As He Willed
By the time the carriage reached the Empire, I was a wreck.
I could not even guess how many days had passed. While the scenery sliding past the window changed from fields to forest, and from forest back to low hills, Cael never once granted me a proper rest.
What had begun as a hand closing over my chest grew, with every hour, deeper, more blatant, and longer. The restraints almost never came off. Only when I ate or drank did one wrist loosen, and even then Cael sat right beside me, watching like a guard, so there was never anything that could be called freedom. Faint marks already ringed my wrists, and my shoulders throbbed from being pulled upward for so long.
Worse than any of that were the sensations this body answered with before I could. Every time Cael's fingers rubbed over my nipples, my waist trembled, however little I wanted it to. Every time he pushed the cloth aside and stroked bare skin, my breath shortened and my legs drew in. At first I soothed myself with the thought that this body is just sensitive, that's all, but after a few days even that excuse rang hollow. The stimulation piled up until, at some point, the mere touch of his hand was enough to set a heat burning low in my belly.
It was humiliating. And the way Cael watched that humiliation, as if he were savoring it, made me angrier still.
"Wet again."
One night, on the bed of an inn, Cael murmured it low. His fingers had already slipped inside my underwear and were slowly stroking the slick skin.
"I touched you that much in the carriage today, and you're still this ready."
I clenched my teeth and stared at the ceiling. My voice would not come properly. Days of unending stimulation had left my throat hoarse, and my breath was already as ragged as it could get.
"…Shut up."
"Why?"
Cael laughed. His fingers pushed in deeper. One knuckle, then two. Slow, and utterly without hesitation.
"Nngh—!"
"Sounds good. The noise you make when you're thrashing around, trying to hold it in."
My waist shook. My legs tried on instinct to close, but Cael's knee held them apart. His fingers began to move inside me, slow, curling and straightening, working the most sensitive place.
The sensation built. My head went white. A feeling that had never existed in the memories of my past life surged up from the deepest part of this body, and then the peak arrived—whether I wanted it or not. My waist convulsed hard, my legs trembled, and a short moan slipped past my throat.
Cael watched the reaction to the very end. He did not withdraw his fingers, only kept them moving slowly until the spasms subsided.
"Good."
He whispered it. His lips brushed the nape of my neck.
"That face when you come apart… I could watch it a hundred times and never get tired of it."
Even after that, his hands did not stop. Once the climax had passed and the body was raw with sensitivity, he touched it more slowly and more relentlessly on purpose—rubbing my nipples, stroking the inside of my thighs, pushing his fingers in again. In the end I crested twice more, three times more, until my body went completely slack. Only then did Cael seem satisfied and draw his hand away.
He did not undo the restraints. He merely looked down at me from beside the bed and slowly admired the ruined state of me.
The next day, when we climbed back into the carriage, it was the same. By the time the Empire's border began to show beyond the window, I was already in a pitiful condition. The dress was creased and loosened in places, the neckline never properly drawn up, so that my collarbones and the upper swell of my chest lay bare. My hair had come half undone and spilled over my shoulders, and a faint mark remained on my lip from biting down. The restraint marks on my wrists had grown sharper, and between my legs I was slick and hypersensitive from days of unending stimulation. Every time I sat, the brush of my inner thighs was so distinct that even managing my expression was difficult.
Cael watched all of it from beginning to end. Seated across the carriage, chin propped on his hand, he let those red eyes travel over me slowly—the ruined dress, the loosened hair, the quick breath, even the unconscious way I pressed my legs together. Wherever his gaze landed, my skin seemed to sting.
"When we arrive."
His voice was lower than usual, lazier.
"We'll go straight to my residence."
"…Not the palace?"
"The palace can wait."
The corner of Cael's mouth lifted.
"First I need to check properly. A few days of careless touching in a carriage isn't nearly enough."
His fingers climbed onto my knee again. They stroked slowly over the cloth, then slid toward the inside of my thigh. Skin already made sensitive answered the touch. My waist trembled, faintly. Cael's eyes narrowed.
"Still reacting like this."
He murmured it. His fingers moved higher.
"Until we arrive… shall I touch you a little more?"
