Episode 29
In the end, Rose crossed the line.
She could no longer remember whether she had screamed or not. In the ecstasy of climax, her consciousness shattered into pieces, then reassembled itself.
Her vision billowed white. Tears rolled down along the corners of her eyes.
Embracing Rose’s back, drenched in sweat, Ezekail followed her soon after. Aligning the tip of his member with the deepest, most hollow place inside her as though they were one body, he poured in the evidence of their pleasure in heavy spurts.
Their ragged breathing scattered through the room.
Even after the lingering sensations of their intercourse had faded, Ezekail remained inside her a little longer. When he deliberately rubbed against her shallowly several times, the wet, sloshing sound echoed.
Rose, are you smiling right now? Or are you crying?
He reached toward her face to satisfy that curiosity. As he confirmed the faint trembling of her lips and caressed the corners of her eyes, he found the delicate skin beneath them softened by tears. He willingly licked them away and swallowed.
“Hng…….”
Perhaps because she had been stirred up by excessive pleasure, every sensation he conveyed was too much.
The feeling of his long member dragging over her inner flesh as it slid out was unbearably erotic. Rose unconsciously lifted and lowered her hips.
Just how wide had he stretched her inside?
The emptiness left behind when the man withdrew felt hollow.
Rose absentmindedly pressed down on her lower abdomen. Then her hand ran directly into the man’s hand, which had been caressing her body.
Ezekail gave a short laugh.
“Touch it. It was inside you.”
“……”
He placed his member, slick with the bodily fluids of them both, into her hand.
Rose hesitated, then closed her hand around it. She did not know where or how she ought to touch it and pondered for a moment, but its texture was fascinating. She cautiously ran her fingers down the skin, only for the shaft to suddenly stiffen further and begin to swell.
“……Major?”
“Who told you to touch it so teasingly?”
“I did?”
In truth, his reaction would not have changed whether she touched him teasingly or squeezed him more firmly in her grasp. No man would fail to become aroused when the woman he had just slept with stimulated his member. He had merely needed an excuse to lay Rose down more naturally.
The night had only just begun.
The remnants of his excitement coursed through his blood.
“Yes, you did.”
If she had made him hard, she had to take responsibility.
He pushed his member into Rose’s vulva, damp and softened by their vigorous lovemaking. Having already taken him once, her insides had loosened considerably and welcomed him.
Once again, the shadows tangled into one began to shift.
When morning came, Ezekail summoned Mrs. Serva and instructed her to prepare bathwater. Rose faced the older woman with an awkwardly flushed face. She had done her best to clean away the traces of their intercourse, but she could not disregard the worldly experience of Mrs. Serva, who had been through every sort of hardship. She would have liked to hide in another room, but it would have been dereliction of duty for the maid assigned to serve them to abandon her master.
“Rose, you don’t need to make such a face.”
Unable to bear watching Rose anxiously read the room, Mrs. Serva took her aside and whispered discreetly. The moment she had entered the bedchamber, Mrs. Serva had already realized everything that had happened the night before.
“I knew this would happen. I was certain that Master would take a liking to you, Rose.”
“……Please don’t worry.”
Rose hesitated before speaking. It was embarrassing to say such things herself, but she felt she had to make matters clear now so they would not become a burden in the future.
“There’s nothing for you to worry about, ma’am. I’ll continue working diligently at my assigned duties, and I won’t cause trouble for the other servants or for the Major.”
“Cause trouble? On the contrary, I think I’m the one who should be asking you to take good care of us. Before long, you’ll be responsible for this estate, Rose. It will be somewhat difficult to manage several duties at once when you’re the only one available to attend to Lord Ezekail, but from now on, you’ll need to learn how the estate is run in your spare time, as well as how to manage the household staff properly.”
Rose could not understand what she had just heard. She doubted her ears, then opened her eyes wide.
“No! I couldn’t do that, absolutely not.”
