Now that she thought about it, the maids who urged her to open the letters all had subtle expressions. It must have been because they were all from Lionel.

“You whispered so many times that you would marry me, making even me believe it.”

Those words struck Ariel’s head heavily. Feeling an inexplicable anxiety and excitement, Ariel slightly stuck out her tongue. Seeing that, Lionel sighed deeply and continued.

“Didn’t you think the same?”

“Oh.”

“To you, was I just someone you liked briefly in childhood….”

His whisper sounded like a complaint.

“Just an idol you could easily replace with another man?”

“L-Lionel.”

“Was I just a first love you planned to keep as a memory?”

His words pricked her conscience. She felt like she was a very bad person. Ariel barely managed to swallow and opened her mouth.

“T-That’s….”

“Did you trust me so little?”

“…But everyone said so. In romance novels, in reality….”

‘In reality?’

Ariel suddenly realized something was off.

Of course, some ladies had said mean things about her, but that was after she openly declared herself Lionel’s prospective fiancée. It had become a regular occurrence.

‘From the beginning….’

If her situation hadn’t been so unstable and if it weren’t for that romance novel, she wouldn’t have paid much attention to those words.

At that moment, Lionel’s lower body became so heavy that she couldn’t continue her thoughts.

“L-Lionel.”

Somewhere, the sound of crickets crying continued. Heat rose from their touching bodies.

“I’m sorry.”

His next words made Ariel close her mouth. Lionel was whispering sincerely.

“…….”

“You’re the first woman I liked, the first woman who made me hard just by touching….”

“…Ah.”

“The first woman who sucked me off, the first woman I eventually served… you’re the first, Ariel.”

Upon hearing that, a tingling sensation ran down Ariel’s neck. Lionel slowly lifted his head. His eyes were darkened with intensity.

“Should I just take you here?”

“…What?”

“If someone sees us, we’ll have no choice but to get married.”

It sounded like he genuinely wanted to do that. Instead of acting on it, Lionel trembled his lips and kissed her forehead.

“Lionel….”

“…Choose me, Ariel.”

“…….”

“I won’t stop you from going to Veloto. In fact, if it’s the best place for you to showcase your abilities, I’ll actively support you.”

“Lionel.”

“But it has to be me who goes with you, not another man.”

Lionel slid down and knelt before her. His sharp nose was dangerously close to her crotch.

With his eyelashes still wet with tears, Lionel rubbed his face against her thigh. Ariel was shocked by the sight.

‘Lionel.’

A man who never knelt, who made others kneel and judged them, was kneeling and begging her. That fact gave Ariel a strange thrill deep in her chest.

“Please, Ariel.”

“L-Lionel, I….”

“I won’t block your path.”

“…….”

“If I go to Veloto with you, I’ll find a way to stand by your side from the bottom up.”

Hearing that, Ariel’s guilt was triggered. She realized he had given up everything for her.

‘Yes. Truly… Lionel has to start from the bottom.’

Leaving him in the Holy Kingdom might be a bigger problem. He had abandoned his position in the Holy Knight Order and the solid path laid out for him.

He couldn’t rejoin the subjugation team, nor could he return to the Holy Knight Order without his holy power. Having taken the vow of prohibition, he might not receive any marriage proposals.

“I’ve become like this, Ariel.”

Lionel’s lower body was still greatly swollen as he whispered. As if asking her to punish him, he gently lifted her foot and placed it on his er*ction, startling Ariel.

“Ever since that day, I become like this whenever I think of you.”

“Oh.”

“No one but you can cool me down.”

Hearing that, Ariel’s conscience whispered to her. Yes. Lionel had given up everything.

‘Then… I should take responsibility!’

Her heart, which always reached clear conclusions, nodded firmly this time too. The fact that Lionel was still a wealthy young master of the Frenderick family, with his own wealth and businesses, was overshadowed by the enormous fact that he had taken the vow of prohibition.

