* * *
Hesia whispered, softly caressing me.
My body twisted and turned from the tickle that pushed deep inside, finally swallowing me whole.
My feet instinctively twitched. I barely managed to answer, kicking the blanket away with my trembling toes.
“Haen, hngh, let me meet Haen…”
No sooner had the words left my mouth than I had the illusion that the room temperature had dropped by several degrees.
My skin, which had been sticky with sweat, instantly cooled.
I reflexively shivered, yet I did not avert my gaze from Hesia.
The young face, which had been flushed with heat, had cooled to a chilling stillness.
I stopped my attempts to push away the blanket and slowly wrapped my legs around Hesia’s waist.
“Sia… are you angry?”
I asked, pulling his waist toward me.
Due to the position, the deepening of the penetration was unavoidable.
Dripping out gasps of breath that flowed past my lips, I rubbed my head against Hesia’s chest.
“Hmm, don’t be, angry… My Kitty.”
“Vivi, even at a time like this, can you still say the word Kitty?”
I chuckled faintly at his grumbling, which was tinged with annoyance.
I released the arm that was wrapped around Hesia’s neck and grabbed his face.
I carefully stroked his face, which was small enough to be obscured, beyond just being held, by my hands.
Hesia couldn’t hide his anger.
But even so, he couldn’t push me away.
I stared blankly at his foolishly docile face, then pressed my lips to his white neck.
I lightly sucked on his Adam’s apple, which jutted out to show he was a man, under a face so exquisite it could be mistaken for a woman’s.
My lips detached with a chok wet sound.
“Even when I do this much, are you still going to be angry, hngh, really?”
I urged him, continuously smoothing down his hardened cheek.
Even at that slight gesture, Hesia melted away.
I repeated pressing and pulling my lips away from his now soft cheek.
“…Don’t do this to anyone else. If you do this to anyone else, that person will die that very day.”
“What? Ahaha! Hah, I, I won’t. I only do it for you… So, you can consider it an honor…”
I hugged Hesia tightly, whispering that I wouldn’t do it even if a knife was held to my throat.
Each time Hesia burrowed into me like a young beast seeking warmth, the penetration deepened further.
Hesia’s lips relentlessly followed my head, which was tilting back due to pleasure.
He swallowed the tears that had rolled out without my knowledge, and meticulously licked away the saliva flowing from my lips with his tongue.
What Hesia was swallowing and craving was not my tears and saliva, but my affection.
I willingly held the man in my arms who was greedily wanting the invisible.
“Your embrace is so warm… It’s warm like a lie.”
‘I want to stay like this forever, forever. No, I wish we would just melt and become one body.’
Hesia whispered that repeatedly until the night passed and the sun rose.
The words Hesia truly wanted to say were, ‘Don’t die’.
Knowing that, I remained silent.
And I acquiesced to the somewhat rough hip movements that followed my silence.
The last thing I remembered was reaching an unknown climax for the umpteenth time and falling asleep as if I had passed out.
When I opened my eyes, my body, which had been sticky with all kinds of fluids, was not just clean, but smelled sweetly of expensive perfume.
Hesia claimed it was a winter scent. It was the fragrance Hesia loved most, saying it was similar to my natural scent.
Given Hesia’s personality, he was not the type to tolerate me being attended to by others.
It seemed Hesia had personally washed me and dressed me while I was asleep.
“Is he a Prince or my attendant?”
I stretched, muttering in a voice hoarse from crying so much.
My whole body ached from the uncharacteristically rough intimacy.
“Am I getting old…”
Speaking of which, when calculating my age, should I include the time I spent as a corpse?
I tilted my head, thinking a silly thought, then cautiously felt the space next to me.
Judging by the bedding, which was cold without a trace of warmth, Hesia seemed to have left quite a while ago.
“Where did he go?”
He was always protective, but after we were intimate, he always stayed by my side without fail.
Being alone in this large bedroom felt oddly awkward.
I scratched the back of my neck and got out of bed.
I looked around and accidentally found a note placed on the table.
