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Swoosh.
As the wind blew, the tall grasses made a sound like waves and laid down.
Dietrian said nothing.
The longer the silence stretched, the more parched Leticia’s mouth became.
Maybe this isn’t right after all.
She thought he wouldn’t accept it easily.
Even knowing that, she couldn’t give up her desire.
They had finally met again, they couldn’t just part after promising a divorce.
Let’s leave just one good memory.
Just, one.
“……” Dietrian didn’t say anything, making her hard-earned courage seem in vain.
His icy response left her feeling a sense of loss, as if she were hollow inside.
Weakly, Leticia dropped her head.
“I’m sorry. Just pretend you didn’t hear it. If you don’t want it, we don’t have to…”
“No.”
As she was about to turn away, gathering her resolve, she heard a low response.
“I’ll do as you said.”
“……!”
Thump, her heart sank.
Dietrian slowly walked toward her.
Thump, thump.
With each approaching footstep, it felt as if the blood was draining from her body.
Barely, Leticia lifted her head.
Perhaps due to the moonlight, his features seemed deeper than before. Before she knew it, Leticia, facing him, tightly clasped her trembling hands.
Despite being the one to make the request, her mind went blank as he agreed.
His gaze briefly fell on her tightly held hands, where the back of the hand bones were prominent.
Then he softly asked.
“Are you okay with this?”
“Huh, yes?”
“Do you mind if I touch you?”
“Yes. I, I am. I am okay.”
In a fluster, Leticia nodded her head.
Dietrian, who had been carefully scrutinizing her expression, seemed relieved.
“That’s good then.”
He carefully grasped her thin wrist.
As his warm hand touched her skin, Leticia jumped in surprise.
Looking incredibly adorable, Dietrian couldn’t help but smile softly.
“Now that I’ve held your hand, what should we do next?”
“That is…….”
Startled, Leticia wet her lips. In truth, she hadn’t thought about the specifics.
It was an impulsive desire to be close to him.
Looking back, it seemed she hadn’t expected him to truly give his consent.
If that had been the case, she wouldn’t have been able to propose that they touch each other soberly.
Suddenly realizing the weight of her actions, Leticia stiffened.
Observing her, Dietrian whispered, his gaze deep.
“So, may I proceed as I wish from now on?”
“Pardon, yes?”
“You said that I needed practice, so, as I wish…….”
His long fingers slipped between hers.
His voice slightly husky, he tightened his grip on her fingers and said, “May I touch you as much as I need for practice?”
As he said this, his large hand wrapped around the back of her neck.
“Then, I’ll take it as your consent.”
And finally.
His lips descended onto her forehead.
Like a doe caught in the headlights, Leticia froze solid.
Every time his warm breath tickled her forehead, it felt as if her soul was being sucked out.
“…….”
Unaware of Leticia’s turmoil, Dietrian blinked slowly.
‘I’m happy.’
Surprisingly, he was happy.
As if the wound he had just received because of her had completely disappeared.
Of course, the words ‘divorce’ and ‘shackles’ still hurt his heart.
Nonetheless.
‘She is still adorable.’
So much that he didn’t want to give her up.
Then.
‘Maybe it’s okay to be greedy.’
She had said she didn’t love him, but she never said he couldn’t love her.
Even if she doesn’t want him now.
Eventually, he could make her want him, right?
‘Half a year.’
He couldn’t understand why the time she mentioned was half a year.
Anyway, it must mean she would prepare for their separation during that half a year.
‘If I tell her that I won’t let her go… will she be angry at me?’
Dietrian found himself inexplicably cheerful.
‘Even after half a year, I want to be by your side.’
To make that happen, there was something he had to do.
He had to do everything in his power to make her not want to leave him, to win her heart.
‘I’ll do my best to seduce you in this half a year, please, don’t push me away.’
Finally resolved, his lips descended onto various spots on her face.
She didn’t know what to do and clutched at his clothes.
Somewhere in his chest, something started to heat up.
It felt as though everything else had disappeared, leaving only him and her in this world.
Because she was so adorable.
“Leticia.”
Gazing at his own reflection in her eyes, Dietrian whispered.
“Close your eyes.”
Leticia, trembling, closed her eyes.
Looking at her long eyelashes glistening under the moonlight, he slowly lowered his head.
Their noses brushed and their breaths intertwined as they got closer.
Their lips touched.
Very softly.
* * *
Before the regression, the first night with Dietrian was a nightmare.
Not because of Dietrian.
She herself was the problem.
Dietrian did not lay a hand on her body.
“If Your Highness doesn’t want it, I won’t do anything.”
Yet, Leticia could not trust his words.
She felt that if she let her guard down even a little, he would hurt her.
“Don’t lie…! Stay away, don’t come near!”
At every gesture of Dietrian, she overreacted, pushing him away as if having a fit.
And at that moment, the tightly closed bedroom door swung open.
“Madam Leticia, what’s the matter!”
It was Josephina who had sent people to help during the first night.
