“Why do you look like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

The bitterness in her heart seemed to show on her face. His fingers brushed gently over Regina’s lips, as if trying to read the thoughts hidden behind them.

“For nothing, you smiled sadly.”

“I don’t even know what expression I had.”

“Didn’t you smile as if you were going to cry? As if I were a bad husband.”

So he does know.

“When I first saw you, you sometimes looked sad. Just like now.”

Regina realised which moment he was referring to – the time when her father Ralph remarried Jane, her stepmother.

She wasn’t going to blame him. She was old enough now to make her debut in society, and for that she was only grateful – grateful that Ralph had waited until then and done his best to raise her.

Still, there were moments when loneliness crept in.

As her father and his new wife began a new life in their hometown of Odair, she couldn’t help but wonder if an adult daughter like her had simply become unnecessary.

There were times when the feeling swelled so deep in her chest that she almost burst into tears.

“That sad face of yours – it was particularly captivating. It made me think that perhaps a flower feigning injury to lure its prey would look like that.”

His touch was so gentle she couldn’t even be sure it was there – just a tingling sensation as if it brushed against the fine hairs growing on her skin.

“A child born of you would be beautiful – beautiful enough to melt the heart of a cold man like me.”

As always, his whispered words tore at her. His lips brushing her temple, the gentle hand on her shoulder – it all felt sweet as honey.

And yet she knew it was nothing more than a sweet trap to lure her in.

“When I think of the heir to the family, of course I imagine a son… but somehow I always wish for a daughter. One who looks like you.”

And the only reason she couldn’t push his hand away – was because, deep down, Regina longed for a child more than anything.

***

“You won’t be able to take me if you keep pulling like this.”

The man, normally so emotionless, became strangely expressive as their bare skin touched.

His soft laugh fell on her exposed skin like a drop of water, slowly rolling over her and causing Regina to shrink back.

“Ah…”

His presence, pulsing deep inside her, felt unfamiliar.

The tip of his tongue licking his lips nervously, the impatient hand brushing over his face as if it had been carved from ice – none of it was like the Grey she knew.

“You must open yourself to me, my lady—. How else will you receive my seed?”

Between his fingers, his eyes glistened like polished black stones.

The smooth, wet sheen that covered them made everything look suggestive.

Especially when the core of that gaze belonged to Grae Cabill.

Excessive beauty had more power than violence.

Every time his face flashed through her blurred vision, the sudden shock struck her heart without warning.

It was as if he were forcing ecstasy into a lonely, tired body, making her crave even these loveless touches.

How was this different from bondage without chains?

Regina clung to his firm shoulder without thinking – then let go quickly, startled by herself.

“Don’t let go – hold on to me.”

Her delicate fingertips began to slip, but he caught them and lifted them back.

Beneath her casually placed palm, the firm muscle of his chest flexed – and Regina’s ears flushed red as she suddenly realised the movement was connected to the massive weapon driving into her below.

“Honestly…”

He tapped her thin earlobe, then bit it gently.

Like bite marks on the petals of a delicate flower, his teeth grazed her lightly – until finally the pressure made her eyes well up.

“Ow… that hurts.”

“You have no flesh on you, of course it hurts. Anyone would think I was starving you. You look like a battered woman with that wretched face.”

“But… you like it, don’t you?”

His movements, which had been rolling like relentless waves, suddenly stopped.

As if demanding an explanation, he looked down at her.

Regina lifted her chin.

“Isn’t this what you liked most about me? When I looked like this?”

Because she loved him, she always wondered:

What part of her did this man like?

How should she behave to keep him interested?

Not everyone loves trees in full bloom on a spring day.

Some are drawn to the bleak ensemble of a bare, black tree standing alone in a field of snow.

Grey Cabil was one of them.

He didn’t respond to Regina’s laughter or anger, but when she was quietly lost in grief, when her face was heavy with sadness – that’s when he approached her.

