Chapter 9: Mature Woman’s Body, Virgin’s Heart

Wendy leaned against the headboard, the teal silk robe hanging loosely from his shoulders.

He gazed at Astreia’s departing figure, while the Rhodium-Iridium-Beryllium Soul inside him roared madly.

Eighteen years! A whole eighteen years!

Do you have any idea what these eighteen years have been like for me?!

Before I transmigrated, I was just a corporate drone, living a monotonous life—home, work, home, work.

Aside from my 2D waifu, I’d never even properly held a girl’s hand.

After transmigrating, I became a Prince of the Cavalier Kingdom, but the education in this matriarchal world was a hundred times harsher than the nine-year compulsory schooling of my previous life.

For eighteen years, I rarely left my quarters.

Day after day, I was either faced with the stiff face of a court tutor or drowning in the dull, tedious etiquette of the nobility.

The greatest forms of entertainment?

Chasing butterflies in the back garden, or watching court dramas so boring they could put anyone to sleep.

Stifling.

Long, hopeless suffocation.

Until today, when the memories of the transmigrator awakened, as if molten lava had been injected into the silent heart of a dead volcano.

The awakened memories set a blaze deep inside his heart.

Surrounded by beauties more dazzling than the top celebrities on Earth, each one was like a walking hormone bomb, constantly teasing his long-starved heart.

Earlier in the bathroom, he had intentionally slipped and fallen, scraping his knee—a perfect reenactment of a classic anime scene—and successfully lured this pure-hearted knight princess to break in.

It was about to succeed, but that Secretary named Edwin Veid burst in and ruined everything.

Now, with just the two of them, alone in this room, deep into the quiet night…

Wendy swore.

If he let her leave again, he’d write his name backward!

While Astreia was still stunned by his request, not yet recovered from her daze, he made his move.

“Don’t go…”

Prince Wendy rose from the bed, approaching the tense, frozen figure with a posture of weakness and helplessness that evoked pity.

He gently hugged the First Princess from behind.

Astreia felt as if struck by lightning, her whole body trembling in place.

Wendy pressed his forehead softly against the warm, gentle back of Princess Astreia.

Even through the indigo casual dress, he could still feel the S-shaped curves that far surpassed any 2D CG—full and ripe, not the sickly thinness prized by Valoran’s mainstream tastes, but a mature, powerful voluptuousness.

His hands slowly trailed up her firm arms.

Finally, he softly encircled that flawless waist.

Not a trace of excess flesh—taut, strong, with lines as sleek as a hunting leopard.

“Thump—thump—thump—”

Right now, Astreia’s mind was utterly blank.

All thoughts of a knight’s honor or Valoran’s future were cast to the winds.

The only thing she could hear was her own wild, pounding heartbeat—each beat shaking her eardrums, shaking her very soul.

‘She smells so good!’

Wendy nearly buried his face in her dazzling golden hair, greedily inhaling.

‘It’s like sun-dried sheets, mixed with the scent of daisies…’

Natural, wild, and yet irresistibly alluring.

As he savored the moment, his hand slowly slid down to her flat, tense lower belly.

“!!!”

A wave of indescribable tingling spread out from where his palm rested, surging through every nerve in Astreia’s body.

Her whole body went weak, her legs barely able to support her.

A strange fire flared to life in her lower belly, burning her dry-mouthed, making her soul tremble.

She never imagined that the body she’d been mocked and shunned for all her life—called “big-boned” and “unfeminine”—would one day be embraced so intimately by a man… and not just any man, but the most beautiful person on the continent!

Was this a dream?

It had to be a dream!

Astreia unconsciously held her breath, afraid that if she spoke, this beautiful dream would burst like a bubble.

To be sure, she trembled as she raised her hand, grasped the slender hand “misbehaving” on her belly, and, as if performing some sacred ritual, pressed it to her cheek.

Cool, delicate, soft as boneless silk…

The real sensation brought a misty glaze to Astreia’s emerald eyes.

“So soft… it’s not a dream…” she murmured in a daze, her voice so light it seemed on the verge of shattering.

Hearing this dreamlike confirmation, Wendy chuckled inwardly.

It worked!

“What’s wrong?”

Wendy gently rested his chin on Astreia’s shoulder, sighing in feigned disappointment.

“Astreia… don’t you want to stay with me?”

This question struck Astreia’s heart like a hammer.

She instinctively nodded frantically.

But then, as if recalling something, she shook her head even harder.

Reason returned, in the most brutal way, at the last moment.

In that instant, Astreia thought of many things.

He was Prince Wendy Black—the First Beauty of the Cavalier Kingdom, the dream partner of countless noblewomen.

How could he possibly fall for someone like her—a “plain” woman?

He was just a prince without a country, desperate and alone, seeking to use her strength to take revenge on the Orcs for his homeland and his people!

He was only using her!

But… even if he was only using her, so what?

To be depended on, to be used, to even be “seduced” in this way by him—wasn’t that already a tremendous blessing for her?

But!

She absolutely could not take advantage of his vulnerability!

If she really stayed the night and something happened between them… how would she be any different from those shameless people who coveted his beauty and used power to force him?

She was a knight!

A Princess of Valoran!

She could never stoop to such shameful acts!

At this thought, Astreia’s confused starry eyes instantly cleared and filled with resolve.

Her inferiority and longing didn’t turn into even a hint of resentment toward Wendy.

Instead, they became a conviction stronger than ever.

She would defeat the Orcs!

Not just to protect the people of Valoran, but for him!

So he would never have to lower himself like this again!

So he could live freely, without burdens!

Once the war was won, once the Cavalier Kingdom was restored… if, by then, Prince Wendy could still say the same words to her as tonight, then she…

“Wendy!”

Astreia suddenly turned, grasping Wendy’s bare shoulders and gently pushing him away to create a bit of distance.

The Princess’s gaze was solemn, as if making the most sacred vow.

“Please rest assured!”

“I, Astreia Valoran, hereby swear! I will defeat the Orcs, avenge you, and restore your homeland!”

With that, without waiting for any reaction from Wendy, the Northern Lioness spun on her heel and strode out of the room as if pursued by wild beasts, even thoughtfully slamming the door shut for him with a loud “clang” from outside.

[Bang!]

“……”

Left alone in the room, Wendy stared at the tightly closed door, speechless for a long time.

It seemed the comforting scent of the Princess still lingered in the air.

After a long while, the black-hearted Prince couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the ceiling.

“You’re a woman… why are you acting like a pure-hearted virgin?!”

***

At the same time, in a dark storage room of Sunset Fortress.

The dismissed former Secretary, Edwin Veid, was clutching a woman’s arm desperately.

His once-handsome face was now streaked with tears and snot, utterly wretched.

“Uuuh… Kelly, you have to help me! You must help me!”

“That bastard Wendy! He ruined everything I had! I want him dead! I’ll make sure he dies with no grave to call his own!”