Chapter 25

“Ah… I see. So Alpheios really did slash you? How did that happen?”

“He swung his sword intending to threaten me, so I blocked it. If I wanted to punish him for returning from the battlefield without permission from the prince, I had to escalate things.”

Perhaps Alpheios thought Riorem would dodge my sword strike. It wasn’t difficult for Riorem to do so.

But Riorem hated that man far more than Alpheios imagined—enough to take the sword strike and get banished from the capital.

Riorem took my stopped hand and rubbed it against his cheek.

The woman who made him hate Alpheios kept touching him.

“Since it happened before the meeting, I used my injury as an excuse to rest in the lounge.”

“Then how did the meeting go?”

“The Teumesa attended. The nobles will probably prefer her side.”

“Then the king must have met with only the two of them.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“He must have accepted you in exchange for doing as you requested.”

Riorem smiled faintly.

At times like this—when I realized that just as I knew Chernia well, Chernia also knew me well—the unpleasant feeling was halved.

But I didn’t want to think about why I felt that way. I just wanted to bask in the vague feeling of victory.

“King Arete must be in quite a predicament. Since Alpheios is not your slave but the lord of Dinamis Castle, he can’t simply refuse your demand.”

“Your reaction is different from what I expected. I thought you’d be angry that I didn’t listen to you.”

“Of course it’s a bit awkward. More than that, I just dislike King Arete.”

With that, Chernia got up.

Her awkward posture, sitting half-held by Riorem’s waist, seemed uncomfortable.

Then Riorem pushed Chernia onto the bed.

Softly.

With a gentle sound, Chernia’s body landed in his hands.

“Why do you dislike the king?”

“Because he tests you. Even though he’s not your master.”

Haah.

Riorem exhaled sharply.

Perhaps because he heard an answer he didn’t expect, his lower back ached, and his pants suddenly bulged.

“…Then who is my master? You?”

“Since you’re no longer a slave, you don’t have a master now. It’s just that… as someone who was once your master, I find it unpleasant for someone else to try to tame you.”

After hearing that, Riorem decided not to hold back.

His large hand grabbed Chernia’s hand.

Soon, her white and beautiful hand touched his suddenly erect groin.

Feeling the volume in his hand, Chernia burst out laughing.

“I don’t understand why you get excited over this.”

“You don’t need to… Ha, take it out and touch it.”

Riorem scratched his neck and ordered.

Chernia’s hand undid his pants.

Though the skillfulness of her touch made him a bit angry, the anger disappeared by the time she held his shaft.

Riorem buried his nose in her red hair. He inhaled deeply; the scent of Chernia mixed with the perfume he chose.

The same scent was on her nape, shoulders, and chest.

Now Chernia smelled like Riorem.

Even those who came looking for Chernia’s villa, who had only seen her bowed head and feet, never managed this.

All of it.

“Ugh.”

Riorem made a low sound.

At the same time, a thick ejaculation surged up, and Chernia’s fingers stroked it.

“You bring me here just to masturbate? King Arete would be surprised if he knew.”

“I distinctly told you… not to talk about other men.”

“Oh dear. I’ve committed another mistake, master.”

“Again at a time like this… ugh.”

Riorem squeezed his eyes shut.

No matter how much he trained her, Chernia wouldn’t be tamed.

She only used polite speech to tease and provoke him.

“The problem is, that’s what turns me on.”

Just as Chernia said. Riorem often got excited by reasons he couldn’t understand.

Perhaps this was the result of having even the self that decides what to like or dislike taken away, only leaving lust.

But what does it matter? The one rubbing his cock with Chernia’s hand right now was himself.

Riorem thrust his hips up sharply.

At the same time, semen spurted from the tip of his glans.

He hastily got up and scattered the remaining semen over Chernia’s body lying half on the bed.

Patter patter.

Because he held back for half a day, the semen smelled stronger than usual and stained her indoor clothes.

“Hah, ha…?”

Every breath he took made the remaining semen surge again.

Riorem looked down at Chernia as if engraving her image in his mind—the ruined dress, semen splattered on her face, and her hands shiny with cum.

Despite obsessively recalling all this, one thought planted deep in his mind wouldn’t disappear.

The thought that never left him from the moment he found Alpheios in front of the grand hall.

‘…Did I do something like this with that bastard Alpheios too?’

When I woke up in the morning, there was a letter waiting for me at the palace.

With sleepy eyes, I looked back and forth between Riorem and the letter.

I wasn’t sure if I was interpreting it correctly.

“Do you want me to read this?”

“Yes.”

The answer came immediately.

I first drank a glass of water to clear my dry throat.

My throat hurt.

My whole body ached because last night, once again, I ended up being tormented by Riorem.

‘There must be bruises on my back too. Should I call a maid?’

With that thought, I broke the seal of the letter.

The letter was very different from the last one I had received.

First, the content was reduced by half.

The structure was also different.

Compared to before, it was organized in a much more concise and straightforward way.

As if trying not to upset the reader’s mood.

‘So Riorem really did win the power struggle with the royal family. Is this why?’

I skipped the brief greeting and skimmed the main content.

“Is this about hunting?”

“Yes. They want to go in five days. The plan is to track wild beasts for two or three days, so they said to prepare for wolf or bear hunting.”

“…Wolf? Bear? Which hunting ground do they expect us to prepare for something like that?”

“They say the departure will be at the castle gate facing the eastern forest… so it’s probably there.”

“Hah, where would there be wild beasts there.”

Riorem muttered tiredly.

“What do you suggest I do?”

“There’s no particular advice from me. But since they’re deliberately making us leave the castle…”

“You mean they want me to bring you along.”

Riorem stared silently at the letter he couldn’t read.

Seeing him like that, a thought suddenly came to me.

“Have you ever gone hunting, Riorem?”

“I’ve caught anything when there was nothing else to eat.”

He meant he never hunted for sport.

‘This is troublesome.’

Hunting was like a wild outdoor ball. Naturally, it required many preparations and etiquette.

Riorem was a clever man, but he had no motivation to learn what he considered mere formalities.

This meant he was likely to get annoyed and come back unhappy from the hunting grounds.

At that moment, Riorem cautiously spoke.

“…What about you?”

“Hm?”

“Have you ever done it?”

Not sure what he had read from my expression, Riorem asked with an uneasy look.

“I’ve gone along many times but never caught anything myself. My role was to sit all day and be presented with the biggest catch.”

If the men competed by catching bigger prey, the women measured each other by the size of the game gifted to them.

I always won that competition.

Even before the value of my ‘bloodline’ rose due to my married older sister and younger sister giving birth to outstanding children in succession.

“Have you ever been given a wolf or bear?”

“Well… I think I’ve received a bear a few times.”

“So you’ve never been given a wolf.”

“There are no wolves in the duchy. I’ve only ever received wolf pelts as gifts.”

After hearing my words, a strange light flickered in Riorem’s eyes.

I asked with a teasing voice,

“Why? As if you’re going to catch a wolf.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, that’s a relief. Wolves are difficult prey.”

Wolves were large and traveled in packs.

Although their fur was beautiful and warm, I rarely received them as gifts for that reason.

“By the way, why hunting? Even King Arete knows you haven’t lived a life leisurely enough to enjoy hunting.”

“They probably want me to learn from the crown prince. They want me to become close to him, I suppose.”