Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Annoying Yet Alluring Fiancée

“Hoo.”

His hips, which had been moving with a mix of fury and impulse, were starting to ache. A tingling sensation coursed through his penis, signaling imminent release.

“Eve, I’m going to come now.”

“Ugh… what?”

“I’m going to come, so let go.”

“What…?”

Evening, her eyes completely unfocused from their brief tryst, asked blankly.

Despite often acting shrewdly, Evening occasionally displayed such dim-witted reactions. He smacked the dazed Evening’s bottom.

“Do you want a child already? Giving you my seed is for later, so don’t rush. Let go.”

“My hand… oh, yes.”

He felt on the verge of ejaculation. However, with Evening still clinging to his clothes, it would be difficult to withdraw in time.

“Hey, hey!”

As he admonished her again, lightly striking her wrist, Evening, who had been clutching his clothes like a precious lifeline and sniffling, finally released her grip.

Erich grasped the base of his shaft and pulled his body back. It had been so tight inside until the very end that he thought he might climax just from withdrawing.

“Hngh.”

His twitching member slipped out completely. The melting warmth and the sensation of tight constriction vanished, leaving behind a hollow feeling.

“Next time, don’t hold on so tight. I almost came inside you.”

He rested his glistening penis, slick as if dipped in water, between Evening’s legs. Not on her crotch, but on her groin, where a subtle down of hair grew.

“Eugh, hngh, oh, ohh.”

The moment he placed his penis on her groin, Evening’s face twisted into a pout.

Erich gritted his teeth and rubbed his member against Evening’s lower abdomen. Her usually haughty face, now contorted into a childish pout, was a sight to behold, making him feel as though he might burst.

Erich’s hand patiently stroked his shaft. After moving it back and forth across Evening’s groin and lower abdomen about ten times, he pressed down hard on the glans.

Semen spurted from his urethra, tracing a path across her belly and chest, reaching all the way to her chin.

Evening, now able to breathe after the member that had filled her withdrew, gazed listlessly at her soiled body.

Her eyes were glazed over as if she were drowsy, and her breathing had softened into a gentle sigh.

“It’s all over.”

“…”

“Don’t just lie there blankly like an inexperienced woman; get up.”

“In a little while…”

“Your bed needs to be brought in before evening. If you’re going to let the workers see you naked, then by all means, stay.”

Erich, having pulled up his underwear and trousers and composed himself, retorted sharply.

At that, Evening, regaining her senses, wiped her chest with her torn underwear and curled into a ball.

“I don’t need a new bed.”

“Are you planning to sleep on the floor?”

“It seems spacious enough for five people to lie in; can’t we just sleep together?”

Evening, wriggling to completely hide her naked body under the blanket, whined.

Evening, like a turtle, hid her entire body beneath the blanket, leaving only her face exposed. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, which had become messy from rolling around in bed, and yawned languidly.

Erich disliked this nonchalant aspect of his third fiancée. The fact that she didn’t fear him, even after being reprimanded for her impertinence.

“I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off a woman sharing my bed.”

He provoked Evening, making sure she knew his intent.

“But I’m your fiancée.”

“That means I won’t be able to restrain myself.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll probably do it once a day. Perhaps twice.”

“Yees.”

Yet, his provocations were as futile as the struggles of a powerless person.

“Three times is fine too.”

Evening, a modern woman, didn’t dislike Erich in the slightest.

While there were times she feared his tyranny, she never felt inclined to disrespect him.

Erich was handsome.

Although one couldn’t swear eternal devotion simply for good looks, his handsomeness was enough for her not to refuse her ‘fiancé’s’ touch.

Moreover, having gotten through their second tryst after the first night, there was nothing left to hold her back.

She felt ashamed to admit how easily she had succumbed, yet she didn’t dislike being embraced by Erich. Though he seemed self-indulgent at the start, once they began, he wouldn’t stop until Evening was satisfied. Consequently, she felt refreshed afterward, and even the prospect of doing it again tomorrow was a welcome one.

‘Is she mad with lust?’

Erich, on the other hand, couldn’t comprehend Evening’s feelings in the slightest, as she smiled weakly, her face drained.

To him, who had long been an object of contempt among the Witherun nobility, Evening’s favor felt suspiciously like flattery.

From Evening’s perspective, this was absurd. After all, even when Erich Winb was deemed to lack magic, he was still described as a brilliant and handsome crown prince.

He was indeed brilliant, and among people who were all impeccably handsome, he boasted a truly stunning appearance.

The problem was that for the Witherun nobility, magic was the absolute value.

“Lord Erich is cool, isn’t he? You have a face I want to kiss.”

“Are you truly mad? What’s a face worth?”

Any value other than magic paled significantly in comparison. The people of Witherun, in particular, paid little attention to physical appearance.

“Lord Erich, you are handsome, aren’t you?”

“I am, but what of it?”

