When night fell, the land beyond Serdin Castle was shrouded in darkness. Beyond the moat, which connected to the Lake of Eternity at the back of the fortress, there was nothing but a dense, seemingly endless forest. It was a sight that startled her every time she saw it. Although it was only the beginning of summer, the wind that blew in through the slightly open window was bitterly cold, reminding her repeatedly that she was in the north.

She had been told that it was an old custom to leave the gardens unlit after sunset to keep monsters at bay. Even so, she couldn’t help but wonder why the interior of the castle was so brightly lit.

The thought that he might notice her flushed cheeks and reddened ears filled her with such embarrassment that she was seized by a reckless urge to leap straight into the darkness beyond the window. On the verge of tears, Selonia finally gathered her courage and called his name softly.

“Ka, Kailos.”

“Yes, Selonia.”

A low, sweet voice flowed straight into her ear. Anyone listening might have mistaken his tone for the bland efficiency of someone conducting official business, but his actions were the complete opposite. While holding both her wrists in one hand and binding them firmly above her head, he steadily slid his other hand between her thighs, gripping the soft, tender flesh of her inner leg forcefully.

“At least… turn off the lights—ah!”

As his hand lingered, slowly sweeping upward to caress her, his fingertips brushed a sensitive spot. Selonia shuddered and instinctively drew her legs together. She had put what little strength she had into it, but the thighs she’d managed to close were effortlessly pried apart again by his touch.

“If you’re trying to avoid magic leaking out of your hands, wouldn’t it be better to keep things bright rather than dark?”

“Th-that may be true, but…”

He wasn’t wrong. She still hadn’t fully learned to control her mana. Whenever she let her guard slip, magic would escape from her hands of its own accord. Once this happened, suppressing it was no easy task. That was why she had come to him for help. If she left her mana unchecked, there was no telling when it might erupt again. In situations like this, the safest option was to be restrained.

However, this position left her far too exposed. Citing the possibility that her magic might set something alight, he stripped her of every piece of clothing while maintaining his own modesty in a neatly fastened nightgown. The unfairness of it made her chest tighten.

She parted her lips, unable to find the right words, when his voice — lower and subdued now — reached her from just beside her neck.

“You decided to use me for this. And I agreed to be used like this. So what’s the problem?”

“……”

Yes, that was true as well. When he first suggested that she take advantage of him, this surely wasn’t what he meant. Nevertheless, he had grasped the situation, if only vaguely, and was allowing himself to be used without complaint.

Just moments earlier, while preparing for bed, her magic had suddenly manifested, reducing a pillow to ashes. Thanks to her training, she was able to summon water and extinguish the flames quickly — if she hadn’t, it could have ended in catastrophe. Being accused of arson in the Archduke’s castle and dragged off to an underground dungeon was a distinct possibility. Realizing she couldn’t afford to hesitate, she blew out the candles and stormed straight into his bedroom.

‘Was he always this kind of person?’

Looking at him now, he seemed rather articulate. He stared at her as if he wanted to devour her, yet insisted that he was merely being ‘used’. It was hard to believe that this was the same man she had crossed paths with only a few times before her regression.

Unable to find an appropriate response, she could only stare at him in stunned silence. Perhaps her reaction amused him. Still leaning forward, he slowly pulled one corner of his mouth upwards. When a smile — so rare on his usually cold, expressionless face — finally appeared, Selonia realized she had stopped breathing.

Beneath his jet-black, damp hair, his thick chest was faintly visible through the slightly parted robe — an undeniably er*tic sight. Setting her personal feelings aside, she couldn’t deny it: his appearance was dangerously captivating — enough to ensnare anyone every time she saw him.

She hadn’t realized that humans could be so vulnerable to what they saw. Her heart dropped sharply, then began to race, and a nauseating flutter rose in her stomach. Perhaps it was that unfamiliar emotion she couldn’t name, churning chaotically inside her. Along with it came a sharp, tingling sensation, as if her mana were about to burst from her hands once again.

“D*mn it.”

At this rate, she couldn’t ask him to untie her hands, nor could she ask him to turn off the lights. As she lamented this inwardly, Kailos seemed to sense the faintly manifested mana as well. He clicked his tongue low once and leaned further down toward her.

“We’ll have to calm it quickly.”

Before she could react to his flippant comment, soft lips pressed against hers. A warm, wet tongue pushed between her parted lips. With the damp sound of saliva mingling, the kiss gradually deepened. As he licked her mouth as though he were going to devour it and then drew his tongue back to suck on it, Selonia’s vision slowly blurred.

