The Lady Of The Red Moon (16)

Having personally escorted the dazed Liris to her bedroom and heading back to the training ground, Kaiston belatedly covered his flushed face with his hand.

“Haah.”

It felt like he had truly lost himself. He wanted to see her, touch her, hold her at all times. Her smiling face, her crying face—both pleased him. Whether bundled up and waddling or completely naked, she was equally desirable.

“Have you returned?”

Saik, who had been watching the knights’ unfinished duel, looked at his commander and widened his eyes.

“Commander?”

“What is it?”

“Are you unwell?”

Kaiston let out a small sigh, as if he knew why Saik asked.

“Saik.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever fallen in love with someone?”

Saik blinked slowly.

“I like you, Commander.”

“What nonsense.”

But with absolute seriousness, Saik grabbed his hand.

“You didn’t know?”

Kaiston, barely keeping his rising irritation in check, said, “I mean a woman. A woman.”

“Ah. So that’s what you meant?”

‘This sly bastard is acting clueless.’

Kaiston clenched his teeth and said, “Are you feeling restless?”

“Ah, no! Ahaha.”

After forcing a laugh, Saik sobered and spoke.

“There isn’t anyone, Commander.”

“……”

“I’ve had a rather unfortunate upbringing myself.”

“…What about the women you met on the Isles?”

“Ah, of course there were many very beautiful young ladies. But still, being by your side is the most…”

“Enough.”

Saik chuckled as his commander spun on his heel and strode off. He truly enjoyed teasing his beloved commander.

Kaiston left that damned subordinate behind and walked slowly. He scanned the knights who saluted him crisply as he passed, but he couldn’t stop moving. There were certainly several married men, and a few who were said to have much romantic experience. Yet the captains and above, who might confide even a little in him were, for some reason, all in the same situation as him.

Those who pursued only a single path: strength.

They weren’t trapped in the Red Moon like him. So why, for heaven’s sake, were they holed up in the fortress without ever courting someone!

“Commander.”

Harris, leader of the Butterfly Corps, ran up to him with an innocent smile ill-fitting his large frame. His red hair, like a lion’s mane, stuck out wildly.

“Their skill has improved considerably since last year. Did you see?”

“……”

Harris frowned and followed him, watching Kaiston pass with a heavy sigh.

“Why are you like that? Did they not meet your expectations, Commander?”

“Harris. I suppose I haven’t paid enough attention to you all.”

“Eh? What do you mean by that?”

Glancing at Harris, anxiously wondering if he planned to increase training frequency, Kaiston made a decision.

He would personally see these lads married off. A sense of urgency told him he could not let his precious subordinates live gloomy lives like this. Kaiston’s eyes shone with determined resolve, having set his grandest goal for the coming year.

The lordly castle of Sinal, once part of Aikadum’s old Isles, wasn’t as extravagant as the current Imperial Palace but was very grand and beautiful. The inner bailey alone was so vast that one could not explore it in a single day, and the outer walls encircled the city so broadly that a carriage would take hours to make a circuit. It was more than adequate for the ruler of the Grand Domain Sinal to reside in. Of course, the ruler actually spent less than twenty days a year here.

And the man overseeing Sinal’s household affairs, the duke’s deputy Newton, a seasoned figure who rarely blinked at most matters, was trembling now.

“You say His Grace sent this telegram?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

Damon, the steward, glanced at the paper in his hand and his eyes sparkled. Newton set the paper down on his desk and spoke to Camel, the castle’s knight commander.

“Call in all the domestic and external governors. We must convene a council.”

“Understood.”

Camel nodded lightly and left the room at a brisk pace.

“Ha, at last, here at Sinal’s lordly castle…”

Damon watched Newton, who couldn’t continue, and asked quietly.

“How far do you intend to send the invitations?”

“For now, we scatter them everywhere. Of course, the nobles of the Isles won’t all come this far.”

“Understood.”

An inscrutable smile touched Damon’s lips.

“In any case, make every preparation.”

“Do take care of it, Damon.”

After a slight bow to Newton, Damon left the duke’s deputy’s study.

“The duke of Sinal is hosting a banquet for the first time. Is His Excellency finally seeking a bride?”

Newton’s face brightened with anticipation. He had scarcely paid any attention to women until twenty-nine, but thinking the succession might change, he believed His Grace had finally changed his mind.

“Do not worry, Your Grace. We’ll make everyone covet the position of Sinal’s lady.”

Of course, no young lady would willingly want to enter the Red Moon, but there would certainly be many who aspired to become the lady of the Grand Domain Sinal. Newton firmly believed that among them there would surely be women whose beauty could satisfy Duke Kaiston Crunel.

Unaware that Sinal Castle had been thrown into uproar by the telegram he had sent, Kaiston looked at the woman before him with a satisfied expression.

