A Contract Begins With Consent

The contract came on three sheets of parchment.

Lena spread them across the table.

Her fingertips — trembling, ever so slightly.

"Read it. Strike out any clause you don't like."

A commanding voice. If ice could speak, this is what it would sound like. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ The ink hadn't fully dried yet. It showed the marks of a night spent rewriting. I caught myself imagining it for a moment — the Ice Duke's Daughter, polishing sentences until dawn.

I started from the first page.

I picked up my pen.

"Protection's fine. But how is this any different from confinement?"

Lena's brow shifted, just barely.

"…Confinement is a serious crime. That's continental law. I am not imprisoning you."

"And your proof?"

"See Article 3."

I read that line twice.

You're allowed to leave — nailed into the document itself.

On this continent, there was no noble who would write "you may go" to a man.

The common sense of this continent was to keep them at your side by force, if you had to.

It had been barely days since a knight order came knocking, declaring they would "secure" me.

And this woman had opened the door to leaving first.

"…Why go this far?"

"Because what's taken by coercion was never mine."

At those words, the System flickered to life.

Twenty-seven years.

Not three days.

This woman had held up that unbroken face for twenty-seven years, never once crumbling since the day she was born.

My throat went dry, and I turned my eyes to another clause.

"There's a compensation clause too. What's my pay under this contract?"

Lena tapped a single line.

"How much is a hundred gold?"

"Half a year's salary for a knight captain."

I nearly dropped the pen. The Earth-based conversion ran itself in my head.

On this continent, a single can of cola cost a laborer's weekly wage, one whole fried chicken was a knight's monthly salary. A pack of instant ramyeon counted as a noble banquet, and I'd heard a single bottle of soju could fund a Magic Tower research budget. So a hundred gold came out to — roughly, the price of a case of cola with a human life thrown in on top.

"Is that a lot, or a little?"

"You couldn't buy a single man in this continent even if you staked the entire fortune of Ducal House Aska on it," Lena said flatly. "A hundred gold isn't a price. It's a courtesy."

Not a price — a courtesy.

This woman's words were ice, but her sentences kept burning hot.

We revised Article 2.

When I underlined "separate rooms," Lena looked at me for a moment.

"…Separate is, preferable?"

"Sleeping together without consent isn't good manners."

Lena fell silent.

And then — for the first time, the mask cracked.

"Manners," she murmured. "A man, showing me manners."

"Isn't that just normal?"

"It is not normal here."

Lena set down her pen.

"On this continent, a man is a National Treasure. Everyone will try to take you through me. Even I… very nearly did."

"But you didn't."

"No." She lowered her eyes. "I didn't. And that's why I'm scared now."

The Ice Duke's Daughter, saying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was scared.

"Scared of what?"

"That even if I don't cage you, you won't stay." She ran a fingertip over the underlined line. "If I lock you up, you'd be at my side, yes. But then it wouldn't be you staying — it would be the bars holding you."

I put down my pen and looked at her hand.

Those trembling fingertips told me more than the contract ever could.

Lena rose.

She came around the table and stood before me.

Revealing formal dress — apparently that was simply how adults in this world dressed. But right now, it wasn't about the clothes. She was just — close.

"Kang Dohyun. May I ask one thing, contract or no contract?"

"Ask."

"I…" Her voice trembled. "I haven't said this to anyone in twenty-seven years."

The sound of her drawing breath was small.

"I want to hold you. Just once. Not because anyone told me to — because I want to."

The question marks in the scan finally filled in.

The System was bureaucratic even at a moment like this.

I looked not at the System, but at Lena.

"Lena."

"…Yes."

"Take it slow. If you don't like it, stop at any moment."

"And if I don't want to stop?"

"Then — I want it too."

"But why do you keep telling me it's okay to stop?" she asked. "Everyone else grabs hold so you can't leave, but you keep leaving the door open."

"Because the door has to be open for you to walk in on your own." I said. "You wouldn't be you, if you drifted in."

Lena's ice cracked — clean through.

"That line was a foul."

"Foul how?"

"I held out for twenty-seven years, and one sentence just broke me."

She climbed onto my lap.

First. On her own.

Her lips touched mine. Clumsy. It would've been stranger if the first kiss in twenty-seven years were anything but clumsy.

"…Is this, how it's done?"

"That's right. You're doing great."

When I parted my lips slightly to guide her, she followed like a student. Dry at first, her lips grew wet within a few passes.

Lena's hands fumbled at my clothes. Trembling at the fingertips — yet not retreating.

Between the loosened folds of her dress, her chest came into view. That ice-cold face was flushed deep red.

I didn't rush. I simply stroked her back, her waist, slow with my palms. I knew that the moment I hurried her, this woman would freeze over again.

So I used my mouth instead.

I pressed my lips to her collarbone. I could almost hear the sound of ice touching skin.

"It's cold there."

"…Your mouth is colder."

I traveled down to her breasts. They filled my palms completely. What she'd called ice was just warm flesh.

