The Lady Of The Red Moon (15)

“That was a pointless question. Sigh. As expected of a spirit beast.”

Liris checked her now-familiar outfit once more, then picked up Aaron and left the room. Since she planned to stay inside the fortress, she wore a thick ankle-length dress with her cloak pulled low over it.

She worried that dressing so comfortably was making her gain weight. No matter how careful she tried to be, Kaiston fed her too indulgently. The excuse was that he took her every day from early evening to past midnight, so she needed the calories, but in truth she didn’t move that wildly. It was clearly overeating compared to the calories burned.

Her days in the fortress were simple. She saw off her master, who left before dawn, slept until morning, then ate the breakfast the servant left at the door. Later, she walked the fortress grounds, pouring sacred power into the barren soil. She planned to cultivate flower beds next spring—plant fruit trees, medicinal herbs, and flowering trees. Fortunately, the potted plants she was testing in her room were growing well.

If she wandered the fortress that way, Kaiston eventually came to fetch her. He tried to always eat with her. The fare was the same as the knights’ communal meals, but somehow hers seemed to get extra care: stews with more meat than broth, sandwiches piled so high you couldn’t take a single bite. He only seemed satisfied once she’d really had her fill. She guessed it was because Kaiston found it amusing to see her usually slim belly become rounded.

Then came afternoon. She checked the infirmary to see if any knights were being treated, but fortunately it was empty today.

Liris headed to the fortress library. Any knight could enter and read or watch on the viewing stones as if it were their own. The first time she had dropped in with little expectation, she was surprised at how large it was and then again at the sheer volume of miscellaneous books. One shelf even held numerous viewing stones with preserved footage—and the content was all sexual in nature. Luckily, she visited during the knights’ training hours, so she’d never run into anyone while leafing through those embarrassing things.

Liris wondered what on earth Kaiston had studied to learn about relations between men and women. She started coming here in secret because she knew she couldn’t stay as she was. If she kept being swept along by him, she’d literally become his ‘slave.’

She set Aaron down and flopped onto a plush sofa in the corner of the library. Despite being a fearsome white tiger in essence, his behavior was exactly that of a cat, which made her smile.

“Hmm… what should I watch today?”

Liris ran her finger over the book titles, pondering.

“Love Starts with Z… The Countess Has a Fling… The Princess Is Lewd… Huh? The Princess Is Lewd?”

The title oddly resonated. Excited, Liris picked up the book expecting palace intrigues and schemes, but when she opened it—

“Ugh…”

Absurd, risky hookups and far-fetched setups kept appearing. The author had clearly never set foot in the palace. How could a man hide under a princess’s skirt during a banquet…

“Hmm. Is this the sort of thing people like?”

When the book was suddenly snatched upward, Liris almost let out a squeal.

“Master, what are you doing here at this hour…”

It was the time when all the knight divisions were in training, and Kaiston usually never left their side.

“I wondered what you were up to.”

Liris didn’t know it, but at the training grounds, a tournament was underway to select the knights to take to Sinal. This weeklong series of duels would determine next year’s order among the knights. It was an important annual event for the fortress. He had attended the final two days when the captains joined, but before that it was optional to watch.

Feeling his presence behind her and seeing the extremely lewd book in his hand, Liris felt she was in serious danger.

“Master… I was just…”

As she mumbled and tried to wiggle away, his arm held her firmly.

“Like in this book… shall I take you right here?”

Despite the internal scream, his whispered voice made her body heat up. Before she knew it, he had lifted her skirt and slid his hand inside, pressing against her most private place over her underwear. He must have felt the dampness, too.

“Hmm. Already this excited?”

Oh no. She was afraid he’d decide that this kind of daring encounter in public was her taste.

“Ah, no. This is… ugh…”

She tried to deny it, but his hand rubbing between her parted petals through the thin fabric sent a shocking pleasure through her, and she couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Sorry for not knowing.”

“Hngh, th-that’s… ugh…”

He lifted her chin and lightly nibbled her lips as she tried to deny him. He licked and nuzzled her mouth sweetly, and she responded, her breaths scattering.

“Mm… yes…”

He pulled back from her murmurs and looked at her intently.

“Alright. Liris. Are you feeling like being honest?”

Liris took both of his hands that were holding her chin.

“Haah… Master…”

Then she gently pressed her face into his large warm hands.

“Regardless of where or how it happens… I like you because you’re my Master.”

He flinched; she felt it down her spine as his hand withdrew from her clothes.

“……”

Silence stretched, and a nervous Liris turned to look at him. Before she could see his face, he snatched his hand back from hers and spun away.

“Master…?”

When the flustered Liris hurried to stand before him, he turned his body the other way.

“Are you angry?”

“…No.”

For some reason, he covered his face with the hand that had been held by her.

“Oh! Are you hurt?”

He lowered the hand that hid his face to gently pull Liris away as she lunged to see him.

“Liris.”

Then he pressed her cloak’s hood down over her head.

“Ugh…! Ma-Master…”

“Haah… you really…”

He didn’t know what to do with her. He hated that her words made him expect more and more; he nervously rubbed his face.

“Liris.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t need to say things you don’t mean just to make me happy.”

Liris was startled. Why would he think her ‘I like you because you’re my Master’ was something she didn’t mean?

“Is it burdensome that I like you, Master?”

“……”

His expression grew odd, as if he had eaten something bad.

“Master?”

Then he let out an exasperated laugh.

“Liris.”

“Yes?”

“I’m ignorant about relations between men and women, but if someone truly loves you, I know the word ‘I like you’ doesn’t come out that easily.”

