“This position isn’t bad either. I can see everything below. It looked narrow, but it opens up this much. Is the squeezing every time I thr*st because it feels good?”

“Ugh, Prince, you’re such a pervert.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

Every time he moved his hips, her insides were stirred up.

He went deeper than when she was on top. It felt like her organs were being pushed all the way up to her chest.

“Hng, ah, ngh! How did you hide this side of yourself? Being a first-timer…… Haa, that’s a lie, isn’t it?”

Aslan smiled bitterly and bit the inside of his cheek. Truthfully, he didn’t know either. That this side of himself was hiding inside him……

“If I told you I didn’t know either, would you believe me?”

Aslan preferred spending time with a small number of people over getting close to many. In truth, the time he spent alone was the most comfortable.

He was more at ease indoors than outside, and he had no interest in others. Having others take an interest in him was also uncomfortable.

He disliked people who crossed lines, yet the people who ended up becoming his friends were always the ones who crossed lines rudely. That was something he couldn’t understand.

Whether he was drawn to qualities he didn’t have himself, he didn’t fully understand himself either.

The present situation was the same.

He despised men who chased after women like dogs in heat, yet here he was, panting and moving his hips harder than any of them.

Was it the chestnut hair scattered wildly across the bed, so lush and tempting?

Was it the white flesh that rippled with every thr*st of his hips, so beautiful?

Was it the flushed cheeks and swollen lips, so endearing?

Was it the round eyes looking up at him with tears clinging to their edges, making his heart ache?

Freya’s hips bucked and her thighs trembled, and Aslan felt something like a great boulder thrown into a still lake, his insides surging.

“Ngh……!”

The wave of cl*max crashed in, and the pleasure surging through him felt like it would split his head open.

His whole body tensed and his muscles pulled taut. Just before finishing, he barely managed to pull out and spilled onto her flat stomach.

Each time he wrung out the rest, stroking the thick length, a sense of dissatisfaction lingered.

He wanted to stay inside her a little longer. He wanted to feel more of the hot, clenching walls around him.

It was over so quickly, and that was a shame.

Was it because it was his first time? The information that many men couldn’t last long their first time came to mind.

There were apparently even pathetic men who came the moment they put it in, like premature ejaculators. He wasn’t that bad, but it was clear he didn’t get to enjoy it properly.

“This time from behind……”

But Freya’s thoughts were different from his. She sprawled out with a look of relief, as though she was finally done.

She felt what she needed to feel, enjoyed what she needed to enjoy. She was so exhausted her limbs had no strength left.

“Haa, I don’t have the energy to lift a single finger. I want to rest a little……”

“Are you that tired?”

“Of course I am. Don’t just stand there, bring a towel. You made the mess, you clean it up.”

Freya waved him off as he looked at her with a wistful expression.

A prince who spent his whole life being waited on served her tonight.

Wiping her body with the towel sent blood rushing back to his lower half, but Freya made a point of pretending not to notice his proudly risen length.

‘Why does a man who does nothing but sit in a room all day have this much stamina? Is he secretly eating something good?’

Her attendants were waiting outside the fortress, so it seemed best to get up now.

Getting caught by her parents for staying out all night and dealing with the fuss that would follow was also something she’d rather avoid.

Freya savored the afterglow for a moment, then sat up with a satisfied expression.

“I should be going now.”

It was more than satisfying. She wanted to go around telling everyone in the neighborhood just how good the prince of Ingrone was.

She thought she’d like to sleep with him again if the chance came. Aslan’s touch was excellent, and his firm, sizeable length was both a pleasure to look at and to feel.

He had a perverted streak that didn’t suit a v*rgin, but……

The overly persistent kissing and the way he examined every corner of her body were embarrassing, but those were things she could put up with.

Freya started getting dressed and he pressed close, as though to get in the way.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I have to go before it gets any later.”

“Isn’t once not enough?”

“Not at all. Stop getting in the way of me dressing and step back.”

Freya pushed Aslan aside and retreated toward the bookshelf. He watched her slip out of his hands in an instant, looking dazed.

The longing in his gaze made Freya scoff.

‘Why did he bother making me promise not to demand his feelings? He’s being clingy right after one night together. This is exactly why inexperienced men are a problem.’

Now she finally felt like she won.

“Hm?”

