Chapter 8: The Final Fragment of Truth (3)

The night in the forest had also been one such night.

“…It hurts so much.”

Had every time she come to him at the grand duchy been during the new moon?

Memories of those dark nights flickered through his mind. Nights darker than most. Nights when he had held her until she trembled. But he had never truly looked at her before she surrendered to him—not closely, not with clarity.

He had been too afraid of what he might see in her eyes—of the revulsion that might be there.

“…The new moon…”

His face stiffened as realization began to dawn.

Just as her life had always been hidden beneath layers of silence, there had to be something more behind this—something she had endured alone.

Had they fed her something again? Some kind of drug?

“Please… tell me everything. What kind of pain is it?”

His composure cracked. His gaze locked with hers, wild with dread.

In the dim room, he tried to focus his sight as best as he could. Her pale complexion looked far from well. Just like that night, her body was covered in cold sweat.

The moment he registered it, a wave of pain surged from the depths of his abdomen. It was shapeless, like a hallucination, as if her pain had leapt into his own body.

Unconsciously, his hand on her cheek pressed closer. Her damp skin clung to his soul like dew.

“What did they do to you this time…”

His voice slipped out through clenched teeth, heavy with restrained fury. But she only shook her head.

And with that motion, she gently tugged at his other hand, pulling it toward her face.

“…”

Before he knew it, Terian was cradling her face with both hands. As more of his skin touched hers, her expression eased once more. Reflexively, he stroked her delicate eye line with his thumb.

The way her tense body slowly relaxed under his touch made it feel like he was soothing a wound—one that ran deep, invisible but excruciating.

Warmth began returning from the points of contact. Her deathly pallor started to soften, faint color blooming like a flower across her cheeks.

It didn’t make sense. And yet, as though bewitched by a forest nymph, Terian found himself asking quietly:

“Does it stop hurting… when I do this?”

A small nod.

Still, he didn’t understand.

She was clearly in pain. And somehow—somehow, that pain seeped into him too, as if their souls were tethered.

Why did she suffer every new moon?

Why did his touch ease that suffering?

Among the storm of questions in his mind, one thought sparked like starlight—clear and sudden.

As if, on nights dark as the new moon, he had been born to be her light.

“Can I… really help you?”

His voice broke as he managed to speak. Whether she understood the depth of it or not, Larie nodded again—quietly, like a blade of grass swaying in still air.

His hands, once trembling with fear that she might shatter, slowly gained strength. After swallowing hard, Terian looked up at her.

“What… should I do?”

Larie, still clutching his hand against her cheek, whispered softly with her small lips.

“Hold… me.”

Her slender arms reached for him, wrapping around his neck like lifelines thrown into a storm.

Her strength was barely more than the flutter of a bird’s wings—but it was enough. Enough to pull him above the surface, to make him follow her with no resistance.

Their lips touched, lightly.

Just like in the forest, that night.

“Like this…?”

Terian felt ashamed of how broken his voice sounded. Emotions he’d never once allowed himself to feel spilled out when he was with her.

In place of a reply, Larie simply tightened her arms around him again. That was answer enough. Terian closed his eyes.

His back straightened, muscles coiling. When he lifted his head, their eyes were level. He leaned forward—closer.

Their kiss deepened, slow and unhurried. In the quiet room, it sounded like the surface of a still lake breaking.

As their contact grew, her tension began to unravel. He could almost see the pain that had held her prisoner slipping away.

If she’d come to him at the grand duke’s manor for this same reason—to escape that pain—

The realization filled him with anguish.

“Haah…”

Her breath, drawn long and slow, drifted through the room like a sigh of relief. Worried, Terian instinctively scanned her expression.

Was he missing something again? Had he hurt her without realizing?

“More…”

But at her quiet permission, the leash that had been wrapped tight around him snapped loose.

Their breaths tangled again, desperate and warm. His hands, once cupping her cheeks so carefully, began to move downward.

As he brushed down her back, the sharp edges of her bones pressed into his palm, and the ache in his chest deepened. Without letting it show, he wrapped an arm around her slender waist and gently pulled her toward him.

Even with that small force, Larie collapsed backward, falling against the bed. Their lips parted naturally. The fading warmth between them left Terian aching with want.

“…Larie.”

Her silver hair spilled across the bed like strands of moonlight. Her eyes, though dazed, showed no sign of fear. The color was gradually returning to her once-pale face.

