ONDC 32

~Chapter 32~

A Fair Deal

Avoiding his gaze, Blair straightened her clothes and spoke to him almost pleadingly.
“Heredin, let’s go to the bedroom.

This is a place anyone can walk into.”
“Then we might end up doing it in the corridor instead. Would that be alright?”
As if adding a reason to those words, Heredin pulled her tightly into his arms.

Through their pressed-together clothes, she could feel the heat radiating from his body.
“I don’t think I can even endure that short walk.”
Blair’s lips parted in shock.

Seeing the way his eyes looked at her as though he might devour her at any moment, it didn’t sound like a joke. It truly seemed like he meant it.

Heredin looked down at Blair, who could no longer insist on going to the room, and let out a small laugh before pressing his lips to hers again.

Then he slipped his hand between the clothes Blair had been trying to fix, grasping her as though kneading soft dough, and whispered,
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it.”
Doing whatever I want, regardless of your will.

Just as you said, I’m simply desiring you like any other male.

When Heredin lowered his head and bit her, Blair’s waist arched backward.

Heredin, who had been persistently tormenting her with his soft lips, grabbed Blair’s ankle.

His hand slid up from the ankle thinner than his forearm and slipped inside her skirt.
“Heredin…!”
Blair tried to close her legs, but Heredin was already blocking her, leaving her unable to move.

Blair bit down hard on her lips that were parting on their own.

The door of the office directly in front of her frightened her.

Yet that fear only heightened the dizzying pleasure.

Now almost lying across the desk, Blair stared blankly out the window beside her head.

The winter sky, without a single cloud, glittered brilliantly.

The violet eyes that reflected that view blinked slowly.

At this point, it didn’t seem to matter anymore.

If this was what he wanted.

At that moment, a large shadow fell over Blair’s body and a heavy weight pressed down.

Unable to endure the overwhelming sensation rushing over her, Blair bit the back of her hand.

But Heredin seized both of her hands with one of his and bound them together.

Blair looked up at him with resentful eyes and bit her lips tightly to block the sound from escaping.

Seeing that sight, Heredin’s brows knit together.

What a stubborn woman.

Her futile resistance was laughable and bothersome, yet he didn’t dislike it.

No—rather, it suited her, and that made it somewhat cute.

Heredin leaned down toward Blair, who looked as though she might burst into tears while desperately holding back her voice.

Then he lightly sucked on her lips before releasing them and whispered,
“Don’t bite your lips.”
After holding her breath for a while, Blair finally surrendered.

Quite satisfied with that, Heredin repeatedly kissed her flushed cheeks and earlobes.
“Heredin….”
Blair called his name as she embraced him.

The fragile voice calling his name helplessly sounded pleasing.

The way she clung to him desperately, as if trying not to be separated from him, felt good.

To the point that it seemed foolish he had restrained his desire all this time.

After a while, the office that had been filled with all kinds of noisy sounds suddenly fell silent.

In the stillness that finally arrived, their ragged breathing echoed.

Blair’s body trembled in the arms that trapped her.

Heredin kissed the edge of her cheek, savoring the lingering sensation, and only after her trembling subsided did he raise his body.

Blair came into view, looking up at him with moist eyes while catching her breath.

A temptress sprawled across his desk.

And yet that lewd sight was breathtakingly beautiful.

Suddenly, he remembered what Johan had said yesterday.
“Well, honestly, she is pretty.

With that face and that body, what man wouldn’t fall for her?”
Seeing how all the men acted like fools with a screw loose around this woman, perhaps his own desire for her wasn’t anything special.

Just instinctively being drawn to something beautiful.

Yes, honestly, she was beautiful.

Beautiful enough that any man would want to at least hold her hand once, or speak a word to her.

And that woman had become his contract wife.

Not only that, she was even willing to offer her body.

If he wanted it.

Perhaps that was because of the man she loved.

For a moment, he thought that idiot was pitiful, but soon dismissed the thought.
“But is there any need for me to know the reason?”
In any case, this woman was now right in front of him.

At least in appearance, she was his wife.

The fool who had lost the woman because of status would even lose the first night with his woman and would not be able to meet her freely.

A woman who had to pretend to be a married couple with a man she did not love, for the sake of a future with the man she did love.

