Chapter 10

All of it was because of him.  

And the way her chest swayed in rhythm with his movements…  

‘My mark.’  

The traces of his rough handling, from when he had gripped her so fiercely, had faintly remained as pinkish marks on her pale skin.  

The disarray of her flawless body was entirely his doing.  

Holding her hand down so she could continue stimulating herself, Karel thrust his hips, chasing his own satisfaction. Her inner walls convulsed.  

“Hah, ah, hah…”  

Moans spilled from her lips, flushed with heat. Her trembling walls seemed to suck at his member, as if trying to devour it, but Karel continued his relentless thrusting, evading her grasp.  

“Ugh, huh, ah… ahh…”  

Perhaps she was nearing her climax; the maid shamelessly moved her hips, her entrance clinging to the base of his manhood. Her walls tightened and gripped his shaft firmly.  

“Ah, ahh…!”  

Finally, a clear liquid trickled down to the base of his manhood. The sound of their mingled fluids wetly rubbing against each other filled the air.  

The woman, spent from her climax, collapsed with her entire body drained of strength, her face on the verge of tears. The hand that had been pressed against their point of union slipped away.  

He was satisfied. Deeply satisfied. Watching her, overwhelmed and trembling, drained of all strength to her fingertips, her chest marked with his handprints, swaying in rhythm with his thrusts… Her unfocused gaze fixed on him.  

Her face, flushed from the afterglow of climax, was sensual. That expression only heightened his desire.  

Her slightly parted lips reminded him of her earlier clumsy attempt at f*llatio. One of Karel’s fingers slid between them. “Hah, ah…” Her faint sighs escaped as his thick finger rested against her trembling lips. Just seeing her lips slacken around his finger… He couldn’t help but imagine his tip being taken by that small mouth.  

His manhood swelled one last time.  

Thrust, thrust, thrust—deeper, even deeper, just once more. Karel thrust his hips, holding back his release with difficulty.  

Imagining her lips wrapped around him, he reached a moment where he could no longer hold back.  

“…Tsk.”  

And he cl*maxed.  

***

The woman woke up with a start.  

The wide room was softly illuminated by the pale morning sunlight. She found herself wrapped in silk sheets on a bed far grander than anything she had ever laid on before.  

Oh, morning?  

As she hurriedly sat up, thinking she had overslept—  

‘Ah, right…’  

The pain that had been dormant suddenly flared up, radiating from her lower abdomen, her thighs, and her knees. The soreness and tenderness of her skin were undeniable, and remnants of the previous night’s activities trickled down.  

This wasn’t the dormitory for the inn’s maids, nor was it a night like any other.  

Yesterday—yes, such a thing had happened.  

But the room was empty, with no sign of anyone’s presence. She reached out to the bed, but there was no lingering warmth.  

He had been here last night—or rather, early this morning.  

Perhaps because he was a knight, his stamina seemed endless. Even after his first release, which had left her exhausted, he had turned her over and entered her again, fully er*ect. During it all, he had kept her face visible, tilting her head to the side. Even as she drifted into unconsciousness, he had gripped her chest tightly and thrust into her from behind. Whenever she regained brief moments of awareness, she found herself still impaled on his hardness, being shaken.  

The light seeping through the window was a faint grayish-blue. Not much time had passed, but Karel had already vanished without a trace.  

‘Did he go for his morning training?’  

Karel’s army had been stationed in Selmane for five days.  

Her daily routine now included sneaking glances at the expeditionary forces training in the back lot while fetching water at dawn. Karel, as the commander, trained with his men every day.  

Whenever she caught a glimpse of him sparring with his subordinates, his muscular arms, bared despite the cold, flexed this way and that. Those same arms had pinned her down on the bed last night…  

‘Ugh, stop it.’  

She shook her head vigorously. Her bangs, slightly covering her eyes, bounced with the motion. Karel had pushed them back last night and held her head in place as he took her repeatedly, leaving her hair disheveled.  

‘You’ve been like that all night and still have energy… … .’

The thought made her blush uncontrollably.  

