Bite Marks

Standing in front of the door, Liana felt a bit at a loss. She’d planned to simply swap out the water and towel at dawn and slip away unnoticed, but she’d heard someone moving inside.

Taking a deep breath, she parted her lips.

“…Your Grace, I brought your water.”

She waited quietly for a reply, but there was only silence from within. Had she imagined the sound?

“Your Grace…”

“…Come in.”

At last, his quiet voice came from inside. Liana’s fingertips trembled slightly. She steadied herself and carefully turned the doorknob, pushing the door open.

A wave of scent washed over her through the crack—a blend of sweet and heavy musk, thick enough to make her dizzy.

It was a fragrance she’d never smelled before, strangely intoxicating.

‘Did he light a candle to clear his head?’

For some reason, her heart started beating faster.

Feeling uneasy, she stepped inside quietly.

He was standing with his back to her, wearing a loose robe, and gazing out of the window. The air in the room felt oppressively warm, and broken items were scattered across the floor.

There was something different about him; his entire presence was somehow unsettling.

‘…It must be because of yesterday.’

Even when she entered the room, he didn’t turn around or look at her. Oddly enough, that was a relief.

Liana watched him warily, moving slowly as she approached.

As her footsteps drew nearer, the figure by the window flinched.

“There. …Just set it there and leave.”

Shed, still facing away, spoke faster than usual.

Holding the water bottle and towel, Liana glanced around.

‘There…’

Where?

He hadn’t gestured or pointed, so she wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.

Assuming he wanted her to set them on the nightstand as usual, she made her way toward the bed.

“Don’t come any closer—just leave them and go!”

She spun around and shouted.

Startled, Liana froze on the spot. Then she realised that there was something very different about his eyes.

Within the bloodshot whites, a strange violet glint flashed. That unnatural colour sent a chill through her.

The air in the room grew thick with his heavy, ragged breathing. His massive, powerful body swelled and contracted with each quick inhale.

Instinctively, Liana began to back away.

The moment he saw the fear on her face, he experienced a violent surge of desire that made him feel nauseous. He knew that if he gave in to this impulse, he would regret it.

But if not now, then when? When would he ever have her? Fierce possessiveness took over his mind.

And then—

“Ah!”

His body moved before he could think. The water bottle slipped from Liana’s hands with a crash, shattering on the floor and sending water and sharp shards scattering.

But he didn’t care. He seized her wrist. There was a hunger in those blazing eyes she’d never seen before.

“Your Grace, I—!”

His mouth twisted as he looked at the woman in his grasp. One look at her eyes, nose and lips, and all his tangled thoughts suddenly fell away, leaving only one thing clear.

“Come to think of it, there’s nothing left for us to regret, is there?”

A cold, burning sneer slid from the corner of his mouth. What had he ever been so afraid of? They already hated each other as much as two people possibly could.

Finally, his impulse overwhelmed all reason. Desire consumed him entirely as he crashed his lips down on hers.

“Ah—!”

His feverish heat enveloped her mouth, and his breath rushed into her lungs.

Wherever his burning skin touched hers, it felt as though she had been branded. His scent seeped deep into her lungs and permeated her being.

It was sweeter than usual, making her body ache in an unfamiliar way. She was so stunned by this sensation that she couldn’t push him away.

It was as if an old, dormant feeling had been reawakened after years of slumber. He drank in her taste, finally finding some relief from his searing thirst.

But one taste wasn’t enough — nowhere near enough. Drunk on her, he devoured her like a man possessed.

“Your Grace…!”

He pressed her down onto the white sheets impatiently. His large, powerful body pinned her arms down as he loomed over her.

He radiated scorching heat and his deep, heavy musk was suffocating, like being dragged under the water and sinking into its depths.

Her body tingled with fever. A tidal wave of unnamable emotion swept over her. Liana was suddenly, utterly terrified.

“Ha, Luise.”

Shed lowered himself over her, hungry for more than just her lips. She was sweeter, more intoxicating than any dream.

“Your Grace, please…”

Liana was frightened by the way her own pulse raced so violently. At her trembling voice, Shed buried his face in the curve of her neck, inhaling her scent as if he wanted to wear it away.

“Don’t make that sound. It only makes me want to hear more.”

Each shaky breath against his ear sent shivers through him. When he finally lifted his head, he saw tears glistening on her pale face.

The moment their eyes met, crystal drops slid from the corners of her eyes.

‘So you only cry when I come near you. You never shed a tear when you’re bitten by a hound, never even when stabbed by a heretic’s sword—but when I kiss you, the tears come so quickly.’

He brushed away her tears with his lips. But Liana turned her head away.

