“Now then. S*ck it.”

“……”

“Let me see just how well that tongue of yours can please me.”

“……Your Majesty.”

Under that overbearing, imperious gaze that seemed to want to see how well he obeyed, he slowly opened his mouth. Slender fingers pressed in with cruel force, deep enough to make a wet sound.

“……!”

They bore down on his hot tongue with painful pressure and stimulated it so mercilessly that saliva began to drip.

The ruler’s eyes met his and curved softly, as though to see how well he could endure it.

“Swallow it nicely.”

Kaian did as he was told.

“Lick it greedily.”

He sucked at the smooth fingers with slow, insistent pulls.

“Drink it willingly.”

Gulp.

His own blood slid down his throat with a faint metallic taste.

“Good boy.”

At the sight of the emperor seemingly intent on humiliating him to establish the hierarchy between them, he laughed inwardly. He curled his tongue around her fingers as they tried to pull free.

“……!”

He watched her body flinch ever so slightly and sucked with satisfaction, drawing a long pull. He softly dragged his tongue against her skin, wrapped around her fingers, and toyed shamelessly with that incongruously smooth flesh.

“You.”

He worked his tongue openly, making a show of it. His gaze remained fixed on Iberis. He could clearly see heat stirring in the eyes of the woman clicking her tongue at him.

Ah. D*mn. The curse, breaking it, all of that, he felt he might forget it all. Iberis was unmistakably responding to his touch.

“Quite brazen.”

The wet sucking sounds were loud.

“Seeing you seduce so passionately, just how grand a wish are you planning to make?”

Climb higher here and leave in a coffin, or submit and become the emperor’s kept man. His heart beat with joy. At the same time, longing for affection he didn’t yet have stirred in him, and jealousy rose.

“I will guarantee your freedom……”

But there were three other men besides him. There would be those who would hold that beautiful body. Ah, he hated that.

He slowly released the fingers he had been drawing long pulls from. The moment they slipped free between his lips, he licked them with obscene heat.

“Your Majesty. You mentioned the Grand Duke earlier.”

“Why, are you going to ask me to bring the contract already?”

“Did you not say that he confirmed things before signing the contract?”

“Hmm?”

He wished that beautiful emperor would love only him. Would cherish him most of all.

“Me too.”

“……”

She had driven him, a man who had not wanted to live, back into the will to live once more, so he wanted her to take responsibility for all of it.

“You must confirm things with me as well. How much better s*xual contact with me makes you feel. Whether the act of exchanging mucous membranes and saliva with me is not unpleasant. Even when buying a single item, one checks it carefully.”

“……”

It was the emperor who was cursed and ought to be pleading, yet it was Kaian who was clinging more desperately. His body burned at her cold, merciless manner of watching to see how far he would go. And Iberis, the fearless ruler of the empire, reached out her hand.

“True.”

She slowly traced the bloodstained cheek and then pressed down on his lips, still glistening with saliva.

“What you say is not wrong.”

Closer.

“Then how shall we confirm it?”

Iberis bent forward a little more.

“What do you want to do?”

He felt his gaze being stolen by the smooth swell of her chest and smiled with a faint edge.

“Shall I let you nurse?”

* * *

She had been trying to take hold of the reins, and it seemed she was about to get bitten by the dog. The moment those words left her mouth, a clear flash of desire and greed passed through the amber eyes right up close to her. And then, without so much as her permission, he dared reach out his hands toward the emperor’s body.

He really is shameless.

Even as he quickly read her mood, Kaian moved the instant he had been waiting for, swiftly pulling the thin chemise apart.

He stared with fixed intensity as her white chest spilled free, then bent his head without a moment’s hesitation. He opened his mouth wide before her flushed, soft n*pple, then rolled his eyes upward to look at her.

“……”

“……”

And he smiled, languid and unhurried.

“Iberis.”

Daring to call her by name.

“You gave permission.”

He fell upon her chest like a beast.

Ah, at first there was no particular reaction. S*ck, pull. The flesh was tender, and even she felt a faint sting from that rough mouthing. Had his smooth, hot tongue not drawn slow circles to stimulate her, had he not opened his mouth wide with warm breath and fallen upon her to s*ck in the surrounding flesh as well.

“Hmm……”

Feeling the desire to let it go on a little longer, Iberis let the tension leave her body. She could see the person before her take that as permission and draw closer with evident pleasure.

“Haah.”

The greedy sucking sounds grew louder. Her n*pple, caught between his flushed lips, was wet and glistening with saliva.

