Thump—

 

Hissin pushed at her waist and filled Dahlia’s inside. 

 

As she half recoiled her body, a reddened, chafed phallus, wet with fresh fluid, came into view. 

 

The fierce veins bulging along the shaft were taut as if about to burst, and a pain that surpassed pleasure was pulling her lower body tightly.

 

But Hissin did not want to easily end this sadistic relationship. 

 

Even if it meant pushing himself to the very limit of his limit, he wanted to imprint himself deeply upon Dahlia.

 

So, he wanted to bind her so she could never again even think of escaping from him. 

 

Even if she shuddered and loathed him, even if she looked down on him with contempt worse than for a worm, he wanted to wrap around and seize the struggling her, branding her as his.

 

Hissin poured all his heat into the thoroughly disheveled Dahlia beneath him. Her body, now free of the red patches, was covered in new red marks he had bitten and sucked to imprint. 

 

Seeing Dahlia filled entirely with only his marks, he suddenly wanted to cry.

 

Was it joy? Sorrow? Self-loathing? Resentment?

 

A complex emotion, impossible to define by any single word, washed over them like a wave, sinking them into a deep abyss.

 

Since when did I come to desire you to this extent? 

 

Clearly, at first, it was a petty feeling born from a desire for revenge.

 

Daring to toy with you, who recklessly saved my life without knowing anything, wanting to possess and play with you like a pretty bead I found by chance, merely wanting to see you break down so miserably.

 

Just when did you take such deep root within me?

 

[Just crossing a single line, yet the sky looks so different, as if I’ve come to another world. It feels like the stars are about to pour down…]

 

Dahlia’s faded voice lingered in his ear. That which had been drifting vaguely now poured over Hissin like a flowing Milky Way.

In this moment, Hissin felt nothing else mattered. 

 

Baran could disappear, Zenna could disappear, Mohron could disappear. His damned ability that extinguished Zennna, along with her holy power, could disappear. 

 

The red patches and healing and such, throw them to the dogs.

 

If only we could remain, simply as one man and one woman, desiring each other.

 

As much as I desire you… If only you would want me to.

 

“Ugh, hng, nggh…!”

 

With the violent thrusting of his hips, Dahlia’s face was pressed into the pillow. 

 

Hissin savagely broke the cord binding her wrists and pulled both arms back like reins. Then, as if driving a horse, he began thrusting roughly, spurring her on.

“Haah, hnnn, ah, ahhh!”

 

As the pace quickened, Dahlia’s moans also gradually rose in pitch. 

 

The slapping sound of wet flesh rubbing, the tack-tack-tack sound of the joining parts colliding, mixed with her sobs, heightened the intensity.

 

“Haahng!”

 

“Nggh…!”

 

As Dahlia’s body clenched powerfully once more, Hissin also reached his hot climax.

 

Hissin held Dahlia’s back, breathing raggedly. Each time her flesh, still lingering in the aftermath of climax, tightly squeezed his member, his swollen phallus, as if spewing it out, poured the remaining seed inside her. 

 

Even liking this damned contact, Hissin held Dahlia a little tighter.

 

Plop, plip-plop—

 

Transparent droplets fell sporadically onto his forearm. Tears were pouring incessantly from between the strands of Dahlia’s long, disheveled hair.

Hissin let out a hot breath and slowly withdrew from her. 

 

Whew—an indistinguishable sound, part moan, part sob, burst from Dahlia’s mouth.

 

As if she now lacked even the strength to resist, Dahlia turned limply as Hissin shifted, ending up sitting back against him, held in his embrace like a child. Her face, smeared with sweat and tears, looked utterly exhausted, as if she might slump into a deep sleep any moment.

 

Hissin adjusted his posture so Dahlia could lean against him comfortably. Then, he wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, which were so exhausted they couldn’t even focus properly. 

 

Soon, fresh tears welled up and trailed down the outer corners of her eyes, but before they could even reach her temples, they vanished against his fingertips.

 

“You must feel wronged and angry.”

 

Hissin’s voice, rough and cracked, flowed out low.

 

“Sorry for bearing guilt for a crime you didn’t commit, yet also confused because you despise the me who deceived you enough to want to kill me.”

 

As he combed her disheveled hair back behind her ears, her wet pupils shook pitifully.

 

However, her body, having gone without food for so long, had become extremely fragile to withstand such intense passion, and her wavering gaze was gradually sinking beyond consciousness, trying to fall asleep.

 

“Endure it. Endure it and stay by my side.”

 

Hissin stared straight into her eyes, which were growing increasingly hazy, as if to imprint himself within them.

 

“That is the punishment I impose upon you.”

 

“I… to you…”

 

Dahlia, who had been trying to say something, ultimately could not overcome the sleep that washed over her and escaped into unconsciousness. 

