Chapter 45
“Ahh!”
The narrow inner walls contracted powerfully, squeezing his shaft. With the pressure of his own release rushing up, Viern swiftly withdrew and blocked the entrance with his handkerchief. Gush, gush. The spurting white fluid soaked the once-clean cloth.
“Nngh, haa…”
Glancing down at the sound, he saw Diana’s face, lax and relaxed as she exhaled heavily. For a moment, a sensation like a tight constriction gripped his throat, and he gritted his teeth. She curved the corners of her eyes into crescents.
“That was too good just now. Let’s do it one more time, Your Grace. Hm?”
Viern frowned at Diana, who was pestering him with a whine. With that face, that expression, making that pleading sound… it must be a plot to entangle and kill him.
“Eldman will be back in twenty minutes.”
Checking the clock on the wall, he answered. She pouted her lips in disappointment.
“Heeeng.”
Normally, he would have chuckled at her whining, but today, he gave no reaction.
“Please wait a moment.”
Discarding the now unusable handkerchief haphazardly into the trash, he headed towards a small door inside the study. Not long after, he returned carrying a washbasin and a clean towel.
Tidying up after their intimacy was always Viern’s responsibility. Though born and raised as the heir to the kingdom’s highest family, accustomed only to being served by others, serving the Princess wasn’t difficult. Ever since the day he brought Diana out of the tower, all these trivial chores concerning her had naturally become his to handle.
Due to the Princess’s prickly temperament, which kept most others at a distance, even after bringing her to the palace and assigning her maids, he had to visit daily for a while to check on her. To coax the Princess who sulked about not eating, he shared meals with her. To put to bed the Princess who protested going to sleep, he stayed at the palace, working until her bedtime, and only returned to his estate after she’d fallen asleep.
Then, at some point, he set up a separate bedroom inside his study and began living full-time at the palace instead of his estate. So, over the past three years, his entire daily routine had, without him realizing, become centered around her.
“Next time, let’s try other places too. I heard it’s really good in a carriage.”
Silently listening to her chattering like a baby bird as he wiped her body and straightened her clothes, he suddenly had a thought while looking at her—chattering away as if it were only natural for him to serve her. Is this woman truly the one I tamed? Or perhaps… have I been the one tamed by her? Come to think of it, haven’t I been moving according to her wishes for a while now…? Such useless thoughts.
“By the way, when is Aisen coming back?”
The moment that name escaped Diana’s lips again, Viern’s expression hardened.
“He said he couldn’t come due to matters of the Ducal House. Isn’t it taking too long?”
At the last Founding Day, he had used the excuse of family affairs to send Aisen far away to the northern duchy. And he still hadn’t called him back. In truth, even though there was nothing left for the wretch to do there, he kept making various excuses to…
“He will return soon.”
“Mmm, okay.”
“……”
“Then, Your Grace, this afternoon… I’ll prepare the carriage…”
Diana, having swiftly shifted her interest, smiled brightly and started on the next topic. But Viern couldn’t bring himself to smile along.
After being intimate with her, he was always left with a feeling as if something hard had settled in his chest. This unresolved sensation only grew larger with time. With a sense of crisis—that his breath might be crushed under its weight—Viern, feeling this was precisely the right moment, lifted her up from the desk.
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
“Huh?”
Viern cut Diana off and leaned over her. Trapped between his solid body and the desk, Diana’s eyes widened as she looked up at him.
“I believe we shouldn’t continue this any longer.”
Shh— His hand reached past her, picking up a single piece of paper lying on the desk.
“My engagement to the Marquis’s household has been formalized again, you see. I sent Eldman just before Your Highness entered the study, so they’ve likely received a reply by now.”
Straightening his back, he lightly shook the white envelope in his hand as he explained. Diana blinked her round eyes, staring at the Silberk Marquisate crest stamped on the envelope’s surface.
“Didn’t you say it yourself? That doing something like this while someone you like is out there… feels a little wrong. I think I’d feel guilty too. Towards the Lady Marquis.”
He looked deep into her eyes, emphasizing the phrase ‘someone you like.’ With a wicked heart, hoping that when her memory eventually returned, she would remember this moment and be hurt.
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