The place she had earned for herself was that of a maid. She had never dared hope for anything more.
“What’s gotten into you, Rose? When a man and a woman fall for each other, it’s only natural for them to take responsibility for one another.”
That was not true. He had no need to take responsibility for anything in this relationship. From the very first day she entered the estate, Rose had firmly resolved herself. She would simply become one cog that kept his daily life running smoothly. If she could lessen the discomfort in his body and mind, that alone would be enough.
Ezekail was human, too, so naturally he would have sexual urges. And she was the only young woman who interacted with him, isolated as he was in this remote estate in the north. If, in such an utterly barren environment, his heart were to be temporarily drawn to someone, it could only be her.
Therefore, she must not attach too much meaning to it.
“Don’t you feel anything when you look at him, sis? Doesn’t your heart race? Don’t you want to kiss him?”
“It’s not as though something so absurd could ever happen to me.”
Children raised in families without much to spare generally fell into one of two categories. Either they understood their station with ruthless clarity, or they schemed for every possible opportunity to raise their social standing, regardless of the means.
Rose belonged to the former.
If he had not lost his sight, would a man of the noble Valdemaera family ever have even glanced at a maid who did menial chores?
Of course not. He would have weighed every condition and carefully chosen a woman worthy of his reputation. Even Akenaus, who was said to keep pretty women close regardless of their origins because their beauty made them easy to favor, merely kept them around as objects of amusement for a few days. He never gave them his heart.
Rose had rarely indulged in desires beyond her station in life. She had been born with a mild temperament, and she had also grown up in an environment where opportunities for greed were scarce.
“Honestly, if he ever said he wanted me, even just once, I don’t think I could refuse. He’s a man I could never dream of marrying anyway. I’d sleep with him for one night and live off that memory for the rest of my life.”
The students of Milena Girls’ School were right. In truth, this was the most realistic future. She did not want anything more. She must not want anything more.
Rose hurriedly shook her head.
“I’m only an ordinary maid, and the Major is a Valdemaera.”
“What does that have to do with…… Oh, since you attended school, I suppose you’ve heard this and that, Rose. Yes, there are quite a few libertines in the world who use their status to toy with women. But Lord Ezekail isn’t one of them. I raised him, so I can promise you that. Master will take responsibility for you, Rose. It’s only right that he should.”
Watching Rose’s face flush with embarrassment, Mrs. Serva lightly continued the conversation.
“I should have said this sooner, but it happened much later than I expected. In fact, on the night Master threw all those glass bottles and caused such a commotion, I already suspected there was something between the two of you.”
Rose explained with a bright-red face.
“That’s a misunderstanding. If you had seen how much the Major suffered from his aftereffects, you probably wouldn’t have thought that.”
“I can tell that much just by looking at Master’s face. And the signs are much more obvious in him than in you, Rose. The day that was bound to come has simply arrived, so don’t be so flustered.”
As Rose tried to calm her embarrassment in front of Mrs. Serva, the bath was finally prepared.
“Rose, come here.”
Ezekail called Rose from a distance. It seemed he intended to bathe together again. Her entire body was sticky with the sweat she had shed through the night, so this time Rose obediently approached Ezekail’s side.
Judging the distance by the sound of her presence, Ezekail found her hand and seized it.
“Oh, right.”
Just before leaving the room last, after sending away the servants who had helped with the preparations, Mrs. Serva turned back toward them.
“Master, some post arrived. You were ill the whole time, so I couldn’t give it to you, but I think it’s safe to deliver it now.”
“I had been wondering why there hadn’t been any word all this time.”
Post again.
Unlike the composed Ezekail, Rose stopped dead without realizing it. A chilling anxiety raced down her spine. Gooseflesh rose over her skin as though she had suddenly awakened from a nightmare.
She stared at the letter Mrs. Serva held out. The handwriting of the signature on the envelope looked familiar.
Mongkam.
It was a letter from the man’s subordinate who had been tracking her whereabouts.