“Perhaps she made that declaration because things were already going well with Young lord Lovitz. Her feelings for Young lord Damon were already gone.”

“……”

“Looking at them today, Miss O’Hara seems to have a liking for Young lord Lovitz. Well, Young lord Lovitz is decent enough. It makes sense that Miss O’Hara would like him.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Damon opened his mouth with an irritated edge in his voice.

“Do you honestly think that makes any sense? Miss O’Hara liked me for five years. You think some man like that is going to catch her eye?”

The young lady stared at him with a startled expression. But Damon still looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his brow deeply creased, and he snapped his head toward Nate and Roderick.

Damon seemed to have lost half his composure. He walked straight toward where Nate was without stopping to think.

Nate, in the middle of a conversation with Roderick, looked flustered when she saw Damon approaching out of nowhere. Roderick, on the other hand, went cold. Paying no mind to either of them, Damon walked up to the two shamelessly and opened his mouth.

“Miss O’Hara, did you get home safely yesterday?”

Or more precisely, he wasn’t talking to both of them. He was talking to Nate specifically. And deliberately, at that, forcing her to recall the memory of Ombra she wanted to forget.

“Oh, um… Young lord Preston……”

Nate looked back and forth anxiously, checking Roderick’s expression.

Roderick already knew Nate went to Ombra with Lilia. He was sorry he couldn’t join them, since he had a hunting engagement with other nobles at the time. What he didn’t know was what happened between Nate and Damon there.

Nate couldn’t bring herself to answer, so Damon spoke again.

“I was wondering whether you were startled by the time you spent with me yesterday.”

He smiled and continued, “It was quite a heated and exciting time, wasn’t it? Honestly, even now, whenever I think back to that moment, my lower half feels a dull ach……”

“Y-Young lord Preston……!”

Nate cut him off urgently. His words were growing increasingly explicit. Nate checked Roderick’s expression and made excuses, her face burning red.

“Ah, y-you must have really enjoyed the card game yesterday.”

Damon looked down at her with a flat expression.

“Was what we did yesterday a card game?”

Roderick’s expression grew even colder. Nate’s face was now completely drained of color.

“O-of course it was. Actually, I was meaning to ask you again about the rules of that card game. Could you spare a moment to talk with me?”

She decided she needed to get Damon somewhere alone first. She felt she had to ask him to keep what happened yesterday a secret.

Damon’s goal from the start was to separate Nate from Roderick, so he answered without resistance.

“If that’s what you’d like.”

Nate immediately turned to Roderick to excuse herself.

“Roderick, I’ll be back after a quick word with Young lord Preston. It won’t take long.”

Roderick looked less than pleased but nodded reluctantly.

“All right.”

The moment his answer came, Nate grabbed the hem of Damon’s sleeve and started walking. Damon let himself be pulled along without resistance. This was the first time Nate took him somewhere this proactively.

She slipped into a room in the Lovitz Marquisate that didn’t see much foot traffic. Damon looked around the enclosed space with satisfaction.

“A fine place for something lewd,” he murmured.

“Pardon?”

Nate didn’t quite catch his low mutter. Damon shrugged like it was nothing.

Nate let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.

“Young lord Preston, if you bring up what happened yesterday in front of Roderick……”

“I was wondering what kept bothering me.”

Nate stopped mid-sentence and looked at him, puzzled. He looked down at her and spoke.

“We should start with what you call me.”

“What do you……”

“That nobody Lovitz is Roderick, and the man you liked for five years is still Young lord Preston. That’s a little unfair to me.”

Nate’s eyes went wide. Damon stepped closer to her and cupped her cheek.

“Call me Damon, Nate.”

“Pardon? Oh…… That’s……”

The sudden closeness flustered her. Damon whispered to her like he was urging her along.

“Quickly. Otherwise I’ll just kiss you.”

Nate’s eyes went even wider.

They say the first time is hard but the second is easy. What happened yesterday seemed to have knocked down every solid wall that stood between them, known and unknown. Damon moved toward her like he truly meant to kiss her. Nate opened her mouth in a hurry, her expression a mess of confusion.

“Young lord Damon……”

But Damon never said he wouldn’t kiss her if she said his name. Nate realized that too late.

Damon seemed even more worked up for it and pressed his lips to hers with urgent desperation. Startled, Nate stepped back without thinking. It was meant to put distance between them, but it was no use. Damon closed the gap as fast as she retreated.

He pressed his lips to hers and ground against them frantically, then drove his tongue inside without pause. His thick tongue swept across every soft surface and then darted after Nate’s retreating tongue and caught it. He sucked the sweetness out of it greedily, like he meant to drain it dry.

The wet sounds of mingling saliva filled the room. Nate gasped for breath. Her mind went completely blank and she couldn’t think at all. She was certain what happened with him yesterday was the end of it, and she couldn’t make sense of why she was kissing Damon again right now.

But Nate couldn’t think any further. Stepping backward, she ran out of room. A tall chest of drawers stood behind her.

Damon wrapped his arm around her waist with practiced ease and lifted Nate onto the chest of drawers. That brought their eye levels roughly in line. It worked in Damon’s favor. It was a very convenient position for kissing her.

Damon explored Nate’s lips more thoroughly. He sucked at her tongue greedily, then rolled against it in slow circles and rubbed the tip of his tongue along it, over and over.

“Ngh, hmm……”

M*ans broke endlessly from between Nate’s lips. He worked her tongue so relentlessly that the base of it went numb.

She tapped his shoulder to signal she needed a break. Only then did he pull his lips from hers, where he clung with something like obsession, and lowered his head.

Damon’s lips traveled down the line of her neck. His red tongue swept in circles over her soft skin as it went.

“Hh, D-Young lord Damon…… Mm, hahh.”

She wrapped her hands around his hair. He paid no mind to it and sucked hard at the soft flesh below her collarbone.

When Damon finally lifted his head, a red mark was visible. He looked satisfied and dragged his tongue over the red bruise.

Damon raised his eyes and looked up at Nate. She was staring at him with half-glazed eyes. She knew she should stop him right now, but every bit of strength drained from her body and she had none left to do it. All Nate could do was breathe in ragged pulls and carefully curl her fingers around his soft hair.

Damon seemed to like what he saw and gave a small smile. He moved the hand supporting her waist upward and kneaded her full br*asts.

“You liked it when I touched your br*asts yesterday, Nate.”

Nate frowned at his words.

“I d-did not……”

“You did. I’m sure of it.”

“……”

“Especially when I sucked your n*pples. You moaned so much.”