Her hand, which had fallen limp beside her head, slowly moved—like a breeze. It reached for the wrist Terian had braced against the bed and began to trace upward along the inside of his sleeve.

“…Terian.”

“Damn—”

The fragile thread of control he’d held snapped with that single whispered word.

He tightened his arm around her waist and drew her close, so their stomachs pressed together. Again, he claimed her breath with his own.

The hand that had once caressed his arm was now clutching at him with desperate need. She held him as if she’d never let go, her pulse throbbing against his skin.

“Ha…”

“…Teri…an.”

Every time her delicate lips said his name, Terian felt as though his sanity frayed.

Now that nothing stood in their way, he no longer stopped the instincts surging through him.

“Hnn…”

“Larie.”

No matter how many times he kissed her, he couldn’t breathe. Hearing her call out to him left his chest tight with something overwhelming and bittersweet.

Turning his head slightly, Terian sought to delve deeper—as though, through their tangled tongues, he could glimpse the truths buried inside her.

“Ah…”

The more heat he passed from his mouth to hers, the more her body relaxed beneath him. Yet with every breath, some inexplicable pain began to seep into his soul.

 This was not something that stemmed from his own heart. What Larie had been bearing flowed out like tears and seeped into me, who was by her side.

Gradually, he began to feel certain that his actions were helping her. Terian, who had been desperately seeking her lips, barely managed to pull his head back. As if to express his regret, a short silver thread appeared.

Then, with trembling hands, he forcibly removed her thin chemise.

“Mm……”

Perhaps feeling cold, Larie turned her head with a dazed look in her eyes. Terian quickly lowered his head, anxious that her gaze toward him had disappeared.

As if facing something most sacred, he first kissed her cheek. As soon as there was contact, he felt her gaze return to him.

A handful of that gaze moistened his soul, which had dried up like dew at dawn.

With her held tightly in his arms, Terian continued to kiss her. So that Larie wouldn’t feel even the slightest chill.

Because he didn’t want to be even a little apart from her. He tightly embraced her slender waist, which was narrow enough to leave space even when wrapped with one arm. With his other hand, he continued to gently caress her arm.

His lips, moving with increasing desire, had gradually burrowed into her lower body.

“Ah, huh…!”

Larié’s sweet breathy voice encouraged her. Gently caressing her inner thigh, he waited for the right moment, for her to be ready.

    “Ah…….”

 Larié’s body heated up, the cold gone. Terian released her waist, his tongue gently tracing her pink fingertips.

““May I continue, madam?”

“Ah……”

Larie silently reached out one arm. Toward the small hand that touched his cheek, Terian willingly lowered his head.

Terian gazed deeply for a moment at Larie, who was gently caressing him.

He then slowly pushed his center.

“Ugh, ah…!”

After pulling both of her hands over to the back of his neck, Terian lowered his body fully like a large beast. Larie’s slender form was completely hidden beneath his large frame.

Holding Larie tightly in his arms, he continued to push himself in. Before long, their most intimate parts met without a single gap, persistently.

It was always a moment when his mind felt like it would go blank. But Terian pushed aside his own pleasure and urgently checked Larie’s expression first.

“…Hoo. …Does it hurt?”

“Ahh….””

At those worried words, Larie’s consciousness slightly returned.

Her insides were completely filled. Her breath rose rapidly, feeling overwhelming and heavy.

But at some point, it stopped hurting.

“Larie.”

Even in her hazy mind, Larie could clearly tell that someone was calling her.

That it was Terian—she knew that too.

“Hht, Teri, no……”

“Yes. I’m right here. …My Lady.”

She thought she had only swallowed his name silently, like the muffled darkness of a waning night.

And yet, Terian heard her faint voice and answered.

The warmth spreading from deep inside her gradually grew. That refreshing energy slowly burned away the pain that had long been stored within Larie.

It felt as if the forest itself was embracing her. Even in her hazy mind, the feeling that lingered around Larie became a firm certainty, etched like stars by Terian’s following words.

“Give it all to me. Whatever it is that causes you pain.”

Soon, as Terian moved, the skin of her most intimate place was brushed. At that fiery sensation, Larie flinched and trembled.

Then, as if telling her not to be afraid, a large hand gently patted her back. Comforted by that touch, Larie’s body embraced his presence even more smoothly.

“It’s all right, Larie.”

“Ah, ugh…!””

“Everything will be all right.”

And so, Terian tended to Larie’s pain through the night.

Until the darkness of the night fully receded from her side.