Why Would a Holy Knight Be Afflicted with Such a Curse? - Side Story Part III

In the end, Celesto got to his feet. Compared to being stuck at the party until morning, shutting his eyes and climbing over a wall was the better option.

Besides, it wasn’t as though we were breaking the law.

A short while later, we climbed over the high wall at the side of the estate. Well, Celesto was the only one who actually climbed it himself. He simply lifted me onto the top of the wall.

“You can get down by yourself.”

“When there’s someone standing right beside me who can help? Why would I?”

“Get down.”

“Did you bring your wallet?”

Celesto frowned.

What was he supposed to do without me? How was he going to pay for the carriage?

In the end, Celesto wrapped a hand around my waist and lowered me onto the road on the other side of the wall.

Not a trace of tension passed between us during the whole thing. Even though a man and a woman—both old enough that some of their peers were already married—were engaging in what could technically be called physical contact.

The same was true after we got into the carriage.

A man and a woman dressed for a party, having climbed over a wall to leave in the middle of the event, sitting together in the cramped carriage—and yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of anything suggestive between us. The coachman probably assumed we were siblings.

For that reason, I spent the entire ride home turning over the conversation from the lounge in my head.

Celesto Castenor getting jealous over a woman? He wasn’t even the kind of man who could create that sort of atmosphere with a woman.

I turned my head to look at Celesto.

Unlike me, who had sunk comfortably into the carriage seat, Celesto was barely perched on the edge of his. The carriage was simply too small for his large frame.

‘If only people could see him looking this ridiculous, they’d stop entertaining those fantasies.’

Now that we were reaching the age where people started searching for marriage partners and weighing their options, it seemed my friends, who had no interest in courtship, had become the subject of everyone’s fantasies.

Maybe meeting too many people had made them all lose their minds.

‘Come to think of it, the whole idea that people with green eyes are more jealous doesn’t make any sense.’

When I thought about it that way, I found it strange that I was still dwelling on such a trivial topic. Then again, the idea itself had been surprisingly shocking to me.

So by the time I stepped out of the carriage, I had completely erased that conversation from my mind.

For nearly ten years, I never thought about that day again.

But now, looking back on it…

Ah, damn it. I guess people who spend all their time around others really are good at reading people. I should have listened to what they were saying.

***

“Ah… ngh… mmh…”

As the heat dragged against my inner walls as it withdrew, I instinctively lowered my head. A voice that hardly sounded like my own spilled helplessly from between my lips.

“D-Don’t press there so…”

I whimpered at him, almost pleading.

But Celesto only tightened his grip on my hips and drove his waist forward with force.

The sound of their bodies striking together echoed through the laboratory. Each thrust sent my upper body lurching toward the window.

The repeated impact made the flowerpot on the windowsill shake.

The pot holding the black hellebore had already been pushed all the way to the edge of the sill.

Perhaps because it had already endured several close calls throughout the day, it let out faint creaking sounds, almost like a cry, whenever the wall trembled.

As though determined to crush the flower completely, Celesto thrust into me deeply once more.

“Mmh…!”

My fingers tightened around the window frame.

‘I… I can’t think straight…‘

Even before Celesto had lowered his trousers, my body had already been thoroughly worn down by his kisses and caresses.

I was already several times more sensitive than usual.

The sharp scraping of the flowerpot against the windowsill mixed with the repeated sounds of bodies colliding, making it feel as though my mind were turning to mush.

“Ha…”

Celesto’s sigh drifted across my back.

I was certain his gaze was fixed on the petals of the black hellebore.

By now, the petals had taken on a deep, dark crimson hue.

They gave off an ominous aura, as though they could bring misfortune upon someone at any moment. It was the result of all the care I had poured into raising the flower.

And that was precisely what irritated Celesto.

Ever since proposing to me, Celesto had been determined to get rid of that flowerpot.

He had even gone so far as to tell me, “Take care of it yourself before I smash the pot.”