Blair averted her gaze from him and pleaded while adjusting her clothes.

“Herdin, let’s go to the bedroom. This is a space where anyone could come in.”

“Then we might end up doing it in the hallway. Is that alright?”

As if to emphasize his point, Herdin pulled her close. Through the tightly pressed fabric, she could feel the heat of his aroused body.

“I don’t think I can wait even that long.”

Blair’s lips parted in shock. Seeing his eyes that looked ready to devour her at any moment, she realized he meant more than just words.

Herdin looked down at Blair, who could no longer insist on going to the room, and smirked before pressing his lips to hers again. Then, slipping his hand between the clothes she was trying to adjust, he grasped her softly as if kneading dough and whispered.

“This is what you wanted.”

Doing as I please, regardless of your will.

As you said, I simply desire you like any other male.

When Herdin lowered his head to bite her, Blair’s waist arched backwards.

Herdin, who had been tormenting her persistently with his soft lips, grabbed Blair’s ankle. His hand, tracing up her ankle thinner than his forearm, slipped under her skirt.

“Herdin…!”

Blair tried to close her legs, but Herdin was already blocking her, making it impossible to move.

Blair unconsciously bit her trembling lips. The door to the office in front of her was frightening. However, that fear only added to the dizzying pleasure.

Blair, now almost lying on the desk, stared blankly out the window behind her head.

The winter sky, without a single cloud, sparkled brilliantly. Her violet eyes, capturing that scenery, blinked slowly.

She felt it didn’t matter anymore.

If this was what he wanted.

At that moment, a large shadow fell over Blair’s body, accompanied by a heavy weight. Unable to bear the overwhelming sensation, Blair bit the back of her hand.

But Herdin grabbed both her hands with one of his, binding them.

Blair looked up at Herdin with resentful eyes and bit her lip hard to keep herself quiet. Seeing this, Herdin’s brow furrowed.

Such a stubborn woman.

Her futile resistance was both ridiculous and annoying, but he didn’t dislike it. No, rather, it was quite adorable because it was so like her.

Herdin leaned over Blair, who looked on the verge of tears as she desperately tried to hold back her voice. He lightly sucked on her lips before releasing them and whispered.

“Don’t bite your lips.”

After holding her breath for a while, Blair finally surrendered. Herdin, quite satisfied with this, repeatedly kissed her flushed cheeks and earlobes.

“Herdin…”

Blair called out to him as she embraced him.

He liked the sound of her voice calling his name, breaking as if unsure what to do. He liked how she desperately clung to him, not wanting to let go.

To the point where it seemed foolish to have suppressed his desire until now.

Shortly after, the office, which had been filled with a cacophony of sounds, suddenly fell silent.

In the stillness that followed, only the heavy breathing of the two could be heard. Blair’s body, trapped in his arms, trembled violently.

Herdin savored the afterglow, kissing her near her cheek, only rising after her trembling had subsided.

He saw Blair looking at him with tear-filled eyes, catching her breath.

A temptress sprawled across his desk.

Yet that lascivious sight was breathtakingly beautiful.

Suddenly, he remembered what Johan had said yesterday.

‘Well, honestly, she is pretty. What man wouldn’t fall for that face and body?’

Seeing how all the men act like fools around this woman, his own desire for her probably isn’t such a special emotion either.

It’s just an instinctive attraction to beauty.

Yes, she’s honestly pretty.

Enough to make any man want to hold her hand or say a word to her.

Such a woman had become his contract wife. Not only that, but she was willing to offer her body as well. If he wanted it.

Perhaps this too was because of that man she loves.

For a moment, he felt sorry for that fool, but quickly dismissed the thought.

‘But do I really need to know the reason?’

In any case, this woman was right in front of him now. She was his wife, even if only in name.

The idiot who lost his woman due to social status would lose his first night with her and wouldn’t be able to meet her freely.

A woman who has to pretend to be a wife to a man she doesn’t love for the sake of a future with the man she does love.

A man who has to watch the woman he loves fall into another man’s arms because of his born status.

And a man who is used in their love affair for other gains.

