Chapter 32

Briseyes bit Callisten’s hand as it pressed inside her mouth. He acted as if it didn’t bother him, trembling from pain for a different reason.

Yet he remained like that.

“My hands are all callused, so biting is useless.”

When she bit harder, he smiled more ecstatically. He felt her biting teeth with his fingertips and exhaled a sigh.

“Bite with your canines. Harder.”

She realized this was what he wanted and stopped biting.

“You like being bitten?”

“Yes, if it’s by you.”

“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep. I’m really sleepy.”

She said this even though she wasn’t sleepy. Her heart was pounding, perhaps from surprise, but his loud, thumping heartbeat was more audible than her own.

She actually became calmer because of the two mismatched heartbeats.

The beast before her was a beast with a leash. A beast that wouldn’t remove its leash unless she removed it.

This beast would stay in place even if its leash was removed, as long as she didn’t permit it to move.

But it was a monster that would try to become the master the moment it desired its owner.

She looked at him coldly and turned over again.

“If you annoy me one more time, I’ll throw you out.”

“Okay.”

He embraced her waist and buried his nose in her shoulder. He tried hard to suppress his trembling as he released warm breaths on her shoulder.

Although her swelling had subsided considerably, his attitude remained the same.

Perhaps Callisten’s desire for her was just about wanting to possess an object rather than her as a person.

This thought made her feel unpleasant.

Yet she was also in a contradictory state of feeling reassured by his ordinary attitude. It was like that now too. Despite being so swollen she didn’t want to go outside, he treated her as before while unable to hide his desire.

“Can I bite your shoulder?”

“I told you I’d throw you out if you misbehaved.”

“Then can’t you bite my shoulder?”

She didn’t feel bad about this request, so she turned around.

“You’re really something, even when I look like this.”

“What do you mean ‘like this’? Like a fluffy rabbit?”

She sighed at his expression as he looked at her. Then she pressed his shoulder with her palm.

“You want me to bite through your clothes?”

“No? I was pushing you away.”

“Wouldn’t that feel unpleasant? Do it on my bare skin, not through clothes.”

“You think I would?”

“I’ll undress quickly.”

Despite her refusal, he quickly unbuttoned his shirt. He carelessly threw it on the floor and looked at her with an expectant expression.

“Go away. Now that you’ve taken off your clothes, you’re really creepy.”

She said this sincerely.

In truth, “creepy” was a lie; she said it because he felt threatening.

“Why? Isn’t this the body you like? I thought you liked knights’ bodies?”

“……”

“You especially look closely at arm muscles.”

“……”

“Look. I have a lot of veins on the back of my hand too. Just as you like.”

“Just, stop.”

“If you bite me.”

She sighed and considered throwing him out, but she felt conflicted because she didn’t want to cause gossip by throwing out someone who had already removed his top.

It could also interfere with her divorce if she threw him out now.

So she turned to look at him and had to sit up.

As she sat, his body illuminated by moonlight seemed too visible.

His bright red eyes, clear even with the lights off, seemed to pierce through her thoughts. She couldn’t meet his gaze. Looking down at his neck, she saw his Adam’s apple beautifully positioned on his thick neck. His Adam’s apple slightly bobbed as if he found it ecstatic that she was looking at him.

Then there were his large pectoral muscles that rose and fell with each breath, perfectly divided in the middle. It seemed that if he sweated, the sweat would flow perfectly down between his chest and onto his abs, as if a water path had been created.

His abs were also perfect. They were so well-formed, balanced, and beautiful, as if perfect stones had been placed to create them.

What caught her attention most were his arms. His shoulders were at right angles and broad, with thick biceps, and the veins running from his elbows to the backs of his hands grew thicker and thinner as he took deep breaths, conscious of her.

“You’ll bite me, right?”

When he looked at her expectantly, Briseyes reached out her hand.

He rubbed his cheek against her palm like an obedient beast.

“Hmm? Bri.”

She sighed as if she had no choice and said:

“I told you I’d throw you out if you annoyed me.”

“I won’t annoy you anymore.”

