Chapter 32. A Decent Trade
2023.10.02.
Blair avoided his gaze as she adjusted her clothes, pleading with him.
"Herdin, let's go to the bedroom. Anyone could come in here."
"Then we might end up doing it in the hallway. Is that alright with you?"
As if to justify his words, Herdin pulled her tightly against him. Through the pressed fabric, she could feel his body burning with heat.
"I don't think I can wait even that brief moment."
Blair's lips parted in shock. Looking into his eyes that seemed ready to devour her at any moment, it didn't seem like empty words—he really would do it.
Herdin looked down at Blair, who could no longer insist on going to the room, let out a soft laugh, and immediately pressed his lips to hers again. Then, slipping his hand between the clothes she had tried to adjust, he gripped her soft flesh as if kneading dough and whispered.
"This is what you wanted."
Regardless of your will, I'll do as I please.
Just as you said, I'm simply desiring you like any other male would.
When Herdin dipped his head and bit her, Blair's back arched backward.
Herdin, who had been tormenting her persistently with his soft lips, grabbed Blair's ankle. His hand traced up her ankle, thinner than even his forearm, and slipped under her skirt.
"Herdin...!"
Blair tried to close her legs, but Herdin was already between them, leaving her unable to move.
Blair unconsciously bit her lips tightly together as they fell open. The door of the office right in front of her terrified her. Yet that fear only added to the dizzying pleasure.
Now nearly lying on the desk, Blair stared blankly out the window beside her.
The winter sky, without a single cloud, sparkled dazzlingly. The violet eyes reflecting that scene blinked slowly.
She thought that none of it mattered anymore.
If this was what he wanted.
At that moment, a large shadow loomed over Blair's body, and a heavy weight pressed down on her. Unable to bear the overwhelming sensation washing over her, Blair bit the back of her hand.
But Herdin bound both her wrists with one hand.
Blair looked up at Herdin with resentful eyes, biting her lips firmly to silence herself. Seeing this, Herdin's brow furrowed.
Stubborn woman, as always.
The woman putting up futile resistance was both laughable and annoying, but he didn't hate the sight. No, rather, it was quite endearing because it was so like her.
Herdin leaned down toward Blair, who was desperately holding back her sounds with eyes that looked ready to cry at any moment. He gently sucked on her lips and released them, whispering.
"Don't bite your lips."
After holding her breath for some time, Blair finally surrendered. Herdin was quite satisfied with this, repeatedly kissing her flushed cheeks and earlobes.
"Herdin..."
Blair called his name as she embraced him.
The fragile voice calling his name, not knowing what to do, was pleasant to hear. The gesture of her desperately holding onto him, trying not to be separated from him, was pleasing.
Enough to make suppressing his desire until now seem pathetic.
A short while later, the office that had been noisy with a mix of sounds suddenly grew quiet.
In the silence that finally arrived, the ragged breathing of the two echoed. Blair's body, trapped in his embrace, trembled delicately.
Herdin kissed the area around her cheek, savoring the afterglow, and only after her trembling subsided did he raise himself.
The sight of Blair looking at him with moist eyes while catching her breath came into view.
The seductress disheveled on his desk.
Yet that indecent appearance was breathtakingly beautiful.
Suddenly, the words Johan had said yesterday came to mind.
'Well, honestly, she is pretty. With that face and that body, what man wouldn't fall for her?'
Seeing how men acted like fools with a screw loose over this woman, his own desire for her couldn't be anything particularly special either.
It was simply being instinctively drawn to beauty.
Yes, honestly, because she was pretty.
The kind of woman that any man would want to hold hands with at least once, to say even a single word to.
That kind of woman had become his contractual wife. Not satisfied with that alone, she offered even her body. If he wanted it.
Perhaps, this too was because of that man she loved.
For a moment, he thought that bastard was pathetic, but soon erased the thought.
'But is there really a need to know the reason?'
Regardless, this woman was right before his eyes now. She was, at least in name, his wife.
The foolish bastard who had his woman taken away because of his status would lose even his first night with her, and wouldn't be able to meet her freely.
A woman who must play the role of an unwilling wife to a man she doesn't love, for the sake of a future with the man she loves.
A man who must watch the woman he love fall into another man's arms because of his innate status.
