There was a clanking sound, and then his trousers were pulled down to reveal his p*nis. It was the first time Hailla had seen one. Forgetting her feelings of shame, she stared blankly at it.

“Uh, uh, uh, uh, that…….”

It was so big that it looked hideous. There didn’t seem to be any part of her body that it could fit in. Hailla whimpered in fear. Lian frowned slightly, unsure why.

“It hurts a little if you look at it that way…….”

“Uh, no, no, no…….”

The man looked down for a moment, then ran his hand over his p*nis and stomach. The bulging red veins on his p*nis made it look ugly. However, there was nothing he could do about its shape. Although he felt a little resentful, he decided to try to appease Hailla anyway. He couldn’t stop anyway.

“I’m sorry, Hailla, everything is pretty, but mine is ugly. But you’ll like it soon.”

Lian gave her a brief kiss on the flushed cheek, causing her eyes to widen.

“Just hold on for a little longer.”

Lian opened her mouth and whispered. The woman’s pupils dilated and she was filled with shock; she couldn’t grasp its meaning quickly enough. An enormous, seemingly non-human p*nis entered her slippery v*gina, crossing the boundary. The pain of flesh being cut with a knife overwhelmed Hailla’s lower body.

“Huh, ahh! Ahh!”

“Shh, the pain will be over soon.”

“Ah, Lian, Lian! It hurts! It hurts!”

He continued to stroke her body, speaking in a low voice. However, his sparkling black eyes revealed a sinister sense of satisfaction at their complete union. His relentless assault on her inner walls showed no sign of stopping.

“Huh, ahh, ahh…….”

The pressure from the p*nis caused his lower body to tremble. Hailla kept calling Lian’s name. However, the sound of the woman’s pitiful cries of ‘Lian, Lian’ was reaching its limit, stimulating him as much as her throbbing lower body.

“I can’t, ha, ugh, I can’t…….”

Her instinctive gesture of closing her legs to protect herself was blocked by Lian’s hand.

“If you close your legs, you’ll get in trouble.”

He grabbed her knees, pushing her thighs down and lifting her legs. Although her body was positioned as if she were a frog being dissected, with her lower body clearly visible, she felt ashamed and didn’t have time to get up. Lian entered her in an instant. She felt as if something was falling out or being torn below her navel.

“Ah, ah, ah, hmph…….”

She couldn’t scream; she could only open her mouth. Her face looked as miserable as a fish on a hook. Lian felt sorry for her, but also…

She was crazy about it.

“Hailla.”

Her tangled inner walls clung tightly to the pillar, constricting it and wrapping around the opening of the gl*ns. Her lower body struggled to swallow it and resembled Hailla herself. Lian held her tightly for a moment, as if trying to remember every sensation brushing against her mucous membrane, before moving again. She trembled as he moved; her breathing trembled too.

“Hailla, Hailla, Hailla.”

Hailla groped at the bed as her internal organs and stomach were crushed. Despite looking pitiful, Lian pulled her waist back and thrust hard again. Then, like a madman, he repeated her name over and over again.

Gradually, tears and saliva clouded Hailla’s face. The man just kept f*cking and licking, ignoring her painful moans and tears.

“Hah!”

“Ugh.”

At that moment, Hailla’s inner walls contracted forcefully. Her body, abused by the thick p*nis yet receiving no pleasure, jumped at the tingling sensation. As if possessed, Lian stabbed her again in the same spot. The hand that had only just been holding the blanket grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Her face looked desperate, as though she were on the edge of a cliff.

“Are you okay, okay? Just relax a little bit, ah, please…….”

“Hic, hic, shi, no…….”

His coaxing tone seemed insincere. Clearly, he had no idea what he was talking about. Lian gently pressed and rubbed the spot where Hailla had reacted, stimulating her. The way he caught her hand when she tried to push him away, bringing it to his lips to kiss and lick it, was tender yet disgusting.

“Ahng…!”

Eventually, Hailla’s belly rose in a soft, rounded shape. “Good girl.” Lian said this and smiled with his eyes. He didn’t look away from the woman, whose face had slackened with pleasure and whose chin was trembling. He continued for a long time until their joined bodies were covered in foam from the friction.

***

“Only God can save me now. Give me the sword.”

“Please, Rear, please stop.”

Accompanied by a heavy melody, the actors, dressed in vintage costumes, moved gracefully across the stage. As the play reached its climax, dozens of musicians poured their hearts into the orchestration.

