“……!”

Heat rushed to her lower belly and pleasure burst through her. Canasia trembled in small spasms at her first cl*max. The fl*id that spilled at the peak of pleasure soaked the man’s wrist. Only then did he withdraw his hand and look down at her as she lay limp.

He gently stroked her through the lingering tremors of release, then took off the clothes he was still wearing. Canasia watched through hazy eyes, then snapped back to her senses.

What…… is that?

She stared at the angry *rection between his legs, mouth falling open. It was her first time seeing a man’s member, but she could tell immediately that the size was absurd.

That can’t be right. How could that possibly. Don’t tell me he’s going to use that on me…… no, surely not.

There’s no way that could fit. Her denial of reality shattered without mercy. The thick head pressed against her entrance. Canasia’s face went white.

“W, wait…… hng!”

The man pushed inside in one motion without hesitating. Even thoroughly wet and slick, the entrance was still tight. The sensation of being squeezed made the man furrow his brow.

“Relax. It’ll hurt less that way.”

He soothed her, his member only halfway in, as she lay drenched in tears and sweat. Canasia breathed in ragged gasps. She tried to relax but her body wouldn’t obey.

After a brief pause, he parted her slowly and pushed deeper inside. The foreign fullness stretching her made Canasia barely swallow the m*an rising in her throat.

The pressure was greater than anything she braced for. Unable to tell whether it was pleasure or pain, Canasia bit her lip. A faint smell of blood drifted from somewhere.

“Are you all right?”

He pushed in to the hilt and asked gently, watching her. The hand stroking her cheek was soft, but every sensation was concentrated below and she had no room to feel it. Before she could even adjust to the strange fullness, he began to move.

“Hmm…….”

The thick member dragged slowly against her inner walls. Each time it pulled halfway out and pushed back in, the flesh stimulated her cl*toris. The teasing sensation made her body burn. Canasia clung to the man, helpless against her own flushed body.

“P, please do something…….”

“Impatient, aren’t you?”

He let out a short laugh and drove into her without hesitation.

“Hup!”

Something large thr*st deep inside her in one stroke and pulled back out. Her breath cut off, but the man no longer held back for her sake. The unhurried rhythm he started with grew faster and faster. The force of his thr*sts rocked the bed, and Canasia’s body shook without control.

“Hold on to me.”

Tossed about helplessly, Canasia dug her nails into the man’s back. Panting breaths filled the inn room. Every time his member drove into her walls, her vision flickered. Shame and fear and some unknown sensation spun together in a dizzying blur. The unending pleasure felt like fireworks going off inside her head.

Her vision swam and Canasia closed her eyes. Fragmented thoughts drifted through her mind in chaos. Hereis, Eldos, her mother, the dead Eleanor, and Roderick.

Is this all right?

She never imagined she would give her first time like this, to a man whose name she didn’t even know. Regret at having done something irreversible began to creep up on her.

“Open your eyes.”

The near-commanding voice made Canasia reluctantly lift her lids. Red eyes stared into hers with fierce intensity. The man caressed her chest and whispered.

“You’re doing well.”

He whispered like encouragement and stimulated her from above and below at once. Without realizing it, tears slipped down the corners of her eyes. The long, intense lovemaking went on without end. Only after she reached her peak several times, unable to tell pleasure from pain, did he finally release her.

Relief that it was finally over washed through her and Canasia went limp on the bed. She clung to her fading consciousness and barely managed to speak.

“The promise…….”

“Don’t worry.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead as he answered. Reassured at last, Canasia let her eyes drift shut. Through the fading edges of her consciousness, she thought she heard the man’s voice.

“I’ll take you to the ends of hell.”

* * *

When she woke, it was the middle of the night. Canasia blinked her swollen eyes and stared blankly at the mold-spotted ceiling.

When did I fall asleep? I think I blacked out for a moment. Her memories were all tangled up. She started piecing together the fragments, then gave up. There was no need to dwell on it, and the aching in her body told the story of the previous night well enough.

Enduring the pain that felt like her waist might snap in two, Canasia turned over with effort. Her eyes, adjusted to the dark, found the man sleeping soundly. Buried in the deep darkness, he looked nothing like the man from the night before. He was utterly at peace.

Canasia carefully pushed herself upright. The worn blanket slipped away, leaving her bare body fully exposed. Red marks bloomed like flowers across her skin, but her body was clean, already washed.

This man……

Her earlobes burned hot. Her throat felt parched and she reached for the pot on the bedside table, but it was empty. Canasia sighed and climbed out of bed. Her legs shook like she had run herself to exhaustion. She managed to gather the clothes scattered on the floor, pulled them on with difficulty, and left the room.

She thought she would fetch water and then wake the man before dawn, and started toward the counter, but a voice from the hall made her stop. Men who looked like merchants were clinking their cups together. Worried someone might recognize her, she hesitated and held back, and their conversation continued.

“So did he pay a decent price?”

“Decent, my foot. They haggled us down something fierce, saying it was for the princess’s trousseau.”

“You were about to starve hugging bolts of cloth you couldn’t even eat, so selling was the right call.”

“Still barely enough to scrape by.”

“They say the trade routes are opening soon, so things should improve. Eldos is apparently cutting the tolls too.”

“Wait and see. Didn’t they make all the same noise about things changing last time?”

“That time…… who could have known Princess Eleanor would go so soon.”

She should have turned away, but her feet refused to move. Canasia gripped the empty pot tight and listened to their conversation. The man with his back to the table drained his cup and went on.

“Even so, this time will be different. They’re sending the second princess because they got some kind of promise from Eldos, wouldn’t you say?”

“It had better be different. The way things are going, we’ll all starve to death together.”

“That’s true enough. Either way, our livelihoods are in the princess’s hands.”

“…….”

Canasia let her head fall. She knew. She knew there was no hope for this small country. She also knew that her mother’s decision to send two daughters into danger was a desperate struggle to save a crumbling nation.

What will happen to Hereis if I run away like this?

Canasia dragged the reality she tried so hard to ignore back to the surface.

The king of Eldos was a terrifying man. He seized control of the southern seas while the empire was weakened and crushed the surrounding small nations underfoot, turning them into vassal states. His taking Eleanor as his queen was also a means of gaining control over the weakened Hereis through a marriage alliance, building a foothold for his advance onto the continent.

Eleanor’s early death brought that plan to nothing, but the fact that he proposed again to Canasia made it clear he never abandoned his ambitions. Would a man like that overlook the disappearance of his bride?

If Canasia ran away, there was a strong chance he would hold Hereis responsible for the missing bride and retaliate. Moreover, Eldos had long wanted to swallow Hereis whole, so he might even use this as a pretext to wage war.

When her thoughts reached that point, a conversation she once had with Eleanor suddenly came back to her.

‘Don’t go, Sister. Let’s tell Mother we refuse. All right?’

‘Cana. I am a princess of this country, and I have a duty to fulfill my responsibilities as one.’

‘But what about Roddy? If you go, what happens to Roddy!’

‘……Roddy will understand.’