Misunderstanding Yura’s avoidant gaze and hesitation, Lee Hyun took a sip of wine and calmly said.

“I won’t force you if you’re not willing.”

“Huh?”

Yura blinked her eyes at the sudden implication that she didn’t have to do it. It wasn’t that she disliked it, so she was perplexed by what seemed to be a serious misunderstanding.

Yura’s hesitation had only one reason. The fear that comes with inexperience, that was all.

Although it was a contract, she wasn’t completely without feelings for Lee Hyun. When she first kissed Lee Hyun, it was more sweet than awkward.

Clearly, it wasn’t that she disliked Lee Hyun or found this wedding night burdensome. She was just afraid. Not knowing this, Lee Hyun calmly tried to understand Yura’s position.

“Even between married couples, one can’t force such things. However.”

“However?”

Lee Hyun paused briefly, then revealed that he was still yearning.

“We agreed to fulfill our responsibilities as a married couple. This is also a spousal responsibility.”

At Lee Hyun’s words, Yura recalled the most important sentence in the contract she had signed with a heavy heart.

Who knew that brief, concise sentence would be used like this.

While dumbfounded, she wasn’t entirely surprised. Since the day she kissed Lee Hyun, she may have anticipated this situation from the lingering intensity felt in fleeting touches.

Though anticipated, facing it head-on was daunting. Yura spoke more calmly than before.

“I’ll do it, I will. It’s just, well…”

Yura struggled to get the words out. Though this was an expected development she had been secretly anticipating, mental preparation was not easy.

This was inevitable due to her lack of experience. She had certainly explored passionate kisses and caresses before. But it had never gone further than that.

Yura wanted to clearly address this fact. Having no experience with men wasn’t a matter of pride, nor something to boast about, but she felt it warranted consideration.

Unlike herself, Lee Hyun likely had countless experiences and might act without hesitation, she concluded.

Yura’s mouth kept going dry, so she moistened her lips with her tongue as she gathered her breath. Unable to look directly at Lee Hyun, she wondered where to fix her gaze.

“Oppa, the truth is I’m… a virgin.”

Yura swallowed dryly and shifted her gaze from mid-air to Lee Hyun. His lips curved smoothly upward as he looked at her with a composed expression.

“Mm, I’m a virgin too.”

“What?”

“Is that so surprising?”

Yura blurted out her incredulous thoughts as she looked at Lee Hyun furrowing his brow quizzically.

“No, how can you be a virgin with that face?”

“You’re a virgin with your face too, so why should I be any different?”

Yura’s mind suddenly became complicated. She wondered why she had assumed Lee Hyun wouldn’t be a virgin when she herself was one. She felt foolish for having such preconceptions about him. That’s when it happened.

“Eek.”

In an instant, Lee Hyun approached and pushed Yura down onto the sofa, sending her an intense gaze from above.

Distracted by the unexpected revelation, Yura hadn’t noticed his movements. She looked up at him with wide eyes, startled by the sudden action.

“Let’s stop talking now.”

His lowered voice heightened the tension. As Lee Hyun slowly lowered his head, Yura desperately reached out her hand to stop him.

“W-wait. Oppa, ah.”

In the moment she realized she couldn’t physically stop him, hot lips grazed Yura’s delicate neck. As Lee Hyun sensually nuzzled and pressed his lips against her collarbone, he spoke in an even more suggestive voice.

“Ah, so this is what it’s like to be intoxicated by someone’s scent.”

Yura had no idea how to react.

No, before that, the pounding of her heart felt so out of place. She was simply amazed at feeling this trembling after so long. She only wondered why, of all people, it had to be Lee Hyun.

It would be a lie to say she had never been swayed by this man everyone praised as perfect. During her naive adolescence, she had briefly given her heart to him.

It was such a short time that she may have passed through it without even realizing, but she clearly experienced her first love with Lee Hyun. In the form of an unrequited crush, that is.

So she must have had a few daydreams full of excitement about Lee Hyun.

Shyly holding hands, walking side by side on a fragrant forest path, or studying together in the library – the kind of innocent thrills typical of that age.

Faced with a reality completely different from those fantasies, her mind went blank like a powered-off tablet.

“O-oppa.”

Despite Yura’s urgent call, Lee Hyun persistently nuzzled her neck. With each brush of his excessively hot breath, Yura’s temperature gradually rose.

As the hot, humid air enveloped them, a foreigner’s fluent English drifted to her ears. Yura’s body instinctively curled up.

Though no one could possibly cross the high walls of this secret private villa with guaranteed privacy, the voice of another person scattered embarrassment and shame. Overwhelmed by the mortification spreading through her body, Yura cried out with all her might.

“Lee Hyun!”

