Chapter 31
Red hair was scattered over the bed. Shallow, ragged breaths escaped from Alessia’s lips.
Alessia clung to Franz’s shoulders, sobbing.
Every time she was with him, her whole body shivered. It felt as if she’d been thrown into a raging fire.
She couldn’t compose herself in the face of this pleasure, something she had never experienced before.
With difficulty, Alessia looked up at Franz. He stared down at her with an intense gaze.
Franz embraced her passionately. It felt as though his entire world was filled with nothing but her.
It was as if he were in love with her.
It didn’t seem like the Franz she knew.
“What do I mean, ‘not like Franz’?”
Alessia thought dazedly, her mind slipping.
To her, Franz had always been a man who despised her—one who recoiled at even brushing against her, who couldn’t bear to be in the same space.
She didn’t recognize this man now.
This man who was desperate to have just a little more of her—this wasn’t the Franz she knew.
Now that she thought about it, he hadn’t been acting like himself before, either.
Alessia recalled the time he had kissed her.
Even then, something had felt off. He had been polite but had failed to hide his possessiveness toward her.
At the time, she thought it was just a whim.
But now, she wasn’t so sure.
She was beginning to learn new sides of him she had never known.
Franz, who looked at her not with hatred or disdain, but with burning passion. Franz, who held a woman he loved.
As soon as that realization hit her, a wave of sorrow followed.
She hadn’t wanted to know this. She never wanted to learn that Franz had this side to him.
In her previous life, even hearing that Franz slept with Nyris every night hadn’t made her feel angry.
Romantic or sexual relationships were nothing but horrifying to her. She had assumed Nyris was enduring the same dreadful nights she had.
But this night…
This intense pleasure…
Had Franz once shared this kind of night with Nyris?
The pleasure she now felt was accompanied by a deep sorrow.
She had been the only one left ignorant. The only one who had trembled in fear whenever she faced Franz.
How much had Nyris laughed at her behind her back? She had every right to. Alessia now saw herself as foolish too.
“So stupid.”
Her vision blurred, her sight scattering.
Her trembling breaths turned into muffled sobs.
“Resa?”
As tears streamed down her flushed cheeks, Franz leaned in close. He kissed away her tears and murmured softly,
“Don’t cry.”
“Hngh…”
His kiss, filled with affection, only deepened her sadness.
Alessia sobbed uncontrollably, overwhelmed by her emotions.
It would’ve been better not to know.
If only she had never discovered this side of Franz, never realized how sweet their time together could be…
Then she wouldn’t have felt so wretched remembering her past self.
“Stop… Please stop.”
“Is it too much?”
When Alessia, in tears, tried to push him away, Franz moved back as she wished. He wiped the heat from his eyes roughly and stroked her cheek.
“I’m sorry. I must’ve hurt you with my clumsiness.”
Franz looked troubled. Watching him blame himself made Alessia’s heart ache.
She had thought she knew everything about Franz. But she hadn’t known this part of him.
And she shouldn’t have known.
The kind, gentle Franz. This night of intense pleasure with him. These things—she should never have known.
“It’s okay.”
Alessia swallowed her sobs. Gasping for breath, she shook her head. Her red hair, spread across the pillow, clung to her cheeks.
“Keep going.”
She whispered, looking like she would burst into tears again.
It was painful, but it had to be finished. Once it had begun, it had to end.
“Do whatever you want—ruin me completely.”
She meant it.
She wanted him to act like he used to. To give in to his desire alone, to treat her like a mere tool.
That way, even if her body hurt, her heart would be able to endure.
“I can’t do that. You’re crying.”
But Franz didn’t comply. In fact, he even released his hold on her.
Alessia looked up at him in surprise, overwhelmed by the sudden emptiness.
If they stopped now, the bond of souls wouldn’t be completed. They had to go through the whole night for the first night ritual to be fulfilled.
Yet Franz seemed ready to disregard the procedure—as if her tears mattered more than the bond of their souls.
Why?
Alessia’s eyes trembled. Franz looked down at her with a gentle expression.
“I don’t want it to be like this.”
Franz cupped her face in his hands. He kissed her tear-streaked eyes and whispered,
“I’m not going to ruin you. That’s not the kind of bond I want.”
His deep voice stirred something in her chest.
Franz furrowed his brow slightly, as though trying to suppress his own pleasure.
Taking a deep breath to relax his broad chest, he continued slowly.
“I want you to want me the way I want you.”
Alessia stared intently at him. As if she could read his heart by looking deep enough.
The candlelight flickered in the darkness, casting dancing shadows across Franz’s face. As the shadows moved, his expression seemed to shift with them.
At times, he looked angry. At others, sad. Or anxious.
Alessia couldn’t tell which one was his true face. The only thing she knew for sure was that they had to complete the first night.
So she said what she wanted.
“…I want you.”
That gentle, unbearably kind man—
Alessia wanted a chance to take revenge on him.
The one who had once again shredded her heart with that gentleness.
“I want you, Franz.”
The moment her words ended, Franz pulled her into his arms.
Alessia lifted her head, gasping.
“Ah…!”
Her body heated up. Franz embraced her tightly, gripping her waist.
Her vision began to blur.
Hot breaths escaped her lips, ragged gasps following.
The bridal chamber, heavy with the scent of roses, began to heat with their body warmth.
“Resa, Resa…”
Franz called her name breathlessly, as though he longed for her even while holding her.
Alessia reached out to him in response. Wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, she shut her eyes tightly.
Their upper bodies pressed together. No space between them—like one being.
Franz’s cold body began to warm as it touched hers, their temperatures syncing.
The fire mana flowing within Alessia began to envelop the ice mana that had tormented Franz’s body.
“Franz…!”
When the mana within her surged, Alessia’s back arched.
At the moment she called his name, the ice mana inside her burst forth.
At last, the bond of mana had begun.
“Kh…!”
Franz grimaced as he transferred his mana to Alessia. His thick arms tightened around her, their bodies pressing even closer.
“Ah…!”
Alessia trembled, feeling the ice mana spreading from her heart.
It was a sensation like freezing from the core outward, only to be engulfed in flames once more.
Her entire body shook violently from the overwhelming shock.
Was this joy? Or terror?
The joy of being bound to Franz? Or the fear of never being able to escape him?
Complex thoughts she hadn’t experienced during their previous bond flooded her mind.
Alessia clung tightly to Franz, gasping. By now, both were drenched in sweat.
Franz embraced her tightly, his face twisted in emotion.
Even after releasing his mana into her, he couldn’t calm himself. His once-cold fingertips now clung to her with obsession.
Alessia, clinging to him, let out a faint plea.
“S-Stop…”
Her vision spun. Her heart, now overflowing with the mana he’d given her, was too full to bear.
The sensation of two manas intertwining and fusing into one inside her made it hard to think.
Was it like this before…?
Alessia clung to the edge of her fading consciousness.
No. This was a sensation she had never felt before.
In their past life’s first night, it had ended with her accepting his mana. She hadn’t felt it spreading to every corner of her body like this.
“Resa, please. Just a little more…”
As she tried to push him away, Franz pleaded desperately. He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the thrill of their mana’s union.
“Please, just once more.”
Alessia closed her eyes at his pleading. With the same hands that had tried to push him away, she now embraced him.
