Side Story 2: The Knight and the Lady – If (Part 1)

The room was dark, with all the candles extinguished.  

The only light illuminating the small space came from the faint moonlight seeping through tightly closed curtains. In the dim surroundings, where only the shapes of objects were barely visible, a faint groan, like that of a suffering beast, echoed softly from somewhere.  

The source of the sound was the bed. On the bed placed in the center of the room, the n*ked bodies of a man and a woman were entwined, moving like snakes.  

It was an obscene sight that did not match the delicate furniture or the lace-decorated bedding at all.  

“Ah, Kayev… ah…”  

“Hah, Madam…”  

But the two, lost in their ecstasy, paid no attention to their appearance. The man and woman on the bed were so engrossed in each other’s bodies that they seemed oblivious to everything else.  

The one thrusting into the writhing white body, like a madman, was Kayev Ruden, a knight of the House of Earl Danverton.  

Like an incubus sneaking into an innocent young lady’s bedroom, he plunged relentlessly into the delicate body beneath him. With every slap of flesh, the woman’s moans grew louder.  

“Ah, Kayev, something’s wrong… ah, no, don’t just… ah! Something’s wrong…”  

Worried that the lewd sounds might escape into the quiet night air, Kayev forcefully covered her red lips with his rough hand.  

Though his touch was unkind, the woman, far from protesting, spread her legs wider, desperate to take him in even deeper.  

Clicking his tongue at her response, Kayev continued his relentless movements. The woman, offering herself eagerly despite his roughness, was none other than Celestia Danverton, the only daughter of the House of Earl Danverton.  

Yet, Kayev, who was ruthlessly violating the young lady of the house, showed no trace of guilt on his face.  

Like a craftsman focused solely on his task, he devoted himself entirely to thrusting his manhood into her reddened, swollen opening.  

Unable to suppress her moans as his shaft repeatedly pierced her, Celestia eventually bit down on the thick fingers invading her mouth, stifling her cries. Saliva dripped from the corners of her mouth, but neither of them paid it any mind.  

Celestia unconsciously licked and sucked on the fingers inside her mouth, curling her tongue around them as if savoring them like a kiss. At that moment, when the satisfaction seemed to melt her mind, the owner of those fingers, dissatisfied for some reason, withdrew his hand and muttered lowly.  

“You’ve become quite skilled at sucking things now, Madam. If you suck my fingers like they’re my c*ck… hah, what do you think will happen to me?”  

Though he himself was equally aroused, his tone carried a hint of reproach. However, Celestia, already out of her mind, ignored his sarcastic remark and clung to his neck, begging for his lips.  

Frowning down at her as she desperately pleaded, he eventually pressed his lips against hers and drove his hips even deeper.  

“Ah, Kayev, it feels so good… ah, I feel like I’m going to die…”  

Kayev listened to Celestia’s pure reactions without much emotion. For some reason, her words irritated him more than usual today.  

Her declarations of pleasure were nothing new. In fact, Celestia confessed her feelings for Kayev multiple times a day, whenever the opportunity arose. As a result, her words no longer held any special meaning for him.  

The young lady of the House of Danverton loved her knight. It was a fact known to anyone in the estate with eyes and ears.  

Why she was so infatuated with him was a mystery. To others, Celestia’s infatuation seemed foolish. Why would a noblewoman, who lacked for nothing, give her heart to a mere knight from a fallen family?  

Yet Celestia’s love for Kayev was persistent, and after two years, everyone had come to accept her affection as part of daily life.  

Of course, this acceptance was underpinned by the firm belief that the knight receiving her love would never reciprocate her feelings.  

However, there was one truth they did not know: Kayev Ruden’s fury ran just as deep as Celestia’s affection.  

“I love you, Kayev. I truly love you.”  

“…You’ve won, Madam. I have no choice. I love you too…”  

For two years, Celestia had chased after Kayev with no regard for her pride or dignity, and finally, her love was returned. Moved by her unwavering devotion and relentless affection, the knight had seemingly succumbed to the young lady’s charms.  

…Or so it seemed.  

In truth, what Celestia believed to be Kayev’s genuine feelings were nothing more than an act.  