Determined not to dwell on unnecessary thoughts, she forced her body—melting into the luxurious bedding—to rise. Every movement made her joints creak.  

She had passively accepted everything he did, unsure if she even had the right to respond. For hours, she endured his rough advances in unfamiliar positions. And to make matters worse, he had been buried deep inside parts of her she had never paid attention to before…  

It felt as if her pelvis had been disassembled and barely put back together. Her lower body ached, and her muscles throbbed. Her jaw, sore from enduring his rough kisses and holding his thick member, was the least of her concerns. Though she had worked as an inn servant for years and had no shortage of stamina, she had used muscles she never knew existed. Every inch of her body bore evidence of her night with the noble knight of Montferdia.  

‘…I’m insane, truly.’  

Only a month ago—no, even the day Karel’s army entered Oedel—no, even yesterday morning, she couldn’t have imagined herself doing such a thing.  

To think she had dared to spend the night with such a noble man.  

She recalled Karel’s face, illuminated by the moonlight, as he gazed down at her last night. That sculpted face, overtaken by uncontrollable lust and excitement…  

He had looked like a man braving an unstoppable storm, his rugged features tense and furrowed as he drove into her with unrelenting force.  

The moonlight streaming through the window had cast dramatic shadows over his chiseled body. Though he was a man of noble birth, untouchable by commoners like her, last night, she had been closer to him than anyone else in the world.  

‘…It was incredible.’

Yes, that’s right.  

It was an incredible night.  

She tried to dismiss her lingering feelings, focusing instead on the dull ache in her chest.  

This… this was just a sense of relief, wasn’t it?  

Having no knowledge of ordinary intimacy, she couldn’t understand what his disappearance meant. She had offered to warm his bed, and he had accepted. He was the noble knight of Montferdia, and she was nothing more than an orphan from the remote Gray Mountain region, a place most nobles in Cambiano didn’t even know existed.  

‘…He didn’t reject me, so that makes him kind.’

Yes, that’s it.  

Her heart ached slightly, but she clenched her fist tightly and dismissed the thought.  

She coaxed her creaking body to step onto the carpet. The clothes she had hastily stripped off last night, trembling under his commanding presence, lay discarded on the floor.  

The most expensive wool carpet in Oedel, and on top of it, her crumpled servant’s uniform.  

For a brief moment, she thought about how the sight resembled her own situation—serving the noble man’s luxurious golden bed. But she quickly shook her head, dispelling the thought.  

Last night was last night.  

She convinced herself that she had created a memory to treasure for the rest of her life. Moving her stiff body, she slipped into her cold, worn chemise. She had been wearing this same piece for months, washing it every few days. Once stiff, it had long since become soft and threadbare. This was her clothing.  

Feeling the familiar, rough texture of the well-worn fabric against her skin, she glanced at the bed she had just left with a dazed expression.  

‘This is enough. No matter where I marry or if I live alone, I’ll always have this night. It’s all okay.’  

As a child, she had spent lonely nights praying to the Fairy Mother for her wish to come true–I wish a prince would come.  

And he had. Only to leave on another path again.  

She steeled herself, gathering the sheets and blankets. Normally, Selma would take care of tidying the room, but she couldn’t leave the bedding, stained with her skin and the remnants of last night, for someone else to find.  

The night was over.  

The dream had ended.  

She forced strength into her trembling arms and walked out of the room with determined steps. Her joints screamed in protest, but it was time to return to her daily life.  

Only the basin and the towel she had brought, intending to tempt him, remained behind, unnoticed like lingering regrets.  

* * *

“Hey, girl! What happened to you last night?”  

Selma found her after the sun had fully risen. The woman had just finished washing and hanging the precious linens and was now helping with the morning preparations in the inn’s kitchen.  

“I’m sorry, Selma. But I made sure to wash them carefully…”  

“Do you think I’m worried about you doing a sloppy job?”  

After working in Selma for nearly eight years, she knew how to handle such expensive bedding. Glancing around briefly, Selma gestured for the woman to step out of the kitchen. Without much thought, she followed.