🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 36
Denok’s hand reached out hesitantly, brushing along the corner of Edith’s eye where tension trembled.
She instinctively averted her gaze, and in that moment, her fluttering lashes grazed against his fingertips.
“Don’t be nervous.”
Even so… her pounding heart refused to calm.
Yes, she had shared countless scenes of the “night’s performance” with him before—
but those had always been performances.
At least then, she could hide behind that thin line, keep her reason intact.
Now was different.
This was not acting.
This was contact born purely of desire.
Is this really… okay?
Edith stole a glance at him.
Without his eyepatch, his face was wholly exposed to her view—
midnight-dark hair that seemed to melt into the shadows,
and violet eyes meeting hers with a quiet, unshaken gaze.
Heat flushed her face all over again, and with it, her reason scattered like steam.
Just as Denok had said, this heat showed no signs of subsiding.
It settled deep in her body, threatening to burst at any moment.
Her fingertips twitched; the skin pressed to his seemed to flinch of its own accord.
It was torment just to get through tonight like this—
thinking about the days ahead made her chest tighten with frustration.
Just for tonight…
If she didn’t cross the line,
if she simply eased this aching sensation,
surely she’d feel more at peace.
Driven to the brink for days by this heat, Edith clung to that hazy thought.
“I won’t go all the way. But if, at any point, you want me to stop…”
Denok trailed off.
He hesitated—what words could make her certain he’d stop before crossing the line?
After a pause, he said quietly:
“Call my name.”
“Your… name?”
She blinked, startled.
His name? Until now, she had always called him “Your Highness” to maintain their boundary.
Such a sudden, intimate address didn’t come easily to her lips.
“Yes. Words like ‘stop’ or ‘enough’… I might not hear them properly.”
Something in his phrasing struck her as odd,
but before she could dwell on it, his warm palm cupped her cheek, turning her thoughts white.
Her face was gently drawn toward his, their breaths mingling.
Just before her eyes closed, she caught a glimpse of his face again—
and a fresh wave of unfamiliar tension swept over her.
Then—
Chup.
His lips met hers.
The familiar warmth eased the stiffness from her shoulders.
Familiarity… could be so dangerous.
Denok didn’t rush, didn’t claim her lips in a desperate press like usual.
Instead, he touched and withdrew, touched and withdrew—
less a provocation, more a quiet sharing of warmth.
Edith’s hands clenched at his collar.
She was aching.
At last, it felt like she might quench the thirst that had tormented her—
yet his slow approach only made her more impatient.
When she leaned toward him with a silent plea,
it was as though he took it as permission;
true stimulation followed.
“Uh—!”
The hand that had been cupping her cheek slid down,
tracing over the rise beneath her thin clothing,
then squeezing—firmly enough to deform the soft flesh in his palm.
It was a touch with an intimate meaning she had never felt before.
Each time he pressed and lifted,
her breath grew more unsteady.
Then his thumb grazed over a hardened peak.
“Hhh—!”
The sensation struck like lightning,
rushing through her whole body until it spilled out in a breathless gasp.
And it didn’t stop with just once.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Shhh… it’s all right.”
Even as she broke the kiss to cry out, Denok soothed her gently—
but his thumb never stopped moving.
He rubbed, pressed, and circled with patient persistence.
“Haah…”
The mere brush of cloth had made her breath heat,
but the direct touch was overwhelming—too much.
She clutched his hand in both of hers,
burying her face against him as though to beg.
Yet his touch didn’t cease;
if anything, it slowed—became more deliberate,
his hard nail occasionally flicking over her.
It was maddeningly ticklish one moment,
then sharply acute the next,
until her vision blurred.
Her whole body trembled; her thighs drew together again and again.
“Ahh—hhn!”
Hot breaths spilled against his neck;
thin, pleading moans circled his ear.
He didn’t change expression, didn’t falter—
just kept moving his hand.
When her breaths grew ragged with the edge of tears,
he carefully lifted her hem.
His hand skimmed up her pale thigh, teasing her skin,
then he slipped her chemise free altogether.
Under the moonlight, Edith’s bare form was revealed in full—
her blue eyes hazy,
her reddened lips wet with breathless gasps.
Denok’s jaw tightened as he gazed,
then he lowered his head—
and placed his lips exactly where his hand had been tormenting her.
At first it was a soft kiss—
then he drew her in hard.
“Ahhh—!”
Her body arched with the sudden, blinding rush,
but the weight of him held her pinned in place.
She’d heard from Rachel, before marriage, about what passed between a man and woman.
She’d seen the secret glances traded in society,
wondering if it could really be so pleasurable.
And with the memories of her past life,
she’d thought she knew—
but reality was nothing like the theory.
Not like this.
The slow warmth in her body had become a full, roaring blaze,
wrapping her whole being.
Her last threads of reason burned to ash,
and what filled the space was instinct alone—
a single-minded pursuit of pleasure.
Her hands gripped his shoulders hard.
He leaned in closer.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything you don’t want.”
His low voice curled into her ear,
and Edith bit her lip, tears trembling at the corners of her eyes.
Some faint remnant of reason whispered to stop.
But the heat, once kindled, raged like a wildfire with no sign of dying.
His hands wandered, drawing out every sensation again,
tormenting her with reminders of what he could give.
Even now, the cool air on her chest ached—
as if only his lips could soothe it.
She hesitated, then squeezed her eyes shut,
bowing her head so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze.
“…As long as… we don’t go all the way.”
“…”
“J-Just a little more… please… touch me.”
Her long lashes trembled with her closed eyes.
Denok’s gaze lingered on her flushed cheeks for a moment, then—
“…Very well. As far as you wish.”
He drew out his words slowly,
then reached for her again.
“I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”
