By Zephyria 
As I was leaving the terrace, I happened to run into Ardian, who was standing in the path. It seemed he had finally been released from Maximun and Luciel. Since Esili stepped aside, saying she would head back first, Ardian and I climbed the stairs to the rooms alone.
“What did you talk about on the terrace?”
“About you.”
“About me?”
When I nodded, Ardian looked at me with a curious expression. When I didn’t give him a detailed answer, he carefully took my hand and asked.
“Is this revenge for earlier?”
He likely meant whether this was revenge for making him curious by not telling him what the conversation was about. There might have been a bit of pettiness in that. I gave a slight smile and said,
“I just asked what you said in the drawing room. I was curious.”
“You could have just asked me.”
“Things like this are meant to be asked of someone other than the person involved.”
I didn’t know if that was actually true, but it was something I’d heard somewhere. Well, since it’s usually hard for people to be objective about themselves, perhaps the saying exists because people tend to sanitize or exaggerate their own words.
Ardian wore a dissatisfied expression and came to a halt. It was just as we reached the hallway where the rooms were. He gently led my hand and kissed the back of it.
“I’ve decided to love you until the day I die. Just as I have until now, I will continue to look only at you. Even if someone tells me not to… even if you no longer look back at me, I will devote my entire life to loving you.”
Ardian’s gaze deepened as he looked at me. A sudden speech… or should I call it a confession? Regardless, it was flustering, but only for a moment. I realized he was reciting the words he had spoken in front of the family.
“There is no longer any chance that I won’t look back at you.”
The years I spent unable to look back had been too long. It had taken too long to even understand my own feelings. At the very least, for as long as I was alive now, I would never return to that path.
Ardian smiled without a word. For some reason, I felt like he didn’t quite believe me, so I was about to say it again, but the sensation of his lips landing on mine came first.
When I glanced at him with narrowed eyes, he added an excuse.
“There’s no one around.”
“…Go and get ready for bed.”
“Okay, goodnight.”
Surprisingly, Ardian complied without lingering. I figured he must have been satisfied with a single kiss… or so I thought. That night, while I was fast asleep, I woke up groaning because my body kept feeling ticklish and a strangely pleasant sensation was rising.
“……?”
At first, I thought it was a tactile hallucination because I was having such a vivid dream. When I lifted the blanket, Ardian, who had been biting and sucking at my body inside, peeked his face out.
“Ah. You’re awake?”
His behavior was utterly brazen.
“What are you doing?”
My voice came out stiff without me realizing it. It was as cold as the days when I had no memories as ‘Raymond,’ but Ardian only smiled as brightly as moonlight.
“I’m biting and sucking you.”
“That’s not what I was asking.”
This bastard, seriously….
“I’ll be quiet. You can just go back to sleep.”
How am I supposed to just sleep in this state?
As I pushed my body back to get away, Ardian sat between my legs. His white and beautiful features, flushed pink, looked as pure as a sunset landing on a single white flower.
Looking at Ardian under the faint moonlight filtering through the window, he felt almost surreal, and I was nearly entranced for a moment—until I snapped back to reality because of the rod standing proudly between his trousers.
“Aren’t you going to put that away?”
“This? Which one?”
When I poked his crotch with my toe, Ardian, his long eyelashes casting shadows downward, smiled quietly and kissed my knee. His intention to sneakily continue what he was doing was obvious, so I pressed my hand against the chest of the man leaning in to kiss me.
“Go back to your room.”
“Are you really just going to let me go?”
“Would I be lying?”
“This is torture, Ray.”
“If you hate it, feel free to go back to the palace.”
He drooped his eyebrows like a pitiful puppy soaked in rain. Even though he acted cute and pitiful, I kept telling him to leave. Perhaps deciding to change his tactic, he reached between my legs.
“You’re hard too.”
As a slow, heavy touch brushed against my semi-erect member, a tingling sensation shot up my spine. Just as I faintly frowned, Ardian brought his face close and bit my earlobe.
I felt my patience crumbling.
My heart wavered and I weakened for a moment, but I steadied myself. I firmly pushed his chin away. Ardian, who was pushed back easily without resisting, smiled seductively and took one of my fingers into his mouth. It felt as if he were constantly asking, Are you still going to refuse?
