“……”

“If I were thinking of you, I shouldn’t draw you into Renigrad, which is far from peaceful, but I was never a gentleman to begin with.”

I’m just a man who desperately desires and wants to possess you.

“Arne.”

As Cedric’s red lips slowly formed a smile, Arne stared at him as if enchanted. At his devilishly handsome face, as if crafted by a demon, Arne’s fingertips trembled slightly.

“You like my face, don’t you?”

Cedric took Arne’s trembling hand and placed it over his heart. Through her fingertips, Arne felt his sculpture-like, firm body.

“My body is nice too.”

That hand slowly moved lower. Meeting her clear eyes, Cedric’s lips moved slowly.

“And even better down here.”

Arne’s face flushed bright red. Looking at her face, Cedric placed his hand over hers and gripped it tightly.

“I’ll make you look only at me.”

In that moment, a thrill ran through her fingertips. It felt like her hazy consciousness suddenly cleared. Arne’s eyelids fluttered slowly.

Only then did she begin to notice her surroundings. Following the torn dress pieces and Cedric’s hastily removed clothes, Arne’s gaze moved slowly, and heat began to build.

As her body’s senses became acutely aware, she could fully feel Cedric’s hot, firm body against her skin.

His red eyes intently gazed at Arne as he slowly raised his other hand.

“You put your hand into the fireplace yourself. You were that disoriented. Your body temperature had dropped severely.”

As her senses gradually returned, the pain in her fingertips became vividly apparent. The raw flesh with oozing fluid at her fingertips sent waves of burning pain.

“So I tore off your wet dress. I’ll send you a new one.”

At that moment, Cedric took Arne’s fingers into his mouth. As his tongue intertwined between her fingers, the pain subsided.

“The fluid……”

Startled, Arne pulled her fingers away. However, Cedric simply swallowed the fluid connecting Arne’s fingertips and his lips, continuing to kiss the reddened flesh meticulously.

“Fluid is coming out. It’s dirty, why are you……”

His red eyes met Arne’s as he opened his mouth again, making her fingertips twitch.

“Because I like you. I want to make it not hurt.”

Cedric’s gaze touched Arne’s gaunt cheek.

“I want to feed you well.”

When his gaze touched her arm, which still had bruises, taut veins stood out on his neck.

“I wanted to strangle Lord Wayne’s neck for trampling on you. But what made me angriest was…”

His lips slowly pressed against the blue bruise. When his hot lips landed on her skin, goosebumped from the cold, it felt scorching.

“Myself. For thinking all those feelings toward you were controlled by Renigrad’s curse, and letting things come to this point.”

Looking at Arne, his lips slowly traced along the blue bruise. The intense red eyes were almost enough to make her lose her mind. When he turned his gaze back to the blue bruise, Arne spoke.

“……By the curse of Renigrad, do you mean the rumors about being cursed by a demon?”

Cedric’s head turned slowly from staring at the blue bruises on Arne’s body.

Their gazes intertwined, hot and firm. His eyes grew increasingly intense as he tightly held Arne’s hand. With a tingling tension running down her spine, Arne parted her lips again.

“You still like me even though I behaved so badly at that banquet? Everyone calls me the Empire’s mad villainess.”

Cedric’s twisted lips curved up elegantly. Arne was shocked to the core by Cedric’s next words.

Those words, identical to the letter, were words Arne could never forget. How could she forget the day you proposed in my previous life?

“I like that you’re a mad villainess. Compared to a demon, isn’t a villainess rather cute? Are you afraid of demons?”

Cedric smiled intensely as he observed Arne’s goosebumped skin and surprised eyes. What face would she make when she truly learned that the demon’s curse wasn’t just a rumor?

His fingertips slowly caressed Arne’s tense back.

As Cedric’s thick knuckles touched her bare skin, the thin fabric covering her chest was pulled when it caught on her bra strap. His hand slid from the fabric back to bare skin, stopping when it caught on the fabric near her b*ttocks.

“Arne.”

Lost in thought, Arne met Cedric’s eyes at the sound of his voice.

“What did you want to do if you had a family?”

“Why so suddenly?”

“You seem too tense. Are you surprised? Your physical condition hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

As if trying to divert her attention, Cedric’s knuckles slowly caressed Arne’s back again.

“What did you want to do when you were young?”

“When I was young?”

“Things you would have wanted to do if your parents had been with you.”

Arne’s eyelids fluttered slowly. She clenched her hands, forgetting about her raw flesh, and startled herself.

Cedric took Arne’s hand again and kissed it. His lips gently brushed against her fingertips.

“Tell me.”

