Chapter 43
43. Bite Mark
Liana, standing at the door, felt a sense of dismay.
She had only intended to replace the water and towels in the early dawn, but she heard a stir from inside.
Liana took a deep breath and parted her lips.
"... Your Excellency, I've brought the water."
Liana waited quietly for a response, but no sound came from within.
She was sure she had heard someone, but had she been mistaken?
"Your Excellency..."
"... Come in."
A reply came from the silent interior, and Liana's fingertips trembled slightly.
She steeled herself again and carefully twisted the doorknob, pushing it open.
A subtle, sweet scent mixed with a strong musk wafted out through the opening, hitting her all at once.
It was a scent she had never smelled before, so thick it was dizzying, and strangely alluring.
Had he lit a scented candle to change the mood?
Strangely, her heart began to pound rapidly.
Liana felt a little puzzled as she cautiously stepped inside.
Shed stood by the window, his back to her, wearing a Rough gown.
The air in the room felt strangely hot.
Broken and shattered objects lay scattered on the floor.
The atmosphere emanating from his back, draped in the long gown, felt different from usual.
She also felt a little eerie.
'...It must be because of yesterday.'
Even though she had entered, he didn't turn his head or even glance at her.
It was a relief, in a way.
Liana quietly watched him, taking slow steps.
As her footsteps drew closer to the inside of the room, the figure by the window flinched.
"There... Leave it there and go."
Shed, his back still to her, spoke faster than usual.
Liana, holding the water bottle and towel, looked around.
There... Where?
He hadn't pointed anywhere, so Liana didn't quite understand what his command meant.
Therefore, she assumed he meant to put it on the side table as usual and headed towards the bed.
"Don't come any closer! Leave it there and go!"
Suddenly, Shed shouted and turned to face her.
Liana flinched in surprise and froze in place.
And she realized that his eyes were different from usual.
The purple pupils inside his bloodshot eyes gleamed strangely.
Liana was chilled by the abnormal color.
Soon, the increasingly rough breathing filled the room with heat.
His muscular, massive body swelled and contracted greatly with each labored breath.
Liana instinctively took a step back.
The moment Shed saw her frightened expression, desire erupted like a surge of nausea.
He knew.
That if he gave in to this impulse, he would surely regret it.
But then, when?
When would he ever be able to have her?
A terrible possessiveness filled his mind.
And.
"Ugh!"
His body moved faster than he thought.
With a crash, the water bottle Liana was holding shattered, wetting the floor and sending sharp shards flying.
But he didn't care and grabbed Liana's wrist.
In his gleaming eyes, a desire she had never seen before was reflected.
"Your Excellency, I'm...!"
Shed twisted his lips as he looked at the woman in his grasp.
The moment he saw those eyes, that nose, those lips, his complicated thoughts finally simplified into one.
"Come to think of it, we have nothing more to regret, do we?"
A cold, yet fiery sneer escaped from the corner of his twisted lips.
What had he been afraid of?
They already hated each other so much.
Finally, impulse overwhelmed reason.
At the same time as he was completely consumed by passion, he roughly kissed Liana's lips.
"Hngh...!"
Hot heat enveloped her lips, and a deep breath invaded her mouth.
Her skin burned wherever he touched her, due to his excessively high body temperature.
His scent flowed deep into her lungs, permeating her.
Liana felt strangely aroused by the sweeter-than-usual scent.
The unfamiliar sensation was bewildering.
So she couldn't push him away.
It was as if the feelings she had harbored years ago had awakened.
Shed savored her scent in his mouth.
Only then did his burning thirst seem to be quenched.
But one sip was far from enough.
Shed indulged in her as if he were intoxicated.
"Your Excellency...!"
Liana's body fell onto the white bedsheets under his impatient touch.
His large, strong body pinned her arms down and looked down at her.
A hot heat poured out of him.
A heavy, thick musk pressed down on her suffocatingly. It was as if she was trapped in his scent, sinking as if submerged in deep water.
Her flushed body tingled.
Emotions she couldn't even understand washed over her like a tidal wave.
Liana became terrified to the point of suffocation.
"Haa, Luise."
Shed lowered himself over her.
He had been exploring her lips, but he wanted more than that.
She was sweeter and more fragrant than in his dreams.
"Your Excellency, please..."
Liana was afraid of her abnormally rapid heartbeat.
At her trembling voice, Shed buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent deeply as if to wear it away.
Don't make that kind of voice. It makes me want to make you cry more.
Every time her trembling breath brushed against his ear, his whole body shuddered.
He was completely intoxicated by her, and when he raised his head, he saw tears welling up on Liana's pale face.
The moment their eyes met, tears, like glass beads, streamed down her cheeks.
