Instead of nodding, Ir closed her eyes. She would hold back. She absolutely couldn’t let him hear more. How could she let out such vulgar sounds again….

“So you’re going to be stubborn about it.”

Her heart sank at his voice that seemed to mock her. This was his voice from long ago, one she had often heard.

Sometimes he would inexplicably become sulky and glare at her before speaking in this mocking tone. And on such days, it had been incredibly difficult….

Before Ir could recall those old memories, Nergal lowered his head.

“Ahh!”

Despite her earlier determination to hold back her voice, Ir let out a loud cry. She couldn’t help it. Nergal had bitten her br*ast fully. His tongue licked lewdly at the n*pple he had made hard earlier.

The tip of his tongue pressed and rubbed against the raised peak. Then he would tap the now slick bud to stimulate it. His wet tongue continued to paint desire across her br*ast. Licking, and licking again. The lust kept building.

“Ah, ah….”

Ir’s back arched. It was an instinctive movement to try to pull away from him as he greedily sucked at her br*ast, but it only served to offer her chest up to him even more.

Nergal didn’t reject her as she came closer as though she were asking to be devoured more. Like a beast ignorant of shame, he freely tasted the fullness presented to him. Devouring, licking, sucking. After enjoying himself for quite a while, he felt her body trembling more.

Then, just as she couldn’t take it anymore and tried to push him away, he lightly grazed with his teeth what he had been tormenting all this time.

“Hnng!”

Ir’s body jerked violently like a fish out of water. Then she went limp.

After holding her br*ast in his mouth for quite a while longer, Nergal carefully lowered her body onto the seat. Usually, she would have hurriedly fixed her clothes, but Ir just lay there with unfocused eyes, trembling slightly.

Nergal gazed at the female body he had just been toying with. The red marks from his hands on her white br*asts made his lower half throb.

He didn’t need to look to know. Right now, the most intimate place under her skirt would be thoroughly wet from her first climax.

He wanted to thrust himself deep inside her right away, but he had to hold back for now. There was plenty of time, and Ir wasn’t ready yet. Above all, he didn’t want to take her hastily in a place like this. He wanted to share the most perfect and deep pleasure together, worth all his waiting and patience.

For that purpose….

Nergal’s hand slipped under Ir’s skirt, as she still hadn’t regained her senses.

Her br*asts weren’t the only part that needed to get used to him. Nergal intended to loosen her below so that she could hold his length deeply and for a long time.

It would take some time, but that wasn’t a big problem. If he kept doing this throughout the journey back, she would become somewhat accustomed to it.

Nergal’s fingers slipped between the soft undergarments he had personally dressed her in at dawn.

***

On the outskirts of the capital, in an area of luxury villas. Ishin was pacing the lobby of one villa, anxiously looking outside repeatedly.

‘They’re too late….’

He had received word from Nergal who had gone to Lagash recently. He thought it would be the usual message about returning soon, but instead, he said he would stay longer in Lagash due to some business.

‘There’s nothing more to find there even if you keep digging, why are you still obsessing over it?’

Ishin was both worried and frustrated with his lord.

Six months ago, the cave collapsed and the Holy Sword disappeared. Naturally, the imperial palace was thrown into even greater chaos than when the Holy Sword had appeared. Never in history had a Holy Sword simply vanished.

When they heard the news that the 9th Knight Order seemed to have all been crushed to death when the cave collapsed while they were attempting to steal the Holy Sword, Nergal immediately stood up.

“That’s impossible.”

Ishin could still clearly see Nergal’s expression from that time. That face that seemed to have lost its soul. Only after Nergal had stormed out of his office did Ishin realize that what had appeared on his face was immense loss and despair.

He couldn’t guess why he had made such an expression.

Anyway, Nergal headed straight to Lagash. His actions shocked Ishin greatly.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Nergal had never let go of his work. He drove himself like someone born only to work, managing the empire’s affairs. Even when he once caught a severe cold and still had a high fever despite taking medicine, Nergal had insisted on bringing documents to his bedroom.

For such a person to drop everything and head to Lagash at news of the Holy Sword – when he had never paid any attention to the Holy Sword before.