 

Feeling her body, gradually losing its strength, leaning deeply against him, Hissin quietly embraced her. Her soft, even breath scattered delicately against her damp skin.

 

“If watching you not accept me is the punishment… then with that, I will also atone to you for the sin of taking Baran from you.”

 

Hissin held the sleeping Dahlia for a long time, gazing upon the sin he had inscribed.

 

💫

 

Blink, blink—

 

The child’s round eyes slowly blinked. In this room containing only a bed, a table, and one chair attached to that table, Bertha had now spent ten days and then two more.

 

Bertha sat on the edge of the bed, stroking her hair, which was cut short around her ears. 

 

The hair that Dahlia had carefully, if clumsily, cut for her had not been tended to for days and was sticking out in all directions.

 

When she was first brought to Mohron, she thought she was as good as dead.

 

A country leading the infamous Moon Lions had invaded Baran, and they were said to be people whose homeland had been destroyed by Baran. She thought anyone from Baran would be slaughtered without exception or subjected to terrible torture.

 

But while being taken by the Moon Lions, Bertha saw unbelievable things. 

 

Unlike the capital, devastated overnight by the battle with rebels, the outside world seemed utterly unaware, endlessly tranquil.

 

Occasionally, imperial citizens had emerged, startled by the sudden commotion, but the Moon Lions not only did not attack them, they even avoided them. 

 

The only things consumed by the flames in Baran were the imperial palace and the houses of the corrupt nobility.

 

[Do not touch the villages! Once they know the country has fallen, they will naturally scatter!]

 

Bertha had heard Hissin, the fake Gift of God and master of the Moon Lions, shout that clearly. 

 

It couldn’t be, but somehow, Bertha felt he was shouting that way, as if demanding someone—not the Moon Lions, but someone else—to listen.

 

Perhaps her thoughts were correct. She had regained consciousness just as they were leaving the capital, and even from that moment, the Moon Lions had been avoiding innocent imperial citizens. 

 

Thinking her family was safe, Bertha’s heart felt somewhat relieved just from that.

 

Perhaps his target from the beginning was not all of Baran, but only the imperial family.

 

“Her Royal Highness the Princess…”

 

At the end of her thoughts, Dahlia’s face surfaced, and Bertha’s eyes welled up with tears again. 

 

The last she remembered of Dahlia was her being held unconscious in Hissin’s arms. Whether due to a severe skin condition, her body and face were covered in red spots as Dahlia lay limp and powerless.

 

Had she perhaps been gravely injured during the war? 

 

Bertha had cried out and pleaded to be sent to her Highness, but the horse carrying Hissin and Dahlia was already far away by then.

 

After arriving in Mohron, it had been like this ever since.

 

Too cozy to be a prison, too ordinary a room to have a door that wouldn’t open from the inside. 

 

Here, Bertha received two light meals a day and a time that seemed to stand still.

 

Thud, thud, thud—

 

Footsteps could be heard from beyond the door, which didn’t have great soundproofing. 

 

It seemed Hovan, the bad Hovan who had deceived them all, was bringing her meal again.

Bertha turned her body sharply, putting her back to the door. 

 

In a way, Hovan was an even worse person than Hissin. After all, he was the one who had deceived everyone for a full ten years.

 

‘Her Royal Highness the Princess relied on Priest Hovan so much… and for such a person to be a spy who came to destroy Baran…’

 

The sense of betrayal was indescribable for Bertha, too. 

 

She didn’t know what his intention was in keeping her alive like this, but if it was to win her over, she was absolutely determined not to listen.

 

She had to remain a person of Baran to the end, no. 

 

A person of Her Royal Highness, the Princess. Because that was what was best for the Princess.

 

Creeeak, the sound of the door opening came from behind her. 

 

Bertha outright pulled the blanket over her head and lay down, turning away. 

 

Crying, cursing, and struggling had elicited no reaction whatsoever, so now she had made up her mind to simply ignore Hovan.

 

Thud, thud, thud—

 

This time, however, the footsteps approaching were slightly heavier than usual. 

 

Had a soldier from the door brought her meal today instead of Hovan? 

 

Quietly straining her ears from under the blanket, a suddenly familiar voice called to her.

 

“Were you the lady-in-waiting who attended the Princess closely?”

 

Bertha’s eyes flew open, and she pushed the blanket aside to look back.

 

Hissin was there. The false Gift of God, the devil who deceived Baran, the master leading the Moon Lions.

 

Remembering how he had turned Dahlia’s victory into a sea of blood in an instant, Bertha was abruptly terrified. 

 

Unable to even flee, she froze, staring up at him.

 

Hissin gazed at the pale-faced Bertha with impassive eyes and asked again.

 

“The Princess has been refusing food for a long time, and her condition is not good.”

 

“Your…?”