Chapter 4: The First Battle

Chapter 4

“But what a pity. I have no intention of breaking off this engagement.”

He chuckled, as if she were attempting some charming ploy, yet his eyes betrayed no hint of finding Evening adorable in the slightest.

“I feel the same way. So, there’s no need to rush, especially since we’ve just met. We can take our time, ah!”

Before she could even finish her sentence, Erich mounted her, his legs trapping her beneath him. Evening’s voice tore into ragged fragments.

“C-couldn’t we take it slowly? This is our first time meeting, after all.”

“You’ve seen me several times at parties.”

In her haste and panic, Evening had confused her current predicament and forgotten their previous conversation. A thought surfaced, reminding her that he was right, yet she showed no outward sign of her fluster.

“But this is our first time meeting as fiancés, isn’t it? It feels new, almost like the excitement of a first meeting all over again. I’m not going anywhere, so if we could just get to know each other a bit more, then… then we could…”

Evening deftly sidestepped Erich’s implied question.

And it wasn’t entirely a lie to escape the situation.

The moment she saw Erich, his appearance alone had sparked a certain degree of attraction. She estimated that in about a month, they could comfortably become intimate.

Of course, if it meant only seeing his body without showing her own, she could do it right now.

However, she was not prepared to share her body with him today. Her attraction wasn’t strong enough for an abrupt night together.

“You talk too much.”

Erich pinned Evening down without mercy as she tried to avert her face.

“Ah, wait, just a moment, ah! Kyaa!”

His hand tore the negligee she had so carefully arranged.

Even a thin negligee shouldn’t have torn so easily, yet he ruined the garment as if he held a blade in his hand.

Pinned down as if caught by a brute and her clothes torn, Evening, who had intended to let things pass amicably, felt her gaze sharpen, becoming fierce.

“Please, that’s enough.”

“It’s too late to reveal your true colors now.”

Erich, met with Evening’s glare, snorted in derision. His eyes, meeting hers, were impossibly cold, and she found herself infuriated by the perfectly chiseled face staring down at her from above.

“If you’re not rushing because you’re fond of me, then please be gentle. Even between a married couple, there are courtesies to uphold.”

She knew well that an arranged marriage could not be called off.

Having just become engaged today, and with marriage imminent, intimacy was an inevitable part of their future. This prospect was not any worse than abandoning the marriage and wandering the streets.

While she wasn’t mentally prepared, if it were due to an overwhelming affection that he could no longer suppress, then even going through with it today would be acceptable. The thought of a handsome man with a sculpted face desiring her even brought Evening a certain willingness.

But she detested the idea of consummating their marriage as if it were a punishment.

She refused to be pressed down and endured like a criminal.

“Since this is an arranged union, there’s no need to hastily sleep with someone you dislike, is there?”

Stripped bare, Evening struggled, glaring up at Erich. With her lower body exposed and her breasts bared, any sense of shame had, by now, dulled.

“Even without that, I’m perfectly—”

“Of course, I love you. You’re so beautiful it kills me.”

These words of love, light as a feather, tickled Evening.

It was a lie, a mere ploy to silence her protests. A flimsy remark, easily dismissed with a clap of the hands.

Yet, despite knowing this, her heart momentarily stopped at the sudden confession.

“You already know I proposed because I was captivated by you. Did you suddenly want to hear me say I love you?”

His previously aggressive gaze turned provocative. His eyes, curved like crescent moons, held a glint of amusement as he looked down at Evening.

He, who had conjured the pretext of being smitten with Evening and proposing for that reason, now soothed her with a gentle tone.

“Just thinking about that beautiful face and lovely voice crying out beneath me makes me feel as though I’ll soil my breeches already.”

“Such…”

His vulgar words struck Evening with disorienting force.

It felt strange that such elegant lips could utter such crude remarks.

While Evening was still reeling, Erich’s fingers caressed her face.

He did not handle Evening’s face roughly; instead, he stroked it gently before gripping her jaw a little more firmly and tilting her chin up.

“My dearest Eve, lie still and receive your husband.”

This cunning maneuver, which offered no chance of escape, pressed down upon her.

The shredded negligee crumpled between his body and Evening’s. Before she could even register the novelty of his clothes brushing against her bare skin, a deep kiss descended upon her.

His tongue slipped past her lips, which had parted under the pressure. Erich’s tongue, unlike his firm body, was soft, giving her a strange sensation.

He teased the inside of Evening’s mouth with his tongue, suckling her small lips, making a soft sound.

With each successive suckling sound, a jolt shot through her stomach, and her hips began to lift imperceptibly. Her wide-open eyes slowly closed, and her knees parted slightly, seeking to embrace Erich’s sides.