A man who had to watch the woman he loved be embraced by another man because of the status he was born with.

And a man who gained another reward and was used in their love.

Who was the most pitiful?

Objectively speaking, that pitiful person was not him.

But humans were selfish creatures after all, and the feeling left a bad taste in his mouth.

Even after obtaining the body of the woman he wanted, he felt like he was the most pitiful one.

He was not used to sharing something once it was in his hands.

He probably never would be.

That was how he had been born and raised.

Heredin lifted Blair from where she lay on the desk.

From the aftermath of just now, she couldn’t even stand properly and staggered.

He turned her collapsing body and made her brace herself against the desk.
“…Heredin?”
Only then did Blair notice something strange and try to slip out of his arms, but Heredin simply pulled her back into them.
“Ah…!”
Blair’s body trembled as she was trapped in his embrace, and it gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.

Holding Blair, who looked as if she might collapse at any moment, he kissed her exposed, snow-white back.

This was a contract.

Taking what each wanted until the contract ended.

He didn’t know what Blair wanted from him, but she would surely take it eventually, so he could take whatever he wanted from her as well.

So this was certainly a fair deal.
* * *
There was a vast greenhouse in the Empress Palace.

It had been built by the previous emperor for Empress Katrina, whom he loved dearly.

Not only the greenhouse, but the entire current Empress Palace—which had been built to replace the one that burned down where Esmeralda once lived—was practically a gift the previous emperor had prepared for Katrina.

Katrina loved everything in this Empress Palace.

Just like her own children.

Because all of it was proof that she had been loved by the man who ruled this vast empire.

The mornings she spent in this greenhouse, filled with rare foreign flowers and trees and the chirping of pretty birds, were also among the things she loved for that same reason.

Katrina stirred her black tea with a teaspoon while listening to the birds singing.

Her manner was so elegant that no one would dare imagine she had been born a commoner.

She set down the teaspoon and lifted the teacup.

As her indifferent face reflected on the surface of the tea, a voice she had heard a few days ago suddenly surfaced in her mind.
“Are you afraid of me, Your Majesty?”
“….”
“Aren’t you trying to brainwash me as though you’re afraid I might uncover the truth?”
Katrina paused before taking a sip.

Thinking of that voice and its owner, the corner of Katrina’s lips curled upward.
“…How insolent.”
After falling into thought for a moment, Katrina set the cup down again without even bringing it to her lips.

Countess Magrid, who had been waiting behind her, immediately sensed the meaning and stepped closer to her side.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We should place someone inside the House of Delmark.

I’m curious how that child Blair is doing.

I’m worried about her too.”
Katrina’s gentle voice sounded exactly like that of a mother concerned about her daughter.
* * *
Heredin opened his eyes when he heard Blair’s dry cough.

He felt refreshed, like the day after training all day.

His last memory had been the dim light of dawn, but judging by the light seeping through the window, it seemed to be quite late.

Sensing something, he turned his head to the side and saw Blair sleeping.

Yesterday afternoon, after entangling himself with Blair countless times in the office, he had finally come to the bedroom when she begged him.

After that, he had embraced her like a beast.

They had even eaten on the bed.

After feeding food to her, who did not have the strength to even move a finger, the next thing he did was devour her himself.

Once the desire he had barely suppressed was unleashed, it burst out so fiercely that it could no longer be restrained.

Like drinking seawater, the more he drank, the thirstier he became.

Blair had coaxed him, pleaded with him, even cried from exhaustion, but that only stimulated him more.

Just recalling the sight of her sobbing made his body react again, even though he had spent the entire night satisfying his desire.
“…Madman.”
Heredin mocked himself and forced down the heat rising in his lower abdomen as he got up.

Clothes thrown carelessly on the floor brushed against his foot.

Since it was Blair’s room, there were no other clothes he could wear.

Heredin was about to pull the bell rope absentmindedly but lowered his hand.

For some reason, he didn’t want to break this quiet peace.

He roughly put on his trousers and shirt and walked to the fireplace to light a fire.

Watching the firewood slowly burn, he habitually took a cigar from his back pocket and lit it.

Just as he was about to bring the lit cigar to his lips, Heredin’s hand stopped.

At the same time, he frowned and let out a sigh.

The cigar was thrown into the fireplace before he could even take a single puff.