“You’ll probably laugh if you hear it.”

“It’s alright. Tell me.”

As Arne kept moving her lips without speaking, Cedric’s fingertips slowly caressed her back again. It felt as if he was comforting her, telling her everything was fine.

“Go ahead. It’s okay.”

Arne’s lips, which had been moving hesitantly while looking at Cedric, finally opened.

“When I was young, I envied how the Duchess would read fairy tales to Bianca. And how she would personally go to meet Bianca on rainy days.”

“And?”

“I think I was also envious when I saw the Duchess falling asleep with Bianca after she had nightmares. Because it wasn’t something allowed for me.”

“What else?”

Arne looked at Cedric intently.

“Having someone hold my hand when I’m sick.”

“That’s fortunate. I have something I can use to seduce you right away.”

When Cedric smiled languidly, Arne’s cheeks turned slightly red.

“Thank you.”

Cedric’s fingers, which had been caressing Arne’s back, stopped.

“It seems you’ve always been there when I was sick. Even when there was that misunderstanding because of the Duchess.”

“……”

His eyes contorted. Cedric exhaled deeply and pressed his face with his palm. He held her chin and looked into Arne’s eyes.

“This is too difficult.”

“Ah… it must have been hard for you, Lord Cedric. Having to go through all this trouble……”

“Don’t think strange things. It’s difficult because I can’t stay with you while you’re sick.”

Cedric said while stroking the scab on Arne’s left lip.

“Because of that damn engagement……”

Cedric’s brow furrowed.

“I deeply regret it.”

His thick knuckles stroked Arne’s wet hair.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll fix everything.”

His knuckles, which had been tracing Arne’s hair and eyebrows, slowly lingered on her nose bridge and lips.

Looking at her slightly parted lips under his pressed thumb, he exhaled deeply and pressed Arne’s head firmly against his chest.

“This is torture. It’s maddening that I can’t do anything.”

Arne, who felt suffocated, raised her head. Finding her expression lovely, Cedric unconsciously let his lips slide as he continued.

“His Majesty the Emperor is quite interested in our engagement, but your engagement with Lord Wayne will be resolved soon.”

“His Majesty the Emperor?”

“For the Emperor, it wouldn’t be welcome if I proposed to you. Because it would be a union between Renigrad and Ronia. He would find it threatening.”

The union of two of the Empire’s four founding families would be a significant threat to the Emperor.

“Having experienced the influence of Duke and Duchess Xenon, born from the union of Xenon and Rubeta, he would find it even more unwelcome.”

“But the Leverun family isn’t insignificant either, is it?”

“The Leverun family is loyal to the imperial family. Though it’s not widely known, it was Marquis Leverun who informed on Princess Ramona as she was leaving Renigrad territory. He used her death to prosper his trading company.”

“……”

“If I had married without knowing, who knows what I might have done in my madness.”

“Does the Emperor know that Princess Ramona is your mother?”

Cedric pressed Arne’s furrowed brow.

“The Grand Duke erased all physical evidence, so he probably has suspicions at most. Remember the rumor about a war prisoner who escaped with Princess Ramona from the banquet hall?”

“Yes.”

“For the sake of the Empire’s honor, it wasn’t properly recorded, but there were two prisoners of war. One was my father, Samuel Schopendha de Renigrad, and the other was Crown Prince Eden Aschpen de Briseis, the current Emperor.”

“I’ve never heard this story before.”

“You wouldn’t have. I only learned about it recently. Since Princess Ramona passed away long ago, a paternity test is impossible, but it’s an excellent choice for bringing down the next Grand Duke.”

Cedric smiled bitterly. Yes, he would have surely gone mad. If he had seen Arne with Lord Wayne, and added to that the secret that Lady Leverun herself hadn’t yet realized.

His demonic energy might have surged and turned the Empire into a sea of blood.

“Since you and Lord Wayne don’t like each other, it’s a perfect plan for the Emperor to keep Ronia in check as well. Moreover, now that rumors have spread about my feelings for you, he’ll try even harder to bind you to Lord Wayne.”

When Arne habitually bit her left lip, Cedric gently pushed it away with his thumb.

“I’ll use that to my advantage. So don’t worry too much. I’ll restore your honor completely, without any blemish. Just rest for now.”

After stroking her left lip, he removed his hand and painfully clenched his fist.

“I don’t think I can hold back much longer either.”

His red eyes intensely captured Arne. Looking at his gaze, Arne unconsciously curled her fingertips.

As Cedric looked at Arne’s clear eyes, he furrowed his brows and turned his head.

“I feel like just slaying the Emperor……”