You only cry like this when I approach you.
You didn't shed a single tear when you were bitten by the Hunting dog, or stabbed by the Heretic's knife, but my kiss makes you burst into tears so easily.
Shed wiped away her precious tears with his lips.
Then Liana turned her head away.
Shed tasted her tears on the tip of his tongue.
It should have been salty, but was the taste of hatred always this sweet?
It was so sweet that he wanted to possess all of her tears.
Shed gazed at her wet eyes, shining like glass beads.
He saw Luise's smiling face from his dreams superimposed on her.
But in reality, there was only Liana, shedding tears.
You will never smile at my kiss.
In the future, there will be no you smiling at me.
At that fact, Shed delved even deeper into her.
At his touch, she bit her lip tightly and let out intermittent breaths.
And then, as he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, Liana shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Ugh...!"
A pain-filled voice escaped through her clenched teeth.
At the same time, Shed felt a wet sensation soaking his hand.
When he took his hand off her waist, it was covered in blood.
Blood had also soaked into Liana's black maid's uniform, staining even the bedsheets red.
The bright red stain chilled Shed's head.
Her wound, which had been healing, had been reopened by his rough touch.
Only then did reason slowly return.
The blood that had been boiling hot gradually cooled.
'What am I even doing...'
He looked at the blood on his hands and moved away from Liana.
His heart was racing. With a different temperature and rhythm than the excitement from before.
Liana cowered, clutching her wounded body, and sat up.
She looked at Shed with reddened eyes.
Tears continued to fall from her eyes.
Shed flinched and stopped his hand, which had been reaching out to her tear-stained cheek.
Liana's blood was on his fingertips.
Shed hid his bloodied hand behind his back and averted his confused gaze.
"... Get out."
As the command, like a groan, was uttered through his teeth, Liana fled his room as if escaping.
The blood-stained and crumpled blanket, the sharp shards scattered on the floor, the scattered objects.
But the air, in contrast, was flawlessly clean and still, and as cold as ice.
Shed remained alone in it, clutching his trembling hands.
He had certainly thought that there was nothing more to regret.
He believed that there was nothing more to break.
He was sure that there was no deeper abyss.
But... Luise Ideana laughed at him, becoming an even deeper abyss and dropping him into it.
***
Liana, who had fled into the hallway, collapsed to the floor as if falling after only a few steps.
Her body, slumped in the dark hallway, trembled.
She clutched her lower abdomen, where the pain had worsened.
"Why..."
Her head was spinning.
She didn't understand why Shed had done that to her.
She couldn't even fathom what the hot desire in his eyes had been.
Why does he look at me with such longing, even though he doesn't like me...?
"I'll decide how you're punished."
The words he had said yesterday echoed in her mind, stuck there.
The tears, which she thought had stopped, fell in large drops onto her disheveled clothes.
Did he have to push her this far? Did he have to shake her like this?
What made her even more miserable was her heart, which reacted as if it had been tamed by his every breath.
Her mind was clouded by his thick scent, and her body was aroused as if responding to his desire.
She hadn't resisted properly, and her pale fingertips had grasped at him.
Without uttering a single word of refusal.
In that moment, she remembered.
A very old and worn-out fantasy.
The days when she had dreamed of kissing him in the same bed, sharing love, and sharing a warm blanket.
Shed's touch seemed to mock her ugly desires.
As if to say, 'You betrayed and abandoned me, but you're reacting so easily, aren't you?'
'You're succumbing to my kiss.'
Every moment she became aware of the contradiction in her emotions, her heart felt as if it was being torn to shreds.
The pain of the day her father had stabbed her in the chest was preferable.
"No, Luise. You can't do that..."
Liana bit her lip.
Don't dream.
Don't even think about a happy future or love.
You are Luise Ideana.
Liana constantly reminded herself of who she was.
At that moment.
"Miss Liana?"
A light approached from the darkness, and a familiar voice was heard.
Liana raised her head and hurriedly got to her feet.
But her weakened legs failed to support her properly, and she staggered.
"Are you alright?"
A kind hand supported her.
Eclaus looked at her, holding a lantern.
His gaze checked her reddened eyes, and then he discovered her reopened wound on her waist.
"The wound...!"
Liana wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head.
"I'm fine."
Eclaus frowned as Liana stepped back.
His red eyes stopped at her neck.
Liana hid the marks left on her white neck with her fingertips.
But it wasn't just her neck that needed to be hidden.
The large handprints left on her wrist, her disheveled hair and clothes.
His gaze, having confirmed the series of evidence, turned towards Shed's bedroom.
"Don't tell me... Did Duke Lester do this?"
There was a noticeable lack of the usual gentle warmth in Eclaus's voice, having grasped the whole story.
