Chapter 53

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 53

Chapter Title: One Wish

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“Ah!”

The shoulder strap that hadn’t budged even when Madam Marcel bit down on it tore away helplessly in Kaiyan’s hand, and in an instant, the dress was yanked down below her chest, hanging loosely around her waist, cinched tight by the corset.

“What were you thinking, choosing a dress like this?”

“I didn’t... I didn’t choose it...”

Kaiyan’s eyes gleamed even more dangerously in the cozy shadows of the curtained room.

“Is that so?”

His gaze landed on the firm undergarment that neatly pressed and shaped her breasts. Following his line of sight, Clodel looked down and saw the soft, rounded contours nestled obediently within what might as well have been a woman’s armor.

Her cheeks flushed hot.

She had never shown herself to him in such a state.

It was the first time she’d worn something like this—not her everyday attire, but a dress she’d only tried on today—since arriving at Rowen Castle.

Becoming aware of Kaiyan’s fervent stare, Clodel covered herself with her arms.

“Stop looking.”

“Why?”

He licked his lips suggestively with the tip of his tongue.

Clodel sensed that he was at least very pleased with her body, but she had never felt quite so provocatively desired as she did today.

“What’s come over the usually bold Duchess?”

“......”

His hand traced the vertical line of boning that hugged her figure so dizzyingly tight, sliding up and down.

“Eek.”

Clodel flinched at the ticklish sensation against her side.

“You tie yourself up like this and still feel it?”

“Don’t tease me.”

“Tease you? Me, teasing you? As if.”

His hand glided along the refined, gentle curve up to the soft skin beneath her delicate jaw, then brushed over her parted lips, which were gasping from the tension.

“I’m the one being seduced here.”

“What?”

“Clodel.”

Kaiyan called her name in a lowered voice.

“Say it. Tell me you want me right now.”

The man who claimed to be the one seduced turned the tables on Clodel.

She knew the inner thoughts of this finely dressed enemy weren’t entirely gentle.

Yet, intoxicated by the dizzying pheromones he exuded, full of masculine allure, Clodel felt her legs go weak.

‘No.’

The lord and lady dancing at the festival was merely the opening to the festivities.

But there was still much to do afterward.

A little while from now, as the sun set, they would take a bite from the child-sized colossal cake made from the first harvested grains and fruits offered up, then the territory folk would cut and share it while reveling in the festival. Once night fell completely dark, there was still the fireworks ignition ceremony.

After that, they’d crack open the large casks of aged liquor, share the first cup between Kaiyan and Clodel, and only after providing for the folk to drink their fill through the night could they return to the castle.

Engaging in this illicit tussle with Kaiyan here in Rowen Castle right now was something that absolutely shouldn’t happen.

“Come on.”

The urging man was the one Clodel cherished deeply.

The innocent woman, still yearning for even a fragment of his heart, melted and weakened at his words.

He was her husband.

Kaiyan, Duke of House Temneth and Lord of Rowen, amid this splendid autumn festival in full swing.

The realization that barely pierced her rationality amid her struggle for survival forced Clodel to face reality.

As Lord of Rowen, he could act as he pleased to a certain extent without repercussions, but there was no reason for him to extend that leniency to her, who had only recently married into the family.

If anything, today’s festival was practically a trial for Clodel.

Everyone would be watching with fiery eyes to see the daughter of the enemy house who had abruptly blocked the path of their precious lord by royal decree.

Leaving a bad first impression over something like this would make her position in Rowen Territory untenable going forward.

Clodel averted her eyes from her husband’s burning gaze, which seemed ready to devour her, and tilted her head slightly downward.

“Th-there’s the ignition ceremony in the evening, and the cake, and the liquor too...”

“Ha.”

Kaiyan let out a displeased sound, and her lips felt parched.

“I was going to let it slide, but no.”

Unlike the subtle urging just moments ago, his cold tone startled Clodel into lifting her head.

Kaiyan’s kiss felt violently intense.

As if refusing to allow even a breath to escape their meshed lips, his large hand gripped the back of her head firmly and pulled her in, prying into her teeth.

Clodel didn’t know what to do.

Kaiyan had never tried to take her like this before.

He was a gentleman.

She and he were bound together by marriage.

There were set duties between husband and wife, so even while afflicted with Herzol and in pain, Clodel had quietly fulfilled them.

Thus, he had never once forced her when she didn’t respond.

Today was different.

The touches that had patiently introduced her to secret pleasures only a woman could know over the past months now roamed her body without restraint, as if determined.

The gentleman she believed kept his manners even when speaking harshly like to an enemy now blatantly revealed his intent to seize what she wouldn’t yield.

Clodel twisted her body, trying desperately to escape his embrace, but her futile push against his chest only ignited him further, like a matchstick set aflame.

