Chapter 13
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13
"Ri—River..."
A clean, impossibly pure scent drifted from the curve of her neck as she panted. It seemed a lie, considering she had spent the entire day working in the garden.
When he hooked a finger under the garment binding her chest, Vanessa gasped and grabbed his wrist. Her reddened eyes trembled, looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Should I stop?"
His voice sounded remarkably gentle, even to his own ears. The hand that tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear was impossibly tender. He could afford to be relaxed; he had offered a choice knowing full well she couldn't refuse.
Though the likelihood was slim, Theodore was fully prepared to walk away if she refused him now. From the very beginning, getting involved for nothing more than her devastatingly beautiful body had been a bad deal. Lust was a nuisance, not an uncontrollable impulse. He was in no rush for a woman.
So, what will it be, Vanessa? At his silent, questioning gaze, the strength slowly drained from the hand gripping his wrist. Blushing to the tips of her ears, she lowered her head.
"No. Keep... going..."
Her voice was barely a whisper. Her resigned expression, as if she had no shame left to lose, was both amusing and irritating. After all, they hadn't even done anything to warrant such immense shame yet.
With a rough tug, the tightly knotted ribbons unraveled one after another. Her undergarment fell open, and her full breasts spilled free. As Vanessa reflexively tried to cover herself, Theodore grabbed her arms and pinned them to either side, rendering her motionless.
"No, you don't."
The summer sunlight poured like honey over her exposed skin, tracing her neck, her breasts, and down to the dip of her navel. It was merely a woman's naked body, yet the sight was so intoxicatingly lewd it made his throat go dry.
Red, mottled marks marred the pale skin above her breasts where the laces had been tightly bound. Did she truly believe that wrapping a few ribbons around herself could suppress her body's natural growth? The futility of it was absurd—yet it was exactly the kind of naive thought she would have.
"River, wait a moment..."
Ignoring her protests, he pried her knees apart and slid his hips between them. He gathered the hem of her loose blouse and pressed the fabric to her lips.
"Bite it. Open up."
Like a dog. Vanessa stared at him with wide, startled eyes. Had she imagined his words? She had heard them clearly, yet they were impossible to believe.
River looked remarkably innocent for someone who had just made such a degrading demand. A faint heat seemed to radiate from his lips as they curved into a seductive line. Vanessa reluctantly bit down on the fabric, only to let it slip from her teeth. Immediately, his hand gripped her thigh with painful force.
"Do it properly, Vanessa."
The way he murmured her name, as if coaxing her, was sickeningly sweet. The sheer humiliation made her feel like she was losing her mind. To lift her own clothes, spread her legs, and offer her naked body to entice a man... She would have preferred it if he had simply taken her roughly, without a word.
She knew this wasn't so different from when she had boldly demanded his body before. Yet, what truly made her dizzy was her body's betrayal—the way she was growing damp with arousal despite her intense shame.
"Ngh..."
Theodore slowly stroked her tear-stained cheek with his thumb. Her eyelashes fluttered with resignation as she panted softly. Crying, trembling, sighing—did she even realize that with every shallow breath, her bare breasts swayed so provocatively?
Hesitantly, Vanessa reached down to grip her own thighs, then opened her mouth and bit down on the fabric of her blouse. When he squeezed her breast firmly, as if praising an obedient dog, she let out a muffled whimper.
"You can stop whenever it gets too hard."
But if you want to see this through, you'll have to endure it. Catching his unspoken meaning, Vanessa bit down harder on the cloth.
Pressing a kiss to her pale forehead, Theodore squeezed her breast again. The flesh yielding beneath his firm palm was maddeningly soft. Each time his calloused fingertips scraped, tugged, and pinched her flushed nipple, her hips arched with a sudden shiver.
"Mnh, ah..."
No matter how chaste or innocent she had been, her ignorance—binding her own body so tightly that it left deep, red welts—was astonishing. It was a stark contrast to the woman who, just a few days ago, had boldly claimed she wanted to enjoy herself.
That was what drove him mad. The fact that she was so acutely, shamefully aware of him. The fact that she was steadily, helplessly getting slick for him under his touch.
"They've already swollen this much from just a little touch. See?"
He leaned down and took her plump, swollen nipple into his mouth. It tasted sweet and tart, with a faint hint of salt. Her skin, coated in the dried sweat of a day spent in the garden, was as rich and luscious as a fig ripened in the sea breeze. The primal taste and scent of her drove his arousal to a fever pitch.
Everything was overwhelmingly perfect: the heavy weight of her breast filling his palm, the way her damp skin clung to his lips, the tender flesh that flushed red at the slightest scrape of his teeth, and her crimson lips spilling helpless, breathless whimpers.
Theodore nibbled on her nipple, tracing the sensitive peak with his tongue before sucking hard enough to bruise. Vanessa had covered her face with both hands, yet she obediently kept the fabric clamped between her teeth, struggling to swallow her frantic whimpers.
"Mnh, ah, nnh..."
The sight of her tear-streaked face sent a sharp, heavy ache straight to his groin. Theodore slipped his fingers between her teeth, forcing her jaws apart. As he pulled the damp fabric from her mouth, a string of saliva trailed down her chin. Her slick, swollen lips glistened.
With deceptive tenderness, he wiped her lips with his dry thumb. Panting breathlessly, she nuzzled her cheek against his palm, as if mistaking his touch for salvation. Her wet, clumped eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a fragile butterfly.
"Ri—River, my... my heart is beating... too fast."
Her feverish voice gasped out the words. Theodore let out a soft chuckle and wrapped his palm around her throat. Thump, thump, thump. The frantic vibration of her racing heart pulsed loudly against his hand.
"Yes. I can feel it."
"Don't... don't stop. Keep..."
"Keep going?"
"Y-yes?"
"The spider you asked me to find is already gone, Vanessa."
Vanessa's eyes went blank for a moment, as if she were only now remembering how this whole encounter had started. Theodore tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his touch as soothing as if he were comforting a well-behaved child.
"So, you need to tell me exactly what you want me to do to you."
Her grey eyes, staring at him blankly, widened in disbelief. A flash of resentment flared in her gaze, as if she were looking at an utter scoundrel. Of course, that defiance didn't last long.
"W-we... we're lovers..."
"By contract, but yes, for now."
"In... in a situation like this, lovers, by social convention, generally... I mean..."
Her voice dwindled to a tiny whisper. After a long, agonizing hesitation, her face flushed crimson as she finally stammered:
"T-the... the act of... of joining our... our g-genitals..."
Theodore, who had been watching with keen amusement to see what she would say, burst into a sudden laugh. It was utterly absurd at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but chuckle. It took a special kind of talent to be this funny in her state, in this position.
And her choice of words... It was as if she had diligently memorized a textbook on anatomy and sex education. Not that it surprised him.
"So. Do you think you're wet enough to join our genitals?"
Hearing her own clinical words thrown right back at her, Vanessa's grey eyes trembled with outrage. Ignoring her struggles, he grabbed her small hand and forced it down onto her thoroughly soaked undergarment.
"Feel it with your own hand and check, Vanessa."
As she tried to pull away in horror, Theodore pinned her small hand beneath his broad palm. A thick, humid heat radiated from her. Using her squirming fingers as a tool, he pressed down hard, rubbing her clitoris, which had swollen so rigid it strained against the thin fabric of her underwear.
Her smooth, pale thighs jerked instantly. Overwhelmed by the intense, unfamiliar sensation, Vanessa gasped and writhed beneath him. A slick heat spilled from her, coating her thighs in a glossy sheen.
"Ah, hng, ah..."
She was devastatingly sensitive. Which only made her all the more beautiful.