CHAPTER 6 – Time of Atonement (Part 4)

“Do you know how long I endured you, how long I prayed to the Lord not to desire you? Do you even understand?”

Cedric, with his lips against her ear, whispered in a solemn voice.

“How was it playing with me?”

“P-please let me go.”

“Did you enjoy it? Or did you regret it?”

“Lord Edelgard!”

“Once you’ve tried it, you don’t regret it anymore.”

The gaze that pierced through her face via the mirror was relentless.

“I understand. I must have been too clumsy. You must not have been satisfied. So… was he better than me?”

Cedric, who turned his head slightly, stared at the woman who had become his prey. They were at such a close distance that their cheeks were just inches from each other, and the rich lashes that reached for the sky fluttered.

“…When I was young.”

He chuckled and gently traced his lips on her soft cheek.

“Father Rafael once told me to imagine hell.”

It was an exercise to conquer fear before entering the war.

“But I couldn’t picture hell. Neither poverty nor hunger. The idea that anyone would dare to hurt me was unthinkable…….”

A cold laughter escaped his lips.

The proximity of his breath against her ear sent shivers down her spine.

“I couldn’t, but I had to. Because it was training. So, I imagined the closest thing to hell.”

Instead of imagining something that had never happened to him, Cedric imagined the most horrific thing he could realistically imagine. The hell that would soon befall him.

“A life without you.”

“…….”

Lillian remained silent, the weight of his words settling heavily upon her. Cedric continued, his voice filled with a haunting melancholy.

“Lillian, I’ve imagined a day without you. A day where I can never see you again.”

Separation was always looming over them, whether Cedric left the knighthood or Lillian departed from the orphanage. It was an inevitable reality.

Even before they realized their feelings, parting had been laid out before them like a preordained destiny.

“If I can’t see you ever again, my life stretches out like a never-ending road.”

Cedric was tormented as if he were truly in hell. It was a pain where the soul withered, and the heart felt like it was being torn apart.

But the reality was even more horrific. It felt like his entire body was burning all day long in the flames of hell.

And in the ashes she cruelly left behind, a devil opened its eyes.

“It’s even more damn awful when you experience it.”

Only after being brutally abandoned by her did Cedric realize that he couldn’t bear life without Lillian.

He had to turn things back to normal. He had to have Lillian by his side. He was helpless, like a person being dragged by a giant’s hand.

Cedric closed his eyes. He savored the crunch of flesh between his lips and whispered.

“You said it yourself. The abandoned become strong.”

“Ah!”

“I have nothing to fear now.”

It was time for atonement.

* * *

In a flash, Lillian was lifted and dropped onto the bed.

“Gah!”

She tried to sit up immediately, but Cedric, like a huge shadow, loomed over her.

Her thin chemise dress was pulled down quickly under his hands.

“No, don’t, no…!”

She should have resisted. However, Lillian couldn’t.

The intense gaze looking down at her in the somber darkness wanted her more desperately than anything in the world right now.

Lillian was captivated by the longing gaze of the man who desired her so fervently. It was too exhilarating to realize that she was the woman Cedric wanted so desperately.

“Ugh…”

She turned her head to avoid, but her cheek was immediately grabbed and his tongue slipped in. Gently enveloping her lips, he sucked on her tongue as if savoring the taste, then released it.

She lost everything – the words of refusal, saliva, everything was taken by him.

Reason demanded that she stop him immediately, but her instincts were irresistibly welcoming him. Under the gentle touch that affectionately caressed her from the shoulders, Lillian crumbled without resistance.

“Haah.”

Cedric’s thumb, cupping her br*ast from below, grazed her n*pple with deliberate intent.

“Hngh.”

Lillian’s breath caught as he took the hardened n*pple between his lips. As if expecting something to come out, Cedric suckled hard until his cheeks were hollow.

The contours faintly visible in the moonlight were incredibly seductive.

His full lips glistened. His brow narrowed in concentration. Lillian surrendered helplessly to the fact that the man who had become so absorbed in her body was Cedric.

“Haah, I understand why you left the masquerade ball like that. Two days later…… hmph, I went to the Holy Cathedral. Ah, wait, just a moment, ah! You probably didn’t like the intercourse. How annoying was it? I was so clumsy.”

“Hmm… It’s not like that.”

“But why did you avoid me like that, huh?”

Lillian tried to hold his face, which was gradually moving downward, or rather, she intended to. Dismissing her attempt with ease and waving her hand lightly, Cedric continued to kiss her down to the navel.

“Eh, Lord Edelgard!”

When Lillian screamed like a shriek, Cedric raised his upper body.

“Ah!”

Lillian, who was hastily trying to pull herself up, was grabbed by both ankles and pulled straight down. Her long, not completely dry hair scattered on the bed like tracks.

Surprised, her eyes widened as she stared at him with an uneasy look.

“W-What are you trying to do…?”

Cedric twisted his lips. Slowly, as if looking down at a frightened prey, he opened his mouth.

“Tonight will be different.”

He raised her thin ankles, promising to satisfy her. Then Cedric lowered Lillian’s thigh onto the bed.

“…!”

It was a shocking position. N*ked, with her legs spread like an upside-down frog…….

Lillian had never even dreamed that she would find herself in such a position in front of someone.

Before she could scream out in horror, Cedric’s head disappeared naturally between her legs.

“No! I don’t want this! Stop! Don’t!”

In an instant, Lillian, her face flushed red, struggled frantically.

“Don’t do it! I don’t want this! Please don’t!”

No matter how much she twisted her body and tried to close her legs, it was futile. His grip on her thigh was like a rock. She couldn’t move an inch, like chained.

“Are you insane?!”

Struggling hard, Lillian pushed at his shoulders and later slipped her hands through his hair. She tugged painfully, but his lips didn’t part.

Cedric showed no reaction as if he were devoid of any sensation. Instead, he pressed down on her legs even more firmly, raising his lower body.

Spread before the man’s eyes was her obscenely opened intimate area. It was an unimaginably lascivious sight.

Lillian felt her blood rush backward. How dare he do such a thing to her? To subject her to such humiliation… and Cedric hadn’t even taken off his outer clothes.

“Hmph!”

Cedric’s lips touched the place she had never properly touched herself. Lillian’s hips twitched the spot where his lips moved felt like it was on fire.

Although she struck his shoulder forcefully enough to make a sound, it only hurt her hand. Cedric’s lips never parted, as if he had no intention of giving up.

“Hmph……!”

As if consuming an ice cream in one bite, he covered her entire intimate area and then licked it from where fl*id had pooled.

“Haah!”

It was a tickling sensation like a very hot, very soft snake was alive there.

Cedric repeated the same action several times. As a result, the already w*t petals became even more slippery.

“Hmm… Uhh!”

This time, his erect tongue tip found its way to her sensitive core.

He teased it with gentle taps.

“Ah! Oh!”

Softly pressing, he swiftly teased and flicked with his tongue.

Then, with his lips wrapped around, he sucked on it like a n*pple.

“Ah-ah-ah!”