He slowly approached her. Briseyes unconsciously tensed and frowned.

“I’ve never done this before.”

“Neither have I.”

“If you’ve never done it, how can you make such a request?”

“I don’t know. When I’m with you, it just comes to mind. This is my first time too. Wanting to be bitten.”

When he said this with a silly grin, she sighed.

“Bend down.”

“Okay.”

Callisten lowered himself to her height as she instructed. Briseyes was close enough to reach his neck.

Now that she was about to bite, his neck seemed thick and his shoulders connected to it looked intimidating.

She frowned deeper and pressed with her hand before saying:

“I think my teeth will break if I bite this.”

“They won’t. Try it.”

“You said you’ve never been bitten, so how do you know?”

“Because it’s not that hard? The neck is an easy place to cut with a knife. The torso is difficult.”

“I told you not to say creepy things.”

“Sorry. I said that because I’m nervous.”

She pressed his neck again and gasped. What on earth was she about to do?

“I’m going to sleep now. If you speak to me one more time, I’ll throw you out.”

“You won’t do it?”

“No.”

“Okay, then.”

“Put your clothes on.”

“Yes.”

When she lay down on the bed, he put on all his clothes that were scattered on the floor, the vest hanging on the rack, and his coat and cape, then came behind Briseyes. He pulled up the sheet and covered both her and himself.

“Isn’t the bed narrow? You should come closer this way to use more space.”

“I told you not to speak.”

“Yes, sorry.”

She felt strangely embarrassed for some reason.

Her cheeks were hot, and she worried he might notice her strange breathing.

At the same time, she was relieved that her strangeness wouldn’t be noticed because of his own strange reactions.

The medicine she was taking included sleeping pills.

Soon Briseyes was able to fall asleep. However, while she slept, he couldn’t easily fall asleep due to the blood rushing to his body.

Even though she hadn’t done anything, she felt strange, as if she had done something bad.

⁕⁕⁕

Briseyes was dreaming.

Perhaps because Callisten had embraced her as she slept, she was dreaming about him.

“Congratulations, Cal.”

Callisten was fourteen years old at that time. It was the day he had caught a wolf in a hunting competition to get the Emperor Father’s attention.

Then he asked the emperor for what he most wanted.

“Isn’t that what our brother was aiming for?”

An eagle.

“Yes, this is the offspring of the eagle my father raised.”

Callisten was smiling. The eagle, which was just beginning to be trained and growing in size, was very obedient to people.

But its ankle had to be tied. A bird that wasn’t fully trained would return to nature the moment its string was untied.

— Peep!

“What are you doing?”

However, Callisten threw away the cage containing the baby eagle and said:

“Now that I have it, I don’t need it anymore.”

He looked at Briseyes with mad eyes and smiled.

“Why? Shouldn’t you cherish something once you have it?”

“No. Then it no longer interests me.”

At that moment, she woke up from her sleep.

“Ha.”

She woke up from an unpleasant dream, only to see Callisten looking at her with the same expression.

“Aren’t you going to the Academy?”

“I should go, but I don’t want to. I want to see you sleeping more.”

“Go right now. Go and study.”

“Okay, I will. I’ll study and come back to explain it to you again.”

“Don’t come.”

“Okay, I’ll come later.”

Callisten got up from the bed with a bright smile at her words.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Are you crazy? Get away right now.”

He stared at her intently before smiling and moving away. Briseyes glared at him and then sighed.

“I feel like a husband being seen off in the morning. I’m so happy.”

“Disappear quickly, please.”

She felt strange, perhaps because of the dream and his bare upper body she had seen yesterday.

He slowly moved to go outside, and as he reached for the door, he turned around to look at her.

“Bri, isn’t it uncomfortable to wash here?”

“…It is uncomfortable. But not as much as you.”

He was so pleased by those words that he smiled ecstatically again and said:

“Then I’ll help you wash later.”

“…What?”

“Want to shower together?”

His eyes, truly, had been the same since the day he first saw her. Eyes of a madman, deeply filled with possessiveness.