Under the moonlight streaming through the window, the man’s large body was fully revealed.

His well-defined collarbone, broad and firm chest, a body too thick to fully embrace with both arms, and tightly packed abs without a single gap.

It was unmistakably a man’s body.

Blair looked at his body as if seeing something unfamiliar.

Even though she had seen this body countless times in her past life, why did it feel so new now?

‘Is it because of… his expression?’

Unlike her past life where he pretended to be in love, in this life his blue eyes were filled only with desire.

At this moment, Blair felt she understood what it meant to be overwhelmed by someone’s gaze.

Her body tensed up with nervousness. Her heart pounded rapidly. Even though he was just looking at her, she felt like she would be devoured alive.

Suddenly, she felt afraid of him with his unfamiliar face. Yet paradoxically, a tingling heat began to rise from deep within her belly.

Even though she had returned to a body that didn’t know him, it remembered the pleasure he had given her in her past life.

She felt pathetic that her body still responded to him even after crossing death’s threshold and returning to the past. Since her body wouldn’t obey her will, Blair decided to simply not look at him.

Herdin’s brow furrowed as he saw his wife stubbornly turn her head away.

She had been the one babbling about marital duties without any fear, but now that she was lying on the bed, she looked like she was about to cry.

“Like this, it feels like I’m not building a ‘good relationship’, but rather becoming a bastard who’s raping his wife.”

Blair flinched at that. Soon after, she reluctantly turned her gaze back to him. It seemed she had no intention of forgetting about the clause in that strange contract.

Herdin overlapped his lips with hers as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Hah…”

The kiss, blocked by the bed sheet with no escape route, became even deeper and more persistent. A pained moan escaped from between Blair’s lips.

Herdin released Blair’s lips, which were now gasping for breath, and moved down to her snow-white neck.

The woman’s skin had a sweet scent. It was a fragrance that was like flowers, or perhaps fruit.

Intoxicated by that scent, he trailed his lips along her neck and round shoulder line, then tore off the nightgown slip that was getting in the way. The garment, which was made to be flimsy to begin with, ripped easily.

This revealed the slender body that had been hidden beneath. It was an even prettier body than he had guessed from the silhouette.

Startled by the cold air on her bare skin, Blair hurriedly tried to cover herself, but was easily stopped by Herdin.

He savored the woman in his arms. Her skin was as soft as whipped cream. Except that it wouldn’t melt and disappear no matter how much he rolled it in his mouth.

Blair whimpered as she pushed against his unyielding, solid shoulders.

“This, this kind of thing… I don’t like it.”

She knew he was doing this to be considerate of her.

But she hated how his actions overlapped with those of his past self.

Afraid that she might once again mistake his touch, his warmth, for love on her own.

“Just… just do it. Please.”

However, far from being pushed away, he caught Blair’s waist as she kept trying to retreat backward and embraced her.

“Ah!”

Herdin soon realized that she was lying. The corner of his mouth curved up as he saw her legs trembling.

“Well now, it seems this part likes it.”

Ignoring Blair’s resistance, he focused on getting her body to adapt to him. The resistance against his fingers was quite fierce.

At that response, his lower abdomen also grew taut and a heavy ache began to spread.

His desire, already swollen to its limit, was urging him to do as she said, but he clenched his molars and suppressed his lust.

Of course, this woman would look pretty even when crying.

Imagining that sight, perhaps following her words and simply sating his own desires would be more exciting. But if he did that, it seemed this fragile woman wouldn’t be able to handle it and would break.

He couldn’t lose such a valuable witness to ‘that’ incident in a moment of passion. That was out of the question.

Finally judging that Blair was ready, Herdin mounted her and positioned himself.

Blair, who had been blinking with hazy eyes, suddenly came to her senses as she saw the large shadow looming over her.

As she met his intense blue eyes looking down at her, she felt a scorching heat as if she’d been burned. It was that thing which had been asserting its undeniable presence for a while now.

Her first night with him in her past life had been sweet, but also painful. It was partly because it was her first time, but setting that aside, it was already too much to handle on its own.

Blair’s body, remembering the pain of that moment, instinctively stiffened.

Noticing this, Herdin wrapped her legs around his waist and spoke softly.

“Relax. It’s okay.”

The innocent Blair of her past life had believed those words, but the Blair of this life knew better.

A lie.

