Chapter 3.2

“If you only saw me as a convenient bed partner… if you just thought I was easy to use…”

The man rubbing his lips on her skin suddenly raised his head.

“So what—you’re saying after clinging to me all night, you saw me as nothing more than some trash for venting lust?”

Talking about bed partners and being easy. Though she was the one trembling, it was Dein who seemed hurt, his face crumpling abruptly.

He glared at Violet as if he would devour her any moment, pulling her tightly into his arms.

“I really must be an awful man in your eyes.”

His voice held a tinge of bitterness. Surprised, Violet’s tremors slowly began to fade.

Silence flowed between the two for a while. Dein’s breathing was faintly heard behind her.

It sounded like he was calming down or suppressing his emotions.

As if her words were wrong from the start.

Then why?

With relief that she hadn’t hurt the person she liked, Violet’s question returned to its original place.

When the breathing behind her became more even, she cautiously opened her mouth, having calmed the rising tears.

“If that’s not it…… then why are you doing this all of a sudden? You didn’t want to marry me, Sir Dein.”

“When did I say that?”

The answer came back as if he had been waiting. She was surprised at how light the lips of the man she often saw heavily touching hers during her one-sided love felt.

“I’m not a fool to be pushed into marrying someone I don’t want and roll in the mud.”

His disgruntled words made her heart flutter, but in a different way than before.

Once again, the long intimacy of last night came to mind. The wild words he spoke last night took on a slightly different meaning this time.

Mixed with some incomprehensible sounds, it created a hopeful expectation, just maybe.

“But you dislike me, don’t you?”

When she asked cautiously, testing the waters, she felt the change in the atmosphere behind her. Dein looked at her with a terrifying intensity.

The anger he had barely suppressed seemed to surge again, full of pressure.

“I’d like to know where that brilliant idea came from.”

“Because… our engagement only happened because talks with my sister fell through…”

What nonsense is this?

Dein felt more uneasy than angry. Seeing Violet cautiously gauging his intentions with a puzzled expression, he sensed something was seriously wrong.

Of course, he knew the rumors spread by the gossipers and nobles.

But they were not people Dein cared about. Besides, it was a thought held by those unaware of the inner circumstances.

At least she, with her adorable mind, should not have such misunderstandings.

“Then what did you think when you saw the letters I sent? Did you think they were political maneuvers sent to a fiancée I was forced to accept?”

“Letters? I’m not sure what letters you’re talking about.”

“Perhaps the content was so ridiculous and trivial that you don’t remember. Like someone was just scribbling them while being mocked for having a romance on a battlefield where life and death were at stake.”

“I’ve never received any letters like that.”

“……I mean the letters I sent to you, Princess Violet. Have you never read them?”

Violet nodded slowly with a puzzled face. Her violet eyes looking at Dein held no falsehood.

She tilted her head as if trying to recall, but not finding such memories, she shook her head again.

Dein quietly looked at her. It wasn’t a lie. No, she wouldn’t lie about something like this.

“Damn.”

After thinking for a while, he roughly ran his hand through his hair. Those cunning humans. He cursed softly, letting out a sigh.

“So that’s why there wasn’t a single reply.”

As he roughly grasped the situation, he felt both irritation and relief. The heart that had almost sunk to the bottom slightly turned towards a spark of hope.

Violet stood there, frozen, with her eyes wide open like a little rabbit. She looked at Dein in front of her as if seeing him for the first time.

She recalled the curse he muttered under his breath. Words that shouldn’t have come from his mouth.

No, it was probably the first time she had heard such words.

It made sense. Dein had always acted calm and noble in front of her. He had suppressed his rough nature that might shock or disappoint the innocent Princess.

He had been careful even with a single word, fearing he might make a mistake. He had tried to catch her eye, holding back what he wanted to say. But now that urgency rendered all his efforts meaningless.

Tsk, Dein clicked his tongue irritably. But he soon changed his mind.

It was a meaningless act now anyway.

“If you were thinking that way.”

Dein lowered his voice calmly. The clear tone brought her back to the conversation.

“If you thought I wanted the First Princess, then why did you agree to be engaged to me?”

“……What?”

Violet’s eyes trembled as she stood defenseless. The emotions she had suppressed couldn’t be hidden from the unexpected attack.

“I’m asking why you decided to marry a man you thought didn’t like you.”

He lowered his head. They were already so close that their breaths could touch.

It seemed as if Dein’s face would descend onto Violet’s at any moment.

His black eyes, darker than the night, his sharp nose, and his masculine lips were all close.

She had dreamed of facing him like this for so long. But standing before him now, she couldn’t think of anything.

Her head spun. But, just maybe. The expectations that had already begun couldn’t stop her honest lips.

“……Because I didn’t dislike it.”

Though the truth was slightly blurred at the end, it reached Dein, who was only listening to her.

“At first, I just thought you were wonderful. But every time we exchanged greetings, met eyes, stood beside each other……. To you, it might have been just politeness in treating the Princesses equally, but to me, every action felt like you were seeing me first, and it all piled up.”

Since it was a feeling she had never told anyone, it poured out like a flood once it started. In front of the person involved, no less.

“So I liked it. Even if you liked my sister, I wanted to be engaged to you, Sir Dein.”

Dein believed, for the first time in his life, in the childish saying that his heart might burst. The feeling of breathlessness filled him to the throat, but his brow soon furrowed again.

“And yet.”

“Yes?”

“And yet, why reject it now?”

“What do you mean? I told you yesterday. I’m not suitable for you, and you’re someone who suits my sister.”

“Ha. So you were pushing me away with empty words, but it was actually true……”

The more he heard, the more absurd and angry he became. Joy and futility came simultaneously.

He wanted to find the cause of all this immediately, but that wasn’t the urgent matter.

Finally, after going around in circles, finally.

Confronted with the real truth, he couldn’t hold back any longer. He gathered the remaining patience and opened his mouth, pretending to be calm.

“I don’t even understand why I need to make such excuses, but the Crown Princess and I, if anything, dislike each other. There’s no way such a ridiculous rumor could be true.”

“What? Why?”

Violet looked more surprised than before. She guessed that the misunderstanding was wrong, but the strong expression of dislike was a bit bewildering.

However, the eyes staring at her were shameless and calm, even as they held the audacity of disliking the Princess.

“To me, the Crown Princess is a hindrance that keeps me from the woman I love, and to her, I am a shameless rogue aiming for her beloved sister.”

“The woman you love…?”

“Yes. The woman I embraced and kissed multiple times last night.”

“……”

“If you still don’t understand at this point—”

“No, I understand! I understand!”

Violet nodded vigorously, her face flushed like an apple. The man finally smiled with satisfaction at her passionate affirmation.

“Then it’s settled now.”

“Ah!”

His impatient hand urgently slipped under the covers. Dein pressed his body close to hers, grabbing her soft flesh in one swift motion.

His lips roamed roughly and wetly from her temples to her cheeks, lips, neck, and collarbone, spreading sticky sounds across her skin.

The caresses were filled with sticky and urgent lust, mingled with joyful affection.

Dein gathered her br*ast in his hand, twisting the protruding n*pple between his thumb and forefinger. The blatant touch brought back memories of the torment she endured all night, heating her body intensely.