The Cat Who Weeps in the Dark - Chapter 87

What… What just touched her? It happened too fast. Her brain must have been paralyzed by the sudden assault. She couldn’t properly assess the situation.

“Thanks to that, I’ve made up my mind. You are my partner.”

Her brain hadn’t fully recovered its function yet. Amidst that, the man’s whispered words plunged Katie into a pit of confusion.

“What do you mean? Partner, where are you talking about?”

“The upcoming envoy welcoming banquet. That way, the bastards who spout nonsense about me abandoning you will shut their mouths.”

“You’re taking me just for that reason?”

She was so flustered her voice hitched. She scrutinized Helion’s expression, wondering if it was a joke, but she couldn’t find a trace of amusement on his face.

“Just? It’s disappointing to dismiss something I’ve deliberated over for days.”

“No, I mean, why on earth would you take a commoner knight like me…!”

Her words couldn’t continue. Hot lips met hers. A tongue invaded the gap that had opened in her daze. His tongue was as sticky as his gaze. It forcibly pulled out Katie’s frozen tongue and languidly rubbed against it.

“Uh-oh.”

The moan that was about to escape was blocked by his lips. The man moved his tongue like a piston.

She felt him, hard and throbbing, against her lower body as their thighs pressed tightly together. The man showed no intention of hiding his e******n. He rubbed his thigh against her, stimulating her p***y.

Helion sucked on her bloodied lips. He swallowed her moans again, unsure if they were from pain or pleasure.

“Since my palace is about to be completely emptied thanks to you, I suppose I can claim this much as a service fee.”

It was the moment Helion pulled his lips away. Katie gasped, panting like a cat, and clutched the doorknob. Helion didn’t bother to stop her. Katie, looking back nervously as if on guard, confirmed he was standing still, then flung the door open and swiftly vanished.

Helion watched the woman’s retreating figure, fleeing as if no one could catch her.

In the end, he had given in to impulse. But the reward was as sweet as it was disproportionate to the effort he’d spent deliberating.

* * *

Katie pressed her palm against her pounding chest. Something was wrong with her heart. Otherwise, it couldn’t possibly be beating at this speed.

“What the hell did you do to me?”

Katie’s lips were still wet. The sensation of Helion’s tongue tracing her wound was still vivid.

She had done more with Helion. She had even given him the most intimate parts of her body. But through all those acts, Helion had never once kissed her.

“But why suddenly now…?”

Katie, staggering down the hallway, leaned against the wall.

She was confused. Just earlier, in front of the storage room, she had thought he was a man of perfect timing. But now, his timing was awful.

Katie was already weakened. Continuous hardships had exhausted even a well-trained spy.

She had sacrificed her body to hide her identity, but that had become poison, leading to her being ostracized.

With the end of the war approaching, an order had come from the kingdom, Kill The First Prince.

As it was, she had too much to think about, her head a tangled mess. At such a time, Helion had extended a helping hand.

Three times, no less. Once when Damian was harassing her. Once when Arnin almost r***d her. And just now, once from the knights.

One or two times could be dismissed as coincidence, but by the third, it was impossible.

He seemed to have already known she was being tormented. And he had watched, then appeared at the exact moment she needed help, with uncanny timing.

Helion was not the kind of person to care about others’ hardships.

Although she had only met him relatively recently, Katie had been in the imperial palace for three years. Just hearing the rumors was enough to grasp his personality.

However, his indifference was an exception only for Katie. It was true in every matter concerning her. Appointing a mid-level knight as his guard. Making her a permanent night duty guard. Turning a blind eye to the identity of a woman who should have been dragged to the torture chamber.

‘In fact, the very proposal of a “deal” was absurd.’

A deal, by its very nature, is made between people of equal standing. Helion was someone high above, someone whose mere gaze she should have been honored to receive. Moreover, he held her leash.

He could have used cowardly methods, like Damian, to force Katie’s legs open. Yet, Helion did not take her by force.

She knew that “the deal” was nothing more than a plausible facade. But thanks to that facade, Katie gained the chance to choose and the time to mentally prepare herself.

If he had just been completely cruel, she wouldn’t have been so confused. Helion was a man Katie should hate. This kind of kindness, if she could, she would have refused. It was agonizing, her heart swaying against her will.

Just then, maids carrying luggage spotted her and hurried over.

“Lady Katie!”

Katie pushed herself off the wall. No sooner had she done so than a maid prostrated herself on the floor.