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Because I failed to control my strength, my own fist felt numb from the impact.
The softer cheek, however, was already flushing with a reddish heat.
Yulan, whose head had been slightly knocked aside, slowly brought it back to center and let out a small smirk while touching her cheek.
“Is this a tax?”
“Ha!”
“I admit I deserved it. But I think this is far better than deceiving someone with talk of love or whatever.”
Her words were utterly cold.
Yet, I couldn't bring myself to deny it.
I had slapped her because I felt a surge of anger at her tone—treating me like an object rather than a human being, speaking of 'conquest' and such...
'If Yulan had instead told me she had fallen in love with me, I wouldn't have slapped her; I would have left this place immediately without looking back.'
The burning emotions of 'Yevgenia' cooled instantly the moment reason returned.
I couldn't possibly trust a passion that was clearly lacking—one that couldn't even light a single match, let alone a fire.
I would rather believe she was playing with me, mocking my past obsession with Raymond, than feel any flutter of excitement.
But that was only the calculation that came when I thought logically.
“Can you not act without calculating everything?”
When I asked, not hiding my feeling of exhaustion, Yulan responded with a light shrug.
“I was born with such blood in my veins.”
“It's a pity I can't put you on trial for insulting the Imperial Family.”
“Surprisingly, you aren't the first to tell me that.”
“I imagine not...”
With a cold, clear head, I stared silently at Yulan.
She clearly knew exactly what effect her words, actions, and expressions had.
If she truly intended to seduce me, she would have succeeded without giving me a single moment to notice.
The fact that she stubbornly continued down this path of being unlikeable showed her resolve—at least, that she had no intention of using honeyed traps on me.
With a deep sigh, I shook off the remaining lingering emotions.
In the end, the important thing was avoiding the engagement with Raymond.
For that, it didn't matter if the person playing my lover was Sol, Yulan, or even a passing beggar.
“...Can you really do this properly?”
It was essentially a declaration of surrender.
Yulan was not one to miss such a cue, and an annoyingly satisfied smile spread across her face.
Her hand, which had remained steady even when hit by my fist, pulled my waist in tighter.
We were so close that I could feel each other's heartbeats through our chests.
Without even meeting my eyes, she whispered like a breath.
“Zhenya, please allow yourself to me. Let only my image be reflected in your eyes, only my scent fill your lungs, and only my breath touch your lips. Please, do that for me, hm?”
A low voice that seemed to boil up from the depths of the earth.
I felt a dizzying sense of obsession masked as a terrible affection for me.
Contrary to the infinitely polite sentences spilling from her lips, the hand subtly groping my waist and sliding downward was utterly rude.
Perhaps because of that, I was able to answer in a voice that didn't waver at all.
“Perfect. You didn't reject the others for nothing. Your acting skills are superb.”
“...Well, I didn't get this position for free.”
“Just do this in front of my father. When are you free? Tomorrow? Or the day after?”
As the conversation shifted instantly to business, Yulan seemed deflated and quickly returned to a serious expression.
After a moment of thought, as if reviewing her schedule, she spoke.
“If no further preparation is needed, there's no need to waste time. Tomorrow, I'll go to the Duke's residence to coincide with the time the Duke leaves the palace.”
“Fine. ...By the way, what do you want as payment for this request?”
Originally, this task was meant for someone other than Yulan.
Thus, I hadn't thought of any special reward.
If it were an ordinary commoner, they would have gladly accepted almost anything Yevgenia could provide—money, a title, land, a house.
Looking down at my face, she suddenly grinned.
I felt an ominous vibe from those slightly curved green eyes.
Unfortunately, my bad instincts had never been wrong.
“Among the methods for erasing a name, there's one we haven't tried yet.”
“...Surely not.”
“As a clever Imperial Princess, you must remember the criteria I mentioned before, right?”
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it until she brought it up again.
Understandably so, as it was a story she had rambled on about while I was bowing before her, right before an utterly vulgar act.
Personally, I had a slight suspicion that she had made the story up just to play some trick.
But the criteria she mentioned—that is.
“The longer the contact between mucous membranes, the more... um, indecent the act is.”
I couldn't bring myself to say words like 'deep contact,' so I phrased it vaguely.
At that, Yulan burst out laughing, but I couldn't find it funny at all.
Fortunately, she only laughed and didn't interrupt, allowing me to barely finish my sentence with a stiff expression.
“...You said the pain disappears and the pleasure intensifies.”
“I'll give you 120 out of 100. An answer that's even entertaining; it wouldn't be a waste to give you the top rank in your grade.”
“I'm not happy at all to be praised for something like this.”
I touched my cheeks, which were burning hot with embarrassment.
We had tried overlapping our bodies, and I had unilaterally done, um, anyway, that kind of thing to her, so all that remained was the opposite.
With a reluctant expression, I looked straight at her and asked.
“Are you... really going to do it?”
“Hmm.”
“I mean, I'm in favor of erasing the name, but this kind of... intimate contact is a bit...”
“A bit, what?”
“...A bit too embarrassing.”
My heart, which had been weighing 'shameful' against 'embarrassing,' tipped sharply toward the latter.
I was one thing, but wasn't Yulan also using her own body for the experiment?
If I described this 'experiment' as shameful, it felt like I was simply criticizing her.
...Judging by her smirking expression, it seems that was a very useless bit of consideration.
“Then, for the sake of the shy Imperial Princess, shall I accept something else?”
“I'm not shy...!”
“You're not?”
Feeling as though my inner thoughts had been laid bare, I reflexively countered, but no other word came to mind to correct it.
So, I could only open and close my mouth repeatedly before shutting it again.
Somehow, her smile seemed to deepen.
The hand positioned between my waist and hips tightened its grip.
I felt like prey caught in a spider's web.
As if ready to devour the prey at any moment, her other hand quickly moved up and lightly gripped my chin.
Her voice flowed through my naturally parted lips.
“Such a naive Imperial Princess.”
“...”
“Since you're acting so cute, I might let you off with just one kiss.”
Every single word was grating.
However, overwhelmed by the intense emotion contained in that voice—which sounded like a low growl scraping the floor—my body didn't move a single finger.
At a distance so close that the fine hairs of our noses touched, her command fell.
“Kiss me, Princess.”
“...Ugh.”
“Before my patience runs out.”
Ah, right.
The terrible emotion that had been lying beneath her voice.
Its name was desire.
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