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"Ha... damn it."
"Young Lady, you should watch your language."
"Fuck..."
Yevgenia roughly swept her hair back and let out a deep sigh.
Then, Yulan's light voice popped out.
"Anyone seeing you would think you're being taken away."
"Emotionally, there's no difference."
Another long sigh, haa, flowed out.
She rose from her seat and slowly began to undo the tightly fastened robe.
Embarrassment washed over her, but it was unavoidable.
'Right, if I'm going to do it anyway, today is the perfect time. What happened with Raymond today makes for a perfect excuse, doesn't it?'
If her name were erased at just the right time, it would be easy to pin all the reasons on Raymond's wrongdoing.
Reporting Yulan's existence or the events with him to her father in detail was an option she would rather die than choose.
'I'd rather bite my tongue. Father probably isn't interested in the transgressions of the daughter he raised so properly either.'
Anyway, there was no timing as perfect as today.
Even so, she had dragged it out like this until the end because she wanted to deny it to the last...
'Since I've reached a dead end, there's no choice. Even if I can't have it, I'll go for it!'
Finally, she pulled one end of the ribbon fastened at her chest, and the thin fabric slid down her body and fell to the floor.
After the pitch-black cloak disappeared, all that remained was a chemise so thin it blatantly revealed the lines of her body.
"......"
Yulan's gaze swept down over Yevgenia's body.
The gaze that flowed like water past her rounded breasts and down to her flat stomach paused for a moment, then calmly moved back up.
The moment she met his golden eyes, burning like flames along with his hair, a small laugh burst from Yulan's lips.
"With that determined expression like a general going to war, you had this prepared?"
"......"
"The journey here must have been quite rough... Seems you have some confidence."
"That's none of your business."
"Well, not a wrong statement."
Yulan shrugged his shoulders lightly and leaned his upper body slightly forward, closing the distance.
At his face slowly drawing closer, Yevgenia flinched momentarily, stiffened her body, and tightly closed her eyes.
At that obedient reaction, Yulan's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"Last time you slapped my cheek, but today it seems like you're expecting me to kiss you or something."
"...So you're dissatisfied? Want me to hit you today too?"
"No, I'm touched. It's like a stray cat giving a nose greeting for the first time."
Spouting an incomprehensible metaphor, he showed no intention to kiss her or touch her body, still keeping his distance.
It was a very passive attitude for someone who had boldly talked about nights from the very first day they met.
Hesitating briefly, Yevgenia added in a small voice.
"If, perhaps, because of my eyes, you, um, can't get into it... I can cover them..."
"...What are you talking about?"
"My eyes are a bit, they do look fierce, so I think it's entirely possible. If there's nothing to cover them with, I can cover them with my own hands—"
"Wait, wait a minute. I don't understand what you've been saying since earlier."
Yulan, pressing his temples as if he had a headache, let out a small sigh.
He looked at the floor, then at the ceiling, repeating the process as he organized his thoughts, then asked with a completely humorless face.
"Young Lady, who on earth told you such... stories? The Duke's maids? Your nanny? Or... Duke Martyr?"
"What? That can't be. What other men do I know?"
At the question with an obvious answer, Yulan's expression grew even more twisted.
"...Ah, Prince Lars?"
"I know I look foolish. But even after going this far, you..."
Yevgenia's gaze looked toward Yulan's lower body, which should be beyond the sofa.
She didn't know what was happening down there, but seeing him so composed now, there probably wasn't any major change.
Having never had a deep relationship with a man in either her past life or this one, she could only guess his reaction with her limited knowledge.
Biting her lower lip slightly, she continued.
"Not at all, I mean, you have no, um, reaction, so I remembered something Raymond said a long time ago, and I wondered if that was why..."
"...A long time ago?"
"It's from when we were at the academy. Just... he said my eyes made him uncomfortable, that if I wanted to please a man, I should do something about my eyes first..."
After that, she deliberately wore makeup to dull her natural eye shape.
But Yevgenia's eyes, which bore a striking resemblance to her father who was called the Empire's Red Lion, were not so easily concealed.
In the end, it was just another day swayed by Raymond's words, as always.
Yevgenia, touching her makeup-free eyes, whispered like a sigh.
"That, I don't know what to call you,"
"Call me Nox. Casually."
"...Right, Nox. Anyway... I'm truly desperate. If you want, I'll even do it with my mouth..."
"Ha."
A laugh filled with an emotion that seemed both intrigued and absurd.
Shame washed over her, but she barely endured it.
If she thought all this hardship was for a peaceful future, she could endure anything.
Hiding her trembling heart, she looked at him without blinking once.
His slightly darkened green eyes swept over her body again.
Unlike before, his gaze descended without hesitation, down, down, until it fixed on her pale insteps.
"If you're trying to provoke me, I think you've made a rather mistaken choice."
