At that moment, he met Arne’s eyes, which had grown round.

“I shouldn’t do that. It was a joke.”

“It didn’t sound like a joke.”

Arne’s clear eyes looked at Cedric intently.

“This isn’t like you, who’s called a gentleman in society.”

“Would you prefer if I were a gentleman?”

“No. That’s not necessarily what I mean. I don’t care about that, but everyone says so.”

“I was never a gentleman to begin with. I’m a war hero, remember? There are no gentlemen among war heroes. They are people who do whatever it takes to protect what’s precious to them.”

“……”

“Those who have fallen before my sword would form mountains with plenty to spare. I may be a war hero in the Empire, but to enemy nations, I’m just a crazed killer.”

Cedric asked bitterly.

“Are you scared?”

“No.”

Looking at his red eyes, where a quiet stillness rippled, Arne murmured.

“I’m not much different.”

Cedric burst into laughter. He gently cupped Arne’s cheek with one hand. As her soft cheek stretched, her clear eyes widened and blinked.

“We’re very different. Part of me wishes you didn’t know.”

The skin touching his hand, the flesh touching his body, all felt soft and tender. Compared to his hard body, she seemed as if she might crumble at any moment, making him cautious even with his touch.

“When the Great Demon War was at its height, my coming-of-age ceremony was at fifteen. That was my first deployment. And as you may know, the coming-of-age ceremonies of the four founding families are somewhat special.”

Cedric’s touch slowly slid along Arne’s soft back. Feeling her body temperature returning a bit more, Cedric slowly moved his hand.

“That’s when you first learn the family’s secrets, and at the same time, a ritual is performed to prevent you from revealing them carelessly.”

“Is it like the taboo magic you mentioned before?”

“Similar. There are restrictions. But if I were to propose, depending on your answer, you would learn the family secrets, with the condition of memory-erasing magic.”

Tension flowed through Cedric’s fingers as he caressed Arne’s back. His Adam’s apple moved slowly.

“If you refuse, your memories will be erased, and you’ll return to the life you lived before.”

His red eyes gazed intently at Arne.

“I’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

At his firm resolve, Arne’s heart beat rapidly. Despite not knowing exactly how to love, she felt strange whenever her heart swelled like this.

“For now, just focus on recovering. What use is anything if you’re ill?”

Cedric smiled and gently pressed Arne’s head against his chest. As he slowly patted her back, the tension in her shoulders eased.

As the tension eased, sleepiness seemed to overtake her, and Arne blinked slowly.

“Sleepy?”

“Yes.”

“Sleep in a little while. Your hair isn’t completely dry yet. I’ll add more firewood.”

Watching Cedric throw broken chair legs into the fireplace, Arne murmured.

“Did you break the furniture?”

“There was no firewood since it’s summer.”

When Arne picked up a chair leg that had gotten under the blanket, Cedric reached out his hand.

“It must have gotten in there while I was putting things down. Give it here.”

With her eyes half-closed, Arne handed the broken wooden pillar to Cedric. Judging by the silk decorations on the wood, it must have been quite a nice furniture. The feel in her hand was firm and smooth.

“There’s more.”

It was when Arne grabbed the firm object touching her side that Cedric’s hand, about to throw the chair leg, trembled slightly.

The moment the pillar in her hand swelled, Arne realized it wasn’t a chair leg.

Red mana surged immediately. Cedric and Arne’s gazes intertwined simultaneously.

The pillar in her hand swelled even more firmly. The embers of the bonfire crackled and rose, creating waves of heat. Time seemed to stand still.

The flames from the bonfire reflected in Cedric’s red eyes as he gazed at Arne. He slowly placed his hand over hers. As Arne’s pupils dilated, he stroked upward with his overlapping hand, causing his c*ck to slide within Arne’s palm.

Transparent fluid clung thickly to Arne’s white, slender knuckles. As Cedric’s gaze, which hadn’t let go of Arne’s for a moment, deepened, the pillar in her hand swelled even more. Her heart pounded heavily.

Just as a chilling tension flowed through Arne’s waist, her vision flipped.

Cedric, his chest heaving roughly, slowly looked down at Arne. Because the red mana had just risen, neither Arne nor Cedric had completely lost consciousness. Yet, using the red mana as an excuse, they didn’t want to stop now. He wanted to embrace her completely, kiss her, possess her.

The moment the aroused woman’s lips parted slightly, his lips overlapped hers, settling in, burning like fire. His descending gaze was hot and tingling.