Having finished a bowl of spicy stir-fried noodles with chicken and vegetables, apparently quite tasty, and even polishing off a lime sorbet for dessert, her once-flat belly had swelled into a pleasing curve.

“Master…”

Liris pouted at his gaze fixed on her belly. Kaiston’s lips lightly landed on that belly.

“Uhh…!”

When his lips and tongue brushed her soft lower abdomen, Liris’s body twisted involuntarily.

“Being tied up certainly makes it feel more intense.”

The space between her legs, clearly visible, was already soaked with her leaking arousal.

“Uhn… Master…”

He seemed intent on teasing her, touching everything but her erogenous zones. Yet being bound to the bedposts and holding his gaze was enough to heat Liris’s entire body.

He stared gently at her twitching secret entrance. He longed desperately to bury the member who was painfully swollen in his trousers into that place, but he pretended not to notice.

Instead, he took her slender ankles and nibbled the inside of her calves with his lips.

“Aah…”

She moaned, unsure what to do. A spot that had never been sensitive was now her greatest erogenous zone. As his lips climbed her leg, Liris trembled with anticipation—Please, touch that place. Do something—Yet he cunningly skirted it.

“Aaah…! Please, Master…”

“Tell me, Liris. What do you want?”

Watching her hesitate, not knowing how to answer, Kaiston faintly lifted the corner of his mouth.

“You’re still far from being honest.”

Then, in one sweep, he licked from the dripping source to the foremost edge of her petals.

“Aah!”

Overwhelmed by the unbearable stimulation, her body jolted. He took her mound into his mouth and sucked forcefully.

“Ah…!”

When he broke contact just before her climax, the restless woman writhed.

‘Please, please, just a bit more…’

“Still not going to say it?”

Near losing her reason, Liris uttered her unconscious desire aloud.

“Please put it in, Master. Fill me up quickly with what is yours.”

Kaiston looked down at Liris, who was panting and seemingly unaware of what she’d said, as if he’d been slapped in the face. Had he gone too far? It was veering into the realm of textbook masochistic play.

“Hmm.”

Well, what of it? She liked it so much. Resolving again to try various things, Kaiston stripped off his uniform and tossed it aside. Liris’s amber eyes flickered with desire at his muscular exposed torso.

‘Ah, the thrill of being pinned beneath that broad, hard chest.’

She suddenly thought of the men who had tried to entice her. If she could go back, she would shove them away without fear. How dare those weaklings! Hmph!

Now completely naked, he lifted her chin slightly with his fingertip.

“Liris.”

When he called her name in that deep voice, it felt as though every sensation in her body fully awakened.

“Huh…!”

He roughly took her lips, sucking so hard they could bleed, and ravaging her mouth as he pleased, making her feel as if she might lose her mind.

His hands gripped her rounded breasts. He, who had always been gentle so she wouldn’t be hurt, now roughly kneaded them. It felt like being flayed by a sharp pleasure.

And finally, as his manhood fulfilled her wish, it pressed against her petals and was thrust in roughly.

“Aaaah!”

Liris reached climax in an instant.

“I’m crazy, I’m crazy.”

While Kaiston went to wash, Liris buried herself under the blanket and trembled with overwhelming self-loathing. Even street prostitutes wouldn’t behave like this.

“Is there any other woman as lewd as me?”

Muttering in a deflated voice, Liris recalled the earlier intercourse. It wasn’t that she particularly liked being bound. Rather, the scenario of being violated by him appealed because it allowed him to display his intense desire for her.

But no matter how she dressed up the scenario, the looks of the men who coveted her on the Isles and his gaze were clearly different.

“Haah…”

She wished he would obsess over her like those men did. She wanted him to look at her with greedy, gleaming eyes. Having something to compare against only eroded Liris’s confidence further.

His enchanting violet eyes retained a clear, bright light and his self-control was perfect. Aside from the day she woke after a week, he never skipped dawn training. He was meticulous. He cherished and cared for the fortress’s over 400 knights as if they were his own life. Though he was the Red Moon’s commander and the lord of the Grand Domain Sinal, he ate the same food as his subordinates and wore only a practical black uniform, without a single expensive ornament—so unpretentious.

His personal martial might was godlike, and the knights under him were elite. Moreover, his subordinates’ loyalty was unquestionable and the people’s hearts leaned toward him. If he declared independence centered on Sinal, the Empire would have no choice but to helplessly cede that vast territory.

But he would never rebel. Grasping nothing, he would quietly guard this place until the flame of his life went out.

This was the nature Liris had come to understand of him over the past month. He fought to protect, not for the love of battle. He liked reading and quietly reflecting. Had he been born in a time of peace, he would have ruled benevolently and enriched the nation and its people.

“Haah…”

Would such a man involve himself in a brutal fight for her? What if he simply handed over the daughter of his enemy, the Crown Princess, and turned his back?