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Chapter 7
A Moment of Desire
Under the moonlight streaming through the window, the man’s large body was fully revealed.
His collarbones stretched neatly, his broad and firm chest, arms so thick they couldn’t be fully embraced, and abs packed tight without a single gap—he was the very image of a man in his prime.
Blair looked at his body with eyes as if seeing something unfamiliar.
Even though she had seen this body countless times in her previous life, why did it feel new to her now?
“Is it… his expression?”
Unlike the previous life, where he had been acting out love, this life he carried nothing but desire in his blue eyes.
At that moment, Blair felt she finally understood what it meant to be overwhelmed by someone’s gaze.
Her body tensed from nervousness. Her heart pounded wildly. Just by looking, she felt as if she might be devoured alive.
Suddenly, the face of this stranger terrified her. Yet paradoxically, a heat started to rise from deep within her belly.
Even though she had returned with a body that didn’t know him, she still remembered the pleasures he had given her in her past life.
Even after crossing the threshold of death to return to the past, she found herself reacting to him again, and it felt miserable. Unable to control her body, Blair decided it was better not to look at him.
Herdin’s brows furrowed as he noticed his wife stubbornly turning her head away.
She had boldly spoken of marital duties earlier, but now that she lay on the bed, she looked as though she might cry.
“Doesn’t this make me feel less like a husband in a ‘good relationship’ and more like a bastard violating his wife?”
Blair flinched. Her gaze reluctantly returned. It seemed he had no intention of nullifying the strange clause in their contract.
Herdin pressed his lips onto hers as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Hff…”
Blocked by the bed sheets, the kiss became even deeper and more insistent. A moan escaped Blair’s teeth.
Herdin broke away from her lips and moved down to her pale neck.
Her skin carried a sweet scent, floral yet fruity.
Intoxicated by it, he trailed kisses along her neck and rounded shoulders, tearing her flimsy sleepwear aside. The garment, weakly made from the start, tore easily.
Beneath, her slender body was revealed—far more beautiful than he had guessed from her silhouette.
Startled by the cold touch on her bare skin, Blair hastily tried to cover herself, but Herdin easily restrained her.
He admired the woman in his arms. Her skin was soft like whipped cream, though no matter how much he pressed his lips to it, it did not melt away.
Blair pushed against his solid shoulders and whimpered.
“Th-this… I don’t like this.”
She knew he was acting out of consideration.
But it reminded her too much of him from the past. She feared she might mistake his touch and warmth for love.
“Just… just do it. Please.”
Yet instead of letting her push him away, he scooped her waist as she tried to retreat and held her close.
“Ah!”
Herdin soon noticed she was lying. Seeing her trembling legs, a corner of his mouth tilted slightly upward.
“Well, seems like you like this part.”
Ignoring her resistance, he focused on acclimating her body to his. Her fingers resisted strongly.
The reaction sent a dull, heavy ache through his lower abdomen.
Though his desire urged him to act, he gritted his teeth to restrain himself.
Of course, she would be beautiful even crying. Imagining it, it might even be more arousing to satisfy only his desire—but if he did, this fragile woman might not endure it. She could shatter.
I cannot lose a precious witness of that incident to a fleeting moment of desire.
Finally judging Blair ready, Herdin mounted her.
Blinking her dazed eyes, Blair snapped back to reality seeing the large shadow cast over her.
Meeting his intense blue eyes, she felt a burning heat, as if scalded. The presence that had been impossible to ignore from earlier.
The first night she spent with him in her past life had been sweet, yet painful. It had been overwhelming simply by itself, regardless of being her first.
Her body stiffened instinctively, remembering that pain.
Noticing this, Herdin wrapped her legs around his waist and spoke softly.
“Relax. It’s okay.”
The naive Blair of the past would have believed him, but Blair in this life knew.
A lie.
That statement was a pure lie—a devil’s sweet whisper meant to lull her into his grasp.
Even knowing this, she could not bring herself to push away that cruel yet beautiful demon.
Unable to relax or push him away, Blair hesitated as Herdin kissed her again, pressing his body closer.
Her body warmed from the deliberate act. Herdin, noticing it, aligned their bodies slowly but relentlessly.
Blair reflexively arched away from the unfamiliar pain, but Herdin’s arms pulled her back.
Deeper. Deeper still.
Gritting his teeth, Herdin exhaled roughly. Waiting for her to settle was already testing his patience.
She seemed unaware of the extraordinary self-control she had shown.
Discarding all talk of a “good relationship,” he let his desire erupt.
Herdin lost reason and began to move with Blair. Overwhelmed, she bit her lips.
Gradually, the strange yet familiar act awakened sensations her body had forgotten, though her subconscious remembered.
Blair couldn’t even breathe properly from the dizzying sensation. Herdin narrowed his brows.
“Breathe, Blair.”
His rough voice scratched her throat. Contrary to concern, it intensified rather than soothed him.
In her dazed state, Blair instinctively clung to him. She knew this devil tormenting her was him, yet she could not stop herself.
At this moment, in this world, there was only the two of them.
Finally reaching the peak, Herdin cooled his body, admiring the woman sprawled in his arms.
She looked beautiful in his embrace.
Her face was objectively beautiful, though that had never stirred him deeply.
But now, he felt it profoundly: her pale, moonlit skin, her tearful violet eyes, lips reddened from biting, and the voice calling his name through sobs—all of it was lovable.
…Damn it.
For a moment, he forgot whose daughter she was.
Disgust surged at his own feelings, yet his thirst for her remained unsated. He could not stop.
This was merely a moment of desire.
If he held her through the night, perhaps these unreasonable thoughts would dissipate, melting away like snow by dawn.
Herdin embraced her again with that thought.
“…Herdin?”
Blinking, still groggy, Blair realized the situation and trembled, but it was useless.
Herdin felt a peculiar satisfaction as she clung to him again.
His solid, massive body was a prison, consuming her like a ravenous beast.
Through the long winter night, without pause.
Buried in the endless mire of pleasure, Blair could think of only one thing:
Don’t forget, Blair.
He doesn’t love you.
“Mm…”
Feeling sunlight flicker at her eyes, Blair lifted her heavy eyelids.
As her vision cleared, the familiar yet strange room came into view.
It was the room of the Duchess of Delmark where she had stayed before returning to the past.
For a moment, she almost thought it had been a dream of returning to the past, but seeing the dolls and items that used to be scattered around gone, she realized it was real.
The dull ache all over her body also proved that the second first night with him was not a dream.
Even if the memory remains, my body has returned to the past. Of course it would ache.
As when she had spent the first night with him, her body felt even heavier and more sore than before.
Despite the merciless rush of dizzying pleasure, she had dozed off from exhaustion, yet Herdin had not let her go, acting as if she had entrusted something to him.
Blair’s last memory was of dawn breaking, her exhausted self asleep, and his broad back moving away.
It was then she realized:
So this is your true intention.
In the past life, he had stayed by her side all night, desperate to extract the truth.
And how naive she had been to believe him.
Now, returned miraculously to the past, she finally faced his truth—cold and bitter.
But it was relieving. She no longer had to feel guilty for using him for her own purpose.
Calmly gathering her emotions, Blair forced her heavy body upright and pulled on the cord.
