To her surprise, this man was doing that dirty act. Astaire, who despised anything outside rules and regulations. This man who wanted even love and family to be achieved through meticulous calculation.

Against her will, her lower body kept getting wetter. She didn’t want to admit it, but her body was loosening under the man’s caresses. It steadily prepared to accept him.

“Hah.”

Finally, he lifted his face. He climbed up her ankles, her calves, her stomach and chest. He positioned himself between her legs and looked down at Daphne from above.

“Tell me you love me.”

“No. I don’t want to act even in bed.”

“Do it. You need to look more convincing in front of others.”

Though there won’t be any acting to do from now on anyway.

“You’re talking a lot today.”

The two breaths mixed again, indistinguishable from each other. It was so hot she felt like her body would melt away.

“If you can’t do it, I’ll teach you.”

He pressed close without any gap and removed his clothes one by one. Now in the exact same state as Daphne, he looked down at her.

His large body enveloped her delicate one. Sweat that ran down his split pectoral muscles dropped onto her white body.

“Ngh, hnn…!”

The moment his overwhelmingly thick member penetrated her soft flesh, her mouth fell open and a heavy moan spilled out. The fullness that filled her tightly soon turned into pleasure.

The man moved his hips slowly above her, repeating the motion of moving away and coming close. Their lower bellies met with a splashing sound like waves. Soon Daphne’s lower body also heaved in time with his movements.

In the midst of passion, he whispered, “I love you.”

It sounded exactly like the truth.

Even the gesture of tucking her sweat-soaked hair behind her ear was excessively tender, and for that moment, Daphne almost fell for it.

In that sense, Astaire was a better actor than anyone.

She hated that so much.

“Now it’s your turn, Daphne.”

Despite spouting lies that seemed real, the man had returned to his original face.

A cold sneer.

An expression that said what could someone like you, panting from just this much, possibly do right now.

The man didn’t stop thrusting. Thwack, thwack, thwack—sounds like kneading dough rang out endlessly. Between them mixed the rough, heavy breathing of woman and man.

The expression “mingling bodies” was exactly appropriate.

This was completely different from the act of simply inserting, shaking, and ej*culating for the purpose of pregnancy.

This was the first time having this kind of intercourse with this man. Perhaps it would be the last.

“Hnn, hngh…! Ngh.”

“Hah.”

With their lower bodies still locked together, the man tilted his upper body. The moment a large shadow completely swallowed Daphne, a pair of flesh like milk pudding was crushed against his solid chest. When her stiff peaks were pressed, a strange and ticklish pain spread.

Without realizing it, she tightly embraced the man’s broad, solid back.

Hot breath climbed up her protruding collarbone and neckline, even tickling her earlobes. Almost simultaneously, his p*nis thrust deep inside. She trembled for a moment, shivering in her thighs and b*ttocks as she pulled his lower body closer.

“…Hah, I didn’t even expect this.”

When the man smiled faintly, Daphne squeezed her eyes shut. What she just did wasn’t intentional. It was an instinctive act. An animalistic desire to obtain deeper pleasure.

In the swirling heat and pleasure, Daphne was endlessly powerless.

There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to rely on.

Except this man.

Astaire cupped her chin and whispered, “Now say it with these lips. That you love me.”

“…I hate you, I despise you.”

She spat it out without a moment’s hesitation. Even while spreading her legs wide below her navel to accept him, she lifted her head and glared at him.

Complex emotions rippled in the blue eyes that held Astaire.

Love-hate and hatred.

Resentment toward the man she once harbored unrequited love for so long.

He doesn’t love her.

The woman he has feelings for isn’t her.

“…Now I find you hateful.”

It was a painful truth to admit, but in the midst of it all, she was handling this man right now. She had to.

Reality was cruel, and this man was ruthless too.

The man swallowed even her tears. In front of him, Daphne wasn’t even allowed to cry.

“Right. Hate me all you want. Even so, you can’t leave me.”

The movement below became faster. Now it even started to feel urgent.

Along with the splashing water sounds, the slapping flesh sounds that had been submerged in deep water gradually rose to the surface. They surged. Pleasure as hot and suffocating as lava increasingly tightened both his and her breath.

It was a night when even the sound of rain tapping the window held its breath before the sounds they made.

* * *

The next morning.

“Madam, the gynecologist has arrived.”

At the head butler’s voice from beyond the room, Daphne paused.

After spending the night with him, having the gynecologist visit the next day was something that happened every month anyway.

As she descended the first-floor stairs where the doctor waited, Daphne twisted her expression.

No matter how much she wanted a divorce, the contract was still valid, just like he said. Just like she couldn’t avoid Astaire, she couldn’t avoid the gynecological examination either.

In the midst of it all, the man wasn’t by her side.

He always let her undergo the gynecological examination alone.

“Has your menstruation stopped or anything?”

“No.”

“What about symptoms like lower abdominal pain?”

“None.”

When the gynecologist poured out questions, Daphne answered mechanically.

She’d already repeated the same answers to the same questions dozens of times. At this point, it was certain she really had a body that couldn’t get pregnant.