“I said no.”
“You can just hold back the noise. You’re worried about being caught, right?”
That was quite a valid point, and I couldn’t find a retort.
But was it actually possible to hold it back?
Usually, I tried not to make noise because I felt unfamiliar with myself floundering in instinct, but there were many times when it was difficult to endure. My reason would evaporate halfway, and I would pant like a beast until I ejaculated, and only then would my departed reason return.
“I’ll do it slowly so there’s no noise,” Ardian whispered lowly, having keenly noticed my hesitation. As he spoke, his subtle hand movements stroked the pillar standing inside my trousers.
My body shuddered. A strong desire to accept the man craving me welled up… and my hesitation didn’t last much longer. As I wrapped my arms around Ardian’s neck and pressed our lips together, my closed thighs naturally opened. The cool scent emanating from him brushed the tip of my nose.
Haa. Every time a small gap was allowed between our locked lips, a thick, sweet breath poured out softly. The pieces of flesh swimming and rubbing against each other inside our mouths created a strange sensation.
The quiet noise of fabric rustling filled the room. Ardian, who had been rubbing over my clothes, pulled down my trousers and underwear, and my wet member popped up.
The cool outside air touched my skin. Perhaps because of that, Ardian’s hand, which gently wrapped around my pillar, felt exceptionally hot. I wrapped my arms around Ardian’s neck for support and pressed down my breath.
“Ray….”
Ardian, who leaned me back against the headboard of the bed, kissed my forehead while one hand stroked my pillar and the other fumbled to find the crease of my buttocks. As a single finger pushed inside, an anxious sensation tickled my chest.
It was just as I frowned in desperation.
“Ah….”
The finger, skillfully exploring the tight internal mucosa, hit a sensitive spot. As he rotated his finger slowly to rub that area, a familiar heat bloomed.
I panted softly at the pleasant sensation that rushed in like gentle waves. I felt a gaze staring at me as if observing. When I glared at him to ask what he was looking at, Ardian smiled silently and buried his head in the crook of my neck.
His moist, soft lips touched my skin. A tongue slid out from between them and licked my flesh. As I curled my body from the tingling sensation that felt like it was scratching my spine, a sharp pain followed.
“Ugh.”
I frowned and then relaxed. Since he had done this several times before, I knew without checking that this bastard had left another red mark.
“…Sometimes I think you forget that you’re wearing a human shell.”
“Other humans do this normally too.”
Ardian’s bright yellow eyes, looking down at me, glowed vividly in the moonlight. With his eyes narrowed into a curve as he looked at my neck, he kissed the bridge of my nose and murmured.
“Ray, you’re beautiful.”
The fingers that had been softly stroking my pillar up and down pressed firmly on the tip. I let out a low breath at the slight pressure. Soon, Ardian stopped playing with my front, withdrew the finger that had been loosening my inner wall, and spoke.
“Lie on your stomach.”
“Why?”
“I think the bed will shake less that way.”
I didn’t know if that was true, but since the contact area would be narrowed to just my knees and arms, maybe he was right.
Lying face down meant I’d have to lift my hips, which was embarrassing to imagine, but Ardian and I were the only ones in this space. When I was alone with him, there wasn’t much to be embarrassed about.
As I turned over, Ardian gripped both of my butt cheeks. After a moment, I felt a hot rod, of a quite different temperature, rubbing against the deep valley.
After rubbing and poking around the entrance a few times, Ardian pushed in with force. Hng…. While I held my breath, the soft tip filled my inner wall. The thick, large member fit tightly against the narrow inner wall and slowly pushed upward.
“Relax a little more, Ray,” Ardian whispered lowly, his hand stroking my spine. Slowly, but without stopping, the member entered until it reached the root.
“Haa….”
I exhaled, burying my face in the bedsheet. Perhaps because of the change in position, it felt deeper than usual. The way it clung to the mucosa also felt strangely different, which was an unfamiliar sensation.
“I’m going to move.”
As I unconsciously focused on the sensation, Ardian, who had leaned his upper body close, whispered softly. Following that, the member that had been pressing deep inside began to move, scraping against the inner wall.