So, as I kept looking into his eyes like this, at some point, the thing resting on his right thigh began to swell.
“Mmm.”
I instinctively swallowed dryly.
Ever since the other day, when I accidentally touched that burning piece of flesh under the table, my throat had gone dry whenever I looked at him.
And the more that happened, the colder Alpheios’s gaze on my face became.
By now, it stung like a fork scratching at my skin.
Still, Riorem didn’t let me go until long after.
I could only pick up my pen again when the meeting was almost over.
Even as I transferred the words I heard to paper, Alpheios’s gaze remained fixed, unmoving.
So when he blocked our path outside the meeting room, it wasn’t all that surprising.
The moment the rogue prince appeared, Riorem stepped in front of me.
“What is it?”
“I have something to say to General Riorem.”
Alpheios grinned, his voice flat and dry.
“What’s with you lately? Something bothering you? You didn’t pay any attention in today’s meeting either. Was the content too difficult for someone who can’t even read?”
“At least I don’t make others explain the questions directed at me, Your Highness.”
“Those things are easy to understand with a bit of reading, aren’t they?”
“Usually, someone in command already has that kind of knowledge in their head.”
“If you’re so knowledgeable, then why didn’t you volunteer for this expedition, hmm? Are you scared?”
Alpheios’s voice was thick with laughter.
The expedition.
Something that had come up while Riorem and I were exchanging glances.
We needed to keep the Empire’s excessively advanced troops in check, which meant someone had to lead soldiers to the frontlines.
But that task clearly belonged to Alpheios.
It had been his punishment for injuring a bureaucrat during an official meeting.
Instead of pointing that out, Riorem began to chip away at the prince’s pride.
“Are you asking me to go in your place, where Your Highness ran away from?”
Alpheios raised his voice at the businesslike calm in Riorem’s tone.
“Ran away? Someone had to bring the news back to the capital, didn’t they? And a commander was needed to depart with the new troops!”
“Then fulfill your duties, Your Highness. Haven’t you always told me? That someone with lowly blood shouldn’t covet noble missions.”
Riorem’s answer left no room for retort.
It must’ve been the result of all the time he’d spent facing things I didn’t know about.
There must’ve been countless people who tried to tear down a mercenary born of slavery.
And among them, the one who tormented Riorem the most must have been Alpheios.
Almost as if confirming my guess, Alpheios pulled out words that would surely cut deep into Riorem.
“So now you’re going to listen to me? Not because you’re scared, hmm? Scared to die on the battlefield and lose Chernie?”
But maybe things had already escalated too far emotionally.
That remark was too much.
Alpheios, who had been taunting, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
I quietly looked around.
Those who had been silently watching Riorem and Alpheios were now trembling, their faces pale with fear.
From behind his upright back, I could easily imagine what kind of expression Riorem had on his face.
He’ll probably run until he collapses from exhaustion again tonight.
If that were the case, I at least wanted to get back early.
I reached out and grabbed the edge of Riorem’s cape that had slipped down his shoulder.
So heavy.
I whispered in a voice only Riorem could hear.
Finally, I heard him quietly inhale.
Then Riorem gave a curt nod to Alpheios.
It was a greeting only in form, completely devoid of sincerity.
“I have a schedule to attend to, so I’ll be leaving now.”
Before an answer could come, Riorem passed by Alpheios.
I left the hallway without sparing Alpheios a glance.
Because it wasn’t something my master had permitted.
…Of course, I was good at dumping all my burdens on Riorem whether he gave permission or not.
We headed for the annex where the general’s office was located.
As soon as we turned the hallway, I dumped all the books and papers I was holding into Riorem’s hands.
Despite parading me around under the pretense of being his attending slave, Riorem accepted them without a word.
Riorem never let me carry even a wet towel.
He always carried the mountain of documents and notebooks addressed to him himself.
And so, my role was truly only one thing:
To let him flaunt me as his war trophy.
And sometimes, I had to let him desire that trophy too.
The moment we entered the office, Riorem locked the door.
His now-empty hand gripped my chin.
His hardened face suddenly loomed close.
I did want to admire that striking beauty, but for now, I obediently closed my eyes.
Because I was sure the conversation with Alpheios had eaten away at Riorem again.
His lips, dry and chapped, pressed against mine.
But honestly, that rough texture was nothing surprising compared to the chill that clung to him.
“Mmmm.
A tongue slid between my half-closed lips.
The cold tongue probed every inch of my mouth, stealing heat.
The places where heat pools are usually the weakest and most delicate parts of my mucous membranes.
So I suffered every moment of Riorem’s tongue’s passage.
The minutes of painstakingly organised meetings, the handfuls of confidential documents, the letters that the servants had surreptitiously brought with them to the palace.
The things he’d accumulated as a Seth slave turned general of Arete, Riorem Velik, were scattered unceremoniously across the floor.
But Riorem’s hand isn’t on the floor, it’s on my shoulder.
It’s at times like this that the sadism of the thing rears its ugly head.
This from a man who felt no fear, not even from the mad prince of Arete….
The fact that he was nervously checking to see if I was in my hands was arousing.
That the slave who had so rarely climbed into my bed was now wielding at my disposal.
I was just beginning to drift off into a daze of ecstasy.
Suddenly, my lips parted.
“Ha, ha. Aaah…….”
I gasped and looked up at Riorem.
His saliva-slicked lips moved silently.
‘Unscrew it yourself.’
Long fingers flicked at the button that was fastened over my sternum.
I’d expected it, but apparently he hadn’t come to my office just to kiss me.
I undid the buttons, one by one, in a neat row along my chest.
My breasts, pressed against the stiff fabric, sprang free like bursting buds.
Blue eyes scanned the figure intently.
“…….”
I swallowed reflexively.
Riorem’s gaze was so insistent, I could feel its trajectory even with my eyes closed.
The centre of the dress parted, revealing white underbelly, lace underwear, and a ribbon for a fastener.
Riorem’s gaze was glued to my half-covered chest, where his bite marks left like scars.
I stared at him as I finished unbuttoning his top.
As if on cue, he untied the layers of ribbon.
My underwear, tied with ribbons, fell loose.
Soon her breasts, swollen by the kiss, were on full display.
A large hand wrapped around the exposed flesh.
“Mmmm.”
A moan escaped her throat.
The hand, now hot with heat, clutched her breasts.
The flesh, stained with bite marks and bruises, twisted and turned in a hand bigger than my face.
It was a strange sensation to have my breasts crushed in someone else’s heat.
First a shiver rises from deep in my chest, then a chill runs down my shoulders, and finally I’m intoxicated by a sense of support that feels like an extra weight on my heart.
Especially against someone with hands as large and firm as Riorem’s.
I closed my eyes, exposing both breasts.
The urge to surrender myself to this languid, strange sensation gripped me over and over again.
My body, half tempted, swayed wildly, my weak legs wobbling barely.
At that moment, Riorem pinched my nipple painfully.
“Ugh……!”
A stabbing pain shot through my shoulder as I involuntarily twisted my back.
I lifted my feverish eyelids and looked down at my chest.
A plump, swollen nipple twisted between his thumb and forefinger.
Riorem’s tightly closed lips opened.
As if trying to catch his breath, he whispered in a low voice.
‘You didn’t come here to rest, did you?’
“Hmph…
Yes!”
“Stand up straight. I’m not done yet.”
I bit my lip slightly.
‘Just when I thought this day wasn’t going to go by quietly…’