A Shadow Cast in Paradise - Chapter 42

“Lady Riana.”

Only when the sun had completely set did Riana realize she had failed to complete the task Werner had assigned her.

But even if she had realized earlier, she wasn’t sure she could have done what he asked.

After parting with Sched like that, she couldn’t have gone back to his room to refill the water bottle.

Trying to calm her red, swollen eyes, she bowed deeply before Werner.

“I’m sorry, Head Butler.”

As Riana bowed her head, Werner let out a deep sigh.

He didn’t say anything, but with just that single exhale, Riana felt like she was sinking into the mud.

Useless and pathetic. Not even able to properly complete such a small task.

She seemed to hear stinging reproaches in her ears.

“It’s fine for now. The master was in a bad mood and went to bed early.”

Werner waved his hand, recalling Sched who looked especially fierce today.

On a day like this, going to see him would only make things worse.

“Bring water and towels in the morning. Leave the sheets alone and just air out the room.”

“…Yes, Head Butler.”

Although it was fortunate she didn’t have to face him right away, she didn’t expect the situation to improve by tomorrow morning.

She carefully tried to ask Werner to give her a different task, but closed her mouth.

Werner was already accommodating her enough, and she didn’t want to become someone who complained about her assigned duties again.

How pathetic, a maid who couldn’t even properly complete the simple task of carrying water and towels.

“Thank you, Head Butler.”

“…Have a good night.”

Werner reminded her once again not to forget the morning task before going downstairs.

Riana returned to her room and looked at the pitch-black scenery outside the window.

Werner had told her to bring it when the Duke woke up, but she didn’t have the courage to face him.

It would probably be better to prepare everything early in the morning, before he woke up.

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Even in the depths of night, the heat filling his body did not subside.

He felt feverish and hazy, as if drunk on alcohol.

But unlike his blurred mind, his senses were more keen and sensitive than ever.

He lifted his head, rubbing his forehead.

And there, she was before his eyes.

“Riana?”

A woman wearing a translucent gown that faintly revealed her silhouette had somehow walked into his bedroom.

As if she had just showered, with moisture clinging to her, she let her platinum blonde hair that existed in his memories fall long over her shoulders and stepped barefoot onto the red carpet.

Every time her white feet touched the carpet, his heart pounded heavily.

“Sched.”

Riana smiled, her gaze fixed on him.

With that single smile, the surroundings lit up as if a light had been turned on.

His lips curled up involuntarily at her smile.

Sched realized.

That there was a time when she used to smile like that.

“Louise.”

Her old name flowed from the tips of his lips, and she simply smiled brightly.

At that moment, he thought that all of this might be a dream.

Because there’s no way she would smile at me like that.

But he didn’t hold onto that thought for long and let it go.

It didn’t matter whether this was a dream or not.

All that mattered was that she was here before his eyes.

If it’s a dream, then he might as well stay here as it is.

Sched couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Louise, who had come close enough to touch, smiled widely and embraced his body.

“I missed you, Sched.”

Her soft whisper buried in his chest tickled him.

Ah, so it is a dream after all.

You’ve finally grown in my subconscious.

Though the sweetness intensifying only made it clearer that this was a dream, Sched ignored it.

It was because the woman in his arms was too hot.

Sched didn’t know how to cool down the high fever enveloping his body.

Meanwhile, Louise stretched out her slender arms and wrapped them around his neck.

A droplet fell from her wet hair.

The small droplet soaked her clothes, and the white gown became increasingly transparent as it got wet drop by drop.

Flesh showed through beneath the translucent fabric.

An unbearable desire surged at the thick fragrance spreading at the tip of his nose.

It’s just a dream anyway.

Sched bit the lips of her who was staring at him intently with a smile.

A fever seemed to transfer through the tips of his lips.

It was a deep illness that might drag him to death.

But, it didn’t matter anyway.

No, rather, he wanted to suffer from that fever for a long time.

With his mouth full of her scent, he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with that fragrance at the end of his breath.

The sweet breath seduced him, digging deeper and deeper.

His head was hazy as if covered in fog, and dizzy as if heat haze was rising.

Finally, unable to bear the burning heat any longer, he laid the small body clinging to him down on the bed.

“Haa…”

For a moment, hot breath burst from her red lips and brushed against his cheek.

Golden hair shimmering in the dim light was disheveled on the white sheets, and the loose gown opened loosely.

A shiver ran down his spine as her hot touch wrapped around Sched’s waist.

His lower body felt heavy, and his excited blood vessels felt like they would burst.

“Louise.”

Lying on the bed, she looked up at him with terribly loving eyes.

As if she would never leave.

As if she would be by his side forever.