The carriage kept rolling. Beyond the window the Empire's walls grew larger and larger—high stone ramparts, banners snapping in the wind, and the armor of the knights guarding the gate flashing in the sunlight. None of it reached me properly. Cael's fingers had slipped inside my underwear again, and a body that had already crested several times began to tremble once more.
By the time we reached the gate, I could barely sit upright. My breath was ragged to its limit, my legs twitched with fine spasms, and heat had flushed the corners of my eyes. The dress was a complete mess, and my hair clung to my skin, damp with sweat. Cael watched until the end, then drew his hand back as if satisfied.
"We're here."
He said it low. The sound of the carriage gradually coming to a stop reached me, and outside came the footsteps and voices of knights.
Finally, the gate…
Bright sunlight poured into the carriage. I narrowed my eyes against it and, led by Cael's hand, stepped slowly out in a state of total ruin.
The moment my foot left the carriage, a single thought came first.
…Bright.
Perhaps because I had spent most of the last several days inside a dim carriage, the noon sun felt several times stronger than usual. I reflexively narrowed my eyes and ducked my head, and in that instant the half-loosened gold of my hair spilled down beside my face. I had no thought of fixing it. More precisely—
There's no strength in my hands.
Just stepping onto the footboard to get down was enough that my legs would not take my weight properly. My knees trembled a little, and from sitting so long in an uncomfortable posture a strange ache ran from my waist down through my thighs. Afraid that one wrong step would drop me where I stood, I set my foot down far more carefully than usual.
And then—
"……."
It was quiet around me. Strangely so. I lifted my head a little.
The soldiers guarding the Empire's gate. The knights who had escorted the carriage. The attendants who had come forward to unload the luggage. Even the citizens watching from a distance along the road. Every one of them was looking at me.
Ah.
Only then did I understand. My appearance. Very slowly, I looked down at myself.
The dress, untouched by any proper care for days, was creased all over, and the ornament at the waist had twisted a little to one side. The neckline was nothing like the neat arrangement it had been at departure; the traces of having been yanked up in a hurry were still there. My hair needed no comment. Hair that a maid would normally have spent a full hour brushing hung half-undone, spilling any which way over my shoulders and back.
…I look like a beggar.
Was there another woman called the greatest beauty on the continent who entered an enemy capital looking like this? At the very least, the setting book had never mentioned one. I did my best to look unbothered and smoothed the skirt of the dress once. The moment I moved my wrist, though, the faint red marks left there showed in the sunlight.
…….
I immediately tugged the sleeve down a little. No need to put that on display. Fortunately, no one opened their mouth outright. It was the silence of people who knew that speaking might get them killed. Their eyes, however, were honest. Surprise. Confusion. Curiosity. And—
What is that look.
On a few faces there floated an extremely delicate expression. They seemed to have recognized me. Of course they had. The greatest beauty on the continent. The Golden Apple. The treasure of the Astrea Kingdom. And the woman Cael de Arcadia had gone so far as to start a war to demand. When the subject of rumors like that suddenly appeared before the capital gate, of course people wanted to look.
The problem was—
They're wondering why I look like this.
I would have wondered too. A princess brought here by a war waged on the scale of nations steps down from a carriage with her hair in disarray, her clothes creased, and a gait that is somehow unsteady. It was more than enough to feed the imagination. For an instant I turned and glared at Cael.
Cael was perfectly fine. If anything, he was immaculate. The black uniform was as neatly arranged as when we had set out, and his hair was only slightly tousled. There was not even a trace of fatigue on his face.
Why is that bastard the only one who looks fine.
It was unfair. The world is not fair. I ground my teeth inwardly.
That was when Cael stepped down from the carriage. His shoe struck the stone.
Tap.
The knights around us straightened almost as one.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince."
Dozens of heads bowed at once. I watched the sight and, for a moment, kept my mouth shut. I had seen this scene any number of times in the game. When Cael returned to the imperial capital, the guard formed ranks, the citizens cleared the road, and the nobles lowered their heads. On a screen I had thought nothing of it. He's the crown prince. That was all.
Seeing it in person was a little different. Dozens of armed knights waited on the movement of a single man. When Cael took one step, everyone moved at once, and when he stopped, not one person spoke first. Power. Was this what that word felt like when it took shape before your eyes?
…He isn't the Empire's crown prince for nothing.