Those words were a blatant lie. They were the sweet whispers of a demon trying to catch her off guard and devour her.

Even so, even knowing the true intentions behind them, she couldn’t bring herself to push away this cruel and beautiful demon.

As Blair hesitated, neither relaxing nor pushing him away, Herdin kissed her again and pressed his body even closer.

At this deliberately provocative act, Blair’s body heated up. Noticing this, Herdin slowly but mercilessly joined their bodies.

Blair instinctively arched her back at the unfamiliar pain. But Herdin’s arms pulled her waist and drew her towards him.

Deeper, even deeper.

Herdin gritted his teeth and exhaled roughly. Just waiting for her to calm down like this was already pushing his patience to the limit.

The woman who was driving him crazy didn’t seem to have any idea how much self-control he was exerting.

He wanted to throw away all that nonsense about good relationships that he had spouted earlier and unleash his desire that was on the verge of exploding.

In the end, Herdin lost his reason and began to move Blair. Blair bit her lip as her vision blurred.

Gradually, this strange yet familiar act awakened sensations that her body had forgotten, but her subconscious remembered.

Blair could barely breathe from the dizzying sensation. Herdin furrowed his brow as he watched her.

“Breathe, Blair.”

His rough voice, as if scraping his Adam’s apple, resonated in Blair’s ear. However, contrary to his concerned words, he became even more intense.

In her fading consciousness, Blair instinctively embraced him. Even knowing that he was the demon tormenting her right now, she had no choice but to hold onto him.

Because in this moment, only he and she existed in this world.

Finally reaching his peak, Herdin cooled his body’s heat while appreciating the woman sprawled in his arms.

The woman who had fully accepted him was beautiful.

Objectively, it was a pretty face, and he had no disagreement with that fact, but it hadn’t particularly moved him before.

However, at this moment, that fact suddenly struck him anew.

Her snow-white appearance as if sculpted from moonlight, her violet eyes brimming with moisture, her lips reddened from being bitten so much, even her voice calling his name with a whimper – everything was lovely.

…truly, damnably so.

Enough to make him forget for a moment whose daughter she was.

He felt revulsion at his own state. Yet his thirst for this woman remained unquenched. He couldn’t stop.

This emotion is just a momentary desire.

Once I hold her until dawn breaks, surely this nonsensical thought will cease. Like snow melting away on this night.

With such thoughts, Herdin embraced her again.

“…Herdin?”

Blair, who had been blinking her dazed eyes, belatedly grasped the situation and struggled, but it was futile.

Herdin felt a strange sense of satisfaction at the sight of the woman clinging to him again.

His solid and massive body became a prison confining her, devouring her like a starved beast.

Throughout the long winter night, without rest.

Buried in that bottomless, dizzying mire of pleasure, Blair repeatedly reminded herself of only one thought.

Don’t forget, Blair.

He doesn’t love you.

* * *

“Mmm…”

Feeling sunlight flickering on her eyelids, Blair lifted her heavy eyelids.

As her blurry vision cleared, she saw the familiar yet unfamiliar scene of the room.

It was the room of the Duchess of Delmark where she had stayed before returning to the past.

For a moment, seeing that scenery, she almost mistook it for a dream of returning to the past, but realizing that the child’s dolls and belongings that had always been placed around the room were gone made it feel real.

Moreover, the dull ache throbbing throughout her body also proved that last night, her second first night with him, was not a dream.

‘Even if the memories remain, the body has returned to the past, so I suppose it’s natural.’

Like when she had spent her first night with him, no, even more than then, her body felt heavy and painful.

Even when she dozed off briefly, exhausted from the merciless, dizzying pleasure, Herdin didn’t let her go. He acted as if she had entrusted something to him.

Blair’s last memory, after repeatedly falling asleep and waking up as if fainting several times, was of his broad back moving away as he left her sleeping exhaustedly in the dim dawn light.

It was only upon seeing that back that Blair realized.

‘So this was your true heart.’

How desperate he had been in her past life, staying by her side until morning, trying to uncover the truth from her.

And how naive I was to believe it.

The truth of his heart, which she finally faced after miraculously returning to the past, was colder and more bitter than she had thought.

But it was rather a relief. She wouldn’t have to feel guilty about using him for her own purposes now.

Calmly putting away her emotions, Blair forced her heavily sinking body to rise and pulled the bell rope.