Smirking and pulling her clothes up, her eyes caught the covers of several books.

They were books tucked at the very bottom of the bookshelf, seemingly hidden on purpose.

Every single title was suspicious. Freya’s face went pale as she skimmed them.

“What are all these books?”

She thought he innocently read nothing but romance novels. This crazy perverted v*rgin prince!

Aslan came over and opened the bookshelf without batting an eye.

“These are books I treasure. You could say these books helped you reach your peak tonight, Miss Freya.”

Aslan pointed to a book thick enough to use as a weapon.

“What we did tonight is probably about one chapter of this book.”

“……“

“I’d like to try everything in here with you, going forward.”

She poked at the wrong madman. A warning signal flashed in Freya’s mind.

“I, I never agreed to that.”

“Are you going to eat and run?”

“I think I’m the one who got eaten.”

“You’re the one who took my first time.”

“……“

“And you confessed your feelings to me.”

Every time his breath touched the back of her neck, the fine hairs stood on end.

Aslan let Freya go with the air of someone doing her a generous favor.

“I’ll let you go for tonight. You look very tired.”

Freya hurried down the stairs in a fluster, and just as always, a small voice followed.

“When will I be able to see you again?”

She startled and looked back, and there was Aslan, his expression changed in an instant.

Not the pervert who devoured *rotic books as a hobby, but the face of a young man who looked innocent and timid.

Freya understood now.

‘That perverted prince! Look at him acting!’

The fact that he was putting on an act of being innocent……

The face smiling with gently curved eyes looked nothing but hateful.

“I don’t know!”

She shrieked and ran, and laughter followed at her back.

Fleeing the estate like she saw a ghost, Freya rubbed her burning cheeks.

‘What on earth happened tonight?’

The sound of her heart pounding, ready to burst out of her chest, was deafening.

It was because Aslan’s hidden side shocked her so completely.

‘I need to take some time to recover, mentally and physically.’

It was a night she learned the timeless truth that even the most gentle and innocent-looking man hides a beast inside.

***

The sea wind carried a warm heat. The green spreading across every field pulsed with life.

Spring finally ended and summer came, the season when sailing began in earnest. Summer, with its calm winds and currents, was truly the season of Vaigon’s warriors who roamed the seas.

But this summer seemed like it would pass rather quietly.

“You’re not sailing this year?”

“That’s right. I plan to rest this year.”

“But you promised to include me in the voyage this year.”

“Does that mean we should go to war every year? We’d run out of warriors.”

“I heard the Dolton family is setting sail.”

“They say they’re trading with the continent through Byzantium. Apparently they can bring in spices and silk and sell them to the Kingdom of Ingrone at a high price.”

Unlike her father, who came from a long line of warriors, Dolton had a sharp eye for wealth.

Raiding and war could bring in a large sum at once, but the danger was just as great. In some ways, Dolton might be the wiser one for steadily expanding his trading channels.

Bjorn turned to Freya and drew out his words.

“Speaking of which……”

“What is it?”

“What do you think of Dolton’s eldest son?”

Freya’s face immediately crumpled.

Surely he didn’t mean that dimwit who never once went on an expedition?

“You mean Leif? Father, are you in your right mind? Don’t you know Haakon looks down on the Dolton family? He didn’t even invite them to the victory banquet last time.”

Dolton fell out of the king’s favor after repeatedly voicing opposition to Haakon’s declaration of war.

The warlike Haakon loved battle, but Dolton, who built his wealth through trade, wanted to maintain smooth relations with neighboring countries.

“That’ll change from this year on. Haakon is thinking of gaining from trade rather than war for the time being.”

“……”

“He didn’t drag a useless hostage back and look after him for nothing.”

The word hostage made Freya’s shoulders twitch. Bjorn fixed his sharp gaze on her.

He seemed to know about the recent rumors surrounding Prince Aslan. His voice was firmer than usual today.

“He seems to have the character to embrace you.”

“You always said it had to be a bold and generous warrior. Why have your standards dropped?”

She pushed back meekly, but Bjorn waved his hand as though it was a nuisance.

She turned to her mother, who sat silent throughout the conversation, but her mother ignored her too. The two of them clearly made up their minds beforehand.

Freya stormed back to her room and let her frustration out.

“A merchant family, of all things!”