Right after arriving at the safehouse, Drushia sent a healer to Ashika. However, the healer came back without even crossing the threshold of the room. It was because Ashika wouldn’t open the door.
After hearing the news, Drushia hesitated.
‘She fell off a running horse.’
Even if there were no injuries, he thought the shock would not have been small, which worried him.
“Lady Igraine.”
No matter how many times he knocked on the door, there was no answer from Ashika. His concern turned into anxiety, and he felt he needed to check on her himself to be at ease.
“Lady Igraine, excuse me for a moment.”
Wondering if she might be asleep, he opened the door and entered, but unexpectedly, Ashika was awake. She was sitting elegantly at a table.
“Wine?”
The head maid had given her wine to help her sleep, and it seemed she was drinking it alone.
“Why aren’t you answering? I need to know your condition so I can respond accordingly.”
Ashika put down the wine glass she was holding. The movement was strangely slow.
“Lady Igraine?”
As if his voice had been a signal, Ashika turned to look at him.
“…Rushia.”
Her broadly smiling face showed no ulterior motive or shadow. It was a warm smile that made their previous tension seem meaningless.
Drushia opened his eyes wide in surprise. His startled heart fluttered like someone who had been struck hard without preparation.
Ashika slowly rose from her seat and approached step by step. Her quiet footsteps, which didn’t even disturb the flow of air, strangely drew his attention.
“Lady Igraine, are you drunk? Why…”
“Rushia…”
When Ashika’s white hand approached, Drushia froze in place as if entranced. He couldn’t resist when her slender arms wrapped around his neck and pulled his face closer.
“What is this…mmhhmp.”
Lips moistened with wine gently covered his. Her small tongue invaded his mouth, rubbing against his thick tongue as if to squeeze it. The sweet taste of wine seeped into his mouth along with her fragrance.
With the slippery sensation wrapping around his tongue, a dizzying feeling he had forgotten awakened.
“Hmm….”
Her small lips bit his and wouldn’t let go. As if not wanting to give him time to hesitate, she sucked on the flesh inside his mouth while stirring it.
His breath grew hot. His heart vibrated loudly, thump, thump, and a tense heat rose from his lower abdomen.
Drushia pulled the back of her head and deeply sucked the root of her tongue. His experienced tongue tip invaded Ashika’s lips, rubbing against the delicate inner walls.
“Hmm….”
A moan mixed with coquetry escaped between her red lips. As their heated breaths intertwined, Ashika pressed her body closer against his. The soft flesh of the woman crushed against his firm muscles.
“…Ha….”
As the kiss deepened, Ashika’s sighing moans increased. Pushed by his force, Ashika stumbled backward, hit the edge of the bed, and fell. But Drushia didn’t stop.
The woman who had fallen onto the bed was completely defenseless. Gasping under the weight of Drushia, she still didn’t release her arms from around his neck. He could feel the smooth curves of her body beneath the thin dress she had changed into.
“…Haa, you….”
Drushia whispered as he barely managed to separate their attached lips.
“You started it first. If you want to stop, even now….”
“Ah, Rushia….”
Her voice, which sounded plaintive, swallowed Drushia’s last patience. Even if she told him to stop, he wasn’t confident he could. He couldn’t think of anything but the desire to take this woman right now. Her scent, like the fragrance of gentle wildflowers, was more powerful than any aphrodisiac.
That was why. He couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
As he removed the thin dress that was blocking his touch like an obstacle, he didn’t refuse the pleasure of touching her.
****
He never knew that an empty bed could feel so vacant. Although the pungent scent of lovemaking still lingered, the woman who had occupied his night like a dream was already gone.
“How could this happen?”
Even his voice murmuring in bewilderment felt like it belonged to someone else.
The emotion he felt looking at the empty bed should have been relief, but it was closer to emptiness, or even loss.
“To fall for that woman’s seduction.”
It was none other than Igraine. The aftermath of that realization was quite fierce. But what was more astonishing was that he felt not a trace of regret. He even had the crazy thought that it was fortunate it had been him.
“First time…..it was that woman’s first time.”
Even though there had never been any scandals about her, to think she didn’t even have any romantic experience.
“But why me of all people?”
Is she planning to use this as leverage for some demand?
When his thoughts extended that far, his heart beat rapidly. It wasn’t anger or suspicion. Rather than getting angry at the possibility, he felt expectation about what kind of demands she might make.
Yes, it was a strange excitement mixed with anticipation.
“How dare she pounce on me and then run away.”
The corners of Drushia’s mouth turned up. He would thoroughly make her pay for toying with him. Even as he decided this, the image of the woman’s naked body passionately entangled with his persisted in his mind.
****
“Aegonite, I’ll postpone your punishment until after I return from the Grand Duke’s territory.”
At Drushia’s instruction, Aegonite lowered his head. It was a situation where he had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.
