Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Hold Me, So I Can Have Your Baby (2)
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"?! Princess! Wh-what is this?!"
"Hehe, you like it? Does it suit your taste?"
Under the moonlight, the red dress—shredded into hundreds of pieces in an instant—began to slip away.
As I squeezed my eyes shut in shock and turned my head away, the weight leaning against me grew even heavier.
And the hands cupping my face forcibly turned my head forward, away from where I was desperately trying to avert my gaze.
"Really, I'm putting my heart on the line like this because you're my Jonathan. Aren't you even going to look?"
"Of-of course I can't look!"
"If you don't, I'll scream."
"Y-you will?!"
Wait, scream in this situation?
No, at a glance, this was already enough to warrant the death penalty for blasphemy and insulting the imperial family.
But if I actually looked now, dealing with the aftermath might be even harder.
"You fool~. I'm baring everything to you first like this, and you're still going to turn away?"
Her voice held not resentment, but a playful delight and mischief in toying with my reaction.
But from my position, it was like being a frog pelted with pebbles—I couldn't just laugh it off.
I cracked my eyes open just a sliver and barely managed to force my mouth open.
"If I look, I'll be guilty of blasphemy!"
"I won't punish you."
"...Pardon?"
Wait, what was that now?
"Because I'm Ruberius itself, and I'm the will of this empire. How could it be blasphemy to follow the imperial will?"
"Even so... More importantly, the imperial will?"
"Give up? I've even gotten permission from Father to make an imperial heir with you. Tonight, it's just you and me here."
I desperately kept my head turned away, eyes squeezed shut.
Permission from His Imperial Majesty to make a baby? That made my head spin for entirely different reasons.
But what reached my ears was her playful voice and the soft rustle of the last scraps of fabric hitting the ground.
"Really, you're not going to look until the end?"
Her voice came from right in front of me.
I mustered my last shred of courage and barely pried my eyes open.
And at the sight before me, I stopped breathing.
"!"
It wasn't nudity.
Bathed in moonlight, her body shimmered faintly beneath a thin negligee that seemed to float like the darkness itself.
The sheer fabric veiled her perfect curves while inviting the imagination to pierce beyond, revealing everything.
Like jewels glowing in the dark, the silhouette of her ideal breasts, slender waist, and elegantly extended legs faintly emerged from beneath the black veil.
Far more provocative and overwhelmingly seductive than showing everything outright.
Damn it, this is cheating.
My heart pounded wildly, heat rushing to my face.
She didn't miss my reaction, sliding one hand downward to toy with my collar like a plaything as she whispered.
"Hehe, your face is red. So our Jonathan is a man after all?"
Her hot breath tickled my ear.
But I had no intention of spending one night with you and getting dragged into central power struggles.
I racked my brain with every distraction I could muster to escape this, but Lorensia just laughed harder at my reaction, clearly amused.
"Pfft, I could force you, but you'd hate that, right? I don't want that either."
Instead of releasing my collar, she gently cupped my cheek.
"So, let me propose a game."
Her red eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Tonight, until dawn breaks, I'll tempt you with everything I've got."
She brought her lips to my ear, whispering so only I could hear.
"If you take me, I won't resist at all. But if you try to run, I'll scream. That a blasphemous intruder broke into the princess's garden, tore my clothes, and tried to assault me."
A chill ran down my spine. Even as a joke, it was hard to brush off.
Besides, everyone in the country knew how strong you were—who would dare attempt that? This woman.
"And if... if you withstand all my temptations until morning, I'll let you go obediently tonight. How about it?"
Could I endure it?
But enduring was the only option I could see.
I nodded with difficulty in response.
At my answer, a deep smile curled Lorensia's lips—the signal that the hunt had begun.
She slowly released the hand on my cheek and began circling me.
Like a black panther stalking its prey, every movement was silent and graceful.
Swish, swish.
The soft sound of the thin negligee brushing her skin rang unusually loud in the quiet garden.
Each night breeze carried the thick rose scent rising from her body, overwhelming all my senses.
Even with my eyes closed, I felt like I could pinpoint her location.
