“‘Ah!’ Wh-what — stop, wait — ‘mmph!'”
Kael pressed his lips to the nape of her neck like a creature that had been starving. Every hair on her body stood on end.
A strange sound escaped her lips before she could stop it.
She couldn’t decide whether to clap both hands over her own mouth or use them to push him away.
He began to devour her the way a hungry animal approaches a meal — biting, licking, returning and biting again, marking his traces with thorough, unhurried attention.
“Sto — ‘mmph!'”
Every time she opened her mouth, he was already there, sealing it shut with his lips.
When she fell quiet, his mouth moved — grazing her face, her jaw, her neck, tracing lower.
His wet hair dragged across her skin as he kissed his way down, and the cold dampness made her shiver in spite of herself.
He bit her earlobe sharply, then thoroughly explored the curve of her ear before moving his lips down along her jaw and to the nape of her neck.
“Stop — not there! Don’t leave a mark!”
He bit her there anyway.
‘The skin is so thin there — it marks so easily!’
‘The weather is warm, there’s no way I can wear something that covers my neck—’
She struck the enormous body that had completely enclosed her. The best angle she could manage was his shoulder, and she hammered at it furiously.
But Kael caught her fist and deliberately laced their fingers together.
‘This man has completely lost his mind. He is an animal without reason.’
She pressed down on the instinct rising through her body with sheer force of will. If she reacted, he would use it against her — he would find a way to claim it as an invitation. That much she had learned from repeated experience.
Kael’s lips crossed her collarbone and dipped lower. At the same time, his hand worked her dress hooks with practiced ease.
“T-timeout! Three seconds!”
His lips continued downward regardless. So did her dress.
“You know, I thought it might be the case — you really do have a thing for restraint.”
“I don’t have any such thing! Last time too, you tied me up over a misunderstanding that was entirely your own — ‘ow! What — what are you doing!'”
He flipped her over. He unfastened the remaining hooks and pulled the dress open.
He was getting ready for what she knew was coming next.
“Don’t — don’t undo it!”
Kael pressed a line of kisses down her spine with a sound like birdsong.
“Ugh — th-that tickles.”
“That’s the point.”
“Stop interpreting everything the way you want it!”
‘Infuriating. Absolutely infuriating. I want to hit him properly, just once.’
‘But even that would probably do nothing to him.’
‘Which is somehow even more aggravating.’
She wriggled furiously on her stomach — grabbing the pillow like a lifeline and trying to drag herself forward, rolling sideways to try to fall off the edge of the bed. Nothing worked.
“You — you absolute boulder!”
She pounded the sheets with her fist in pure helpless rage. The body above her was monumental, immovable as stone.
Her dress was down far enough that her shoulders were entirely bare. She was beginning to panic in earnest.
With Kael, there were always two possibilities. The first was when he was deliberately frightening her, with no intention of following through. The second was when he was genuinely set on revenge.
This felt like the second.
“There are other people in the estate!”
“So what.”
He growled it against her back. Then bit her there as well.
“‘Ah!'”
She thrashed like a small creature caught by something large and merciless.
“Th-there’s a child in this house! What if Kayrin walks in—”
“I locked the door.”
“Wh-when?”
“Before I opened the box.”
‘Now that she thought about it, she had heard something click at that moment.’
“You knew? How did you know?”
“Secret.”
“‘Ow!’ Wait — that actually hurts! It ‘hurts!'”
The moment she cried out, Kael stilled completely.
“Hurts where?”
He eased back and began checking her carefully, hands moving gently over her.
“I lied!”
She threw herself sideways, swung both legs off the bed, hit the floor, and bolted for the door.
‘Just — just that one handle—’
She reached out desperately.
Kael caught her from behind and lifted her entirely off the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
She thought he was going to sling her over his shoulder — instead he gripped her from below and pressed her against him.
When she fought to break free, he held her more firmly.
“Why do you always have to grab ‘there’ — you could just pick me up properly!”
“It’s soft.”
“You are completely out of your mind.”
She hit his shoulder with everything she had. Her fist connected with a thud that somehow hurt her hand more than him.
“‘Ugh’, I’m so annoyed!”
“Mind your hand. I’ll call the physician.”
She pulled her fist back and held it tight.
‘Not another forced stay in the bedroom under the pretext of medical care.’
Kael pressed his lips to the ribbon bow still tied beneath her chin.
‘Press, press’ — he kissed it softly, then caught the string with his teeth and pulled it free.
“Oh, honestly—”
“What. You gave it to me as a present.”
“That — that wasn’t a ‘present’!”
Kael carried her back the way he had come, crossed the room in long strides, and deposited her on the bed.
* * *
She felt thoroughly shredded.
But she couldn’t miss the dinner. It was Kael’s birthday.
She sat at the table in a state of near-complete depletion, barely managing to keep her eyes open in front of a spread of beautifully prepared dishes.
She cast a sideways glare to her right.
Kael’s handsome face practically glowed, polished and composed.
‘Infuriating. Absolutely infuriating. I’m the only one who’s been wrung out to nothing.’
“Dear — you look rather pale. Are you unwell?”
“What? Why? Have you caught a cold? That would be dreadful — the wedding is only days away. We ought to send for the physician at—”
“I’m fine, Father-in-law. I just didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“Oh my — insomnia?”
“N-no. I took a nap during the day and then couldn’t sleep deeply that night…”
The lies came out of her mouth so smoothly now.
‘I genuinely dislike lying. And yet this man has turned me into a habitual liar.’
“Ivelina, you don’t have a fever, do you? There’s been a cold going around.”
“No, I’m fine. But Mother — what are you doing here? You too, Father.”
She fixed them both with a cool stare. They cleared their throats in unison and very deliberately avoided her gaze.
“What do you mean, darling? It’s our future son-in-law’s birthday. Of course we came.”
‘Everyone is delighted. Everyone except me. I’m the only one left out.’
“Doesn’t this photograph come out nicely? Look at this.”
Mother had even clipped the wedding announcement from a newspaper and brought it with her. Ivelina had no desire to look at it.
‘Right. It doesn’t matter. I know what I have to rely on now.’
‘Wedding night refusal.’
She made a tight fist under the table where no one could see it.
‘Just try and see if I go through with the wedding night.’
She was grinding her teeth with fervent conviction when—
“Sister-in-law.”
Kayrin, seated to her left, tugged at the hem of her dress.
“Yes? What is it, Kayrin? Do you need something?”
“What is that on your neck? There’s a red mark.”
She rubbed vigorously at her neck and answered with shameless composure.
“On — on my ‘neck’? A mark? Goodness, I must have been bitten by an insect.”
“It doesn’t look like an insect bite. You know that insect and bug collecting is my hobby, don’t you?”
* * *