Still, Astaire didn’t give up.

He believed that even after failing 99 times, he could succeed on the 100th.

“There are people who have difficulty getting pregnant for unknown reasons. You don’t need to worry too much. Just trust me.”

“Yes.”

At one time, she blamed her own body for failing to fulfill her duty as a duchess. She even soaked the bedsheets with tears every examination night.

She hated herself for being useless to him. While loving him, she’d actually loathed herself.

That past now seemed pathetic.

“For now, I’ll give you the same potion as last month’s prescription.”

The black potion bottle the doctor handed over was obvious. It was medicine supposedly good for pregnancy.

Not only did she have to receive examinations every month, she had to take the medicine right in front of the doctor’s eyes.

The pouring gaze was burdensome.

The liquid going down her esophagus was bitter enough to make her face scrunch up naturally.

“Yes, well done. Then I’ll see you again next month. I wish you luck, Madam.”

She didn’t need the luck the doctor wished for her.

What Daphne wanted right now was something else.

She pulled the doctor, who was about to stand up, back down and opened her mouth.

“I want to ask something.”

“Please speak, Madam.”

“Can I know the ingredients of this medicine?”

“Hmm… May I first ask why you’re curious about that?”

Though she wore a smiling face, she clearly didn’t welcome the duchess’s request.

But she was currently at Duke Seyfried’s estate. The couple willingly paid monthly what would take a year’s salary to earn at an ordinary private hospital.

Either way, the doctor had to comply with the request.

“It’s medicine I’m taking, so I think as a patient I can reasonably ask.”

“…I’ll show you the ingredient list. However, providing it as a document will be difficult. The materials for medicine and their mixing ratios actually vary greatly from maker to maker.”

She packaged it grandly, but basically it was her trade secret. When Daphne nodded as though she understood, the doctor pulled out a prescription from her bag. It wasn’t just one page but a whopping three pages.

Who knew so many ingredients went into one bottle of this medicine.

Daphne calmly flipped through the papers and scanned every word with her eyes. Then she immediately returned them to the doctor.

“I trust you’ll take good care of it.”

“Thank you.”

The doctor smiled broadly with a much more relaxed attitude. She apparently thought the duchess had given up reading.

Daphne let her remain mistaken.

After all, just scanning the ingredient list once was enough for her to remember everything without missing a thing.

First, she had to prevent any possible pregnancy.

That afternoon, Daphne headed to a large art museum where an exhibition by the Empire’s most rising painter was being held.

“I’ll return when the viewing is over.”

“Yes. Enjoy your viewing, Madam.”

She left the escort knight who’d accompanied her at the museum’s main entrance.

However, after passing through the main entrance, instead of entering the interior, Daphne moved to a side path at the back of the building. She pulled down a robe she’d prepared in advance and hurried her steps.

After passing through alley after alley, she arrived at an old pharmacy with a musty smell.

“Welcome.”

A middle-aged woman with a face full of age spots greeted Daphne, stopping her sweeping.

“My younger sister is taking a certain medicine, and I’m wondering if you can make medicine that negates the effects of that medicine?”

“It’s possible, but you need to tell me the ingredients and mixing ratios of the medicine your sister is taking.”

“Yes. If you give me paper and a pencil, I’ll write it down right away.”

Daphne smoothly wrote down the ingredient names, origins, and mixing ratios of the three-page pregnancy medicine on the blank paper the pharmacist gave her and handed it over.

The pharmacist, who’d been adjusting her broken glasses, asked while reading the ingredient list.

“Are you a doctor or something?”

She squinted and looked Daphne up and down carefully.

“No.”

She seemed to have more questions, but didn’t pry further. People who came to this back-alley pharmacy each had secrets they couldn’t speak of.

“It’s a fertility enhancer. With this much, our pharmacy’s special contraceptive should be enough to offset the effects.”

“That’s good.”

“There are roughly two different medicines—which one would you like me to make?”

Her tone suggested she’d received many requests to make contraceptives from customers like Daphne.

“One is a contraceptive that’s not harmful to the body. The other is… a contraceptive that can endanger even pregnant people.”

Her voice was quite cautious when explaining the second medicine. The latter was in the realm of crime.

More precisely, it was medicine for clients who needed to ‘make someone’ use contraception to that extent.

“Both can be effective even if taken after the fact. However, the first medicine is unfortunately quite expensive.”

The pharmacist grinned.

“The ingredient costs aren’t insignificant, you see. Still, we’re making it quite cheaply for you.”

“How much?”

She whispered and told her the price.

Though she maintained an expressionless face throughout, it was actually no small amount for Daphne either.

As a duchess it was pocket change, but in a position with many debts to repay, she hesitated.

“Of course, seeing a sister’s heart for her younger sister, I can give you a slight discount.”

“…Give me the one that’s not harmful to the body.”

“Your sister really has a good older sister.”

The pharmacist smiled meaningfully and headed to the preparation room divided by partitions.

Shortly after, thumping sounds like something being ground could be heard.