And, a man who receives other compensation and is used for their love.
Who is the most pitiful?
Objectively, that pitiful person was not himself.
But humans are ultimately self-centered creatures, so he felt filthy. Even after taking the body of the woman he desired, he felt the most pitiful.
He was not accustomed to sharing what he had grasped with others. He probably never would be. He was born and raised that way from the start.
Herdin carried Blair down from the desk. Due to the aftermath of what just happened, she couldn't even stand properly and stumbled.
He turned her unsteady body and made her lean against the desk.
"...Herdin?"
Only then realizing something was wrong, Blair tried to escape his embrace, but Herdin simply held her tighter.
"Ah...!"
Blair's body, trapped in his arms and trembling delicately, gave him a strange sense of satisfaction. Holding Blair, who looked like she might collapse at any moment, he kissed her bare white back.
This was a contract.
A contract to take what each wanted until it ended.
He didn't know what Blair wanted, but she would surely take it from him, so he could simply take what he wanted from her as much as he pleased.
Therefore, this was definitely, a decent trade.
* * *
In the Empress's Palace, there was a massive greenhouse.
It was a greenhouse built by the previous Emperor for the Empress Katrina, whom he loved dearly.
Not just the greenhouse, but the entire current Empress's Palace, built in place of the one that had burned down where Esmeralda resided, was no different from a gift the previous Emperor had prepared for Katrina.
Katrina loved everything about this Empress's Palace. Just as she loved her children.
All of it was proof that she had been loved by the man who was the ruler of this great empire.
The morning greeted in this greenhouse, with all sorts of exotic flowering trees from foreign lands and pretty birds chirping, was also one of the things she loved, for the same reason.
Katrina stirred her black tea with a teaspoon while listening to the birds chirping. Her appearance was so elegant that no one would dare think she was born a commoner.
She set down the teaspoon and lifted the teacup. Over her indifferent face reflected on the surface of the tea, the voice she had heard a few days ago suddenly came to mind.
'Are you afraid, Your Majesty?'
'...'
'It seems like you're brainwashing them, exactly like someone who's afraid I'll discover the truth.'
Katrina, about to drink her tea, paused. The corners of Katrina's lips rose slightly as she recalled that voice and its owner.
"...How utterly presumptuous."
Katrina, who had been lost in thought for a moment, set the cup back down without even bringing it to her lips.
Countess Magrid, who had been waiting behind her, agilely noticed the meaning and stepped up beside her.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I need to plant someone in the Delmark Duchy. I'm curious about how that child Blair is doing. I'm also worried."
Katrina's gentle voice was truly as soft as a mother worrying about her daughter.
* * *
Herdin opened his eyes at the sound of Blair's dry cough. He felt refreshed, like the day after training all day.
His last memory was of the dawn twilight, but seeing the light streaming through the window, it seemed to be quite late.
Sensing a presence, he turned his head to the side and saw Blair sleeping.
Yesterday during the day, after intertwining with Blair several times in the office, he had yielded to her pleas and moved to the bedroom.
Since then, he had taken her like a beast. They even ate in bed. After feeding her when she didn't have the strength to lift a finger, the next thing he did was devour her himself.
The desire he had desperately suppressed, once the reins were loosened, erupted to a degree that could no longer be restrained. Like drinking seawater, the more he drank, the thirstier he became.
Blair, who couldn't take it anymore, coaxed, pleaded, and even cried, but that sight only stimulated him more.
Recalling her tearful appearance, his body reacted as if the desire he had satisfied all night still wasn't enough.
'...Crazy bastard.'
Herdin scoffed at himself and, desperately suppressing the heat rising in his lower abdomen, got up.
The clothes scattered on the floor were kicked by his feet. Since it was Blair's room, there were no other clothes for him to wear.
Herdin, who was about to absentmindedly pull the bell rope, lowered his hand. For some reason, he didn't want to shatter this tranquil peace.
He threw on his pants and shirt haphazardly and went to the fireplace to light a fire. Staring blankly at the burning logs, he habitually took out a cigar from his back pocket and lit it.
Herdin's hand, bringing the lit cigar to his mouth, stopped. At the same time, he furrowed his brow and let out a sigh.
The cigar was thrown into the fireplace before he could even take a single puff.