And the moment Eleanor opened her mouth to respond, Cayel shifted from where he had been sitting in the tub, lifted her hips, and thr*st upward into her, and Eleanor cried out again.

Each time he drove his hips up from below, the sound of Eleanor’s deepest point meeting Cayel’s thighs rang out. Eleanor wrapped her legs around his waist and had no choice but to lean on him as he lifted her.

Until the deep darkness gave way to the light of a newly risen sun.

Eleanor was consumed by Cayel without end.

‘Cayel, ah, Cayel!’

She spent the night in the arms of an unfamiliar man until dawn.

The pleasure that had begun in the steam-filled makeshift washroom carried through to the kitchen with its black cloth pulled aside, onto Cayel’s worn leather sofa, and all the way to the wooden table where the black scabbard had rested.

In the end, she could not remember how it had finished.

Eleanor had not managed to free herself from his arms before her eyes slid shut, and that was how she had come to be where she was now.

Bang bang bang bang!

“……Miss.”

Bang bang bang bang!

“Miss! Miss, are you in there? Miss!”

Eleanor opened her eyes because of the knocking sound coming from somewhere.

She knew who the voice making the commotion belonged to.

‘Anna. There is something I need you to do for me.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes. Tomorrow morning, come to the house marked on this map to fetch me. And when you come, I want as many eyes as possible to see you.’

This was the moment they had arranged.

Eleanor drew a deep breath and moved to sit up, then stopped.

She had been certain she had lost consciousness with his shaft still lodged between her legs, and so had expected to still be holding him inside her, and yet……

‘He is not there.’

All that remained in Eleanor’s lower body now was a dull ache, proof enough of what had passed between them. Her thighs trembled a little, but the area near her deepest point was not slick.

It was clear that Cayel had cleaned her up while she slept.

‘He is more considerate than I expected.’

Eleanor laughed quietly and looked up at Cayel, who was breathing steadily, then tried to slip out of his arms.

“Miss.”

Quietly.

She had been trying to rise carefully so as not to wake him, but the loud knocking had apparently woken Cayel as well.

Eleanor was trying to get up from the sofa to deal with Anna waiting outside the door, when Cayel caught her wrist and opened his eyes.

Dark eyes, sharp and clear even in the early morning, came into her view.

“What are you doing?”

Eleanor looked down at him, his manner carrying a quiet wariness that was nothing like the intensity of the night before when he had held her and refused to let go, and answered.

“There is something I need to do.”

She smiled.

“If you are curious about what I am about to set in motion, get ready as well.”

With those words, Eleanor freed her hand from Cayel’s and looked around.

The robe she had come in, her dress, and the white linen undergarment were all scattered across the floor nearby.

Instead of putting on each layer one by one, Eleanor picked up the robe. And then.

Click.

“Miss, why won’t you……”

“Mmm, Anna.”

Eleanor, who had draped the robe over her body, gave a long yawn and pretended to be opening her eyes for the first time.

“Why is it so loud…… Oh my!”

Eleanor moved her lips with her swollen lips fully on display, along with the marks Cayel had left all over her neck, covering nothing. She had even been delivering the lines she and Anna had agreed on beforehand, when she let out a startled sound at the sight that entered her brightening view.

“Good heavens!”

“Wh, what is the meaning of this!”

She could see people staring in horror at her appearance, which made it obvious to anyone that she had spent the night in a man’s home.

It was Baroness Gotren, Marcus Damel, and a few escort knights they had brought with them.

“What brings everyone here……”

Eleanor tilted her head and parted her lips with an awkward smile.

At that, Baroness Gotren shoved the flustered Anna aside and fixed Eleanor with a blazing stare.

“What brings us here? Ellie! That is what I want to ask you! What on earth do you think you are doing? And just look at yourself! Are you even wearing…… are you wearing clothes in there?”

“Su, Auntie?”

“Where do you think you are? Whose house is this, and why are you in this state―”

“What is the matter, Miss?”

The timing was perfect.

Baroness Gotren had been unable to string her words together, clearly unable to make sense of the situation no matter how she tried, and was trembling as she raised a pointing finger, when.

Cayel, unable to bear the commotion any longer, appeared wearing nothing but his trousers.

“Good gracious!”

Baroness Gotren spotted the red kiss marks covering his upper body where Eleanor’s lips had been, flushed scarlet, and covered her eyes.

Shring! Shh!

And at the same moment.

“Who are you?”

Marcus Damel drew a sharp sword from the scabbard at the knight standing behind him and leveled it at Cayel’s throat as he stood behind Eleanor.

Eleanor looked at Marcus Damel without expression as he fixed Cayel with a gaze that said he would cut him down at any moment.

“Lady Sivert, did this man do something to you against your will?”

Marcus Damel even ground his teeth and asked Eleanor.

“Against my will?”

Cayel let out a low laugh at those words, and without a moment’s hesitation Marcus Damel raised the blade with a shring― and pressed it to Cayel’s throat.

“Stop.”

Eleanor parted her lips toward Marcus.

“Lady Sivert!”

“You are going too far, young lord of Viscount Damel. My ears work perfectly well, so there is no need to shout.”

Marcus Damel narrowed his eyes and cried out as Eleanor stepped in front of Cayel and moved toward his sword, but Eleanor’s eyes were cold.

In the end, Marcus had no choice but to lower his sword with a curse under his breath.

Eleanor looked in turn at Marcus, who was grinding his teeth with a sharp clicking sound, and at Baroness Gotren, who kept repeating nothing but good lord.

Then she moved her lips.

“Auntie. I am grateful for the considerable attention you have given to our marquisate’s affairs all this time.”

Baroness Gotren’s eyes went round at Eleanor addressing her out of nowhere.

Eleanor raised a hand to stop her as she was about to add “in that case,” then spoke again.

“But this is where it ends.”

Baroness Gotren stopped short in surprise, and Eleanor smiled deeply.

“As I have already told you, there is someone who holds my heart. That person is none other than the one standing right here.”

Eleanor’s eyes, which had been curving into a warm smile toward Cayel, turned cold the moment they faced forward.

“The one who decides my marriage is me, not you, Auntie. His Majesty the Emperor himself has said that only I may choose who I marry.”

“E, Ellie.”

“And so.”

Eleanor looked coldly at Marcus, who was still gripping the hilt of his sword tightly even as she continued speaking.

“If you dare threaten my person…… no. If you dare threaten my man, I will not stand by quietly any longer.”

She had invoked none other than the Emperor.

Baroness Gotren, who understood what those words meant, went white and could only open and close her lips, unable to move forward or back.

“Lady Sivert……!”

And Marcus Damel was equally unable to accept the situation.

He looked as though he found all of this deeply humiliating, his face twisted with every trace of his usual easy smile wiped away. Eleanor looked at him without expression, let out a quiet scoff, and turned around.

Thump thump.

Her heart beat fast.

Having brought the situation to a rough close, Eleanor met Cayel’s eyes in the air between them as he stood watching her without a word. And then―

“Sir Cayel.”

She dropped the cold expression she had been wearing for the two of them and smiled warmly, extending her hand to Cayel.

“Come with me to the mansion.”