When my fingertips found her nipple, her back arched.

"Hah."

"You just made a sound."

"Did not."

"You did. Twice."

I rolled her nipple between my fingers. Lena's hands seized my head.

Hands that should have pushed away — pulled me closer instead.

"…Sorry. Right now I'm—"

"It's fine. Keep going."

She was not the kind of person to stop there.

"Ah — ahh."

I took her nipple into my mouth. Did the same to the other. One hand cupping her breast, my tongue rolling over the hardened peak.

Lena's breathing grew shorter and shorter.

"Kang Dohyun."

"Yeah."

"I'm not cold at all right now."

"I know. I can see it."

I moved past her navel, down along her inner thigh.

Her breath hitched right there.

"…Why there."

"Taking measurements."

"Who asked you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to measure."

"You did, just now."

Her inner thighs shivered. Dampness gathered against my fingertips.

Lena closed her eyes.

"…Look. You did all this."

"…Why aren't you hurrying?"

"Waiting is also manners."

"There's that word again." She smiled with wet eyes. "Do you know that kind of manners drives a person insane?"

I was already hard. Lena wrapped her hand around me. A trembling hand.

"…It's hot."

Her thumb fumbled over the tip. Even that clumsy touch sent a jolt up my spine.

"Lena. You're sure?"

"I'm sure." She looked down at me. With wet eyes. "I chose this. For the first time in my life."

She lowered her hips.

Her wet folds touched the head of my cock. She was already slick — it ran down over me.

She slipped. A wet, slapping sound. It wouldn't go in on the first try.

"Hhk…"

She stopped halfway. I held her waist, and instead of hurrying her, I waited.

"Slowly."

"…Yes. Slowly."

Lena lowered herself further on her own. With a lewd, sucking sound, I sank deep inside.

The Ice Duke's Daughter, above me, swallowing me with her own weight.

"Ah…"

She began to move. Awkward at first — then finding the rhythm her own body wanted.

Her nails dug into my shoulders.

"Deep. Too deep."

"Should I stop?"

"No." She barely shook her head. "Stay still. I'll do it. Me."

She rose on her own weight, then sank back down.

Slap. Slap.

Every sound in the room was drenched.

Seeing her from below was a first for her too — she wore ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the face of someone who didn't know what she herself was doing.

"…Can you see me?"

"Yeah."

"How do I look?"

"I can't see you. I can't — but I feel everything."

I held her waist with my hands. If I held her steady, she'd wobble less.

Lena drew a deep, shuddering breath.

Her folds slid up my length, then swallowed me again.

"Haaang—"

Slap. Slap.

The sound of flesh meeting flesh filled the room.

"Kang Dohyun… I, right now…"

"Yeah."

"For the first time in twenty-seven years — I'm wearing no mask at all."

Those words made me hotter.

I thrust up from beneath, matching her. As much as she wanted, as far as she led.

Slap, slap, the wet sounds grew louder.

Lena's proud, commanding face had come completely undone. Eyes wet at the corners, mouth open, the ice melting and running down.

The System, nagging even in the middle of this.

I shoved the scan window shut. Right now I didn't want numbers — I wanted this woman.

Lena's hips grew bolder by the minute. What had begun as careful, tentative lowering was now her slamming her full weight down, again and again. Slap, slap — every collision of flesh wrung more wetness out of her, soaking her thighs.

"Is it… supposed to feel this good?" she asked, gasping for air.

"Depends on the person. But you—" I cupped and lifted her hips. "—you look like you're definitely enjoying it."

"…You're making it impossible to talk."

Even as she said it, her hips never stopped once.

Then suddenly, Lena seized my shoulders.

Her waist shuddered hard. At a sensation her body had never known, the ice princess panicked.

"Pull out…" she panted. "Please, pull out…!"

I stopped immediately.

"Pull out?"

"…Yes, pull—"

But something was wrong.

Even as her mouth begged me to pull out, her waist was still sinking down onto me. On her own. Deeper.

Though she could have controlled it with her own hands, far from retreating, she swallowed me deeper.

"Lena." I said. "You're sitting down on me even further right now."

"…I am not."

"You are."

Her face flushed crimson to the ears.

"…My body. Won't listen to me." Humiliation spread across her wet eyes. "I'm telling you to pull out, but my body won't let go. I never knew this about myself — not in twenty-seven years."

A woman who had been in perfect control of everything couldn't control a single part of her own body.

Her mouth commanded, proud as ever, "pull out" — while her body clenched around me, honestly demanding the opposite.

That gulf between the two broke her.

"Should I stop?" I checked again. That was the one line I could not cross. "If you truly want it, I stop."

"…No." She shook her head, still wet around the eyes. "Don't stop. That just now… was just my body running ahead of me. I still want this."

We moved again. This time she met me, lifting her hips in time.

Slap, slap. The wet sounds swelled.

"There…" She dug her nails into my shoulder. "There — more."

I drove into the spot she begged for, as deep as she begged.

