At last, the morning sun rose, and footsteps approached to signal the end of the ritual.
Having finished their acts just in time, they quickly changed clothes.
They then held out the empty glass bottle that had contained the holy oil, acting as if nothing had happened.
The monk blessed Zavad, who had completed the ritual and become a knight of the Empire with a purified body.
If one looked closely, they might have discovered red marks on the inside of his neck, but the monk left the room without noticing any irregularities.
Naturally, the monk, who spent his days in prayer and self-discipline, never imagined that a great Imperial knight would lewdly mingle his body with his servant in the sanctuary’s resting place.
Zavad left for the Imperial Castle to attend the induction ceremony with his usual calm face.
Ranshel moved his aching body, which felt as if it had been beaten, and managed to board a carriage toward the mansion.
He desperately wanted to see Zavad standing in the middle of the brilliant ceremony where thousands of petals were scattered and fanfares rang, but his exhausted body had long since reached its limit.
As soon as Ranshel lay down on his bed, he fell into a deep sleep.
At this moment, even the throbbing pain in his flesh could not overcome the demon of sleep.
His entire mind became one with the blankets, and he met the night without even seeing the daylight.
Only the faint moonlight leaked through the darkened window.
Ranshel, who was still sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up at the sensation of someone climbing onto his bed.
It was like a survival instinct he had acquired.
However, Ranshel did not open his closed eyes.
He regulated his breathing so that it flowed comfortably, no different from when he was asleep.
Only his heart, beating like a drum, was very noisy, but it would not be heard by the person approaching him.
Soon, he felt the sheets sink beside him.
The person lying next to him reached out and stroked his swollen lips.
The texture of the fingers, hardened from holding a sword, was now very familiar.
He lightly tapped the bridge of Ranshel’s nose, stroked his cheek, and soon rubbed his lips against his round forehead.
Then, he wrapped his arm around Ranshel’s waist and gently pulled him closer.
A chest full of heat wrapped around Ranshel hotly.
Zavad fell asleep while holding Ranshel tightly like that.
Only after Zavad let out a steady breath and released the tension in his body did Ranshel wrap his arms around his broad back and hold him back.
It was a terribly warm embrace.
Buried in his warmth, Ranshel momentarily erased all the things he had to do.
Even if it returned as a disaster rolling in like a snowball in the future, he could not let go of the happiness of the present.
Even after becoming a member of the Imperial Knights, Zavad continued high-intensity training.
However, he no longer pushed himself through a schedule of swinging his sword until the moon rose as he had before.
He faithfully engaged in physical training and swordsmanship practice at the training ground located on the outskirts of the Imperial Castle, then vanished immediately as the sun began to set.
“Where did Sir Zavad go?”
“It seems he went home early.”
“He’s so fast, there’s no time to even talk to him.”
Leaving the voices behind him, he hurried past the castle wall checkpoint with his body soaked in sweat and boarded a carriage bearing the Pomel family crest.
As the carriage tilted with a creak, the person sitting inside looked back at him and gave a bright smile.
“You’re late, Young Master.”
“It’s the same time as yesterday.”
“Then you must have been late yesterday, too.”
He pushed aside the water bottle and ice pack his servant chattered and handed him, then immediately reached out to lower the blind on the window.
The window to look outside was covered, and the faint sunset vanished.
Only a dim light seeped through the gaps in the blind, and the inside of the dark carriage was filled with the sound of wet flesh sticking and peeling away.
Zavad pulled Ranshel, who was sitting on his thighs, close by the waist and sucked his dry lips until they were completely wet.
When he rubbed their joined lips together and pushed his tongue in to rub the roof of his mouth, a heated groan flowed from deep inside Ranshel’s throat.
Zavad swallowed even that voice into his mouth as if he didn’t want to miss it.
Ranshel’s fingertips trembled as they gripped Zavad’s shoulders, and he bit the tongue that was ravaging his mouth, though not hard enough to hurt.
It was meant to tell him to slow down, but Zavad instead grabbed the back of Ranshel’s head and tilted it back, hurriedly rubbing their tongues together.
The soft flesh stuck together stickily, and their saliva mixed as one.
Ranshel winced his lower back as he swallowed the sweet liquid flowing into his throat.
“Haa…”
Between their barely separated lips, ragged breaths broke out.
Zavad tucked the tip of his tongue into Ranshel’s open mouth as if drinking in that damp breath.
Ranshel couldn’t bear the pointed tongue rubbing against the membrane inside his mouth and turned his head.
“Stop…”
Instead of grabbing his chin and bringing his lips back, Zavad bit hard into the white nape of the neck exposed before his eyes.
Ranshel squeezed his eyes shut and wiggled his hips while Zavad sucked on his thick Adam’s apple.
Eventually, unable to overcome the surging excitement, he wrapped his arms around Zavad’s shoulders and kissed him first.
Their tongues tangled deeply again, and a lewd kiss continued as they swallowed the saliva flowing down each other’s tongues.
It was hard to believe they had been the type to not even touch fingertips in this carriage before.
Starting from that day in the sanctuary, their relationship took on a completely different aspect.
Only the first time was difficult; after that, it was terrifyingly easy and simple.
Reaching the deepest part of each other just by locking eyes and reaching out a finger was more tempting than the scent of a succubus.
Their lips, which had been joined for a long time, finally broke apart, and the sound of panting breaths tickled their ears instead of the squelching sound of wet flesh.
Ranshel looked at Zavad’s wet lips and the red tongue faintly showing between them with dazed eyes, his shoulders shivering.
Even after the kiss ended, the heat flowing through his skin did not fade at all.
‘Ah, so beautiful.’
Ranshel was completely out of his mind with deep lust massaging his brain and physical desire tickling his stomach.
He felt groggy and good, as if he were dreaming a very sweet dream.
The temperature, the skin, and the body fluids touching him were all sweet and sweeter.
He tried to calm his body while catching his ragged breath, but soon lost his reason and cupped Zavad’s cheeks.
The dizzyingly bright red eyes narrowed at his urgent touch.
Ranshel melted at the face smiling at him and stuck out his tongue to lick the sweat on Zavad’s forehead.
It was like a puppy acting cute to its master.
Zavad let out a chuckle and soon put his hand inside Ranshel’s shirt with eyes that had sunk darkly.
Ranshel licked even the sweat running down Zavad’s temple as if it were a waste, then suddenly flinched.
It was because the fingertip tracing his skin caught his protruding nipple and twisted it.
Zavad gently rubbed the bump on the flat chest and then began to scratch it with his fingernail.
Ranshel, unable to withstand the heat pooling in his stomach, shifted his uncomfortable lower body.
He could clearly feel his penis, which hadn’t even been touched, hardening under his pants and wetting his underwear.
“Heut… ah, mmm…”
Ranshel, who was biting his lips to endure the sound, eventually covered his mouth with his palm.