Even if he went to Veloto with her, his shares and wealth were enough to support her for life and even buy new titles and lands to pass down to future generations. Lionel had deliberately omitted that part.

Ariel felt a tickling sensation in her chest as she looked into his beautiful violet eyes. Eyes that once avoided her touch now looked up at her with a pure, innocent gaze despite the angry er*ction he had.

‘Yes, and as he said….’

A man who was once as lofty as a statue in the temple had become an obscene body that got hard whenever he saw her….

It was only right for her to take responsibility and satisfy his lust. There would be no need to compare Lionel to any other man.

Ariel swallowed unconsciously as she looked at Lionel’s angry er*ction. The desire she had buried while deciding to give up on Lionel began to bubble up.

‘Yes. I liked him first and watched over him for a long time.’

After living as his prospective fiancée for over ten years, it felt too wasteful to give him to another woman now. Even if he wasn’t a holy knight, he was still her diamond.

Ariel slightly pouted her lips and pretended to think. When Lionel rubbed his face against her thigh again with a desperate expression, she spoke like she was making a big decision.

“Alright, Lionel.”

“Then….”

“Let’s go to Veloto together. I’ll….”

Before she could finish saying she would take care of him, Lionel swallowed her words with his mouth.

“Hmph!”

The kiss that started again was persistent.

As Lionel intertwined his tongue with hers and sucked, he naturally lifted her underwear and rubbed her cl*toris.

When Lionel, who was sweetly swallowing her moans, pulled down his bursting pants, Ariel swallowed unconsciously and fluttered her eyelashes.

“Haa, Ariel.”

“Ah!”

“You promised….”

“U-Um!”

“You promised to go with me, not anyone else.”

As he said that and entered her as if carving a path, Ariel’s body trembled. Even without repeatedly confirming it, once she experienced such a thing, it would be hard to keep another man by her side.

Ariel didn’t say that out loud but swallowed her moans and tightened below. As she opened her body, thinking she would have to work harder to support Lionel, he happily thrust deeper inside her.

“Ah!”

“Don’t ever go back on your word.”

“Okay, okay, slowly!”

As soon as she shouted that, Lionel’s sudden thrust hit her climax. Her body lifted in the air simultaneously. Her vision turned white, and her waist trembled. Her shoes, which had slipped off, flailed in the air. Despite the cold night air, the heat where they were joined was overwhelmingly hot.

‘Doing this with Lionel here….’

As soon as she thought that, Lionel seemed to read her mind and whispered.

“You’re the one who makes me so aroused anywhere, anytime.”

“Uh, yes!”

“You’ll take responsibility, right, Ariel?”

As he whispered that, Lionel pushed deeper inside her. The act, which was difficult at first, flowed naturally afterward.

Ariel clung to Lionel’s back, which was too broad to fully embrace, gasping for breath. The scent of the oil Lionel always used mixed with the smell of flesh and lust, shaking her mind.

“Uh, Lionel.”

Ariel shivered and shrank her exposed chest. She could feel Lionel’s lips biting and sucking on her skin.

“Ah, huh!”

Her whispers scattered into shallow moans. Lionel smiled with joy as he came inside her.

“We’re really going together.”

Even as Ariel fluttered her eyelashes and closed her eyes, Lionel’s eyes, filled with emotions unlike his usual self, gleamed with joy. They were eyes filled with an oddly ecstatic light.

【 Lionel’s Circumstances 】

“No, Rayon!”

“Lionel! Come down!”

Six-year-old Lionel hid up the large tree he always climbed to avoid Rayon, who was trying to force a dog leash into his hands. The big hunting dogs, breathing heavily, were not pleasant to Lionel. The Duke sighed deeply, seeing this.

“He’s so sensitive.”

“Father, don’t be too harsh.”

“Your brother is so dignified.”

“…….”

“A boy who wants to become a holy knight in the future.”

In truth, Lionel was not the perfect diamond everyone thought he was. At least not to his father.