The soft flesh had turned a deeper red, like a rose in bloom, and had already stiffened to a point.

“Your Majesty.”

“Ha.”

“Does it feel good?”

Each time he drew a long pull and pressed down with his tongue, the n*pple swelled taut when it popped free between his lips.

“Hht.”

“Because of me.”

It was a strange and peculiar sensation. An unfamiliar, odd desire heated her groin. The n*pple on the other side, untouched, stiffened to a point. The man smiled faintly and dared reach out his hand to fill his palm with the emperor’s br*ast. The soft flesh yielded and compressed, and hot stimulation shot through the n*pple dragging against his palm.

“……!”

Ah, d*mn it. Something close to murderous intent spread through her fingertips.

If she reached out now toward the man clinging to her chest and sucking with such maddening insistence, she might just rip that pretty neck clean off his body.

Without stopping her eyelids from trembling, Iberis set her nails into the first thing within reach.

Scrape. Scratch.

Her body slowly sank down and touched the cold marble floor. The sound of her fingertips dragging with a spine-chilling screech against that hard surface rang out.

Even so, the man sucking at her with relentless persistence clung to her and showed no sign of letting go. He sucked with the intent on biting the n*pple clean off. He even dared to press himself over her now that she had properly fallen back.

“Haah, Your Majesty.”

Gripping her soft br*ast full in his hand from below, he sucked hard, and bit down on the *reola in his mouth hard enough to leave a mark.

“You’re sweet.”

“Hht!”

With that hot stimulation, the pain now faded without a trace. It was clean and clear, exactly as though the curse had never invaded her perfect body at all.

“Haa, haa. You. How dare you.”

Iberis exhaled roughly and swept her hair back. Pleasure spreading from her stimulated n*pple had already left her thoroughly wet below.

“Ngh!”

“Ugh.”

That was as far as it went. The man’s hotly *rect c*ck was grinding against her thighs without knowing its place. It was time to bring the beast in heat to heel.

“That is enough.”

“Ugh!”

“How dare you get hard.”

She seized his hair and yanked. The n*pple he had been stubbornly holding onto to the very end slipped free from his red lips with a wet pop.

“The confirmation is done.”

Iberis met his eyes and ground her teeth. The second partner was far too effective, and that was a problem. A sensation incomparable to when she had kissed the Grand Duke arose in her, along with the desire.

This is not a sensation that is mine alone.

D*mn the Oracle. A rough laugh rose in her. The sensation that felt unlike her own was too vivid. Right, this was the Oracle at work.

It seemed as though, since they were to join bodies and break the curse, it had even gifted her with arousal so she might enjoy it pleasantly.

How dare it.

Indignation surged. She had no idea by what logic it drew out a reaction like this, but now that she was aware of it, a clear sense of displeasure hung over her.

Enough to make anger rise even toward Kaian, who had seemed rather cute and endearing moments ago.

And the fox-like creature before her caught that shift in her emotions with sharp alertness.

He drew his body back without protest, feigning docility as he cast his eyes upward. As though he had never dared s*ck at her chest like it was something delicious just moments before.

The indignation that had been rising to the top of her head deflated all at once.

“Have you confirmed enough?”

“Yes.”

“Did my tongue please you?”

Watching those eyes curve with a soft, sweeping smile, she decided, regardless of everything, to take the man before her firmly in hand. He was an easier mark than the Grand Duke, who was difficult to fully bring in, and not a bad connection. And had that peculiar tongue not given her vivid stimulation? Whether by his own will or not, the heat that lingered in her body was genuinely pleasant, that much was true.

“Kaian.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

She reached out her hand toward the beast willingly offering up its reins.

“I will make you a proper heir.”

She revisited the promise made earlier.

“I will pull you out of that place and give you your freedom.”

She drew out the longing he had hidden behind his smile.

“I will make it so you can become the emperor’s lover. I will cherish you most of all.”

The man’s eyes shone like jewels. Right, so that is what you want.

“In return, you will keep the emperor of the empire alive. By whatever means necessary, using your own blood if need be, cooperate to bring this curse to an end. Once the Oracle is fulfilled, when I call for you, come running at any time and keep me alive. Do you understand?”

The man, mottled with blood, raised his head. He met her eyes with a yearning gaze, implying he would look at no one but her.

“Yes. Gladly.”

“……”

“I will gladly be your antidote.”

Watching those eyes curve beautifully, she finally held out the contract. She took in the sight of him receiving it without hesitation and writing his name.

It was the moment the second Oracle was fulfilled.