"...That's a problem for me to handle. It has nothing to do with you, right?"
At Yevgenia's thorny words, Yulan let out a pfft, a laugh escaping.
That alone made the air in the room feel like it had instantly turned cold.
"Alright, then let's be clear about this one thing before we proceed."
"...What is it?"
"That this is merely an act for a commission, mutually agreed upon by both parties."
It was a pointed statement.
Raising one eyebrow slightly, Yevgenia spoke with a mix of awkwardness and annoyance.
"You're not saying this because you're afraid I'll fall for you after one time and start chasing you around, are you?"
"...Well, I can't say no."
Yulan shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly as if to prove a point.
Gently rubbing Yevgenia's nape, who was speechless with absurdity, he brought his head closer and lightly bit her soft earlobe.
"Euk..."
A small moan escaped Yevgenia as she instinctively hunched her shoulders.
Into her sensitized ear flowed Yulan's low voice.
"I'm a bit confident, so I think it'll be very hard to find another man after me."
"What does, what does that mean, hih!"
A hot tongue licked up the curve of her ear.
With each movement of the wet, soft thing, a moist sound resonated.
Goosebumps rose from her nape all the way down her spine.
Yevgenia's flailing hand hastily grabbed Yulan's shoulder.
Then, suddenly, a firm arm wrapped around her waist and her body was hoisted up.
"...!"
They say when you're too shocked, no sound comes out.
That was exactly Yevgenia's situation right now.
A young lady of a nation being carried around like a sack of grain.
Her face flushed crimson, Yevgenia struggled and thumped Yulan's shoulder, thump, thump.
"Put me, down! I'll go on my own, just..."
"Wow, your hands are fiercer than I thought, Young Lady."
"Then put me down!"
But Yulan remained perfectly composed, to the point of startling even the struggling Yevgenia.
Even as she literally twisted her whole body, he didn't drop her, nor did he even sway.
By the time Yulan put Yevgenia down, it was after he had already arrived at his destination.
Placing his hands on either side of Yevgenia's thighs and meeting her eyes, he spoke.
"If you want to turn back even now, say so. I'll send you off cleanly. How about it?"
"Ah, and we'll treat it as if the commission never happened?"
Yulan answered with a soundless smile instead.
Offended, Yevgenia defiantly pulled down the shoulder straps of her chemise.
"If you back down here, you're not a man either. Got it?"
Along with a rather provocative statement.
"Young Lady, you should watch your language."
"Fuck..."
Yevgenia roughly swept her hair back and let out a deep sigh.
Then, Yulan's light voice popped out.
"Anyone seeing you would think you're being taken away."
"Emotionally, there's no difference."
Another long sigh, haa, flowed out.
She rose from her seat and slowly began to undo the tightly fastened robe.
Embarrassment washed over her, but it was unavoidable.
'Right, if I'm going to do it anyway, today is the perfect time. What happened with Raymond today makes for a perfect excuse, doesn't it?'
If her name were erased at just the right time, it would be easy to pin all the reasons on Raymond's wrongdoing.
Reporting Yulan's existence or the events with him to her father in detail was an option she would rather die than choose.
'I'd rather bite my tongue. Father probably isn't interested in the transgressions of the daughter he raised so properly either.'
Anyway, there was no timing as perfect as today.
Even so, she had dragged it out like this until the end because she wanted to deny it to the last...
'Since I've reached a dead end, there's no choice. Even if I can't have it, I'll go for it!'
Finally, she pulled one end of the ribbon fastened at her chest, and the thin fabric slid down her body and fell to the floor.
After the pitch-black cloak disappeared, all that remained was a chemise so thin it blatantly revealed the lines of her body.
"......"
Yulan's gaze swept down over Yevgenia's body.
The gaze that flowed like water past her rounded breasts and down to her flat stomach paused for a moment, then calmly moved back up.
The moment she met his golden eyes, burning like flames along with his hair, a small laugh burst from Yulan's lips.
"With that determined expression like a general going to war, you had this prepared?"
"......"
"The journey here must have been quite rough... Seems you have some confidence."
"That's none of your business."
"Well, not a wrong statement."
Yulan shrugged his shoulders lightly and leaned his upper body slightly forward, closing the distance.
At his face slowly drawing closer, Yevgenia flinched momentarily, stiffened her body, and tightly closed her eyes.
At that obedient reaction, Yulan's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"Last time you slapped my cheek, but today it seems like you're expecting me to kiss you or something."
"...So you're dissatisfied? Want me to hit you today too?"
"No, I'm touched. It's like a stray cat giving a nose greeting for the first time."
Spouting an incomprehensible metaphor, he showed no intention to kiss her or touch her body, still keeping his distance.
It was a very passive attitude for someone who had boldly talked about nights from the very first day they met.