Lee Hyun’s lips, which had seemed inseparable, moved away. In that fleeting moment, Yura felt a strange regret, but before she could realize it, she met his heated gaze filled with desire.

“Th-this is outside.”

“Ah, so inside would be okay?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Somehow, she felt pathetic for being unable to make rational judgments today of all days.

As Lee Hyun moved his body back, Yura raised her upper body, trying to organize her thoughts to persuade him. But Lee Hyun, as if he had been waiting for this, immediately scooped up her bottom and lifted her.

“Ah, oppa!”

Suddenly finding herself looking down at Lee Hyun, Yura blinked in surprise. Lee Hyun, who had lifted her so effortlessly, began striding towards the living room while maintaining eye contact.

Though Yura knew Lee Hyun wouldn’t drop her, she instinctively curled up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Feeling like she might be thrown to the floor if she struggled even a little, she clung tightly to his neck.

Without his breathing even faltering, Lee Hyun headed straight for the bedroom and stopped while still holding Yura. Yura slightly loosened her grip as she inhaled the faintly spreading floral scent.

“Put me down.”

But Lee Hyun remained motionless. As Yura looked down at him again, about to repeat her request, he whispered with smoldering eyes.

“Kiss me.”

Yura felt lightheaded as she gazed at Lee Hyun’s alluringly moving lips. The sweet whisper brushing her ear and the fragrant flower scent drifting through the bedroom felt dreamlike.

Could any woman possibly push away a man with such exquisite features speaking so tenderly with this look in his eyes? There likely wasn’t a woman who could. As if bewitched by a nine-tailed fox, Yura unconsciously lowered her head.

As her lips met Lee Hyun’s hot ones, his unique scent filled her lungs deeply. The cool yet sweet, sometimes tangy scent made Yura’s mind hazy. It felt like wandering in a dream.

As Lee Hyun tilted his head slightly to deeply capture her lips, they pressed together without a gap. Yura’s mind went blank, unable to distinguish if the pounding heartbeat was her own or Lee Hyun’s.

Just as her mind grew distant from his probing and stirring inside her parted lips, soft bedding enveloped her whole body behind her back. As Yura squirmed at the comfort spreading through her entire body, his lips finally moved away.

“Haah.”

“Jin Yura.”

The impossibly low tone spreading between Yura’s gasps sounded like the cry of a beast.

Lee Hyun quietly gazed down at Yura’s trembling eyes as her face flushed. He was restraining himself to a degree he wondered if he’d ever exercised such patience in his life.

He wasn’t so foolish as to not know what to do just because it was his first time. For men, this was almost instinctual. It was an innate tendency to intuitively know everything.

So while he clearly knew what needed to be done from now on, Lee Hyun couldn’t rush. This was Yura’s first time ever, and if he acted on his own desires, she would be terrified and run away.

So he had to move as slowly and leisurely as possible. That was his thinking, but could such restraint really overcome his surging desire?

“Why are you so sweet?”

“Huh?”

“You’re sweet, dizzyingly sweet.”

Yura’s eyelids blinked slowly, as if not understanding what he meant.

He didn’t want to miss even that small movement, and hated the thought of those eyes looking anywhere but at him for even a split second. A fierce possessiveness boiled up, wanting her to be focused solely on him at every moment.

“Once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”

As if vaguely realizing what Lee Hyun’s words meant, Yura bit her lip. Her bright red lips became even more luscious as they yielded to the pressure of her even teeth.

Lee Hyun lowered his head to lick her bitten lips, and Yura’s lips parted carefully. Without hesitation, Lee Hyun bit into that vivid red.

“No, I won’t stop.”

Yura felt all her senses stirring from her erotically bitten lips.

She knew she should respond somehow to the threat that he wouldn’t stop, but her mind seemed to have melted, leaving her at a loss for words. There was no room for any thoughts to squeeze in.

Along with intense fear, a strange excitement coiled around her entire body. Her lower abdomen tingled, her toes curled, and her breathing kept getting faster.

She thought all these unfamiliar sensations weren’t unpleasant because it was her wedding night.

As she felt the sensation of him delving deep into her mouth, Yura revised her initial conclusion.

It wasn’t because it was her wedding night, but because her partner was Lee Hyun. Only because it was him did these sensations not feel unpleasant, but rather transform into anticipation.

Perhaps the fleeting crush she thought had passed was still ongoing.

From before sunset, the air conditioner’s chill and hot breaths intermingled, jumbling the bedroom’s temperature.

The once-tidy bedding became disheveled, and even as the sky turned a purple twilight, the two did not emerge from the bedroom. Between the deepening darkness, the bright moon rose, and even in the moments passing clouds briefly hid the moon, their breaths still mingled.

And so, as the hazy morning dawned, Yura fell into a sleep like fainting.