He could taste her tears on his tongue. They should have been salty, so why did they taste so sweet? They were so sweet that he wanted to possess every last one.

He stared at her wet, shining eyes, bright as glass beads. For a moment, Luise’s smiling face from his dream overlapped with Liana’s. But in reality, there was only Liana, letting her tears fall.

‘You’ll never smile at my kisses. There will never be a day when you smile for me.’

Realizing this, Shed claimed her even more deeply.

Under his touch, she bit her lip hard, breathing in sharp, broken gasps. As he pulled her closer by the waist, Liana’s body tensed—her eyes squeezed shut as she trembled.

“Ah—!”

A muffled cry, tinged with pain, escaped from between his clenched teeth.

At that moment, Shed felt his hand grow wet. He pulled away and saw that his palm was covered in blood.

It had seeped through her black maid’s dress and stained the white sheets beneath her.

The sight of all that vivid red brought Shed back to reality.

His rough touch had reopened the wound she had been recovering from.

Bit by bit, his sanity returned. The blood that had been boiling inside him cooled slowly, leaving him feeling chilled to the bone.

‘What have I done…’

He stared at the blood on his hand and then moved away from Liana. His heart beat with a different rhythm and intensity to before.

Liana stood up straight and huddled protectively over her reopened wound. Her red-rimmed eyes met his. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks, one after another.

His hand, which had begun to move towards her tear-stained cheek, froze in mid-air. His fingers were slick with her blood. He pulled his hand back and looked away, his gaze clouded with confusion.

“…Get out.”

The words escaped in a low, rough whisper, uttered through clenched teeth.

Liana fled the room as if her life depended on it.

Bloodstained, wrinkled sheets. Shattered shards on the floor. Scattered belongings.

Yet the air in the room was perfectly, almost cruelly, still and cold.

He was left alone, clenching his trembling hands.

He’d thought there was nothing left to regret. He’d believed he couldn’t fall any further. He was certain that he couldn’t be broken any more.

And yet… Luise Ideana had dragged him down to an even deeper abyss than he could have imagined.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

Liana only managed to take a few steps down the hallway before she collapsed and sank to the ground. Her whole body trembled in the pitch-black corridor.

Holding her throbbing lower abdomen, she whispered.

“Why…”

Her head spun. She couldn’t understand why Shed had done such a thing to her. She couldn’t even guess at the scorching desire she’d seen in his eyes.

‘He doesn’t even love me, so why did he look at me like he wanted me so much…?’

“The way you’re punished—that’s up to me.”

His words from yesterday echoed relentlessly in her mind.

The tears that she had thought had finally stopped were falling again, splattering her torn clothes.

Did he really need to push her so hard? Did he really need to shake her so much?

What made it all the more unbearable was the way her heart reacted to him, as if she had been conditioned to respond to his every action.

His deep, musky scent clouded her head. Her body responded to his desire, heating up against her will.

She hadn’t even been able to resist — she grabbed at him with pale, bloodless fingers, unable to tell him that she didn’t want this.

And, in the midst of it all, an old fantasy came to mind. She remembered the days she’d spent dreaming of sharing a bed with him: kissing him; making love to him; and lying together under warm covers.

His touch now felt like a mockery of her ugly longing.

‘After everything—after betraying and abandoning you—look how easily I respond to you.’

‘How readily I submit to a single kiss.’

Every time she realized this contradiction, it felt as if her heart were being ripped to shreds. The pain she’d felt the day her father drove a knife into his own chest seemed preferable to this.

“No, Luise. You can’t. Don’t do this…”

Liana bit her lip.

‘Don’t dream. Don’t even think about happiness or love. You’re Luise Ideana.’

She repeated to herself who she was, over and over.

At that moment—

“Liana?”

A light bobbed closer through the darkness, and a familiar voice called out. Liana lifted her head and scrambled to her feet. But her legs gave way, and she staggered, unable to stand properly.

“Are you all right?”

A gentle hand steadied her.

Eclace, holding a lantern, took in the sight of her red, tear-stained eyes, then quickly noticed the blood from her reopened wound.

“Your wound…!”

Liana wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head.

“I’m fine.”

She took a step back, but Eclace frowned, fixing his gaze on her pale neck.

Liana instinctively reached up to hide the mark on her throat with her fingertips. But it was not just her neck that she needed to hide; the large handprint on her wrist and her dishevelled hair and clothes gave everything away.

Eclace’s eyes swept over the evidence, then moved towards Shed’s bedroom door.

“Don’t tell me… Did Lord Lester do this?”

His voice, having pieced together everything at once, had lost all its usual warmth.