Slap, slap, flesh striking flesh hard.

I picked up the tempo.

Slap, slap, slap.

The sounds hammered the room one after another.

Lena's breasts swayed. Up, down. Her wet peaks cut through the air.

"Ha, hah—"

"Can I look?"

"At what."

"Your face. Right now."

Lena couldn't open her eyes.

"Can't. I don't feel like myself right now."

I thrust my hips up harder.

Slap!

The bed groaned.

"Aaang—!"

"There — why there—"

"You like it there."

"…I didn't know. I swear I never knew that about myself."

Her folds tightened around me, harder and harder.

"Kang Dohyun — something's wrong with me. I keep telling you to pull out, but I keep wanting more."

"They're both you." I said. "The you with the mask, and the you right now."

"…Both?"

"The you who acts like ice in the day, and the you melting on top of me now. I'm not giving up either one." I wiped her wet eye with my thumb. "I'll take care of both. So don't hold back."

Something in Lena's eyes came loose, all at once.

"Can I finish inside?" I asked. That counted as consent, too.

"Inside." She answered with a trembling voice. "Inside me. Because I want it."

Lena's waist shuddered hard. Her tightening folds pulled at me as if to swallow me whole.

"Ah — I, I'm about to…!"

She crested. Her whole body arched like a drawn bow.

And in the same instant, I burst inside her.

I poured deep.

The bastard could make even a congratulation sound sterile.

Lena collapsed forward onto my chest.

Her breath came ragged.

For a long while, neither of us said a word.

I stroked her back, slowly. No rush. Wiping away the cooling sweat with my palm.

"…Kang Dohyun."

"Yeah."

"What kind of face am I making right now?"

I lifted her face to look.

The ice was gone.

Flushed cheeks. Damp lashes. And at the corner of her parted lips, something I'd never seen before.

"You're smiling." I said. "You're smiling right now."

Lena touched the corner of her own mouth with a fingertip.

"…You're lying."

"I'm not."

From her eyes, a single tear fell. While she was smiling.

"For twenty-seven years, no one has ever seen this face. Even I didn't know it existed."

"Now you do."

"…Because you saw it."

Lena buried her face in my chest. The Ice Duke's Daughter, still melted.

For a long time, her heartbeat traveled straight through to mine. Still fast.

"What I said earlier — about pulling out." She mumbled into the blanket, half her face buried in it. "That's cancelled."

"I didn't pull out, you know."

"…I know. So from now on, don't pull out without permission." Her ears had gone red to the tips. "The one who ordered that wasn't me. It was my body."

"Your body is you too."

"…That's exactly why it's embarrassing, right now."

So this ice could be this shameless. I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"I'm adding an Article 4 to the contract."

"What is it?"

"'Kang Dohyun shall, from time to time — look at this face.'"

"That's not a clause. That's a request."

"Exactly." She smiled, small. "It's a request. The first one I've ever made in my life."

To seal that request, I pressed a kiss to the crown of her head like a stamp on a document.

Lena pulled away from me. As my cock slipped free, the rush of what I'd left inside spilled out, released from the flesh it had held. White trails ran slowly down her inner thighs.

She caught a look at it on her fingertips, then flushed.

"…This is a first for me, too."

"Embarrassed?"

"No." She shook her head. "Strangely, no. Maybe because it's you."

That undone face didn't freeze over again for a long while. Twenty-seven years of ice, melted once, revealed how expressive the person underneath had always been.

Rolling her eyes, curling the corners of her mouth, rubbing her cheek against my arm.

"You don't use honorifics with me," Lena murmured. "Everyone else bowed and scraped to me over the National Treasure thing."

"Does that bother you?"

"…I like it. Keep it up." She closed her eyes. "I could keep a hundred bowing men alive in a cage. But a man who keeps his manners while speaking to me as an equal — that, even a hundred gold couldn't buy."

The woman who'd said a hundred gold wasn't a price but a courtesy was now putting a price on courtesy itself.

I pulled myself together and opened the System.

The Gallery — locked during the deed — floated back into view.

The coordinates had leaked.

Exactly.

I scrolled down. My fingertips went cold.

The comments were ballooning in real time. Upvotes jumped by the second.

It sounded like a joke — and it was no joke.

If a single man in this world was worth a case of cola, then nobody would think twice about the price of a ladder to catch him.

Lena glanced toward the screen. She couldn't see it — but she could read my face.

"…What is it?"

"My coordinates leaked." I gathered my clothes. "This place is about to get very loud."

The undone warmth drained from her face — and turned cold again.

But it was a different cold from before.

This was the face of someone who now had something to protect.

Lena rose, drawing her disheveled dress closed. The woman who had been falling apart a moment ago straightened her back.

"Article 1." She said. "Protection. — It starts now."

"And Article 3?" I asked. "You said I was free to leave."

"You are." She looked at me — not with wet eyes now, but honed ones. "But tonight, I will protect you. That's not the contract. That