Just the thought of running into him made her wet below, slick and soaked.

The maids used to joke that when the heat got to be too much and you had to take care of it yourself, you had to soak your index and middle fingers in your mouth for a good while before things would go in easily.

For Lisette, who had spent the whole night tormented by dreams of him and woken in a daze, no such tedious preparation was necessary.

She was already more than wet enough down there.

The place that had once barely managed to take her own fingers now seemed ready enough to take that serpent, that club, whatever it was, that had hung long past his thighs on the day she had seen it….

“I’ve lost my mind…!”

Teetering on the razor’s edge between dream and waking, Lisette had been rubbing herself through her underwear with her hand between her legs when she snapped back to her senses and scrambled upright.

She shook her head roughly, as though trying to shake out the lewd, shameless thoughts that packed her mind. But she had only just woken from the dream, and his touch still seemed to linger all over her body.

“Ha…”

Lisette watched the faint trembling along the inside of her thigh where his hands had passed, then traced the same path inward with her own hand.

A heated breath broke free. The tip of his tongue, brushing against her underwear and pulling away again and again, and the obscene image of him pressing his mouth to her below with wet, smacking sounds refused to leave her mind.

Her heart fluttered like that of someone who had committed a sin, and her fingertips went numb. Or rather, it felt more like the place below her, still denied a proper release, was twitching and gaping. Afraid someone might see, she consciously clenched herself shut.

She tightened her inner walls, squeezing hard as though flexing her hips, and then…

‘A little more. Squeeze tight.’

‘Just a little more.’

Leon’s voice surfaced in her memory, the soft whisper he had breathed while catching her earlobe between his lips and letting go.

Like a devil’s whisper.

Yes. This dream was a nightmare, and he was a demon.

And the Leon inside that dream was an incubus, corrupting her.

But what frightened her was that breaking free from this dream right now was impossible.

‘Not unless she spent a night with him.’

No.

“……”

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, then let the tension drain from her body, laid her head on the pillow, and slipped her hand inside her underwear.

Slick fluid had pooled thickly inside her swollen, plump folds. Even the lightest brush of her fingers made it spill open and trickle down into the crease of her backside. She bit down softly on her lower lip, then pushed her index finger inside herself, and then her middle finger in right after.

She clenched her inner walls tight.

‘See? You’re doing so well.’

Leon’s voice praising her seemed to ring in her ears somehow. She panted, pressing her palm against the small bud and rubbing.

Exactly as he had done in the dream.

The same touch that had guided her to release with nothing but his fingers.

Slow at first, then suddenly fast, filling and thrusting into her. The same movement that had made her writhe so hard she nearly fell off the bed trying to get away.

But.

‘Why?’

Today, of all days, the terrible hunger filling her lower belly refused to be satisfied.

On any other day, the slightest graze against the bud would have sent her clenching in release, the craving fading quickly. But today it teased her, hovering just at the edge of satisfaction without ever tipping over, driving her more frantic than before.

Every breath scraped dry through her throat and stuck there.

Her body squirmed and sweat broke out along the back of her neck and across her forehead. She rubbed harder, ground against the bud. Still, her throat stayed parched. No matter how she twisted and strained, the heat below clung to her and would not leave.

“Ah…”

She needed him.

‘Leon.’

[You like it thick, don’t you?]

At the moment her breath came in gasps from the thirst paralyzing her mind, a devil’s whisper tickled her ear.

[Stop holding back and call for him. You foolish thing.]

[He wants it too.]

[You don’t have time. Four days until your fiancé arrives, isn’t it?]

[One night is all it takes.]

[Just.]

[One night.]

[That one time, and you’ll be completely free of this curse.]

That sweet voice that made her want to give in then and there.

* * *

[Yes. Be true to your instincts and desires.]

[It’s not that hard, is it?]

The demon’s voice whispered as though it were nothing, sweet and relentless, ringing in her ears every night, and not just at night either.

After days of the same temptation repeating itself, she felt ready to lose her mind.

At first she had thought she could brush it off, that it was just a dream and as long as she avoided him it would be nothing serious. But the reality that had come crashing down on her was not so simple.

Because it was not just the dreams. After she woke, her body was affected too.