“Ah! Your pearl shines as brightly as our love. Now I shall…”

It was the final line of a performance intended for an audience of one. A woman with long, luxurious black hair reclined on a velvet sofa, her gaze fixed on the lead actress. Her moderately tanned skin gleamed even more under the yellow lights.

“…become one with you.”

Having lost her beloved, the tragic heroine collapsed after swallowing the pearl. With that, the second act came to a close, and silence fell over the theatre. Despite it being the interval before the final act, the play’s sole audience member remained utterly still.

“Your Majesty.”

As this dull act ended, the man—who had endured it with all the patience he could muster—finally spoke. It was Verdián.

“…I suppose the appointed time with the envoy has nearly passed.”

Verdián scoffed inwardly at the emperor, whose lies flowed as smoothly as a snake’s hiss. It was absurd — he clearly knew the envoy had arrived, yet he pretended otherwise just to make him wait. The act was shameless. As if that were not enough, he had the audacity to commandeer an entire troupe of renowned performers for his own entertainment. Hardly the mark of a refined ruler. Nevertheless, Verdián himself — smiling warmly and speaking with practised ease — was no ordinary man either.

“My apologies. You should’ve just summoned me directly.”

“No need. It’s an honor to wait for the Sun of the Empire.”

The flattery must not have sounded too unpleasant, as Feineria only lifted the corners of her lips in a faint smile.

“Very well, tell me—how is my dear nephew doing?”

Feineria brushed her long hair behind her ear. Even the slightest movement exuded the composure and elegance unique to royalty. As she looked at Verdián, her eyes curved slightly. This was her signal for him to begin the report. After a short pause, he started to relay what he knew.

“He is still residing at the temple.”

“Still with that woman, Hailla?”

“…Yes.”

“He must be truly bewitched.”

Although Verdián could hear amusement in her tone, he was aware of how turbulent the Emperor’s true mood was. He offered no further comment. Instead, he handed over a letter that Lian had written to the Emperor.

“He says he’ll end it all within the year… hmm.”

After reading the neat handwriting on the white paper, the Emperor raised a finger to summon an attendant. Right before her eyes, the attendant burned the letter to ash. There was no reason to allow a message about killing one’s father before the end of the year to circulate.

“My dear nephew certainly has nerve. Don’t you think so, Lord Ludain?”

The woman smiled, a faint crease appearing between her brows, and her smile was laced with subtle malice.

“You’re awfully relaxed in the presence of your emperor.”

“Will Your Majesty rebuke me for my insolence?”

Although his voice remained steady, the expression on his face clearly showed his delight, tinged with a hint of exhilaration that Feineria noticed.

After all, he was a man endlessly drawn to pleasure and amusement. It made sense. After days of trailing behind Lian, Verdián now clung to the tantalising hope that his monotony might finally be broken.

‘How would she choose to punish him?’

Turning Lian into a sacrificial pawn would certainly be the most thrilling option. However, given the Emperor’s deep obsession with her late sister, it was unlikely that she would ever harm Lian. In fact, it was more likely that Hailla would disappear. Verdián ran his tongue lightly over his parched lips and allowed himself another easy smile.

“Not yet.”

But that hope was shattered in an instant by the Emperor’s brief response. Feineria twisted a lock of her long hair between her fingers.

“I’ve waited nearly twenty years.”

“…”

“A few more months of patience is nothing. And I truly believe—”

“You mean Lian Huriet?”

‘That lunatic?’

Verdián barely stopped himself from saying the words aloud.

“The son of Tadelia.”

“…”

“My sister’s son—I have no doubt that he’ll carry out her vengeance to its end.”

A chill ran down Verdián’s spine, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Feineria’s smile was breathtakingly beautiful, yet it had an unsettling quality. This wasn’t the madness of someone who had lost their grip on reality overnight. No, it had been festering for years. The frustration Verdián had felt just moments earlier dissolved, replaced by a slow, creeping sense of satisfaction. As he had suspected, this woman was a maze of fascinating contradictions.

Feineria Rainora Lofranov — after losing her sister, Princess Tadelia (Lian’s mother), to Duke Tassen, she had murdered all her brothers and claimed the crown for herself. She was an empress who showed no warmth towards her parents, her husband or her own children, yet she remained hauntingly obsessed with her dead sister.

No one truly understood what Feineria felt for Tadelia. When Verdián once dared to ask about it, Crown Prince Labeitz recoiled and muttered that he didn’t even want to know. Despite her being his mother, he had long accepted that, in her eyes, he would always come second to Princess Tadelia. Because of this, he kept his distance.

“She appeared in my dreams again last night.”

“…”