Lariette looked at Asrahan with eyes brimming with expectation. Now that they had overcome the great mountain of beginning a romance, she believed without a doubt that physical affection would follow soon enough.
Contrary to Lariette’s expectations, however, Asrahan had in fact had no contact with women whatsoever, and was in an extremely flustered state.
Was he merely flustered? His heart kept pounding, and every muscle in his body went taut.
His face remained as indifferent as ever, but inside him, a hot fire was blazing up. Only the tips of his ears flushed red, revealing his honest feelings.
“We’ve arrived!”
With perfect timing, the coachman announced their arrival in a loud voice. And the moment Asrahan heard those words, he opened the carriage door and fled.
Yes, fled, quite literally.
He did not take Lariette’s hand, nor did he return to the mansion with her. He simply left her there all alone.
“Asrahan……?”
Left alone in the carriage, Lariette murmured with a bewildered expression.
Did he need to use the bathroom that badly? Or was there some urgent paperwork he had to handle? She tried hard to come up with another reason.
But before a few days had passed, she realized that none of the reasons she had imagined was the true one.
“Asrahan.”
“You’ve come.”
It was breakfast time, as usual, together.
Wearing a newly purchased dress and elegantly adorned, Lariette appeared and called his name. But Asrahan, the very embodiment of expressionlessness, greeted her with the same face as always.
If there was anything that had changed in him after they began dating, it was only that he had become a little kinder. For instance, pulling out a chair for her.
But aside from such trifles, there was no major difference. He even often omitted the name he had called her by during his confession.
Lariette, who had believed that the moment they started dating they would spend sweet, affectionate time together, sat down with a sullen face. Asrahan looked at her in puzzlement.
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“Yes. I sprained my wrists. I can’t possibly hold a fork. Could you feed me, Asrahan?”
Lariette brazenly lied in a coy voice. For the sake of advancing their relationship, there was nothing she would not do.
“Both hands?”
“Yes. Uh, well…… I was helping a maid carry something! It was so heavy that I ended up spraining them.”
Lariette quickly racked her brain and continued the lie. But only for a moment; she soon regretted what she had done.
As soon as she finished speaking, the air around Asrahan sank coldly. His sharp eyes narrowed even further, and his blunt face twisted with anger.
Sensing that dark aura, Lariette flinched in surprise. She was worried he had seen through her lie and was angry because of it.
“Which maid was it?”
“Pardon……?”
“The maid who dared to forget her place and injure you. Who was it?”
He looked as though he might seek out the maid at once and cut off her wrist. In fact, he was the very man who had cut off Marquis Segreve’s wrist without the slightest hesitation.
And so Lariette promptly confessed her crime in a trembling voice.
“I’m sorry! It was a lie. My hands aren’t hurt!”
“……What.”
“I just said it because I wanted Asrahan to feed me. I’m sorry I lied.”
Her eyebrows drooped low, and she pursed her plump lips. She looked utterly dejected.
Asrahan, who had been ready to hunt down the maid only moments ago, looked at her in bewilderment.
She wanted him to feed her? Why? As someone who had never once, since the age when he became strong enough to hold a spoon, eaten food that someone else fed him, it was an incomprehensible act.
But in any case, it was something his lover wanted. Since it was not something he could not do, Asrahan carefully speared some salad with a fork and brought it to Lariette’s mouth.
“Please eat.”
His tone was still utterly dry. Even so, he moved his hand cautiously, lest the fork prod her throat.
After accepting the salad, Lariette wore an extremely moved expression. Her clear violet eyes shone with an added brightness, and she chewed more quickly.
As soon as she chewed and swallowed what was in her mouth, she promptly moved her chair closer to Asrahan’s side.
“Asrahan, I love this!”
Then she immediately clasped both his hands and shook them enthusiastically, interlacing their fingers.
Asrahan felt his heart leap wildly again the moment her soft fingers touched his hand. He bit down hard on his lower lip and barely managed to calm his violently pounding chest.
But Lariette did not stop there, and placed the hand she had pulled away on his thigh. It was something she did without much thought.
To Asrahan, however, that tiny touch was an immense stimulus.
His lower body grew painfully hot, and once again his entire body tensed. Blue veins bulged along his firm arms.
Lariette’s neat eyelashes, her plump lips red as roses, and her delicate, deer-like nape entered his vision one after another.
He clenched his fist tightly to endure whatever was boiling up inside him. His short nails dug into his palm, hardened with thick calluses.
If I stay close to her any longer, I don’t know what I’ll do. That single sentence filled Asrahan’s mind. And so, once again, he chose to take flight.
“I’m busy with paperwork that must be handled, so I shall go first.”
“No, Asrahan, wait a moment!”
“Lariette, I will see you later.”
Asrahan cut off her words and hurriedly moved away. Then he disappeared from the spot at great speed. It was a speed Lariette’s eyes could not follow.
And so Lariette, left alone once again, stared blankly at the place where he had vanished.
Meanwhile, Hallstein, who had been contentedly serving the meal, clutched his head behind a pillar and groaned.
