Chapter 17

The pale twilight, heralding the early onset of winter’s night, leaned over the horizon. 

Creak, creak… The bed, which had endured several passionate encounters over the past few days, let out faint groans. 

Smooch, smack, slurp—the sound of a man sucking on a woman’s neck echoed through the room. Karel, with no intention of pretending otherwise, continued his impatient kisses along the woman’s ear as she lay prone beneath him. 

“Sir Knight, please, a little slower…”

She hadn’t even had the chance to wash properly. She must reek of sweat. The woman squirmed slightly, wanting to lie properly, but her hand, which had been reaching for the floor, was soon caught by Karel, who seized her wrist. 

“Wasn’t it you who came here in haste?”

“Well, I… that is…”

“Being in a hurry means you wanted me to get on with it quickly.”

Gripping both her wrists with one hand and pinning them above her head, Karel panted against her neck, biting into her skin. His other hand squeezed her br*ast firmly, twisting the peak as though teasing it. The woman’s small frame trembled uncontrollably, prompting him to lock her lower body in place with his sturdy legs. Inhaling deeply the scent of her skin from her neck, he slid his hand down to cover her private area. Simultaneously, his tongue trailed down her spine while his fingers pushed inside her entrance.

Trapped underneath him, her delicate body was at his mercy—smelled, gripped, touched, bitten, licked… 

“Ah… mmh…”

Despite being suffocated by his weight, the woman found warmth in the sensation of being pressed down so completely. Her cheeks flushed, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of air or the rising excitement. 

Hurry… I wish you’d run wild inside me already. I want you to thrust that hard, sensitive pillar of yours into me and lose yourself to the pleasure until you can’t hold back. I want to see that composed brow of yours crumple as you endure and endure, only to finally release with a disheveled face. 

The real issue was that neither of them had much regard for their situation. Whenever Karel found himself alone, the woman would sneak into his room, regardless of whether it was night or not. 

And Karel… had no way to refuse her. 

In just a few days, he would be departing for the battlefield. Though he didn’t show it, there was no way he could be at ease. 

Even after embarking on life-threatening expeditions so many times that he could no longer count them on his fingers, he could never become numb to the looming threat of death. 

He held back his emotions at banquets and meetings, thinking of the soldiers who, despite being swept up in malice directed solely at him, still chose to follow him to the end. 

“Sir Knight… ah, ngh… Sir… ahh, mmh, hngh…”

The woman’s trembling voice was gradually tinged with nasal tones. A faint smirk crossed Karel’s lips. 

Because, like this, he could forget. 

Focusing on teasing the hardened base of her n*pples, stroking her increasingly wet folds with his fingers, and stimulating the sensitive nub at the end—rubbing, pinching, pressing, and applying pressure. Each time, her entrance quivered, her back arched like a cat, and her breathing hitched. The sound of her moans, as if she were choking, and the sensation of her clear, warm fluids soaking his hand… 

By immersing himself in such acts, Karel could momentarily forget the shadow of death that loomed over him. 

“Ah… Sir Knight… please, stop… no more, mmh…”

Though he realized the woman had reached her climax under his touch, Karel couldn’t bring himself to stop. He continued to stroke her entrance, tormenting her overly sensitive flesh, which elicited faint cries from her lips. 

The fact that she cried because of him… 

“Mmh… ah… ngh…”

The woman’s hips squirmed beneath his weight. Though she was trying to escape from his relentless teasing of her already overstimulated nub, to Karel, even that seemed like the lascivious antics of a witch. 

“That’s right. You came here in broad daylight because you were desperate for my c*ck.” 

And this woman… wanted him when he wasn’t wielding a sword. 

Not his death or his life, not the half-title of Montferdia attached to him, but something entirely different. 

Something no one else had ever asked of him. 

In other words, just him. 

It was as he rose and loosened his pants to reveal himself. 

“That’s… not it…” 

The woman, who had been sobbing through the aftershocks of her climax, turned her head to glance up at him from the corner of her eye. Her purple irises, brimming with tears, gazed at him quietly from the center of her flushed face. 