“Since you accepted the proposal, you have no intention of breaking off the marriage, do you? I’ll hold you tenderly, so don’t be coy and just lie still.”

The languid kiss and his damp breath, like those of a man deeply in love, stole her judgment.

Evening realized with a bitter pang that she had been deceived by the name ‘tyrant’ and had misjudged him.

A purely tyrannical lord would have been easy to deal with, but this man was as cunning as she was.

A man who, upon hearing ‘I don’t want to be embraced by someone I don’t love,’ immediately whispers ‘I love you’ is not to be trifled with.

In this first battle, Evening was utterly defeated.

****

Evening’s soon-to-be husband did not seem accustomed to women. At the very least, he didn’t appear to have experienced a proper romantic relationship.

While his unhesitating touch and the lack of fervor in his gaze when looking at a woman’s naked body suggested he wasn’t entirely inexperienced, he was sorely lacking in consideration. Even the way he grasped Evening’s closed legs to spread them was far from ordinary.

“Ugh, that hurts!”

“Next time, make sure to diligently practice spreading your legs.”

This was his response after forcing someone’s hip joints to their limit.

“A little more gently…”

“It’s not unbearable, is it? Isn’t the Margrave’s daughter being a bit too delicate?”

Every word Erich uttered was presumptuous. If he had been her lover, she would have immediately kicked him out of bed.

Judging by that, he seemed to have no experience of being kicked out or humiliated by a woman.

That must be why he was forcing her thighs apart painfully and grinding his member between them.

“I’m a delicate and innocent woman, so you need to be careful with me.”

“Your mouth is still lively, so you seem fine, don’t you?”

As Erich attempted to spread her wet labia, she was so mortified that her words broke off. His fingers, touching between her legs, felt hot.

The place his hand touched flinched and twitched.

When Erich teasingly touched her timid labia, as if mocking them, Evening’s back arched. Annoyed, Evening stared fixedly at Erich’s body positioned between her legs.

He was as naked as she was, without a stitch of clothing.

His pale skin, unexposed to much sunlight, perfectly complemented his white hair. While his handsome face and firm physique drew attention, it was the large, magic-circle-shaped tattoo prominently etched on his left shoulder and chest that stood out.

Though it was a tattoo that spoke of his challenging boyhood, what was currently far more important was located much lower than that.

Namely, the monstrous object rising high below his navel.

“You’re hard!”

If he became aroused just by looking at her body without even being touched, it meant he was physically attracted. She pointed this out, intending to embarrass him, but he didn’t seem to grasp her taunt.

“Were you worried about such a thing? There are no issues with my function.”

He lightly flicked his dark-red, veiny member. As the massive object swayed before her eyes, a sharp gasp escaped her involuntarily.

“My previous engagements were broken off for other reasons, so rest assured. My body is perfectly capable of producing an heir.”

Words from a man who had replaced two fiancées before Evening Flam were hardly trustworthy. At least, there seemed to be no concern about him not getting an erection, but for Evening, who had never worried about an heir in the first place, this was irrelevant information.

The important fact for her was that a man with a sculpted, muscular physique was firmly positioned between her bare legs.

Just like her, he wore nothing, his body’s core standing proudly erect.

Ending their brief chatter, Erich pressed his member against her vaginal opening. The sight of his mismatched glans at the entrance of her small crevice was peculiar.

“Now that there’s no turning back, do you have anything to say?”

“What?”

The largest member she had ever seen was poised to enter her small opening. The pre-ejaculate-slicked glans gently rubbed against her lubricated vaginal entrance.

Evening, flustered by the tension, stammered her reply, and Erich lightly pressed near her navel.

“Once it enters that far, you’ll be Evening Winb. If you have any last words, I’ll listen.”

‘Will it really go that far?’ The words rose to her throat and then subsided. An organ of that size seemed likely to mercilessly penetrate her.

Swallowing her words, Evening stared blankly at Erich’s face. This was not her deathbed, and she hadn’t expected to leave a final message right before her wedding night.

Did he consider an arranged marriage irreversible once entered? Did he intend to maintain a marriage achieved through such contention?

Evening composed her chaotic thoughts and met Erich’s gaze.

“Your Majesty.”

“Call me by my name.”

“Erich.”

“I told you not to omit the honorific. You can’t lose your composure already, before I’ve even thrust inside.”

“Lord Erich.”

He was certainly a bothersome man. Evening willingly complied with his demand.

With his thick member tickling her below, she couldn’t be assertive.

“…Please be gentle.”

Both Evening’s body and a member of that size were new to her. If he didn’t approach carefully, she feared she would endure searing pain.

“I’ll take it into account.”

With those words, Erich unhesitatingly pushed his member inside.

“Ah!”

The small passage was completely filled, and a sharp pain erupted.