‘I should have taught him more about romance!’
He had been so busy teaching him how to survive among nobles that he had left out the most important thing. He wanted to grab his past self, who had been teaching Asrahan, and shake him wildly, telling him to teach romance instead.
Meanwhile, Lariette, who had been sitting there with a hollow expression, slowly went over his actions.
The way he had avoided her when she tried to hug him in front of the boutique, the way he had fled when she suggested kissing inside the carriage, and what had just happened now.
And only then did she realize what this repeated flight meant.
‘Asrahan…… is pursuing Platonic love……!’
It was a completely mistaken prediction, but to Lariette, it seemed extremely reasonable. If not, there would be no reason for Asrahan to run away like that.
Countless worries passed through her small head, throwing it into disarray. In truth, she herself had very little experience with physical affection with men, but she did have fantasies about sweet kisses.
And was it only kisses? She was filled with desires to do all sorts of things in all sorts of places. Yet she was now facing a crisis in which she might have to give up all those dreams.
‘There’s a sweet jar of honey right in front of me, but I can only smell it!’
Lariette groaned and finished her meal with a despairing face.
***
The day of the decisive battle had arrived.
After much deliberation, Lariette decided to confirm one last time while curing his curse.
If he reacted with dislike even then, she could not attempt physical affection carelessly, no matter how much they were lovers. Being lovers did not mean she could touch him however she pleased.
She wanted to respect her man’s will. If he insisted on a Platonic relationship, then she, too, was prepared to swallow her tears and give up on kissing.
‘This is true love. True love.’
Lariette repeated it in her heart, but in truth, she knew very well herself that she did not love him.
She liked being with him, and her heart did pound when she saw his face, but it was a feeling she would abandon anyway, and a relationship that would end soon.
Because Lariette was someone who would die in three months, respecting his will was all the more difficult. She wanted to experience many things before she died.
Even so, she was at least a person who kept to proper principles. She firmly believed that even if it was someone she would only date for three months, she had to respect what should be respected.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
At Asrahan’s calm voice, Lariette opened the door to his room and entered. Perhaps conscious of what would happen today, he looked slightly more flushed than usual. The tips of his ears seemed faintly red as well.
Asrahan, wearing a white shirt with the top couple of buttons undone, was still as sculpturally handsome as ever, despite how often she had seen him. As if he had just finished bathing, moisture remained in his black hair.
At that tempting sight, Lariette clenched her molars. The desire to touch that handsome face surged up within her, but she diligently pushed it down.
Asrahan looked at Lariette approaching with a trembling gaze. He was stiff as a board.
“It’s the upper body again today. You know that, right?”
“Yes. ……I will take it off myself.”
Asrahan answered in a grave voice, as though he were a patient who had been given a terminal diagnosis. Then he slowly began undoing the buttons of his shirt.
As his muscular body appeared between the white fabric, Lariette swallowed without realizing it.
‘He’s that perfect, and I can’t touch him.’
She felt as though tears might fall at any moment. His broad chest, sculpted abs, and firm sides—there was not a single part that did not suit her tastes, and yet all of it could only be appreciated with her eyes.
After completely removing his top, Asrahan sat down in the chair while pretending to be composed. Lariette sat beside him and slowly reached out her hand.
As her hand came closer, his pectoral muscle twitched. Soon, her white fingers touched the area near his chest. Asrahan clenched his molars.
The now-familiar white light billowed and seeped into his upper body. The blue marks that had been like cracked glass gradually began to fade.
At the ticklish sensation, he put even more strength into his arms. Lariette seemed busy using the power of purification.
‘She has such an innocent face.’
With every gesture of her hand, Asrahan’s reason repeatedly left him and returned. Compared to him, Lariette’s expression was far too pure and devoid of any ulterior motive.
At that, Asrahan felt a subtle sense of guilt. However, it was a guilt he did not need to feel at all.
Because even while concentrating on the purification, Lariette was quite deliberately and subtly sweeping over Asrahan’s muscles.
“Haa……”
After a few minutes, the light soon subsided. Drained of strength, Lariette let out a small sigh and leaned lightly against his body.
Asrahan caught and supported her body as if by instinct. The arm in his hand was so slender compared to his sturdy arms that it made him worry.
“Lariette. Are you all right?”
“Mm, better than last time. Not enough to faint. More importantly, Asrahan.”
Instead of answering, Asrahan looked at her. Her rabbit-like eyes curved slyly as they turned toward him.
“I’m dizzy. Could you hold me?”
Before even hearing his answer, Lariette rested her head against his chest. Then she reached out and placed her hand on his waist.
Asrahan, who had been frozen like stone, moved his hands very slowly and supported the back of her head and her waist. He was using very little strength, as though afraid she might break.
However, the contact was so shallow it was embarrassing to call it an embrace. Their upper bodies were not actually touching at all.
Lariette, deeply dissatisfied with that, attempted a provocation for no particular reason.
“How is this holding me? It’s no different from the posture Doha uses when treating me.”
And that became the catalyst that snapped Asrahan’s barely maintained reins.
“Lariette.”