[Grandmother called for me. I’ll be out for a little while, so get some rest. I told them to prepare food, so eat first if you’re hungry. It’ll really only be for a moment. Don’t go anywhere, stay in the room. No, it’s okay if you go out, but you must, must come back to the room.]
The long, continuous words were all typical of Hesia.
The sentence, written on expensive paper that only royalty could use, was a love letter.
I turned my head to the side, and saw freshly made dishes, apparently replaced whenever the food got cold.
I walked over to the table placed by the window with a good view of the flower garden.
I pulled out a chair, sat down casually, and began to eat.
Perhaps because I was tormented all night, I hadn’t felt particularly hungry.
But now that the food was in front of me, my mouth constantly watered.
I scanned the table, which was filled with easily digestible food, and started with the salad.
The salad, made with smoked salmon and my favorite dressing, melted in my mouth.
I ignored table manners and ate whatever I wanted first.
Hugo, who had entered the room at some point to serve me, didn’t say anything about observing etiquette.
He merely attended to me quietly, making it easier for me to eat.
“Hugo.”
“Yes, did you call?”
“What time did Sia leave?”
I asked, briefly putting down my fork.
Hugo made a thoughtful expression.
After a moment, he said it had been about two hours, and I acknowledged it.
“Shall I send word that you are looking for him? He will come right away.”
I let out a mirthless laugh at his abrupt suggestion and shook my head.
I felt like a concubine who was anxious because the Prince was absent after they had been intimate all night.
I aimlessly poked the pudding, which had come as dessert, with my spoon.
With that one light touch, the pudding instantly collapsed.
I looked at the pudding, which had lost its Siape, then turned my head.
“There’s no need to call Sia. Could you please leave? I want to be alone.”
Hesia’s loyal subject readily complied with my request.
He shouldn’t be in a position to perform such minor tasks.
Because I was selective about who served me, Hugo personally organized the dishes and left the room.
There was a time when this kind of treatment was familiar to me.
But now it felt distant, like a mirage that I couldn’t grasp no matter how much I reached out.
The youthful master, who was innocently cheerful, unaware of the disaster that was coming, flashed before my eyes.
He was foolishly innocent, but I didn’t hate him.
I got up from my seat and walked toward the window.
I opened the firmly closed window wide.
The first thing I saw was the garden, entirely blue like the sea.
The garden, filled with ever-blooming blue hydrangeas, was beautiful.
It was a sea and a horizon existing on a barren land.
Having nothing else to do, I rested my hips on the windowsill and leaned my body out the window, looking down at the garden.
The flowers swayed this way and that with the direction of the wind, and a few gardeners moved busily amongst them.
It was while I was observing all of this with the eyes of a bystander.
I sensed Hesia quietly entering the room.
Knowing that he had something he wanted to do when he acted like that, I simply kept looking forward instead of turning around.
As expected, Hesia scurried up behind me and abruptly lifted me up.
Since being lifted up casually like a kitten was unexpected, I just blinked with a flustered expression.
“What, what is this…”
I finally collected myself and awkwardly turned my head to see Hesia’s innocent face.
I thought he would be sulking about the Haen issue.
I was relieved he wasn’t, but I was also a little uneasy because I couldn’t understand why he was in such a good mood.
“…Sha?”
“Yes! Vivi’s Sia is here!”
“Right, right… My Sia is here.”
When I agreed with him despite my confusion, his already bright face was now practically beaming with light.
His cheeks, puffed up from his wide smile, were lovely to look at.
Forgetting my confusion, I tilted my head back to look at Hesia’s face.
Though it was upside down due to the position, I could see his face much better than when I turned my head sideways.
…Though I still couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Why are you so happy?”
His white face was completely flushed.
When I brushed back his bangs, even his forehead was red, like a child’s.
I soothed the heat by gently touching his cheek and forehead with my cold hand, and he hugged me even tighter.
He was so strong that my feet were slightly lifted off the floor.
This kind of treatment was a first.
I looked at Hesia, watching my feet dangle in the air.
* * *