Who is the most pitiful?

Objectively, he himself is not the most pitiful one.

But humans are ultimately self-centered creatures, so he felt disgusted. Even after obtaining the body of the woman he desired, he felt he was the most pitiful.

He wasn’t used to sharing what he had once obtained. He probably would never get used to it. He was born and raised that way.

Herdin lifted Blair, who was lying on the desk, into his arms. Still affected by what had just happened, she stumbled, unable to stand properly.

He turned her unsteady body around and made her lean against the desk.

“…Herdin?”

Blair, finally realizing something was off, tried to escape his embrace, but Herdin held her tight.

“Ah…!”

Blair’s body, trembling in his arms, gave him a strange sense of satisfaction. Holding the precarious Blair who seemed about to collapse at any moment, he kissed her exposed white back.

This is a contract.

One where we take what we want from each other until it expires.

He didn’t know what Blair wanted, but she would surely take it from him, so he too could take what he wanted from her to his heart’s content.

So this was, undoubtedly, a good deal.

* * *

There is a huge greenhouse in the Empress’s Palace.

It was a greenhouse built by the previous Emperor for his beloved Empress Katrina.

Not just the greenhouse, but the entire current Empress’s Palace, built to replace the fire-damaged one where Esmeralda had resided, was essentially a gift prepared by the previous Emperor for Katrina.

Katrina loved everything about this palace. Just like her children.

Because all of it was proof that she had received the love of the man who had been the ruler of this vast empire.

The mornings she spent in this greenhouse, filled with rare flowers and trees from foreign lands and chirping pretty birds, were also among the things she loved for the same reason.

Katrina stirred her tea with a teaspoon, listening to the birds chirping. Her movements were so elegant that no one would dare think she was of common birth.

She put down the teaspoon and picked up the teacup. As she gazed at her impassive face reflected in the tea, she suddenly recalled a voice she had heard a few days ago.

‘Are you afraid of me, Your Majesty?’

‘…’

‘You’re brainwashing yourself, as if you’re afraid I might uncover the truth.’

Katrina paused as she was about to drink her tea. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she recalled the voice and its owner.

“…How impertinent.”

After being lost in thought for a moment, Katrina put down the cup without taking a sip.

Countess Magrid, who had been waiting behind her, keenly sensed the meaning and approached her side.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“We need to plant someone in the Delmark ducal family. I’m curious about how that child Blair is doing. I’m also worried.”

Katrina’s gentle voice was as soft as that of a mother truly concerned for her daughter.

* * *

Herdin woke up to the sound of Blair’s dry cough. He felt as refreshed as if he had trained all day.

His last memory was of the pre-dawn twilight, but judging by the light streaming through the window, it seemed to be quite late.

Suddenly sensing movement, he turned his head to the side and saw Blair sleeping.

Yesterday afternoon, after repeatedly entangling with Blair in his office, he had finally yielded to her pleas and brought her to the bedroom.

After that, he had taken her like a beast. They even ate meals in bed. After feeding her when she didn’t have the strength to move a finger, he would then devour her himself.

The desire he had tried so hard to suppress burst forth uncontrollably once he let go of the reins. Like drinking seawater, the more he drank, the thirstier he became.

Blair had coaxed, pleaded, and even cried from the torment, but that only stimulated him more.

Recalling her tearful face, his body reacted as if unsatisfied despite indulging his desires all night.

‘…You madman.’

Herdin, self-deprecating at his own behavior, forcibly suppressed the heat rising in his lower abdomen and got up.

His foot caught on clothes strewn carelessly on the floor. Being Blair’s room, there were no other clothes suitable for him to wear.

Herdin, who had mindlessly reached for the bell pull, lowered his hand. Somehow, he didn’t want to break this quiet peace.

He roughly put on his trousers and shirt and approached the fireplace to light a fire. After staring blankly at the burning logs for a while, he habitually took out a cigar from his back pocket and lit it.

Herdin’s hand paused as he was bringing the lit cigar to his mouth. At the same time, he furrowed his brow and sighed.

The cigar was thrown into the fireplace before he even took a single puff.