In fact, helping during the first night was just an excuse.
They came just to torment Dietrian.
Josephina knew that Leticia would refuse the first night.
“Prince Dietrian!”
Josephina’s servants scolded Dietrian as soon as they saw Leticia trembling in a corner of the bed.
“What kind of rudeness have you committed to Madam Leticia! She is so upset!”
They blamed all the commotion that happened during the first night on Dietrian.
“Just like the disgusting lineage of the dragon!”
“Who do you think has kept the principality in its form as a nation so far!”
“We should always be grateful for the grace of the Holy Maiden! How dare you mistreat her daughter like this!”
Among the clergy speaking, there were none who usually showed respect to Leticia.
They had treated Leticia as trash or waste that lived off the Holy Maiden’s body all their lives.
And yet they had the audacity to criticize Dietrian.
Although he had done nothing wrong, Dietrian didn’t make any excuses.
He just bowed his head in silence.
After that incident, Dietrian never took the initiative to touch her again.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, like treating her wounds, he didn’t even approach her.
Though they shared the same bedroom, they always kept a proper distance.
Leticia too, was busy pushing him away.
At first, she was just cautious of him, but once she adapted to the principality, she was obsessed with the idea that she had to kill him.
When there wasn’t much time left for the curse, she was out of her mind fighting the pain that appeared like a seizure.
They were a couple, but they were not a proper couple.
They barely had any physical contact, let alone sexual contact.
They had held hands fewer than ten times, and had kissed only once.
Even that was not a proper kiss.
Dietrian probably didn’t even know who he was overlapping his lips with.
Because it had been like this in the past, Leticia could only be extremely nervous about her contact with him.
She tried to hold on to her sanity, but the moment their lips first met, fireworks exploded in her mind.
“……!”
She couldn’t remember much after that.
“May I touch you again?”
He seemed to ask that briefly after their first kiss.
Looking into his dark eyes that seemed to contain the night sky, Leticia lost her senses and just nodded her head.
After that, there seemed to have been a few more kisses.
He gently sucked on her lips, and when her breath grew short, he released her like a ghost.
Then, cradling her panting cheek, he kissed her face here and there.
“Leticia.”
“……”
“Leticia……”
At his yearning call, Leticia felt like her heart would burst.
She thought that her memory must be wrong.
Because she didn’t know that his voice could be so deadly.
“Look at me, Leticia.”
After that, his silent tongue intruded between her lips.
The feeling of touching a sensitive part made her stomach tighten.
It was an intense sensation that she could never get used to, no matter how many times she experienced it.
“Huh…”
In the end, Leticia’s legs gave out and she collapsed.
He very naturally caught her in his arms.
Leticia spent some time catching her breath in his embrace.
He stroked her heaving back slowly and asked,
“Is it too hard for you?”
“Well, that’s… it is.”
“You can say it comfortably. It’s okay.”
With teary eyes, Leticia buried her head in his shoulder.
Without even knowing what she was saying, she revealed her true feelings.
“It’s too much……”
“……”
“It’s because I like it too much……”
The hand that had been stroking her back hesitated, then tightly clenched her clothes.
“I can’t think straight because I like it too much……”
A moment later, a slightly hoarse voice echoed.
“……I see.”
In her daze, she thought she heard his laughter.
His hand once again cradled her cheek.
His lips sipped the flowing tears.
Looking up at the night sky with teary eyes, Leticia thought to herself.
This must be a dream. Surely, it’s a dream.
That this person would be so affectionate towards me.
The fluttering feelings are so strong I might just die.
“If you’re tired, you can lean on me.”
Dietrian gently embraced her. She felt her body, which had been tense, loosen up.
Dietrian let out a faint sigh.
‘I just can’t collect my thoughts.’
He appeared calm on the outside, but his mind was half-gone.
His memory was sporadic.
Leticia.
The stimulus of her was too strong.
It was like drinking seawater when thirsty. No matter how much he touched her, it was never enough.
If they had been indoors, he surely would have lost control.
“……?”
For a moment, he managed to hold onto his sanity and was soothing her back when he suddenly halted. Leticia’s clothes were too cold.
‘It’s like an icehouse.’
He who had been rigidly still quickly touched the back of her hand that was touching the ground.
‘My goodness.’
Her skin was even colder than her clothes. It was due to being exposed to the cold wind for too long.
His mind snapped back into focus.
He couldn’t believe that he only realized this now.
“Leticia. Aren’t you cold?”
He quickly took off his outer garment and put it on her. Due to the difference in their physique, she was fully engulfed in his coat.
As he buttoned up the coat, Leticia blinked her big eyes and asked blankly.
“……Cold?”
“You’ve been exposed to the cold wind for too long. Your body feels like an icehouse.”
“Ah……”
Dietrian tightly held her freezing hands and breathed warm air onto them.
Could her hands warm up with just his breath?
He felt anxious. His heart wanted to completely hold her in his arms and share his warmth.
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