'Did she reach a light climax?'
Alain paused for a moment to check on Seria's condition, thinking that she might be experiencing a light climax.
Her body trembled and shook with each breath, her toes curled in confusion.
Alain carefully stroked her hair, making sure she was still enjoying the sensations from her first time.
He wanted her to savour every last bit of pleasure that came with the aftermath.
"Haah... Haah..."
After a moment, she calms down and looks up at Alain with watery eyes.
He lifts his hand and wipes away the tears that have gathered at the corner of her eye, their lips meeting in a gentle touch.
"Mmm..."
The soft sensation on her lips.
Feeling it, Alain continues to caress her body and resumes his movements.
"Ah... ah... ah..."
Slowly, But gradually, he increases the pace. Their body temperature rises together.
The growing throbbing.
The beads of sweat slid down their bodies, staining their clothes.
"Hic!"
Was it another sensation that she couldn't handle in her body?
Seria jumps up and leans towards Ragnar's neck. In that instant, Alain lightly tenses up, but the sensation coming from his neck is nothing more than a slight discomfort.
It must be because the spell was taking effect.
And along with it...
"Eek!"
A surge of pain comes from below as the binding spell tightens its grip on him.
As if his own body is being sucked in, Alain's cock which is now at its full-length release his load into her.
Just like opening a champagne bottle sealed with a cork, intense feelings burst forth from within Alain's body.
"...!"
And Seria also feels it just like he does.
With a strike deep inside her body, hitting the most intimate part of her, she lightly reached her climax, and her mind went completely blank.
"Ah..."
A soft moan escaped from her parted lips.
Her vision grew blurry.
Alain pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in his embrace.
Feeling his warm body heat, Seria let out a loose, dazed smile and sank into his chest.
And soon after, she lost consciousness.
*
"... Is it over?"
It was a precarious moment.
Alain thought to himself.
At that moment, when Seria bit into his nape, the binding spell that had been placed on her was already lifted.
If she had intended to take his life, he would have likely met his end.
"Huuh..."
Letting out a sigh, Alain finished the release of his semen while holding Seria in his arms.
Perhaps it was because this was his first sexual intercourse with this body. The process felt somehow longer than any previous memory.
Finally, once all the processes were complete, Alain confirmed that the slave mark spell was reactivated based on the magical power that had seeped into her body.
In that moment of relief, "...Ugh!"
Alain felt something flowing through his body and reacted with surprise.
He then turned his gaze towards Seria, or more accurately, towards his lower half connected to her.
From the place their bodies connected, something foreign bled into him.
Not his magic. Not hers by will. Something else.
It gnawed like teeth into flesh, rushing through his veins with the hunger of a predator that had already claimed him as prey.
Alain's eyes widened with the sudden bite of it. The energy drilled into him, burrowing, digging paths he had no defense against. His jaw clenched until his teeth nearly snapped.
"Grrr!"
He shoved himself away from Seria, ripping the contact apart. It should have been harder, but her body let him go like it was already finished with him.
His legs staggered, pushing him across the clearing. His breath was short, too short, his chest caving with the wrong kind of heat.
But the energy was still inside.
No, it grew violent as soon as the link broke, thrashing wild, directionless, tearing through his body with sharper claws for being denied its source.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Every pulse carried the sound into his skull, reverberating like someone hammering nails from the inside. His veins screamed like they were splitting open, his organs twisted, and for a raw instant Alain believed he could feel each one shredding apart.
"Graaah!"
The roar ripped out of him, no words left, only the sound of something breaking apart from the inside. The forest swallowed his voice but not the pain.
For him, time blacked out.
Seria's groan cracked weakly in the clearing, fragile against the echo of his earlier scream. She opened her eyes with effort as though her lids were shackled.
The night was the same. The clearing, the crooked trees, the air burned faint with magic.
"Where… is this?" Her words staggered from her mouth as though reluctant.
Her mind swayed. She had been walking here. Meeting Alain. The memory carried her that far. But then…
Her hands pressed into dirt. Why was she lying on the ground? Why did she feel like she had been thrown there?
"Looks like you're coming to."
Her blood froze at the voice.
She spun, eyes flaring at the direction of the sound.
Alain stood there. His face was calm, expression shaded by the dark, a puzzle that gave nothing away.
"Alain… why—"
"Why? Didn't we agree to meet?" His tone was steady. Convincing, almost casual.
Her breath caught.
"...Ah."
The memory reset itself inside her. The promise. Tonight. Yes, that was right. He had told her he had something to give before they parted. So she had come, breaking her curfew, sneaking through the shadows just for this.
Then why was she collapsed here now?
Her lips pressed tight before spilling the question without restraint. "...Why was I on the ground?"
Her head tilted, eyes cutting across the space as though dragging broken images from fog. She remembered Alain's face. She remembered him standing close. After that…
Her mind clawed but found air.
Alain cut through the silence with a sigh. "You don't remember?"
Seria's chest tightened. "...?"
"Right after you arrived here." His lips curved slightly, his voice heavy with a strange dismissal.
She narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean?"
"You fell," he said, as if the word carried no weight. No context. "It wasn't exactly graceful. Like a stone dropped from a shelf."
Her gaze pressed harder on him, but his features didn't flinch.
"You must have tripped. Too dark out here, I suppose. Scared me half to death. Lucky you didn't break your arm. Check yourself, will you? Are you hurting anywhere?"
She pressed a hand against her elbow. Her ribs. Nothing buzzed with pain. "...No."
"Then that's a relief." His tone smoothed at the lie, almost warm. Almost. "But still, next time be careful."
Seria blinked, searching his face. Then she lowered her head to the dirt, noticing her clothes smeared, tangled with grass. Dust streaked along her hem, leaves clung against her skin.
It matched the story. She had fallen, hadn't she? She must have.
So what was that weight in her chest? The shadow clinging at her thoughts, whispering that something had gone wrong? That she had…
She stopped herself. If her body wasn't injured, if Alain said she tripped, then—
It must have been a dream.
"Ah, I see… A dream then," she whispered like it was both excuse and salvation.
Alain nodded wordlessly.
Her lips curled with a small laugh, nervous but lighthearted. "Hehe… Falling flat on my face right when I get here. What a way to ruin the mood. Sorry for the scare, Alain."
She scratched her head awkwardly, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. She smiled at him, hoping to push away the unease with something resembling normalcy.
And Alain smiled back.
The smile was hollow.
Deep within the cover of night, his hand tightened. Pale knuckles crushed against his palm, so tight the tendons nearly snapped under his own restraint.
It wasn't a dream.
It wasn't clumsiness.
He had forced his will into her. Broken something that mattered. Branded her in ways she could never understand.
The lie was the only mercy left. Truth would destroy her.
So Alain lied with his face. Lied with his tone. Lied with every part of himself. Pretending the night was harmless, that nothing had happened, that the nightmare belonged to her alone.
Inside, he whispered the truth only he would ever hold.
It had happened.
And he had violated her.