“Mm, what is it?”
At the low voice calling her name, Lariette raised her head and looked at his face. And soon, she discovered a violently seething emotion in his blue eyes.
“I am holding back. Very much.”
Asrahan continued speaking with an expression as though he might devour her at any moment.
“Your very existence is the greatest stimulus to me.”
“Uh, I……”
“So.”
Lariette, feeling like a herbivore standing before a beast of prey, mumbled her words. He did not wait, and opened his mouth with a fierce look in his eyes.
“Do not call another man’s name in front of me.”
Gulp. She swallowed dryly without meaning to.
“I do not know how far I can endure.”
It was as though she could hear him growling. When she met the gaze that seemed ready to take her at any moment, her body trembled.
Upon noticing this, Asrahan quickly gathered his energy and rose to his feet. Then he walked toward the bed, putting distance between himself and her.
It was his final act of consideration, and yet Lariette once again began to charge forward without fear.
Springing to her feet and following him all the way to the bed, she immediately took his hand. And then she said something she would soon regret.
“You don’t have to hold back.”
“…….”
“You can do whatever you want.”
Having imagined nothing more than a sweet kiss, she deliberately put on a bold front. And in the next instant, the world tilted.
Thump!
Lariette’s eyes went round as she stared at the position that had changed in an instant. She had only blinked once, yet somehow she was lying on the bed.
And above her sat Asrahan. Still bare from the waist up.
Beneath his disheveled black hair, a sultry flame blazed in his gleaming blue eyes. His gaze was so hot that Lariette’s body went rigid with tension.
“Whatever I want, you said?”
Asrahan spoke in a seething voice. Then he lowered his upper body and whispered softly by her ear.
“May I really do whatever I want?”
Are you confident you won’t regret it? His eyes seemed to ask.
His murmuring lips seemed to brush against Lariette’s ear. At the ticklish, subtly intimate sensation, she flinched and shuddered.
‘I’m doomed.’
Lariette thought inwardly. She had merely been expecting a romantic first kiss, not such an indecent situation.
Of course, since this was a meeting between an adult man and woman, it wasn’t as though she had never imagined it at all—but she had not thought they would be doing it already.
Her mistake had been seeing him, during his confession, speak of wandering in unfamiliar emotions and thinking that perhaps he might not have much experience.
‘There’s no way a face like this has no experience!’
She had provoked him on purpose, thinking he was a pure person who leaned toward the platonic, but things had flowed in a direction she had never expected.
He looked as though he might devour her at any moment. Completely, without leaving even a single piece behind.
Thinking that if she did not run away now, they really would go all the way, Lariette ultimately decided to make a cowardly choice.
“As, Asrahan.”
“It’s nice to hear you say my name. Speak.”
Asrahan answered while holding her wrist and pressing subtle kisses to her fingers. The moist sensation continued to tickle each finger in turn.
“I’m sorry…….”
Before she knew it, Lariette’s eyes had grown moist, and soon she began to tear up. She had been far too startled.
Though the sight only provoked Asrahan’s lust even more, he barely managed to seize hold of his reason and lifted himself up.
Even so, his body was still heated through. Asrahan clenched his molars tightly and barely suppressed that desire.
“……What should you do from now on?”
“I won’t throw myself at you carelessly…….”
Lariette sniffled and answered meekly. After letting out a short sigh and sweeping back his hair, Asrahan wiped the corners of her eyes with his rough fingers and helped her sit up.
He carefully tidied her disheveled hair as well. It was because the thought that he had made her cry filled him with a strange sense of guilt.
“Next time, there will be no stopping. You had best remember that well.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll make sure to remember.”
Lariette nodded desperately. It was a docile side of her he had never seen before.
Asrahan was relieved by that answer, but at the same time, his heart ached. In truth, deep down, he wanted nothing more than to continue from where they had left off right away.
To pin her beneath him, take those sweet lips of hers… As his imagination began to run on of its own accord, he hurriedly stopped his thoughts.
‘Still, she should be less stimulating for a while.’
After resting briefly to calm his heated body, Asrahan put on his shirt and escorted Lariette back to her room, thinking as he did so.
Until now, she had been far too stimulating, but after experiencing such a fright, he believed that such a thing would not happen again for some time. Since she had been startled enough to sniffle, surely it would be so.
However, he had forgotten yet again. Lariette was always someone who deviated completely from his expectations, and this time was no different.
***
It happened only a few days later.
With her pale face dyed as pink as her hair, Lariette stared fixedly at Asrahan. Then, step by step, she slowly approached him.
“Lariette, why all of a sudden…….”
Are you drunk? When she soon came within a handspan of him, the flustered Asrahan murmured softly.
But Lariette did not answer, and instead pushed Asrahan’s body with what, for her, was considerable strength. So bewildered that the strength had left his body, he fell backward just as she wanted.
Soon, he was lying completely on the sofa.
“Asrahan.”
Sitting atop his lower body, Lariette curled up the corners of her mouth in a smile and said,
“Shall we continue what we were doing back then?”
This time, it was Asrahan’s turn to sniffle.