He would talk to her, yes, but never with the intention of comforting her.

He just liked Regina’s grief – her quiet desperation. Maybe that was the reason. He was jealous of her, but he left her alone.

“Is that what you thought? There is no other monster.”

Grey didn’t confirm or deny. Instead, he pushed Regina down into the sheets.

He didn’t hurt, but she couldn’t move – a calculated position that left her unable to hold him or escape. A precise use of strength, both controlling and unyielding.

He overwhelmed her with sensations – both sweet and rough – until her thoughts were scattered.

Even in a spring that had been forced to come, flowers still bloomed.

One by one, red spots began to bloom on her pale, delicate skin.

The man who always claimed he could read her desires by looking into her eyes didn’t hesitate to touch her most sensitive parts – no matter how hard she bit her lip to stifle her moans.

“Here… and here.”
“Ah!”
“You like it when I press gently, don’t you? But at the same time, you go crazy when I pound into you like an animal.”

Despite the rough words, his touch was unbearably tender and sweet.

Like gentle waves lapping against the white sand, the slowly building pleasure suddenly overflowed.

Regina’s arms and legs trembled with the sheer, gentle ecstasy.

“Did it feel good?”

Even without an answer, he already knew.

He brushed Regina’s hair back as she lay limp and gasping for breath, then kissed her cheek.

“Now it’s my turn to feel good.”

“Ahh!”

Before she could catch her breath, her body was turned over.

Her wobbly knees were forced down and her arms and face were roughly pressed against the sheets.

Still struggling to regain her balance, he thrust into her from behind.

“This position… I don’t… ah!”

“I told you, didn’t I? You’d better put on some weight.”

He let out a sigh, as if he was genuinely concerned about how she would survive their married life with such a slender body.

But the way he drove relentlessly into her from behind showed no hesitation.

“A deal should be fair. I did it your way first – now it’s my turn.”

As if everything up to that point had been child’s play, he suddenly became ferocious.

Every time he put his p*nis on her, it felt as if her body would break apart.

If only it had only hurt.

But every time he hit that deep place she didn’t even know existed, her vision flashed white.

The sensations were too overwhelming – her fingers and toes curled involuntarily, as if her nerves had shorted out.

“Stop… ahh!”

“It won’t tear. Didn’t I loosen you up nice and thoroughly?”

Frustratingly, he was right.

Her body, flushed and soaked, stretched to the limit, barely holding him.

But she didn’t want to fall apart like that.

Her hair had fallen over her face, tangled and wild.

Her face, flushed from the rush of blood, must have looked like an overripe plum.

She tried to keep her mouth shut, but her breath caught in her throat and it felt as if saliva might leak from her parted lips as she gasped for air.

‘No… I don’t want you to see me like this.’

‘You don’t even love me – and after using me like this, as if it were nothing more than a crude release, you might go away and never come back.’

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

He clicked his tongue and slid his hand under Regina’s flat stomach.

In an instant, his soaked fingers were between her folds, rubbing.

Her dazed eyes flew open.

“N-no, don’t!”

As his fingers withdrew slightly, something much larger pushed up inside her.

As it dragged along her inner walls and pulled out again, his fingers returned to tease her v*gina again.

She was helplessly toyed with, overwhelmed by the precision of his rhythm and timing – every move perfectly calibrated.

Sharp, flickering waves of pleasure scorched her body again and again.

By now there was no room in her mind to worry about appearances – her expression, her tangled hair – none of it mattered.

Every time he pulled out, the tightness of her walls clung to him so tightly that it felt like they were being pulled out with him.

“You’ll cut me off at this rate, my lady.”

“……”

“What is this? Can’t you hear me?”

He ran a hand gently down her sweat-soaked back, as if pitying her, as if cradling a fallen bird.

But the tenderness was fleeting.

Moments later, her wrists were grabbed from behind.

“Don’t worry. Just relax, my lady.

‘This time I’ll make sure you get pregnant.’