To such an extent that Erich himself, despite being officially described as having a ‘stunning appearance,’ didn’t consider himself particularly good-looking.

While Witherun’s concepts of beauty and ugliness were similar to modern ones, their interest in appearance was far less pronounced.

In Evening’s eyes, Erich’s face alone was enough to win the affection of many women, allowing him to reign as a powerful figure by leveraging that support. Yet, the noble ladies of Witherun did not give their hearts to Erich.

They acknowledged his handsomeness, but no one was so captivated by beauty as to act foolishly.

It was akin to the principle of not being easily drawn to a foreigner from a ‘third world’ whose only outstanding quality was their looks, or perhaps similar to avoiding a thug with a top-tier celebrity’s face but a third-rate mouth.

Although it seemed as though only rude and discriminatory comparisons would suffice, that was indeed the reality.

Even Evening, an elegant and classically beautiful woman, did not receive as fervent a reception in Witherun as one might expect.

Here, appearance was a value that came only after magic, power, status, wealth, and character.

While nobles might be particular about clothing or hairstyles, they showed less interest in natural facial features.

Thus, neither Erich nor Lucia, the original protagonist, garnered the attention of the nobility despite their considerable beauty.

But Evening was not a Witherun noble.

“For Lord Erich, I’m okay with it.”

“…”

“If I say I like you, please be a little happy. It’s good for a married couple to get along, isn’t it?”

To her, Erich was an absolute Adonis and an emperor, and officially, her fiancé.

As he was the villain, there was no imperative for him to end up with the heroine, so she had no reason to refuse him.

While she hesitated to strip naked and couple up on their first meeting, kisses were welcome, and she was even starting to feel that s*x was manageable.

Evening looked up at Erich, her gaze filled with genuine sincerity, devoid of any pretense.

Erich, who had been looking down at Evening for a long time with his hands on his waist, snorted.

“What a tiresome woman.”

His brow furrowed, he turned his back without a second thought.

Wrapped in the blanket, Evening shrugged her shoulders.

“He’s a difficult man, isn’t he?”

Yet, silence was always implicit consent.

They ended up sharing a bed, and perhaps, truly, they might sleep together once a day.

She felt that she had scored a point against Erich.

****

‘She’s going to bed needlessly late.’

Erich poked the side of the deeply sleeping Evening. He checked several times, wondering if she was feigning sleep, but there was no reaction. She was finally asleep.

Evening, who had dawdled in the room so much that she even ate dinner there, only fell asleep late at night.

It was around ten o’clock, which, from Evening’s perspective, was an early bedtime, a consideration for Erich. Normally, like any modern professional, she would go to bed at midnight or one AM.

In Witherun, however, sunset marked the time for bed.

Few households had the luxury of keeping lamps lit late, nor was there much need. The only activities to be done in a dim room at night were minor chores like sewing.

But Evening had yet to adjust to Witherun’s time difference, where people went to bed in the early evening after sunset and rose at dawn.

‘This will cost a lot in lamp oil.’

Erich, who had discovered her chronic habit of staying up late during their few days together, grumbled a complaint that no one would hear.

Though he hadn’t known her long, she was troublesome in every single way. She went to bed late and woke up late, chattered incessantly in the carriage, and fawned over him, following him everywhere.

‘She’s truly an annoying person.’

Her constant flitting around his side was irksome.

But beyond that, there was nothing to fault her for. From the start, she had shown no hostility towards him, hadn’t refused his suggestion to share a room, and seemed to harbor no intention of assassinating him.

He had waited, feigning sleep, but Evening had simply gone about her business, extinguished the lamp, and quietly fallen asleep. Right beside him, no less.

Even when he embraced her, she hadn’t frowned or shown any signs of displeasure.

How could the daughter of Margrave Flam, who wished to depose him from the throne, act like this?

“It’s not as if you’re not Evening, is it? The Margrave didn’t swap you out, did he?”

It was useless to ask aloud. Only Evening’s soft, regular breathing answered him.

He had suspected a swap, but this woman was unmistakably Evening Flam. He had confirmed it by undressing her; there were the moles lined up on her waist, exactly as a former maid from the Flam household had described. While her face might be unknown, her moles couldn’t be faked.

The woman before him was certainly Evening Flam. That made it even harder to understand.

Erich’s fingertips traced Evening’s clear cheek and neck. Her unblemished skin was soft and pure.

This was the problem. This warm body was drawing him into wicked thoughts. The way she didn’t shy away and embraced him tightly. The way she submitted to his authority yet wasn’t afraid of Erich Winb, making her gentle—that was the problem.

Kneeling between his legs and looking up at him demurely, or flattering him as if she were on his side—these were also problems. He found it difficult to be harsh with her, and there was nothing to find fault with. In such a predicament, he kept giving her the space beside him.

He certainly hadn’t expected to let her into his own room, though.