Translator: Nox

Chapter 27

She was utterly consumed by the lips that had drawn close without a sound. Their noses brushed lightly, and their breaths mingled. With her arms wrapped around River Ross’s bare neck, Vanessa savored the sweet waves he brought crashing over her.

Lifting her body effortlessly into the air, he guided her to wrap her legs around his waist. Having lost all other means of support, Vanessa clung to him desperately, pressing her entire body against his. Their lips intertwined even more deeply.

The shoes that had been dangling precariously from her toes finally fell to the floor with a thud. Their thin layers of clothing were completely disheveled, and the friction between their chests and bellies was naked and raw. Their sweat-slicked skin felt like small, sticky suckers pulling them together. When Vanessa let out a shallow, trembling moan as she gasped for air, he drank it down sweetly.

Wet, tangled, and sticky, they collapsed onto the bed together. Their hearts pounded as if they might burst, fueled by the overwhelming heat. When Vanessa twisted her body as if trying to flee, River gently held her waist.

“You said… you were going to wash up…”

When she asked as if resentful of how quickly things had escalated, he pressed his body down against her slender back and bit her earlobe.

“Because you looked at me like that.”

“…Ah, hng…”

“Like you wanted me to do this right now.”

The laughter laced in his crude words was tender.

---

“My voice is completely… hoarse.”

Vanessa frowned, testing her voice with a few raspy sounds. Her throat felt severely swollen. It seemed that suppressing her moans had put too much strain on her vocal cords.

“There was no need to hold it back.”

“But what if we were caught?”

“I thought you wanted to be caught eventually?”

“Well, eventually… yes.”

“Then why?”

“If we’re caught now, you’ll be in danger.”

At her words, River Ross looked back at her. One of his eyebrows was arched skeptically.

“Just make as much noise as you want rather than hurting yourself.”

And if we really get caught, and my uncle ends up hurting you, then what… Vanessa quietly suppressed the retort that had risen to the tip of her tongue.

Perhaps River Ross just wanted to pretend to worry about her. Maybe he was just acting the part of a devoted lover in this false relationship without actually wanting to be discovered. Her thoughts, which had turned cynical before she knew it, bordered on an inferiority complex. Vanessa swallowed a sigh and nodded readily.

“I’ll do that next time.”

His eyes narrowed as if doubting her sincerity, but then a mischievous smile played on his lips.

“You’re planning to sleep with me next time, too?”

“…Summer is still far from over.”

“Ah, summer.”

“I don’t mean anything else by it; it’s just the nature of our deal. Regardless of whether I like it or not.”

“You’re getting long-winded, Vanessa.”

The hand holding her slender wrist tightened slightly.

“Was it so bad that you don’t even want to think about a next time?”

His gaze, which had turned serious in an instant, was heavy. The man who had been teasing her so relentlessly had vanished, replaced by a face that was nothing but composed and upright. Normally, she would have pretended not to hear and moved on, but when he asked with such a serious expression, she found herself helpless. It was a habit she’d had since childhood.

Had he suddenly remembered that weakness of hers? Vanessa averted her eyes and mumbled in a tiny voice.

“…It was good. Of course.”

It was just a simple sentence, yet she felt mortally embarrassed. But the moment she met his face, now wearing a boyish smile, everything felt alright—no calculations were necessary. It didn’t seem to matter anymore how foolish she appeared or how mad for a man she seemed.

Suddenly sensing a change in the wind, River Ross looked toward the horizon. His hair, dark as a raven’s wing, fell softly over his forehead.

Above the rosebushes in the garden, where the early evening moon hung, fireflies that had emerged ahead of their time began to take flight one by one. It was a magical moment, like the foam of waves breaking against rocks. For a heartbeat, she felt the unreal illusion that time was slowing down.

Vanessa took in the sight without so much as a blink. Did he always look like that when he was catching the sea breeze on a ship?

“……”

Sometimes, she fell under the illusion that he might feel the same way she did. Lately, River Ross had been acting as tenderly as if they were truly lovers.

He craved her several times a day, and no matter how many times they did it, he clung to her relentlessly, like a parched man quenching an unyielding thirst. He often acted as though this summer would never end. As if this relationship would go on forever. As if it weren’t a contract.

I certainly wanted something like that.

But every time she tried to gauge the extent of his sincerity, disillusionment followed. At some point, trying to distinguish between ‘pretending’ and ‘not pretending’ began to feel like a fool’s errand.

Did River Ross even know? Did he know the kind of look he gave her sometimes…?

“……”

The touch of his lips on her forehead while she slept, his hand brushing away the heat, the sound of his footsteps moving quietly so as not to wake her—there was no calculation in any of those efforts.