Hesitating briefly, Yevgenia added in a small voice.
"If, perhaps, because of my eyes, you, um, can't get into it... I can cover them..."
"...What are you talking about?"
"My eyes are a bit, they do look fierce, so I think it's entirely possible. If there's nothing to cover them with, I can cover them with my own hands—"
"Wait, wait a minute. I don't understand what you've been saying since earlier."
Yulan, pressing his temples as if he had a headache, let out a small sigh.
He looked at the floor, then at the ceiling, repeating the process as he organized his thoughts, then asked with a completely humorless face.
"Young Lady, who on earth told you such... stories? The Duke's maids? Your nanny? Or... Duke Martyr?"
"What? That can't be. What other men do I know?"
At the question with an obvious answer, Yulan's expression grew even more twisted.
"...Ah, Prince Lars?"
"I know I look foolish. But even after going this far, you..."
Yevgenia's gaze looked toward Yulan's lower body, which should be beyond the sofa.
She didn't know what was happening down there, but seeing him so composed now, there probably wasn't any major change.
Having never had a deep relationship with a man in either her past life or this one, she could only guess his reaction with her limited knowledge.
Biting her lower lip slightly, she continued.
"Not at all, I mean, you have no, um, reaction, so I remembered something Raymond said a long time ago, and I wondered if that was why..."
"...A long time ago?"
"It's from when we were at the academy. Just... he said my eyes made him uncomfortable, that if I wanted to please a man, I should do something about my eyes first..."
After that, she deliberately wore makeup to dull her natural eye shape.
But Yevgenia's eyes, which bore a striking resemblance to her father who was called the Empire's Red Lion, were not so easily concealed.
In the end, it was just another day swayed by Raymond's words, as always.
Yevgenia, touching her makeup-free eyes, whispered like a sigh.
"That, I don't know what to call you,"
"Call me Nox. Casually."
"...Right, Nox. Anyway... I'm truly desperate. If you want, I'll even do it with my mouth..."
"Ha."
A laugh filled with an emotion that seemed both intrigued and absurd.
Shame washed over her, but she barely endured it.
If she thought all this hardship was for a peaceful future, she could endure anything.
Hiding her trembling heart, she looked at him without blinking once.
His slightly darkened green eyes swept over her body again.
Unlike before, his gaze descended without hesitation, down, down, until it fixed on her pale insteps.
"If you're trying to provoke me, I think you've made a rather mistaken choice."
"...That's a problem for me to handle. It has nothing to do with you, right?"
At Yevgenia's thorny words, Yulan let out a pfft, a laugh escaping.
That alone made the air in the room feel like it had instantly turned cold.
"Alright, then let's be clear about this one thing before we proceed."
"...What is it?"
"That this is merely an act for a commission, mutually agreed upon by both parties."
It was a pointed statement.
Raising one eyebrow slightly, Yevgenia spoke with a mix of awkwardness and annoyance.
"You're not saying this because you're afraid I'll fall for you after one time and start chasing you around, are you?"
"...Well, I can't say no."
Yulan shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly as if to prove a point.
Gently rubbing Yevgenia's nape, who was speechless with absurdity, he brought his head closer and lightly bit her soft earlobe.
"Euk..."
A small moan escaped Yevgenia as she instinctively hunched her shoulders.
Into her sensitized ear flowed Yulan's low voice.
"I'm a bit confident, so I think it'll be very hard to find another man after me."
"What does, what does that mean, hih!"
A hot tongue licked up the curve of her ear.
With each movement of the wet, soft thing, a moist sound resonated.
Goosebumps rose from her nape all the way down her spine.
Yevgenia's flailing hand hastily grabbed Yulan's shoulder.
Then, suddenly, a firm arm wrapped around her waist and her body was hoisted up.
"...!"
They say when you're too shocked, no sound comes out.
That was exactly Yevgenia's situation right now.
A young lady of a nation being carried around like a sack of grain.
Her face flushed crimson, Yevgenia struggled and thumped Yulan's shoulder, thump, thump.
"Put me, down! I'll go on my own, just..."
"Wow, your hands are fiercer than I thought, Young Lady."
"Then put me down!"
But Yulan remained perfectly composed, to the point of startling even the struggling Yevgenia.
Even as she literally twisted her whole body, he didn't drop her, nor did he even sway.
By the time Yulan put Yevgenia down, it was after he had already arrived at his destination.
Placing his hands on either side of Yevgenia's thighs and meeting her eyes, he spoke.
"If you want to turn back even now, say so. I'll send you off cleanly. How about it?"
"Ah, and we'll treat it as if the commission never happened?"
Yulan answered with a soundless smile instead.
Offended, Yevgenia defiantly pulled down the shoulder straps of her chemise.
"If you back down here, you're not a man either. Got it?"
Along with a rather provocative statement.
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