Intoxicated by that ecstatic deception, Sched buried his lips in her snow-white neck.

“Sched…”

“…I missed you too, Louise.”

Sched whispered as he bloomed red flowers of heat on her white skin.

I missed you like crazy.

I couldn’t believe your death.

After hearing the news of your death, my life has been as good as dead all along.

Sched poured out the words that had been boiling hot deep inside him onto her.

Yes. He was no longer a slave.

Now he had the title and power befitting Louise Ideana.

There was no reason to hesitate, no barriers to block them.

Sched embraced the beautiful Louise tightly.

At that moment.

“Sched.”

With a rustle, she crumbled like dry leaves and scattered, disappearing into white.

As he waved his empty hand in the air, Sched opened his eyes.

It was reality.

Louise wasn’t there, only the deep darkness of dawn had settled.

Sched sat up and ran his hand through his sweat-soaked hair in confusion.

The sensation of Louise he had just been holding was vivid in his throbbing fingertips.

The blood flowing through his bulging veins boiled with ecstasy, and his whole body was hot as if steam would rise.

The aftereffects of a fever he hadn’t even had lingered thickly, as if phantom pain remained.

Unresolved emotions pooled and swelled as if about to burst.

But only cold darkness surrounded him.

His mood plummeted at the illusion that had disappeared like a mirage.

It was a disgustingly vile dream.

His whole body was damp with sweat and his throat was parched with thirst.

He picked up the water bottle placed on the bedside table with trembling hands.

However, the dry water bottle dropped one drop of water onto the cup and stopped.

“Damn it…!”

Sched threw the water bottle irritably.

With a crash, the porcelain water bottle shattered against the wall and scattered on the floor.

“Haa, haa…”

He thought of Riana.

He wanted to trap her in his arms right now and pull her in tight enough to burst.

He wanted to devour her completely and make her entirely his possession.

Uncontrollable desire filled his head.

Only then did Sched realize.

That Lupus’s instinctual desire had come to him as well.

He roughly opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out a small key.

Passing over the floor where the water bottle had shattered, he shoved the key into a small drawer cabinet on one side of the room.

“Damn it.”

The key scratched the entrance several times in his trembling, excited hand before finally fitting and pushing in.

As soon as the key turned with a click, Sched pulled the drawer as if to completely remove it.

There was a small medicine bottle in the drawer.

When he opened the bottle, there were about thirty white pills inside.

He shook the pills onto his hand and put them in his mouth, swallowing without water.

Eclas had warned to take only one pill when in heat, but he had no capacity to think about how many he had taken.

He held the medicine bottle in his trembling hand and waited for the drug to take effect.

His body was still hot, stiff, and tingling.

Every time the clothes he was wearing brushed against his skin, it stimulated his sensitively heightened senses.

He took off the robe that was stimulating him and threw it on the bed, squeezing his eyes shut.

When he closed his eyes, her image became clear.

The image of her smiling in his dream came to mind, but ridiculously, the last image he had seen of Riana was her glaring at him with eyes reddened as if about to cry.

That discrepancy tormented him, and hot breaths caught in his throat.

“Damn it!”

In his unquelled excitement, he swept all the objects on the bedside table.

With a crash, the objects shattered and made a mess on the floor.

The cursed drug wasn’t taking effect, and his intensifying lust was consuming everything.

He was terrified and disgusted by himself, consumed only by desire like a beast.

To suppress his body consumed by heat, he gripped his forearm tightly, his nails digging into his flesh.

Blood seeped from the tips, but even that pain was insufficient to make him forget his excitement.

‘Other Lupuses seem to feel the effects right away when they take it, why…’

Sched clenched his teeth, gripping the medicine tightly in his hand.

Sweat droplets ran down his hot, taut muscles.

The Lupuses he knew had the drug take effect immediately, instantly suppressing their heat and returning to normal life.

That’s why Sched himself thought it would be the same for him.

But strangely, the sedative didn’t work on his body.

He opened the medicine bottle again and shook out more pills onto his hand.

“The drug is strong, so you must be careful. Like any drug, an overdose could kill you.”

Eclas’s warning when handing over the medicine didn’t matter.

Calming this beastly lust was the top priority.

He put the medicine in his mouth and chewed it, grinding it with his teeth.

He hoped it would kill this excitement right away, regardless of side effects or anything else.

If not, right now…

Knock knock.

At that moment, a small sound tapped his sensitive senses.

Sched, who had swallowed the medicine, jerked his head up.

Silence fell in the room where rough breathing had been rising.

And then.

“…Your Grace, I’ve brought water.”

Ah.

Damn it.

You shouldn’t come now.