Karel had no intention of deciphering the emotions in her gaze. Stroking his length with his fluid-soaked hand, he spread her pale b*ttocks beneath her hastily lifted skirt and thrust himself inside. 

Thwack, thwack, thwack—his rough movements were accompanied by her cries of “Ah, ahh, mmh!” The tight sensation of her walls enveloping him drew Karel into a trance. 

Perhaps… five days at most. 

The sooner they departed, the sooner they could return to avoid Magiella’s night, yet the thought of possibly never coming back made him want to delay even a single day. Whether the awakening of the Light Dragon was truly imminent or the Gray Mountain Range was teeming with magical beasts beyond imagination as Magiella’s night approached… 

Perhaps it was because everyone in the expedition was making similar calculations that a peculiar sense of despair hung over them during meals and meetings alike. Those who had once vowed to follow him even unto death might now be regretting their decision. In such a situation, he had no choice but to feign fearlessness. 

But when night came, when he was left alone… 

When he had even a moment to be lost in his own thoughts… 

The woman who somehow always found her way to him, the pleasure that momentarily burned away all his worries—he had no means to refuse them. 

“Ah… mmh… faster… ngh… ah!” 

A sound that could be either sobbing or moaning began to fill the air. Without paying attention to it, Karel silently continued his movements. The fact that the woman’s face resembled that of his cruel lord was now nothing more than proof of witchcraft. 

Like this, she made him lose his reason, forget his mission, and indulge in the fleeting sensations of arousal and release day after day. Thanks to her, he could forget all his fears and anger… 

The woman who blinded him. 

The woman who aroused him with her cruel face. 

If she wasn’t a witch, then what was she? 

***

The moment their secret meetings extended beyond the cover of night, it was only a matter of time before the identity of the maid warming Karel’s bed was exposed. The fact that the woman had violet eyes behind her unkempt bangs—and that a woman with platinum hair and violet eyes held a certain significance to Karel—became well-known within the expedition.

“That errand girl… they say she looks exactly like the Princess…”

The problem was that not everyone felt the same obligation as Winden to protect Karel’s private matters, even though they had shared life-and-death moments together for years. If a nobleman turned out to be as obsessed with women as the rest of them, it would only help unite the group. Besides, gossip about their leader was always the most entertaining topic, no matter where they were.

“They call him the 1st Princess’s dog, but it turns out he’s not that kind of dog.”

“Not a hunting dog, but… a different kind of dog, you mean?”

The mercenaries, who had heard the details from the knights of the royal castle, burst into raucous laughter.

That laughter easily crossed the walls of Selmane.

“That girl, you know…”

It was an evening like any other in Selmane, with Oedel’s people gathered there. A man sitting at a regular table opened his mouth in a sly tone. His gaze, full of mischief, gestured toward a woman bustling about in the distance.

“They say she serves the knight from the royal castle in bed…”

“What? That girl?”

“Isn’t she the one the village chief planned to send to the Lord’s castle?”

The men’s gazes all turned toward the inside of the hall. Today, too, the woman was busy carrying six or seven beer mugs in both hands as she moved back and forth across the hall.

“You know, the knights train at the well every morning. Someone must’ve overheard them talking.”

“The village chief had his eyes on her, so no one dared approach.”

“The chief? What does he matter? Even the merchants from outside the village are all scrambling to get on Selma’s good side.”

“Yeah, plus, Selma said that girl is far from coming of age, so everyone just let it be…”

As they spoke, the men’s gazes once again followed the woman. 

“But if they’re not planning to send her to the Lord’s castle…”

The implication swallowed by the ellipsis was understood by all. The men’s eyes appraised the woman’s body as she darted about the hall.

***

Riding the peak of these rumors, an esteemed guest arrived.

It was the third son of the Lord, visiting from Eldorff’s main castle to attend the banquet held in support of the expedition’s departure.

The people of Oedel knew little about the exact details of the expedition, but the Lord of Eldorff, as a vassal of Cambiano, was in a different position. While he thought he might never see them again, he also considered the possibility they might return alive. Thus, he made a show of treating them with the utmost hospitality. After all, this was an expedition from the royal castle, and its leader was none other than the Young Master of Montferdia.