It felt like a large bird mercilessly pecking at her head with a beak as big as its body.

May made a miserable face at the headache and the heat she felt after so long. This symptom came without any warning this time.

Of course, it had always been like this…. Until now, the sensation that gradually grew stronger hit her body suddenly at its highest intensity this time. She remembered chattering beside grandfather, but after that her memories were a mess.

Her last memory was of smiling while looking at her reflection in the window. Ah, and after that, returning the overturned mirror to its original position….

May, who had been staring at herself in the mirror for a long time with a wide grin, soon lay in bed, falling into sleep and waking up to pain repeatedly.

“Hng……”

And even after time passed like that, her body’s heat was excessive. Even slight contact with the sheets immediately drew out moans.

She was somewhat prepared since Johan had told her she might experience this again….

She felt unusually thirsty. But she didn’t want water. She just wanted to pour something all over….

‘Where do I want to pour it?’

As she thought that, May curled up at the sensation heavily pressing down on her body. Her body was now noticeably trembling.

‘……Cold.’

Yet she felt hot. Her head was too dizzy to think deeply anymore.

And no sooner had she realized this than she felt love juices gushing from between her legs. May buried her face in the sheets and let out a pained moan.

It felt strange and uncomfortable no matter how many times she experienced it. The inner walls contracting and expanding without her doing anything were also unpleasant.

“……Ah.”

Moreover, perhaps because she had held a c*ck before, her p*ssy’s movements were more intense than before. Even just the cloth of her underwear touching her heated cl*t made her body twitch.

Naturally, memories arose of it being sucked into a hot mouth, being pressed and shaken by firm fingers. At the same time, she desperately yearned for the sensation of something powerfully piercing her wet passage.

‘It wasn’t thirst….’

What she thought was thirst was an illusion born from strong s*xual desire. She wanted not water, but a man’s fluids. And she wanted them poured abundantly inside her walls.

Despite her hazy mind, her mouth went dry at the vivid desire. Though it was painful to endure, her first thought was that it was fortunate no one was in the mansion.

She had firmly resolved that if something like this happened, she would endure it alone. She had no intention of receiving that kind of help from Johan again, and as for Aiden… ah, she didn’t even want to imagine it.

If it hadn’t been because it’s the ducal household’s banquet season, he would have inevitably discovered her in this state. Thinking of Aiden’s blue eyes filled with disgust made everything go dark in a different way.

And blink. May’s consciousness grew distant again. Her tired body seemed to be calling for deep sleep once more.

‘This is rather fortunate….’

When she opened her eyes, hopefully her body would return to normal. And she should ask Johan more deeply about these symptoms when he returns. Until now, she had been too embarrassed to ask.

May let go of her fading consciousness with those thoughts.

The strange thing was that her body that had fallen asleep rose smoothly. Her swaying upper body tilted toward the door.

At the same time, the closed mansion door creaked open by itself.

And soon after, someone entered the mansion. Thump thump. The footsteps climbing the second-floor stairs were somewhat hurried.

* * *

“……He regained consciousness briefly at dawn, but even then he couldn’t speak properly.”

Dominic nodded at the butler’s words.

The old man’s blinking eyes were hazy from medicine. Lately he remained in that state even when awake. Dominic let out a quiet sigh as he turned his gaze from Herman’s unfocused pupils.

‘I had hoped to announce my visit….’

That wish became remote. He had been in that state for days already, so waiting any longer was meaningless. He checked his wristwatch out of habit before leaving the room.

To the butler who followed, he handed over a letter he had written just in case. It contained information about the letter from May Louise and that he would visit her mansion on his behalf.

The letters May found in the mansion from the sender Herman Vicenti. He could guess their contents without having to read them. They would be the usual complaints about that evil friend that Dominic had been hearing tediously since childhood until now.

They might be more scathing since the recipient was the subject. In any case, it was content that would naturally raise curiosity in a woman who knew nothing about her grandfather.

His pretense of being just a hired lawyer to avoid troublesome matters had become futile.

Originally, on the day he went to deliver the will to May, it was his fault for getting caught up in insignificant memories and saying unnecessary things to her. Even though taking on unprofitable consultation was unlike him.

‘……Though I knew it was unlike me, I even engraved her name in my memory.’

Herman also didn’t force any more meetings, and rather said it would be better for May not to know about Walter Prieto.

Yet when Dominic received her letter, he promised to visit without much deliberation. It was something that would make his adoptive father smile wickedly if he knew. He adjusted his schedule easily despite knowing him.

‘Though finishing the assigned task took longer than expected….’

Since it wasn’t urgent, he felt no rush.

“What should I tell the master about when you’ll return?”

“Well. Since it’s not a lengthy matter, I might return before father even wakes up. If he looks for me while I’m gone, just make sure to deliver the letter properly.”

Dominic spoke while receiving the simple luggage the butler handed over. Considering travel time by train, it would take two days at most. Since he planned to just quickly convey the known information and return anyway, it might not even take two days if he pushed himself a bit more.

A woman who might have become family with him if Herman had seized some opportunity… It was enough time to dilute the strange sense of responsibility he felt toward her.

* * *

The train Dominic took arrived in Almar after half a day’s journey.

After arriving in the familiar village, he began walking immediately instead of taking a carriage. It was a choice he took based on previous experience.

The hillside road along the sea was quiet and peaceful. Though it was early summer weather, the sea breeze made it quite cool. Soon the light-colored building began to appear.

‘……Not a bad place.’

Setting aside the rumors, he thought it suited the new owner quite well.

And just as Dominic reached the front of the mansion–

He stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrows. Because not only the coral-colored gate, but the mansion’s entrance was wide open as if it was welcoming an unexpected guest.

The man’s gray eyes slowly surveyed the surroundings. The mansion in the afternoon as the sun began to set was eerily quiet. As if no one lived there.

The letter said she had hired an employee…. Were they both out? Since he had announced his visit but hadn’t specified the exact date, that was possible.

But… if so, they wouldn’t have left without securing the doors. Naturally, negative assumptions followed. Whether something had happened to that woman.

Dominic was the first to check the mansion regarding May’s inheritance matter. Therefore, he knew early on what rumors were attached to this mansion. Though they were just amusing ghost stories, they still persisted.

The reason he hadn’t taken a carriage earlier and walked instead was also due to such experience.

Actually, he had wondered how she managed to hire someone in such a place, but had she perhaps let in someone with bad intentions? Considering her naive face, that possibility seemed quite high.

And when he thought she might have been harmed, his steps entering the open mansion became unhesitating.

‘Should I have helped find someone directly.’

Dominic’s eyes furrowed at the belated regret that he should have sent someone from the Vicenti viscounty household. He had assumed she would live quite well now that she had money, but thinking about it, someone might have coveted that money. After all, greatly increased wealth tended to become known somehow.

The man who rarely exercised his imagination quickly climbed to the second floor while treating his negative assumptions as fact.

And what greeted him was a woman’s suppressed moan leaking from beyond the door.

“Help me……”

A thin voice followed. Dominic’s eyebrows twitched at the sense of déjà vu it gave. Soon, a scene from the past that had kept coming to mind since meeting the woman began creeping up again. It was a memory that always made him fall into contemplation.

The memory of… a young girl looking up at him with quite a desperate face.