“Kaiyan.”

Her body, backed into a corner, went limp.

His hand seized the moment, yanking the laces that held her corset in place.

“No.”

If her clothes were ruined, she couldn’t return to the festival.

Clodel shook her head and clung to Kaiyan.

“I have to wear it again... Ahh!”

She gripped the hem of his clothes with her hand, tilting her chin back as she trembled.

As the pressure pinning her body lifted, Kaiyan finally brought his mouth to what he’d been eyeing so intently.

Only Clodel’s shallow moans and the wet sounds of his lips on her bare neck, where the ruby necklace had vanished, continued.

After satisfying his greed for a long while, he grasped her chin and met her eyes.

“Still clinging to the vain hope that you can go back to the festival?”

“How can you say something so irresponsible when you’re the lord?”

Even at her accusatory tone, he didn’t flinch.

“Exactly. Who told you to look so pretty for so long?”

“What?”

“You don’t know moderation.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

His absurd words left her speechless, yet Clodel couldn’t help but be swayed by the compliment.

He was so stingy with such words that she was always parched for them.

It was the first time Kaiyan had outright called her pretty.

“...You really think I’m pretty? Like that?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“You were beautiful.”

Kaiyan pressed his forehead to her smoothly exposed shoulder.

His body heat was scorching, as if he were burning with fever.

“Clodel. You corrupt me.”

His sudden words made her eyes widen round.

“You always tempt me to fail.”

What did he mean by that?

Unsure how to respond, Clodel closed her mouth.

Kaiyan slowly pulled away from her and spoke firmly.

“None of it matters. You’re my wife.”

At that moment, she desperately wanted to know the meaning hidden in his words.

Corrupting him? Tempting him to fail?

Did that mean Kaiyan had been pondering and thinking about her too?

She’d believed she was the only one harboring a one-sided love for her husband.

Was he drawn to her as well?

“I told you to say it. That you want me. Right now... I’ll be yours however much you want.”

Clodel’s heart pounded.

“Come on.”

At his urging, the woman lost in pure love finally opened her mouth.

“I want you.”

The words she uttered unleashed the pent-up emotions she could no longer contain.

“Kaiyan. I want you.”

Kaiyan pinned her against the wall and kissed her again.

With both hands, he half-unfastened and half-tore away the layered skirts wrapped around her slender waist.

As the outer skirt tied at her waist fell away, the dress that had been hanging at her hips naturally dropped to the floor.

He lifted her and laid her on the bed, still impeccably dressed himself.

Regretful at not feeling his body heat, Clodel reached out, but Kaiyan pulled her straight into his embrace.

Clodel yielded to his desires.

“From the moment I saw you today, that’s all I could think about.”

A bead of sweat trailed down the throat of the man whose buttons remained fastened, vanishing flawlessly into the collar of his pristine uniform.

“Where could I go to be alone with you?”

“Kaiyan.”

Clodel was overwhelmed by him.

Embarrassed at being the only one disheveled, she reached for his clothes several times, but as she approached the familiar yet unfamiliar peak of pleasure, she forgot her shame.

He was clearly the husband she knew.

There was no reason matching with him should feel this strange.

Yet her entire body tensed taut, hypersensitive, as if being ravished by a stranger she was seeing for the first time.

“How can I hold you? Night is still so far away.”

Clodel’s chin trembled.

She had thought Kaiyan always did as he pleased with her.

When he occasionally spoke as if holding back, she’d think inwardly, ‘What does he have to hold back for?’

But confronting his unbridled inner desires head-on terrified her.

Perhaps sensing it keenly, Kaiyan caught his breath and gently kissed her.

At the kiss like the ones her usual husband gave, Clodel relaxed and clung to him with both arms.

“Can’t you take your clothes off?”

“Why?”

“Just...”

The comfortable version she met in the bedroom every night felt like her husband; the one embracing her while clad in his lord’s uniform felt alien, and if she said she disliked it, Kaiyan would surely get angry.

Recalling how he’d thrown a fit after she called him “Duke” just once in front of Irena, out of propriety.

At her words, Kaiyan finally undid the buttons of his outer coat.

As the metal buttons clicked open, the white shirt beneath, soaked with sweat, clung to his body.

No sooner had he stripped that off than Kaiyan seized her ankle and pressed his lips to the spot scarred from the crocodile’s bite.

His gaze clung thickly to Clodel as he densely imprinted kisses along the pinkish, ragged scar like scattered petals.

“I granted your wish to undress, so now you have to grant one of mine.”

“It tickles.”

“Just three more times.”

Without time to reply, she was pulled back into his arms.

She heard him murmur against the cheek he’d just kissed.

“Once isn’t enough. Three times... then.”p>

After that, he’d hold back somehow.