If I thought only of what he had shown me inside the carriage a little while ago, I wanted to curse him as something less than human, but the Cael standing in a place like this was unmistakably different. The heir of the strongest nation on the continent, just as the game had described him. The words no longer felt like exaggeration.
"Let's go."
Cael said. I blinked.
"Where?"
"The palace."
An obvious answer. But as I looked past the walls, I paused. It was far. Enormously far. Even after passing the gate, a broad avenue stretched on and on, and at the end of it a high hill and the vast building raised upon it showed only faintly. I narrowed my eyes.
"…All the way there?"
"Yes."
"On foot?"
Cael looked at me. I could see the faintest hint of a smile rising on his face.
"Tired?"
Yes. Fucking exhausted. My legs were still shaking. But there were far too many people around. Knights. Attendants. Citizens. All of them listening. If I said I was tired here, their heads would finish the story on their own about exactly why.
I straightened my back at once.
"Not at all."
"No?"
"At the royal palace, this much was a stroll."
A lie. At our palace, a distance like this meant taking a carriage. The corner of Cael's mouth lifted a little. He knew. The bastard knew I was bluffing. And still he did not bother to point it out. That made me angrier.
"Then let's go."
"……."
I clenched my teeth. Fine. Let's go. Walking would do. How far could it be?
Half an hour?
I had no idea. This world did not have a map app. With the most unbothered expression I could manage, I began to walk at Cael's side. One step. Two. Three.
…Fuck.
I was already tired. Elysia's body was a truly strange thing. I could be cursing up a storm on the inside, and if I only lifted the corners of my mouth a little and held my head straight, from the outside I became the most elegant princess in the world. The setting of greatest beauty on the continent had not been attached for nothing.
People along the road began to murmur.
"That's…"
"Astrea's…"
"Good heavens."
The small voices reached my ears. I pretended not to hear. According to the game's setting, my portrait was already fairly famous even among the Empire's nobles. But seeing a painting and watching the actual person walk past were, as expected, different things. The gazes multiplied. Windows opened. People in front of shops stopped mid-step. A noble riding in a carriage drew the curtain aside.
I feel like the monkey at the zoo.
I stared straight ahead as if it did not matter. The more I did, the more the eyes gathered. The women's gazes, especially, were strange. They looked at my face. Looked at Cael. Looked me over again. Then whispered something to one another.
I can guess exactly what they're saying.
I sighed inwardly. In that moment the toe of my shoe caught, just barely, on the hem of the dress.
"Ah—"
My body pitched forward. A hand caught me hard.
"……."
Slowly, I looked to the side. Cael had hold of me with one hand.
"A stroll, you said."
The corner of his mouth was smiling.
That bastard.
I clenched my teeth and smiled very prettily.
"A stone was sticking up a little."
"It's flat."
"I saw it."
"Did you."
"Yes."
Cael laughed, low. Even so, he did not take the arm from around my waist. I looked down.
"Your hand."
"What about it."
"Aren't you going to let go?"
"It would be a problem if you fell again."
"I won't fall."
"You nearly did just now."
"Once."
"Once is enough."
The logic was sound. Which made it more irritating. In the end I gave up.
Fine.
Let him hold on. It was better than falling, at least. And in truth, with Cael supporting my waist, walking became a little easier. That fact wounded my pride all over again.
I lifted my head. The palace that had been far off was drawing gradually nearer. Colossal white walls. Spires rising high. Black-and-gold imperial banners hung everywhere. A place I had seen hundreds of times on a game screen. The Arcadia Imperial Palace. The stage where most of the main story unfolded, and the place where countless endings began. And, from now on, the place where I would have to live.
I looked at the building for a long while, then quietly let out a breath.
All right.
I had survived this far, at least. The kingdom had not fallen. My neck was still attached. A problem had arisen in that Cael was several times more insane than I had thought, but—
That…
I would manage it somehow. There would be a way. I had played the game for hundreds of hours. I knew so much of the future. There was no reason I could not do it. Convincing myself of that, I put a little more strength into my steps.
Right then, Cael spoke low beside me.
"Elysia."
"What."
"Your legs. They're shaking."
"……."
I looked only straight ahead.
"You're imagining it."
"Am I."
"Yes."
"All right."
Cael laughed. Inwardly, I cursed him. His residence was still… a fucking long way off.