His true purpose, of course, was revenge. To Kayev, seducing Celestia Danverton was the simplest and most effective way to humiliate the Earl of Danverton, the man who had ruined his family.  

And so, Kayev had waited for the day when the Earl’s precious youngest daughter would come of age. On the day after her eighteenth birthday, he easily and naturally ensnared her. All it took was a single declaration of love.  

Whether Celestia had intended to invite Kayev into her bed from the start was unclear, but he had willingly entered her bedroom for the sake of his revenge.  

The naive noblewoman did not reject the knight who had risked danger to meet her and, blinded by her pure feelings for him, surrendered her virginity.  

Even on their first night together, Celestia had endlessly confessed her love for Kayev. Her repeated declarations of love, far from annoying him, helped to ease his guilt.  

After all, she had been the one to stir him up. If Celestia hadn’t given him her heart so recklessly, he would never have involved the innocent young noblewoman in his schemes. But she had approached him first, and he had simply played along with her love game, using it as a means to achieve his goal of revenge.  

Yes, that had been his initial intention.  

‘D＊mn it…’ 

Now, however, he felt like a fool who had willingly fallen into his own trap.  

“Kayev, ah, please…”  

“Endure a little longer. Did you really think… hah, I’d be satisfied with just this?”  

Despite his confident words, he was on the verge of losing his mind from the feel of Celestia’s body clinging to him.  

Far from pushing away her desperate advances, he craved to embrace her even more deeply. The two clung to each other like desperate lovers, their bodies entwined so tightly they seemed like a single tree with intertwined roots.  

Drunk on the warmth and softness of Celestia’s body, Kayev felt a deep sense of defeat. He had thought to defile her with his body, but instead, he had become intoxicated by hers.  

He blamed it all on Celestia.  

It was all because she was too beautiful. Because she was born the daughter of his enemy yet cursed with such breathtaking beauty. Because she was so innocent that she couldn’t even dream that the man before her was deceiving her.  

Due to her foolishness in confessing her feelings to such a man and naively offering herself, unaware of being used…  

He was so foolishly taken in by that foolishness.

Fueled by his turbulent emotions, he moved his hips more aggressively. The immature body trembling beneath him briefly scratched at his guilt, but Kayev deliberately ignored it.  

‘It’s what you wanted.’

Comforting himself with this thought, Kayev poured his dark desires into her pale, n*ked body. At the harsh thrusts, Celestia stifled a scream. Somehow, tonight, Kayev seemed to be handling her far more roughly than usual.  

Indeed, he was angry. Along with the pleasure that tingled up his spine, there was an equally overwhelming rage clouding his mind.  

Unconsciously, Kayev blurted out the words he had been harboring in his heart.  

“I heard you’re getting engaged.”  

“What? Ka-Kayev, what did you just say… ah!”  

As if she hadn’t heard him, she asked again, but Kayev did not respond. Her innocent face, clueless about everything, only fueled his anger further.  

Her ignorance—or perhaps her indifference—was like a poison slowly k＊lling him. It felt as though she was declaring to him that he was nothing more than a mere toy.  

Kayev had learned about Celestia’s engagement the previous afternoon.  

It was the Young Heir of Marquis Fenel’s family. The moment he accidentally overheard the news, an unfamiliar heat flared in Kayev’s mind. That heat had not subsided even after a full day, still simmering within him.  

He thought something was wrong with him. His reaction was certainly not typical for someone who had only intended to use her.  

But anger belonged to the realm of emotions, not logic. With a head clouded by irrational fury, he recalled all the times Celestia had followed him around.  

The way she trailed after him, professing her feelings. The way she smiled happily at his false confession of love. And now, the way she panted beneath him. All of it was vividly etched in his mind.  

But that was all it amounted to. Despite her proclamations of love, it turned out to be nothing but a fleeting, shallow affection.  

He trembled with betrayal. Even he didn’t understand why he was so enraged. He decided to attribute it to Celestia’s own immorality. It was a completely irrational conclusion.  

After doing all this with me, you intend to marry another man?  

He was so furious that he felt like he might lose his mind. Yet, he couldn’t resolve the source of his anger, which only added to his frustration.