One night, he had smiled without even realizing it, only to be startled by the fact that he was smiling and rub his mouth with his hand. Whenever those moments felt like evidence, Vanessa would pinch her thigh until it hurt. Just like now.

This is all a lie. An illusion, a dream.

She had pinched her thigh so often whenever she felt herself being swept away by him that it had become a habit. That was how sweet yet fleeting her time with River Ross was. And sometimes, that made her feel extremely anxious.

They had both agreed to hold opposite ends of the string, but when she came to her senses, she realized she was the only one floundering, clinging to this loose connection. Whenever River Ross tugged on his end as if suddenly remembering he held it, she was dragged along without even a hint of resistance. Like a dog on a leash, unable to hide her own feverish gaze…

Vanessa bit her lip. It bothered her that her face was likely flushed a foolish red. Only then did she regain some of her composure.

“Let’s go back now, River.”

Vanessa stopped in her tracks and lightly shook off River Ross’s hand.

“There’s no trail past here. It’s a patrol zone for the guards, so someone might see us.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“You said you wanted to see the circus.”

“But it’s impossible to go out now. I haven’t even gotten permission from my uncle yet…”

Tilting her head at his incomprehensible words, a single possibility suddenly occurred to Vanessa. Wait, surely he didn’t mean…

“…Surely, River Ross, you aren’t suggesting we climb the wall?”

“Something like that.”

“Ri—River. Wait a minute.”

Vanessa hurriedly grabbed River Ross’s sleeve. He arched an eyebrow at her face, which had turned pale in an instant.

“You don’t understand yet, but there will be real trouble if we’re caught leaving without permission… You could get seriously hurt.”

River Ross listened to her words and then laughed as if it were the most absurd and amusing thing he’d heard. It was a smile that made him feel very much like a young boy.

“Then we just have to not get caught.”

“…Even if we climb the wall, there are no carriages or cars to take us to the city of Bath. And our clothes are a mess right now.”

“Your clothes? Why?”

“Because of what happened earlier… The seams on my skirt are pulled… and two buttons are missing from my shirt…”

Vanessa’s voice trailed off. Though her outfit looked fine at a glance after she’d tidied herself, it was unsuitable for going out. Anyone with a sharp eye would immediately realize what they had been doing. She needed to get back to her room as soon as possible to sew those buttons back on.

“If I go back to change, it’ll be too late anyway. And if I suddenly put on outdoor clothes after my other ones were ruined, Mary will definitely be suspicious.”

“Fine, then.”

River Ross replied nonchalantly, looking as if he had nothing to lose.

“If you don’t want to, we won’t.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to…”

After hesitating for a long moment, Vanessa finally looked up with a determined face.

“No. I’ll go.”

She felt that if she missed this chance, she would regret it for a long time. She had resolved to do everything she wanted to do this summer, after all. River Ross gave a small smile at her firm resolve. Vanessa walked close beside him, almost skipping to keep up.

He found a path covered in bushes and tall grass. There were signs that the overgrown grass had been trampled just a few days ago. Perhaps he climbed over the wall often, as there wasn’t a hint of tension on his face as he walked ahead.

“Are you really going to climb this wall? The spikes on top of the iron fence are sharp; it won’t be easy…”

“We don’t have to climb the wall. I know a way out.”

“Is it like a secret passage? How did you find it?”

“Mr. Ross told me.”

Mr. Ross. Vanessa faltered for a moment at the formal title, which created a sense of distance as if he were referring to a mere employee.

“…I’ve felt this for a while, but why do you call your uncle so coldly? You’re family.”

Only then did he glance down at Vanessa while continuing to walk forward.

“Do you feel a great deal of affection for your uncle?”

“That’s… honestly, that’s difficult.”

Vanessa added sheepishly, her cheeks flushing slightly as if she’d admitted to a great flaw.

“But Mr. Ross is a truly good man. And it’s not like I call my uncle ‘Mr. Somerset’…”

“Come this way.”

He took Vanessa’s arm and pulled her slightly toward him. Vanessa, whose cheeks had flushed reflexively, looked up at him with a strange sense of dissonance. She didn’t know why, but he seemed displeased with the topic.

Vanessa followed him, her mouth clamped shut. Eventually, they arrived at the western outer wall of Gloucester Castle. The iron fence, densely covered in ivy, looked to be about twice her height.

“…There’s really a secret passage here?”

It was the moment she asked, her voice full of doubt. Startled by a faint sound like metal rubbing against metal, she turned her head to see River Ross pulling hard on the bars.

“Good heavens, River…”

She was about to stop him, worried he would hurt himself. To her surprise, the iron bars slid out, revealing a gap wide enough for a person to pass through.