The Price of Saving a Vicious Beast - Chapter 45

All eyes turned toward him. Killian smiled faintly and spoke.

“I would have liked to remain and enjoy this lively occasion until the very end, but my bride seems quite tired, so I believe we should take our leave.”

With a gentle gesture, he extended his hand to Adelaide. She looked up at him, dazed, then took his hand and rose.

There was no need to think it over.

When he called, she came. When he told her to go, she went. If he ordered her to die, she would have to pretend to do even that.

That was the life she would live from now on, until the day she died.

Even as she thought this bitterly, the moment Killian’s hand touched her waist, a shiver ran through her entire body, and her fatigue vanished in an instant.

She had to fight not to recoil from him.

With an awkward smile, she offered polite farewells to the surrounding nobles, then left the hall, almost as if she were being carried in Killian’s embrace.

* * *

The distance from the banquet hall to the Crown Prince’s palace was considerable. As they waited for the carriage, Killian gently bit down on her earlobe.

“…You don’t have to do this anymore.”

Adelaide’s voice trembled. She could feel his lips tighten slightly against her skin. Killian brushed his tongue lightly along her ear and spoke without pulling away.

“Don’t have to? And how do you know what we’ll be doing once we return to the palace?”

His eyes curved into a crescent, amused. He clearly found her inability to resist him despite being repulsed, entertaining.

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“…No. That’s not it.”

“Of course not. It’s our first night, after all. The one you’ve been waiting for so eagerly.”

Adelaide shut her eyes tightly.

They knew each other far too well. First, it had been her lips. Then, at their next meeting, her chest.

No matter how much she tried to pretend otherwise, she could never deceive Killian. And his hands—delighting in cornering her—had only grown bolder over time.

She had endured it somehow, again and again, until the moment his hand slipped beneath her skirt and began to roam her thigh.

“Stop… please.”

Even knowing he had no intention of going all the way, she had finally pushed him away.

“This kind of thing… should only happen after we’re properly married. Please… let me keep my purity for our wedding night.”

She had no idea what it was that moved him, whether it was the word purity, or the idea of a proper marriage.

Killian had laughed as if amused, then withdrawn his hand. But it hadn’t stopped there.

The same thing happened again, and again.

Each time she was driven into a corner, Adelaide grasped for excuses, pleading desperately that she wanted to give herself only after they were recognized as husband and wife before God.

Each time, Killian relented easily. After all, what he truly enjoyed was watching her desperation.

“Or is it just that you can’t bear to wait?”

Killian whispered into Adelaide’s ear.

It was something she herself had once said to him—how his touch made her burn, how she felt like a shameless woman unable to control herself. How she wanted to stand before God without shame. How she begged him to stop because she couldn’t resist him.

Watching her bite her lip, Killian’s gaze turned toward the garden. The snow-covered grounds were completely deserted, blanketed in untouched white.

As his gaze lingered there, Adelaide’s face gradually turned pale. She shook her head desperately.

“Killian… please.”

“…You’re right. Even I wouldn’t go so far as to take our first night outside like animals.”

Adelaide nodded frantically, gasping for breath.

Each word he spoke tightened an invisible noose around her throat, loosening it only to pull it tight again.

“That’s right. I’m just as excited as you are, Adelaide.”

He leaned in and pressed a light kiss to her lips. If a kiss was enough to placate this beast, then it was a cheap price to pay.

Suppressing her disgust, Adelaide did not resist.

Something warm, soft, and hot pressed against her cold lips.

* * *

In the now-empty corridors of the Crown Prince’s palace, abandoned garments lay scattered one by one.

A fur coat. High-heeled shoes. Gloves. A jacket. A shirt. Like the pebbles children in fairy tales scattered through the woods to find their way back, the trail of clothing led all the way to the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.

“Hah—hhngh…! Wai—wait a minute. I can’t breathe—mmph…!”

Around the bed, hastily removed and crumpled undergarments lay strewn about. She wasn’t even allowed to cover herself with the blankets. Her hands pinned by Killian, Adelaide had no choice but to endure his overwhelming kisses.