Not a single day passed without her soaking through her underwear, without the inside of her thighs turning damp. Her swollen folds, puffy as though waterlogged, sent a tingle through her at the slightest graze, and sometimes walking itself was uncomfortable, the sensation so sharp it bordered on unbearable.

If she did not take care of it herself before the maids came in, the feeling would drag on, and there had been times she had ended up slipping into the bathroom alone to deal with it. Afterward she would be swamped by shame, along with the thought that she had always been this shameless and simply never known it.

The heat that rose through her whole body killed her appetite for the entire day, and her head stayed foggy morning after morning. Sometimes she would drift off without realizing it, and her nanny or the maids would ask if she was all right, she was so far gone. She could not get a proper night’s sleep.

Because she was afraid to fall asleep at night.

But honestly, what made things harder than anything else was not that. It was the thirst and the hollow ache that hit her after she woke. She had never known she could crave s*x this desperately, and that, honestly, frightened her.

She was afraid she would truly lose her mind and go running to him.

‘Though it feels like I’m already at my limit.’

The only reason she was holding on this well was because she had not seen him. If she happened to lay eyes on him now, even once…

‘Would I even be able to hold back?’

Honestly, she could not say for certain.

She could not even gauge how far she had pushed herself, or how much further she could go.

“Hoo.”

“Miss.”

“Hm?”

The sigh that had escaped her without warning made Phoebe, the maid walking at her side with a parasol in hand, tilt her head.

“Is something bothering you?”

The young maid’s eyes, watching her with concern, were clear and bright. Looking into those guileless eyes, a sudden urge surged up inside her to pour out every feeling and worry that had risen to her throat and finally be free of it.

But.

‘Never share your true feelings with the servants. Especially after marriage. Unless they are truly your people, never open your mouth.’

‘They may be like furniture, but the difference between them and actual furniture is that they can open their mouths at any time and use what they know against you.’

‘Be careful, Lisette.’

Her mother’s words came back to her, the ones she had been delivering over the past few months, sitting Lisette down to impress upon her the words and conduct expected of a mistress of a household. That she should trust the servants, but not trust all of them entirely.

‘That’s true enough.’

If she let even a little of her feelings slip to Phoebe right now, her mother would know the full contents of their conversation by evening. And she would end up locked away in the house again. And this time, he might truly be sent away.

“No.”

So she just smiled and let it go.

“I keep having nightmares lately.”

“Nightmares?”

“Yes. I think it’s the worry about having to leave home. I keep having them.”

“Oh, that makes sense! My older sister couldn’t sleep well before her wedding either, she was so anxious. But after the wedding it all went away.”

Phoebe smiled warmly and stepped in closer beside her.

“Her husband treats her wonderfully.”

The small, hushed whisper made Lisette lift the corners of her mouth in a faint smile. It was a remark with a double meaning, the kind that would have made her face flush with embarrassment before. But honestly, right now she felt nothing.

“Is that so?”

“Yes! Before the wedding she was sighing so hard you’d think the ground would cave in, but after she got married her whole face just bloomed. So I’m sure it’ll be the same for you, Miss.”

“You think?”

“Of course! The Baron is very, um, gentle. Gentle! And capable too. I’ve heard he has an enormous estate, so they say he’s incredibly, incredibly wealthy?”

“……”

“And for his age, um, his looks are quite good too.”

Phoebe’s slightly flustered words, delivered with an exaggerated tone, made Lisette smile quietly.

Not just Phoebe. Everyone around her had been chirping the same things like parrots for the past several days. It was obvious they had all memorized the same set of talking points, but she had no desire to point that out.

It was not as though they were saying it because they wanted to.

‘If they knew I was onto them, they would only get more cunning about it.’

She was tired of being deceived cleverly.

It actually felt less like being deceived when the other person’s intentions were this obvious, this transparent in their words and actions, compared to being manipulated with subtlety.

“I suppose.”

‘And easier to play along with.’

“That’s…”

But she had no desire to keep listening to Phoebe’s next round of deceptive words. Her patience only stretched so far, and she had already given it once.

“Phoebe.”

“Yes?”

Whether she had sensed the shift in Lisette’s manner or not, Phoebe startled and went wide-eyed, pulling her shoulders in. Lisette said nothing more and simply pointed toward the lakeside.

“I’ll be sitting over there by the lake, so could you bring me something to drink? I’m a little thirsty.”