My hearing and smell sharpened to extremes, my heart racing uncontrollably again.
"Eut..."
She stopped behind me. And did nothing—no words, no actions.
Silent stillness. But that silence bred an even more suffocating tension.
The heat of her gaze on my back. The dizzying anticipation of her touch at any moment.
"Back then, Jonathan."
Finally, her voice whispered from behind.
"When you rejected my proposal, I learned desire for the first time—something I couldn't have."
Her voice was so close it echoed directly in my mind.
"So I thought: how do I make this man mine? Break him with force? Subdue him with power? How boring."
Her pale, slender fingers gently brushed the epaulet on my shoulder.
Not direct skin contact, but the warmth seeping through the fabric made my shoulder muscles tense involuntarily.
"I realized to tame a wild stallion like you, I can't use whips or reins. I have to make you come to me yourself. Into this scent, this touch, into my arms."
Her fingers trailed from my shoulder toward the nape of my neck.
I swallowed hard, desperately trying to think of other things. Chicken, eggs, new sauces...
"Trying so hard to think of something else. How cute."
She paused just before touching my nape and slowly walked around to face me again.
Under the moonlight, her black negligee gleamed even more sensually.
"Nervous? Hehe, so adorable."
She turned fully to face me.
And gently lifted my hand.
Like soothing a wild horse, cautious and tender.
I missed the moment to resist and let her guide my hand.
Soon, she slowly brought my palm from her collarbone to her slender neck.
"!"
Thump, thump, thump. An impossibly fast and intense pulse, unbelievable for the usual poised princess.
"Do you feel it?"
Her red eyes gazed up at me, moist under the moonlight.
"This is what you did to me, Jonathan. My heart has never beaten like this for myself."
I felt her frantic pulse under my palm, desperately clinging to my rationality.
This was a trap. A stage crafted just for me, the most beautiful and dangerous.
But against my brain's warnings, my heart began to echo hers, pounding on its own.
"If you hold me, you'll hear this sound until the night ends. From the closest place no one has ever reached."
Instead of releasing my hand, she guided it to her cheek.
Her feverishly hot cheek.
She rubbed her cheek against my hand like a cat seeking to be tamed, whispering languidly.
"And the moment you hold me, this heart might just burst."
"But it wouldn't be bad. You're the only one who's ever made it race like this."
"You taught me what a beating heart feels like, so I want to give you that moment."
Damn it, this is cheating.
I tried to pull my hand away hastily, but she wouldn't let go.
Instead, she rubbed her cheek against it more, questioning me in a drowsy, bewitching voice.
"Hey, Jonathan."
"Don't you want to feel my heartbeat even closer than this? Not over clothes."
"I want to feel your body heat too. Your heartbeat. From closer than anyone."
She slyly pulled my hand from her cheek, wrapping her arms around my arm.
Her soft body pressed fully against my arm, separated only by the thin negligee.
The heat of her body through the fabric, the thick rose scent numbing my nose.
I desperately turned my head away, frantically summoning other words in my mind.
'Chicken, fertilized eggs, mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, custard cream...'
But every word I conjured melted away under her hot breath.
She whispered into my ear, her voice thick with undisguised, languid desire.
"Really, I want you this much. And your reaction is so honest?"
I couldn't get swept up.
I had to divert my attention elsewhere.
For example, the rose scent in this garden—
"The rose scent in this garden."
As if reading my mind, her voice burrowed into my ear.
"The purest, clearest fragrance from hundreds of roses blooming with night dew. You like it?"
"But Jonathan, the scent you're smelling from me now is a little different, isn't it?"
She pressed her body even closer around my arm, resting her cheek on my shoulder.
Then, in a low whisper meant only for me.
'So, why don't you breathe in my scent deeply? There's a red rose here that only you can pluck.'
My rational defenses crumbled helplessly.
Instinct screamed to claim this red rose, to drown in its scent and forget everything.
Before I knew it, I was breathing harder than a raging wild boar.
And facing me like that, Lorensia smiled slyly and told me.
"Hehe, can't hold back?"
"It's okay. Tonight, it's just you and me."
"So fill me with your existence, your potential."