.

“Damn it. Can you stop talking about Olivia for once!”

Startled by his angry shout, Karina shut her mouth. As if the firm mask from earlier had been a mirage, intense anger that could be called madness glinted in Dominic’s eyes. Karina unconsciously stepped back.

“Why.”

“W-what?”

“Do you not need me anymore now? Or have you grown tired of me?”

Karina couldn’t answer Dominic’s words as he ran his hand through his hair.

“It was just one night, isn’t it too early for you to be tired already?”

Dominic approached Karina one step at a time. Each time, Karina retreated step by step. After backing away one step, two steps like that, Karina’s back finally hit the wall. With nowhere left to escape, Karina tried to stop Dominic with an urgent voice.

“W-wait. Dominic.”

Please calm down, okay?

But despite Karina’s attempts to stop him, Dominic showed no signs of calming down.

“Karina Crawford. Didn’t you say with your own mouth that you were a breeder?”

An ominous voice echoed in the room. With his back to the window, his eyes gleamed dangerously like a beast’s in his darkened face.

“Even if I was a puppy you were raising with the intention of giving away to others, this isn’t right.”

His low voice that seemed to growl pressed against her. Before she knew it, he had narrowed the distance between them to barely enough to fit a fist. Dominic swallowed hard and stared intently at Karina’s lips as she looked up at him.

Unlike his rough gaze, the touch of his thumb tracing her lips was gentle.

“If we agreed to proper training, you shouldn’t have crossed the line. If you crossed the line, you should take responsibility until the end. Don’t you think so?”

Karina tried to tell her story as Dominic’s speech suddenly returned to formal language.

Yes. That’s why I tried to take proper responsibility. How many times had she told him? About how he could be with Olivia.

Of course, crossing the line was her fault, but marriage was an unreasonable demand that couldn’t be accepted from the start.

She wanted to demand what other choice she had besides running away from someone who only made demands without any intention of listening to others, but Karina ultimately couldn’t protest.

Dominic trapped her between his body and the wall with no escape. A shadow fell over Karina’s head like a roof had formed.

Before she could grasp what was happening, something touched her lips. It was a sensation familiar to her.

Karina pushed against his body at the fierce kiss that wouldn’t let go until she was breathless. But Dominic didn’t budge at all. Dominic’s voice came again to Karina who was gasping for breath.

“Let me tell you in advance, I have no intention of letting you go.”

“W-wait, let’s talk about this…”

“Talk? I think we’ve talked plenty already. You’re the one who ran away first and made me lose my mind. I don’t think we need any more conversation.”

Along with the words that no more conversation was needed, Karina’s body was lifted up. To the screaming Karina, Dominic warned sternly.

“You’ll get hurt if you fall. Stay still.”

With Karina slung over his shoulder, Dominic headed to the bedroom. He put her down on the bed that was large enough for four people to lie down. There was a large window facing the lake. The room was unnecessarily bright with sufficient sunlight reflected off the lake coming in.

“You’re just too angry right now, okay? Wait. Just wait and cool your head a bit.”

“If you knew I’d be angry, you shouldn’t have run away.”

Saying that, Dominic slowly undressed. One by one, clothes fell to the floor. Seeing Dominic’s bare upper body, Karina covered her eyes in surprise.

“Wait! Please. I’m saying let’s talk!”

“It’s too late already. You were going to say crossing the line was a mistake, weren’t you?”

Karina’s mouth snapped shut. That was exactly what she had been about to say. She heard Dominic’s mocking laugh, as if he could see right through her.

“Yes. I know without you telling me. That’s why I’m doing this.”

At the same time, she felt a cool sensation on her stomach. Dominic’s hand had slipped inside her pajamas. With a startled ‘eek,’ Karina pushed against his body, but Dominic didn’t budge an inch.

“I said once was a mistake. So let’s keep going until it’s not a mistake anymore.”

His right hand delved into the gap of the thin lace underwear covering her br*asts.

* * *

She should have firmly refused, and said no.

If she had, Dominic would have stopped. Though he was very angry, he was a reasonable person.

This was different from that night. She was completely sober, not having had a single drop of alcohol.

Yet Karina couldn’t refuse him.

“Hnng.”

Her thin pants had long since been removed, and she could feel how wet she was inside her underwear. With her underwear torn helplessly by Dominic’s hand and her pajama top missing buttons, Karina was in a state more obscene than being n*ked.