The sound of her pounding heart seemed to echo in her ears.
She clenched her slightly parted lips, fearing her heart might leap out, causing heat to rush to her eyes.
This isn't right. Why are you tempting me? Diana's face flushed so deeply it felt like it might burst.
She didn't know she was this weak to such a handsome face. Even her brothers were quite good-looking.
Her eldest brother was none other than the main villain of this world.
But was it fair for a man described in a single line to be as alluring as the protagonists of the narrative?
Tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes.
"I feel like I'm going to burst, Diana."
What's going to burst?
For a moment, an indecent thought flashed through her mind.
It was because the atmosphere surrounding him was sensual enough to captivate a person. Her face reddened even more.
"You, you've omitted the subject!"
She really is about to burst. Her face, that is.
Pfft. A laugh escaped without her realizing. How amusing.
One moment he wanted to squeeze and burst her, the next he wondered what it would be like to gently tap and make her ring. He was curious.
A new emotion invaded him once again.
He decided to act honestly.
He gazed endlessly at the sleeping woman, thinking.
How should he treat her, who had silently taken a step into his world?
To him, unfamiliarity had always been nothing but unpleasant. The fact that this unpleasantness had somehow become not so bad seemed insane even to himself.
That's how comfortable the time and space spent with her had become.
He had lived suppressing his desires that boiled with a thirst for blood.
A terrible curse drives people mad. The most mind-gnawing thing was the specter.
The family curse prevents the cursed from escaping the specters of the cursed. It makes them endlessly wander the past. Because of this, he severely disliked touching anything with his bare hands.
As if the shock of being covered in his mother's blood as a child was etched into his very bones.
Diana easily freed him from that past he had accepted as natural.
Because she vibrantly showed him every moment that she was different from that woman. She didn't give him time to think about the past.
Who could have imagined that he would be able to touch a person with his bare hands?
Although it was limited to her, the warmth that reached his bare hands wasn't unpleasant.
Perhaps he could survive this insufferable curse.
He tries to grasp, not ignore, the sensation rising from the depths of his heart.
As this stirring becomes clearer, whatever lies at its end, he won't let it go. Amidst the unfamiliar emotions suddenly blooming, he thus sorted out his feelings.
A madness different from the curse flickered in his eyes, like a beast guarding its territory.
"Ah, right. Rodrick."
Feeling the touch on her cheek, Diana suddenly remembered slapping Rodrick hard before she fainted.
"Did it hurt a lot? I hit you to snap you out of it."
Look who's talking. This woman thought nothing of being cut by a sword.
Was she fearless? Or insensitive? To be insensitive, Diana disliked pain.
"Did it not hurt you?"
The last words she uttered before fainting were that it hurt.
Rodrick released her hand and rubbed his thumb around where the cut had been on her neck.
Beneath the smooth skin, now without a trace of a wound thanks to the priest's healing, blue veins were visible.
The sight was incomparably fragile.
"...Um, I think it did hurt."
The pain right before death had been so great that the pain before fainting was quickly forgotten.
The present was more important than such pain. As long as it didn't hurt now, it was fine.
She smiled sweetly, her eyes crinkling with pleasure.
"I don't remember well."
His gaze deepened at her smile, which seemed to comfort him with an 'It's okay.'
He couldn't take his eyes off her faintly shining smile.
It's amusing. What is it about this small, delicate woman?
That she numbs his thoughts and makes desire rise from his toes to the crown of his head, he doesn't know.
Instinct takes the lead. Thirst wells up. His body reacts before reason.
A deep shadow fell over her face. Her long eyelashes fluttered at the face drawing ever closer.
"Absorb my curse."
His voice broke hoarsely.
"...Diana."
"..."
"I feel numb to my fingertips. I think I'm going crazy."
"That doesn't seem to be because of the curse..."
Diana couldn't finish her sentence as his lips fell like flower petals with a soft touch.
"Your illness. The stronger the skinship, the better, right?"
Touch. The kisses continued, briefly separating as if seeking permission before joining again.
"Do you dislike it?"
His voice, carrying a heated passion, caressed her ear.
Her pink eyes grew hazy, as if intoxicated by his scent.
It wasn't just Rodrick whose thoughts were numbed. Although it was an extremely impulsive choice, she didn't dislike it.
"I don't dislike it."
Wrapped in the heat he emitted, her sense of reality disappeared.
"I like it, Rodrick."
It seemed it would be alright somehow. His lips were so sweet that she wanted to taste them more.
At that brief permission, lips filled with intense desire approached roughly. It plunged in dizzily, as if to devour all of her.
With the passionate movement, there was no longer any bitter taste.
[This is the timeline separator]
"That one looks good."
She pointed to the dress with the most elegant design for the maids.
The most surprising thing for Diana when she got up was the dressing room of the guest room filled with dresses and all sorts of jewels.
Everything fit perfectly as if she had been measured for them herself.
She closed her eyes and surrendered herself. The maids' expert hands quickly adorned her.
Knock knock. The neat knocking sound was heard when the finishing touches were being made.
"Come in."
The door to the guest room, which had been off-limits for a while, opened.
The person who entered with a precise movement was the head butler, who was no less than the real power in this castle.
Search "seduce" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 70.