‘Besides the Holy Sword, the only other news was about the 9th Knight Order… but he didn’t really interact with anyone except Ir Kalla.’

To be precise, Nergal would uniquely summon only Ir to criticize her. He had never called any other member of the 9th Knight Order, and on the rare occasions when Rihar, the commander of the 9th Knight Order, came, he would finish business briefly within minutes and send him away immediately. So it wasn’t like he had any particular attachment to them….

Ishin wondered if there was some other issue he didn’t know about. As soon as Nergal arrived there, he hired people to dig up the cave, determined to check everything buried underneath.

But the cave would collapse again and again after digging just a little. It was so bad that even with generous compensation, the workers refused to dig further, saying it was pointless.

Yet Nergal didn’t give up and continued to have the cave dug. Time passed meanwhile. Since he couldn’t stay in Lagash indefinitely, Nergal eventually returned to the imperial palace. His expression was even more hardened than when he had headed to Lagash.

The atmosphere was so frightening that even Ishin, who had worked beside him for a long time, found it difficult to say anything beyond greetings to Nergal.

Just when it seemed things might be settling down, Nergal handled his work even more fiercely than before and somehow made time to go to Lagash.

And again ordered the cave to be dug up.

It was now an obsession that could be called eccentric. Even the royal family members who had been fixated on the Holy Sword no longer visited Lagash, yet it was incomprehensible why he kept going there.

Moreover, as the imperial palace grew restless, new problems arose for Nergal.

“I’m here to see His Highness Nergal.”

Suddenly beautiful women started appearing in front of his office. They were beautiful women who freely displayed their charms without hiding them. There were daughters of high-ranking nobles, and even a singer who was said to be the most popular in the capital recently. Naturally, they had come to seduce Nergal.

‘But they were all sent away just like that.’

Nergal sent those women away mercilessly, to the point where it was embarrassing to watch.

There had been such incidents before, but back then he had at least maintained some courtesy when sending them away. But not anymore. Nergal would fly into a rage as though he had been greatly insulted.

One woman who had stripped and approached Nergal as soon as she entered was thrown out n*ked. After that, the number of visitors decreased somewhat, but didn’t completely stop.

Then came another message from Nergal.

Prepare the villa. I plan to stay there for several weeks.

Along with this, Nergal sent a list of items to prepare at the villa. Reading through that letter, Ishin was shocked.

It instructed him to prepare women’s clothing and accessories along with a large bed.

“A woman? His Highness Nergal with a woman?”

At first, he thought it might be for a guest, but the large bed that was to be newly prepared in the bedroom kept bothering him.

Anyway, Ishin completed all preparations as instructed.

This beautiful villa, though owned by Nergal, was a quiet place he visited only once or twice a year. Located in a secluded spot, it was a place to escape others’ eyes.

He couldn’t begin to guess who Nergal was planning to bring here.

And now, what made Ishin anxious was that Nergal had not yet arrived.

The distance between Lagash and the capital could be covered within 3 days if traveling quickly. Until now, Nergal had never arrived later than that period. But 5 days had passed since the date he should have departed, yet Nergal still hadn’t arrived here.

‘An attack?’

That couldn’t be. There was no one who would benefit from attacking Nergal now. Rather, everyone would only be troubled if Nergal disappeared. Wasn’t that why Nergal’s influence had grown even more?

‘But if not that, then what could be the reason for the delay….’

Just as Ishin was about to start pacing again, the sound of horses neighing came from afar.

As the sound grew closer, Ishin’s face brightened. The sound of six horses running. A carriage that only royalty could ride. Nergal was coming.

“Your Highness!”

In his joy, Ishin uncharacteristically rushed out to the front of the villa. As expected, a carriage bearing the imperial crest glided into the villa grounds.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Ishin immediately opened the door. He saw Nergal’s face that he had been waiting for. But….

“Were you waiting?”

Nergal stepped out of the carriage carrying a soundly sleeping woman in his arms.

Though she must have been properly dressed when they departed, whatever had happened in the carriage had left the beautiful woman completely disheveled.