“Mmm, ah…”

When he pulled his lips back slightly, as if worried that she might suffocate, a faint, aching sound escaped her despite her not meaning to make it. Each time Kailos gently nipped her full, swollen lips, he lingered, savoring each soft moan.

Fortunately, as their contact deepened, the mana that had been raging through her hands began to settle little by little. Perhaps he sensed the tension easing from her arms, which had once been rigid with fear of another accident and had clenched into fists. Gradually, Kailos’ grip on her wrists relaxed too.

After gazing down at her for a moment to steady his breathing, Kailos reached for the tie at his waist and loosened it. The glossy robe slipped to the floor, leaving his sculpted body exposed beneath the bright lights. His muscles, honed through real combat, looked so solid that there didn’t seem to be any room for a blade to slip between them. Selonia’s gaze traced the clean line of his waist, but her pale blue eyes trembled and she hurriedly looked away.

Only then did she understand the heavy presence she had felt pressing against her thigh. He was fully er*ect now, standing rigidly upright. Drawing a deep breath, he repeatedly ran his hand along the dark, flushed shaft; pre-ejaculatory fluid spilled freely. Then he firmly grasped Selonia’s thighs and spread them apart. Without hesitating for a moment, he buried his face between her thighs.

“Hngh! Ah—Kail—los…!”

When his tongue brushed her swollen cl*toris, she felt a sharp sensation shoot up her spine. This sudden pleasure caused her slender waist to arch involuntarily. She covered her face with her now-free hands and shook her head. He was wholly absorbed in caressing her wet flesh, whether he had noticed or not.

“Hah—Kail, stop, ah—there! Ah!”

As he greedily sucked at her below, circling her cl*toris, he lifted his head slightly at her struggling. Purple eyes, darkened with heat, took in Selonia’s moaning form at leisure. Seeming to grasp the meaning behind what she was trying to say, Kailos gently stroked her thigh and spoke in a soothing tone.

“I think I mentioned it before. This is also a form of exchanging bodily fluids.”

“……”

She herself had said that, in order to calm her rampaging mana, she needed to be in contact with him — specifically, she needed to exchange bodily fluids with him. At the time, however, she had imagined nothing more than kissing, or perhaps their bodies coming together. She had never imagined anything this obscene in detail, which was why moments like this left her so flustered.

“It’s contradictory to tell me to stop when you’re dripping like this.”

He narrowed his eyes and smiled, then lowered his head again without waiting for her answer. His heavy, clinging tongue pushed between her parted folds and swept slowly in and out. She could vividly feel his thick, red tongue slipping in and out of her twitching opening.

Despite having only been together a few times, he had quickly discovered what excited her, and now he began to stimulate it relentlessly. As her pleasure point was repeatedly stimulated, even more fluid spilled from Selonia’s entrance. She reached her peak at the same time, arching her back and letting out a trembling cry.

“Ah—! Ah, ngh, hngh…!”

“Hoo…”

He rose and smoothed down her convulsing body, soon moving his hand up to her full br*asts. He kneaded the soft mounds greedily before slowly rubbing his er*ect p*nis against her wet v*gina. Realizing that he was waiting for her climax to subside before satisfying himself, confusion flickered through her pleasure-dazed, sky-blue eyes.

Whenever she shared her body with him, she always felt cared for. She had initiated the relationship, and if anything, he was the one helping her. He always put her pleasure first. Even if he was in pain or she seemed overwhelmed, he would withdraw with a composed expression.

‘Can I trust him?’

In her previous life, he was the man who had condemned her and led her to the stake. He had done so even though it wasn’t certain that she was a witch. Having witnessed magic burst from her hands, he was still doubtful. But hadn’t he also confided in her about something that could shake the entire archducal house? At this point, it was only natural for a glimmer of hope to creep in — perhaps it was all right to trust him after all.

Was the Kailos before her truly different from the one in her past life? Ever since she realized that she had regressed and become entangled with him, this question had constantly tormented her.

“Selonia.”

Sensing her wandering thoughts, Kailos lightly bit her lip and whispered her name. Snapping back to herself, she found his violet eyes, heavy with desire, reflected in her sky-blue gaze.

“…Ah!”

Once her trembling had mostly subsided, she felt the firm intrusion pushing into her tight opening. Overwhelmed by surging pleasure, she lost the ability to think straight. Yielding to his pull, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her slender body soon swaying in time with his movements.