He said it without changing his expression, no bashfulness at all. He took her confession as lightly as saying ‘cute’ while nuzzling a pet. There was no way it was sincere. Even knowing that, she couldn’t help her heart pounding, and she felt absurd and foolish.

Liris couldn’t say anything to Kaiston. At only twenty, she’d never had a proper relationship or fallen in love, so his words left her bewildered. She was certain she liked him—her heart fluttered when she saw him, and she always looked forward to the time they spent together.

But it was also true she had performed ‘intentional actions’ to seduce him. She was impatient—her heart fell for him more and more, and he seemed unchanged. If this continued she’d be nothing more than a night attendant or at best a mistress. Pretty and cute, yes, but not someone to give her whole life to—just that much.

So what should she do? What must she do to make him risk his life for her? Confused, she nervously chewed the inside of her lower lip.

‘Ah, love. Really, it’s so difficult.’

“Your Majesty.”

The Emperor smiled faintly and looked at the knight before him.

“O’Neil. Did you return well?”

“Yes. I took a detour to avoid prying eyes, so I’m a bit late. My apologies.”

“I see. Good. Though, at best, it only buys a little time.”

O’Neil quietly followed the Emperor as he leisurely tended the garden’s flowering trees.

“What was he like when you met him?”

The Emperor asked after a long pause.

“…May I speak frankly?”

The Emperor snorted softly and nodded.

“By all means.”

O’Neil sighed deeply and spoke in a low voice.

“I felt a bit sorry for the Isles’ young upstarts who have to deal with him.”

Hearing O’Neil, the Emperor straightened from his bent posture and looked at him.

“It’s laughable that someone like him is even in the competition to begin with.”

The Emperor smiled faintly at O’Neil’s remark.

“Right. If it’s Luther, he would make Millen give up the moment he heard who the opponent is. Of course he wouldn’t let him go quietly.”

It was a chillingly cold smile.

“A good hammer is as important as a furnace and bellows.”

As the man who wore the Emperor’s indecisive mask revealed a sliver of his true intent, O’Neil hurriedly bowed. The depths of the Emperor’s plans for the Empire were things a mere knight could not fathom.

“Actually, long ago I proposed marriage between him and the Crown Princess.”

“What? Really?”

O’Neil’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Then why has it come to this now?”

The Emperor fell silent for a moment at O’Neil’s question, then cleared his throat.

“Well. When I suggested he marry the Crown Princess, who was eight at the time, he started with ‘you crazy psycho pervert Emperor’ and unleashed nearly five minutes of curses. How does a crown prince raised in the palace curse so well?”

“……”

O’Neil swallowed his urge to curse along.

“He has no grand ambitions, but he protects what’s his. I didn’t expect him to do so well in the Red Moon. I had thought of bringing him back, but now he’s useful there, so it’s turned out well.”

“But Your Majesty, doesn’t that mean he might not leave the Red Moon as he is now? As he has so far?”

“Don’t worry. That’s why I sent the Crown Princess.”

O’Neil blinked a few times and asked as cautiously as he could.

“Do you believe the Crown Princess will succeed?”

“…Hm?”

Even before the Emperor, O’Neil scratched his cheek unconsciously.

“She’s only twenty. Though she’s excellent in every way, she probably doesn’t know how to captivate a man, does she?”

“……”

Come to think of it, the Crown Princess hadn’t even had a first love. She’d only dealt with men who desired and chased her, never having liked someone herself or tried to win a heart.

“…Your Majesty?”

The Emperor cleared his throat again without meaning to.

“I trust the Crown Princess, but she may need a little help.”

“Ah, Count. Please, don’t do this.”

Despite the woman’s tearful plea, the man pinned her down, unfastened his belt, bound her thin wrists, and tore open the front of her dress.

“Aah!”

When his hand roughly groped her breasts, she screamed and twisted her body.

“Ah, please… stop…”

Her tear-streaked, pathetic expression seemed to inflame his desire; he lifted her dress, pulled down her underwear in one motion, and spread her legs.

“Aah! No!”

Beep.

Liris, face flushed crimson, stopped the viewing stone. She couldn’t watch any more, though if she’d been alone she might have watched to the end.

“Don’t worry about me.”

Kaiston, lying comfortably on the sofa reading, said to her without taking his eyes off the page.

“Ah, no. It’s just… these things are a bit…”

Kaiston glanced past the book at her face while on the edge of the sofa.

“Watching and doing are different things.”

“Wha?”

Startled, her wide-eyed look was incredibly cute to him.

“Shall I tie you to the bed tonight?”

He said it without changing expression, and Liris let out a silent scream. Having been forced to kiss Millen in the past, she definitely had a resistance to coercive acts. Yet…

For some reason his words made her whole body heat and twist. Imagining him tying her to the bed and roughly sating his desire made a moan escape her.

‘No, no. This isn’t the time. This isn’t the time to drown in lust!’

“If you don’t want it, forget it.”

“I don’t not want it!”

‘Ack! What did I just say!’

Liris clapped a hand over her mouth at the words she’d blurted.

“……”

As Kaiston stared at her, Liris wished she could crawl into a hole.

“Alright. I’ll tie you up the way you want tonight. And various other things.”

He gave a slightly dangerous smile.

“I’ll try everything.”

‘Oh my.’

She loved the idea so much that forgetting her embarrassment, Liris stared at him dazedly. She felt she might die of love for that terribly lewd man.

Aaron, stretched comfortably on Kaiston’s stomach, looked at them with an intrigued expression.