His touch dug into her wet silver hair as if grasping something precious. The moment his smoothly moving tongue entangled with hers, his hard tip explicitly pressed against her private parts.

The firm flesh pillar pushed into the gap of her wet, clinging underwear, threatening to be sucked in along with the wet fabric.

Only the moist sound of lips colliding and separating, and flesh meeting and parting from tender flesh, filled the air.

Each time their lips overlapped more deeply, Cedric’s boiling gaze grew more intense. His repeatedly advancing c*ck gradually pushed aside her underwear, brushing against her tender, red flesh.

Just as their lips deeply intertwined, his hardened flesh pushed all the way in.

“Ha.”

With the feeling of being completely filled and the pleasure that rushed to climax in an instant, Arne’s waist curved like a taut bowstring. Her body, entangled with Cedric’s, trembled. Soon after, her insides throbbed hotly. It was because she had reached climax from penetration alone.

She had finally grasped their entangled fate. It felt overwhelming.

When their eyes met, she could feel that Cedric was thinking the same thing. As their gazes collided hotly, he twisted his head, and their hot breaths intertwined.

Her entire body was hot. His lips digging deep, his large hands grasping her br*asts, his overwhelming presence advancing deeper—everything was hot.

His quickly swollen c*ck advanced rapidly, drowning out the crackling sounds of the bonfire. Thump, thump, it was as if sparks were flying before her eyes.

Despite kissing repeatedly, thirst arose. Seeing Arne’s face, which had been pale, now flushed with heat, Cedric embraced her preciously, as if he might break.

Everything was so precious. The woman in his arms was alive, breathing, and looking at him completely. He couldn’t let go of the warmth that had finally entered his embrace.

As their hot gazes overlapped, Arne’s arms, barely extended as if trying to take all of him, pathetically failed to cling to his neck and slid down weakly.

In response, Cedric’s firm arms tightly embraced the slipping Arne while his firm shaft penetrated her tender, red flesh. Their entangled bodies trembled and convulsed hotly.

Cedric took Arne’s hand, which couldn’t move due to lack of strength, and kissed it. Her gesture of reaching out to him, even while trembling, was maddeningly lovable.

He bit from her forehead to her collarbone and then her protruding n*pples, while brushing back her wet hair. When she trembled slightly, perhaps because of the wet hair touching her back, he turned her body over.

“Cedric?”

As her wet hair flowed toward the bonfire, revealing her white nape and the delicate curves that followed, his gaze deepened. After slowly brushing back her hair, he exhaled deeply and gradually overlaid his body on top of Arne’s.

Her delicate body was completely covered by his. Cedric’s thick, firm arms embraced her from shoulders to chest, giving a strange sense of security. It felt like being protected.

The moment Cedric turned his head and slowly savored her lips, his flesh pillar pushed into her entrance in one go.

“Huh.”

A tingling pleasure arose. Soon after, her already softened inner walls gripped tightly. He let out a faint moan and continued his movements slowly, completely attached. When sensitive areas were rubbed due to the prone position, Arne released a hot breath.

Their gazes met and intertwined even more hotly. At that moment, his tip, pushing in so deeply it felt as if his t*sticles would be sucked in too, pressed against an exquisitely sensitive spot.

“Ah……”

Each time he pushed in again through the slick juices flowing down, wet, lewd sounds arose.

As heat and vitality surrounded Arne’s body, which had been cold and pale, Cedric gradually increased his pace.

Each time his tip hit sensitive spots, Arne’s body flinched. It felt like a ball of fire was pouring inside, igniting her. Before she knew it, her body, which had been trembling from the cold, was now soaked with the fire he had kindled, turning bright red with heat.

It was beautiful. Cedric, as if enchanted, kissed the reddened spots on Arne’s white nape, furrowing his brow at the pleasure that was increasingly racing toward climax. Soon, a low, cracked voice flowed into Arne’s ear.

“Arne.”

As Arne, who had reached her limit, sobbed and tightly gripped the sheets, Cedric intertwined his hands with hers and embraced her body tightly for a moment.

Hot, thick desire poured into their entangled bodies. As they exhaled rough breaths and panted, their eyes met, and their lips overlapped again.

Through Arne’s slightly closed eyelids, she captured the image of Cedric, his brow furrowed as the afterglow hadn’t faded. Their touching lips trembled hotly. Her eyes were hot.

Each moment was so precious.

Between the crackling sounds of the bonfire, overlapping breaths and yearning touches flowed endlessly. As if not wanting to let go of even a moment of this night.

* * *