14

Elsia was humming a song as she brushed her hair. It was already glossy, smooth, and soft, but she still wasn’t satisfied.  

She was planning to meet Adrian again today.  

Even though she always ended up undressing in front of him, her desire to look prettier for him only grew stronger with each day.

“Where are you going today?”

A sudden voice in her ear startled Elsia. While she was distracted with her grooming, Marie had entered her room.  

“I’m… not going anywhere.”  

Elsia pretended not to know anything and kept brushing her hair, but her hand was trembling.  

‘Did Marie catch on that I say I’m visiting Richel’s house but actually go to meet Adrian?’  

Elsia felt uneasy.

“You’re acting suspicious lately. You used to hate getting dressed up, but now you do it yourself. And you barely ever went out, but now you keep saying you’re going out.”

Marie looked at Elsia with suspicion in her eyes.  

“It’s just… I have fun with Richel, so I’ll go.”  

“You don’t have to stay out all night. You could go during the day, but you insist on going out at night?”

At this point, Marie seemed almost certain that Elsia was meeting a man.  

Elsia couldn’t say anything in response to Marie’s words.  

It was only natural, since she went out late at night whenever Earl Portman was away.

“I don’t know anything. I won’t pretend to know, either. I don’t know who he is, but I hope even a brief meeting is with someone who cherishes you.”

True to her reputation as a nag, Marie started lecturing Elsia at machine-gun speed.  

Elsia pretended not to hear and kept brushing her hair.  

When Marie started nagging, it lasted at least thirty minutes, so Elsia had no choice but to give up and listen.

“…Someone who always says ‘I love you’ must be a playboy, but someone who never says it is a problem, too. I just hope he’s not one of those two.”

Elsia was relieved the lecture wasn’t as long as usual, but Marie’s last words made her stop brushing.  

“‘I love you’…”  

Elsia suddenly realized she had never heard Adrian say he loved her.  

In fact, she hadn’t heard any sweet whispers from him at all.  

Her excitement vanished in an instant.  

She knew their relationship was only physical. It had started that way.  

But Elsia felt a tightness in her chest, a suffocating frustration.  

She was always the one to start things. She was the one who proposed spending the night together, the one who always went to his villa first.  

She met Adrian by instinct. When they met, they joined bodies and then parted.  

Their time together was brief, so they barely talked, only communicated through their bodies….

Marie’s words opened the door to questions that Elsia had hidden behind the iron wall of her determined resolve.

“Sigh.”

Seeing Elsia freeze, Marie looked at her with pity and sighed.

* * *

“How about we meet outside for a change?”

Elsia had dressed up beautifully and rushed over, but as always, it turned out to be unnecessary.  

Soon, she was undressed, her hair disheveled, gazing at Adrian from atop him.  

After one storm had already passed, as they rested, Elsia gathered her courage to ask him. It would be a lie to say she had no hope.  

Her heart thumped as she asked, and she felt his pulse under her fingertips as she stroked his chest.  

If Adrian showed even a hint of caring for her, Elsia felt she could break off her engagement with Mars, even if she wasn’t sure of her own feelings.

“That’s not possible.”

But Adrian firmly rejected her suggestion, without a moment’s hesitation.  

Elsia wanted to ask why, but she was afraid that asking more would only make her feel miserable, so she couldn’t press further.  

She could only assume that was the extent of his feelings for her.  

At the same time, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Don’t you want to ask why?”

With no reply from Elsia, Adrian asked.  

“No. I don’t want to hear it.”

Elsia buried her face in Adrian’s chest, wrapping her arms around his neck.  

‘I shouldn’t have listened to Marie…’  

She regretted asking Adrian. Their meetings were supposed to be for pleasure, but now it felt as if the mood had been ruined.  

Elsia tried hard to hide her tears.

Without knowing her feelings, Adrian gently embraced Elsia.  

He treated her delicately, like a precious treasure, so it seemed he cared for her—but why did he keep pushing her away?  

Elsia felt a pang in her heart.  

When she gave a bitter smile, Adrian gently kissed her eyes.  

The tickling sensation made Elsia shake her head, and suddenly Adrian flipped her over, laying her beneath him.  

Adrian kissed every corner of Elsia’s body as if marking her as his own, leaving rosy marks wherever his lips touched.

“Don’t leave marks where they show.”

Elsia pushed Adrian away as he sucked on her neck, but she didn’t actually dislike the feeling of being branded as his.  

Her gloomy mood seemed to lighten a little.

Elsia gently pressed her lips to Adrian’s shoulder, wanting to leave her own mark.  

“Mm…”

The more she sucked, the more Adrian moaned, and red spots appeared.  

It felt good to see a mark showing he belonged to her, too.

“I thought I told you not to provoke me.”

As soon as Elsia’s lips parted, Adrian gave a sly smile.  

‘Could it be…?’

Elsia struggled to push Adrian away, but he slowly entered her.  

She wasn’t in the mood for this, but just the fact that he was inside her made her feel a sweet thrill.

“Mmm…”

Elsia writhed and cried out at the hot pleasure crashing into her. The deeper Adrian entered her, the more she melted.  

A tingling thrill pierced her body.  

Adrian penetrated her deeply and firmly, as if claiming her as his.  

The stronger he thr*st, the more her mind blurred and her reason faded.  

Her gloom quickly turned to pleasure, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Harder. More, more.”

Elsia no longer hid her desire for stronger pleasure, demanding it from him.  

She wanted to fill her empty feelings with her body.

Adrian moved fiercely in response, and the two burned even hotter, but Elsia still felt unsatisfied.  

She tried to soothe the unhealed wounds in her heart by leaving nail marks on Adrian’s back.  

Even if it bled, it didn’t matter. Her heart was wounded more deeply than that.

After another cl*max, Adrian gazed at Elsia with deep eyes and spoke.

“Today was more intense than usual. Shall we just get married? I really like your body.”

He spoke of marriage, without ever saying he loved her or agreeing to go out together.  

Elsia couldn’t tell if he was sincere, but his words felt like a dagger in her heart.  

There was probably no meaning in those sweet words—just things said in the heat of pleasure.  

His words left only a frustrating emptiness in Elsia’s heart.

The more Elsia met Adrian, the more the high, thick walls she’d built began to crumble. But the wall around her heart for him still hadn’t completely fallen.  

There was just one wall left, but Adrian seemed unwilling to break it. Just one more would be enough.

“I’ll… decline.”

There had been a time when just seeing Adrian’s face made Elsia happy.  

But the more she felt rejected, the more seeing his face became painful.  

No matter how much they joined bodies, their hearts never joined, and that made her even more bitter.

‘I can’t let myself be dragged along by him any further. I have to stop.’

But what frustrated her most was that she couldn’t do it.  

Despite vowing not to, Elsia kept coming to him, and she still couldn’t understand herself.

Feeling contradictory emotions—happy yet unhappy—Elsia found herself crying without realizing it.  

Adrian would never understand the meaning of her tears.

Adrian’s sweet kisses continued, but his gentle kisses could no longer comfort her.