Drushia’s gaze at him was cold. His knight had committed an act that even a ruffian from the back alleys would not dare to do, so he couldn’t help but be dumbfounded. He was so astounded that even considering immediate disciplinary action was disheartening.
A long sigh escaped from Drushia’s mouth.
“So what did you find out from that guy? The one who was sticking close to Lady Igraine.”
“Well….”
Recalling Nile, heat rose to Aegonite’s face. The anger that had accumulated layer by layer overnight surged to the top of his head.
“Besides the name Nile, he didn’t provide any information.”
And even that wasn’t something he said himself, but rather something learned because Ashika had called him that.
“He’s no ordinary man. I interrogated him all night without letting him sleep, but he didn’t let slip a single word about himself.”
Rather than interrogating, it was more like being one-sidedly dominated. Since he hadn’t arrested a criminal, he hadn’t expected much, but it was more disappointing than he had thought.
Drushia found it difficult to shake off his disgruntled feelings. Unbelievable things had happened yesterday and today. At least for the Igraine he knew, it would have been impossible.
‘I should have asked why she was following me.’
He had completely forgotten about it while engaged in something even more absurd. Recalling the memory of last night, a hot sensation rose from his throat.
‘It’s like she’s completely changed.’
She had kept an unidentified man close and even seduced him. Recently, Drushia had found it difficult to maintain his composure whenever he met Ashika.
“He wasn’t in the reports I received last month. I need to reassess Igraine’s personnel information.”
Aegonite, who hadn’t been such an incompetent vassal before, bowed his head, feeling himself becoming infinitely smaller.
Putting aside his cluttered thoughts, Drushia departed from the safehouse as scheduled.
The party consisted only of Drushia, Aegonite, and the escort knights Kinvil and Mihail. Since Drushia didn’t need an escort, they were essentially accompanying him to handle miscellaneous tasks.
It was when they were passing through a wide forest path and turning onto a trail that was barely visible from the outside.
“Waaah.”
Everyone stopped their horses at the sound echoing like from beyond the dense forest.
“Isn’t that the sound of a child crying?”
“It seems to be coming from the direction of the carriage road. What should we do?”
“Let’s check it out before we go.”
A child’s cry on a road where not many people passed—it was difficult to just ignore it. The four of them turned back and headed toward where the crying sound was coming from.
Not long after, they saw a carriage tilted to the side of the road. Beside it was a man who looked like a coachman, bleeding from one hand and stomping his feet anxiously.
“Oh my, lords. Please help me.”
The man spotted Drushia and ran to him in one breath.
“What happened? We heard a child crying.”
“My wife and child slid down the slope, and I can’t pull them up. Please help me somehow.”
As Drushia and the knights dismounted, the man led the way and pointed to the side of the road. Because it was a mountain road, one side was blocked by a slope and the other side was a steep drop. The crying sound was coming from the steep side.
“Here, this way.”
“Waaah. Daddy!”
“Honey!”
A woman who appeared to be the coachman’s wife was precariously perched on the steep slope, holding a child who seemed to be about six or seven years old. While it wasn’t a cliff, it was a steep rocky slope without a single blade of grass, where they could roll down at any moment if they slipped.
“While I was checking the carriage, the child slid down. I got injured trying to remove the carriage wheel….My wife went down to rescue him but hasn’t been able to come back up.”
If the coachman went down too, all three of them might fall, so they were in a situation where they couldn’t do anything.
“Don’t you have a rope?”
“I do, but it’s not very long.”
The coachman looked anxiously at a nearby tree. The distance to where the woman and child were was too far to use a rope effectively.
“Bring it here. There are several of us, so it should be enough.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Understanding Drushia’s words, the coachman approached the tilted carriage. He seemed to rummage inside the carriage and then returned with a rope. Aegonite took the rope and tied it around the waist of Mihail, who had the slimmest build.
“Two will hold it, and one will go down.”
At Drushia’s instruction, everyone nodded and took their positions.
Aegonite and Kinvil held the rope from above, and Mihail carefully descended the steep rock. By the time they had let out almost all of the rope, he reached where the woman and child were.
“The child first.”
The crying child was transferred to Mihail’s arms. When the two of them were pulled up by the rope and reached the top where the road was, Drushia extended his arms to receive the child.
“Waah.”
The frightened child clung to Drushia’s neck, grabbing him tightly.
“Oh dear, you rascal. Come here. You shouldn’t do that to the lord.”
Concerned that the nobleman’s expensive clothes might be damaged, the coachman urged the child, extending his hand. However, the child burst into even louder tears and refused to let go.
“The child seems to be very frightened. I apologize, my lord.”
The coachman repeatedly apologized and pulled the child’s body forcefully.
As the child detached, Drushia felt a stinging pain on the back of his neck. He thought the resisting child had scratched him with their nails and dismissed it as insignificant.
