Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Crossbreeding
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Daphne flinched and looked at Asherad. How did he know? Did Olga tell him? But what did it matter if she had taken the infertility drug?
Yet Asherad smiled brightly. Even so, his piercing eyes gleamed with unmistakable madness.
“Sweet Daphne. You were thinking of me, weren’t you?”
“…….”
“Worried that I might crossbreed? Worried that you might get pregnant with my child?”
Wouldn’t it be a good thing for her to bear the seed of such precious imperial blood? Shouldn’t he be thrilled about it instead? Or was she saying that any child she bore would be as meaningless as a pup from a palace hound?
Asherad’s face darkened sinisterly as he saw the confusion on Daphne’s face, as if asking what was wrong.
“You take me now without saying you hate it with that mouth of yours…….”
“…….”
“But you have no right to hate me, and yet you pull off these cute little tricks.”
He pulled his thumb from her mouth, glanced at it coated in her saliva, and licked it clean with relish, as if savoring it.
“I love you, Daphne.”
“…….”
“There’s no way I wouldn’t want you to bear my seed.”
“…….”
Asherad smiled and pressed his lips to her neck. Daphne felt utterly bewildered by it.
The thing pressing against her belly grew even more ferocious. It felt darker than ever before, laced with a hazy madness.
Startled by its intensity, Daphne tried to pull away from his embrace, but he held her body pressed tightly against his.
“Your Highness.”
As soon as Daphne spoke, Asherad beamed. He slipped off her robe. Gazing at the woman’s stunning nude form glowing white, he bestowed a tender kiss.
It was an excessively polite, daddy-like kiss. So at odds with his ferocious aura. He led her to the bed and laid her down. Mounting her, he gazed at Daphne trapped in his arms.
She looked utterly confused.
He spread her legs and let his gaze drift lower. Lifting her ankle onto his shoulder, he gripped her other foot and forced her legs apart with strong hands.
“Your…… Highness, ah!”
Something touched a place she had never felt before, something she couldn’t even imagine. Daphne’s eyes widened as she gasped raggedly.
The room filled with her stifled moans as she fought not to unravel, mingled with wet, sticky sounds. Why, why? Why was this man doing this to her? She was beyond confused.
Why would someone of such noble blood go this far with her…….
“Eungh!”
Unthinkingly, she arched her back and trembled. Asherad lifted his face from between her legs. As she looked at him with tear-filled eyes, he thrust inside. The aftershocks of her climax hadn’t even faded yet. She bit her lip, held her breath, and took him in.
That gaze looking down at her. Under it, Daphne felt like she was going mad. In the moment their bodies joined, all her surrounding circumstances and pains vanished, leaving only raw instinct.
Gazing at Asherad, Daphne thought the man slamming into her was still breathtakingly beautiful.
And seeing his eyes sparkle as he held her only excited her more. When Asherad’s gentle movements paused, Daphne closed her eyes.
Panting, she tried to calm her overheated body. But Asherad kept pressing his mouth to her sensitive breasts.
She could still feel it, hard against her thigh. Daphne looked up at him with a dazed expression. The eyes gazing down at her curved into a bewitching smile. He whispered sweet nothings into her ear.
“So, between that infertility drug you took and me, who will win?”
“…….”
“Let’s find out.”
“Haaah!”
Daphne’s face twisted in agony. The still-rigid flesh plunged deep inside her again.
Her body, already awakened to pleasure, had no time to recover before he lifted her once more.
Having shed the mask of restrained madness, he was utterly ruthless. Like a beast in heat, he pounded into her body with rapid, drumming thrusts.
The loud slaps of wet flesh against flesh echoed through the room.
“Ah, ah! Aaaah!”
She cried out in screams laced with moans. Even amid it all, her body matched his rhythm, hot breaths spilling from her as she clutched the bedsheets. The bed creaked under his rough motions, shaking her body with each one.
That night, Daphne was ravished fiercely by Asherad.
* * *
Callista hurled her cup at the maid who had spoken. It shattered against the wall with a crash. The lady-in-waiting shrank back.
Callista panted with rage.
“Asherad, with a woman in the middle of the night?!”
She shrieked sharply. This couldn’t be happening—no, it couldn’t!
Tears welled in Callista’s eyes. She sank into her seat and sobbed pitifully, the very picture of tragic heroine.
How could he? Didn’t Asherad love her?
Of course, Asherad had never confessed his love outright. But how affectionate he had been toward her!
Whenever she wanted to meet, he dropped everything and came to her. When she complained of headaches from nursing that wretched emperor, how worried he had been.
He had scoured for the finest physicians to treat her. He had even gifted her a puppy out of concern for her loneliness!
“I need to see Asherad, now!”
Arriving at the Crown Prince Palace, she spotted Olga. The woman was giving orders to the maids, but she seemed to move uncomfortably.
“What brings you here, Your Imperial Majesty?”
She bowed deeply and courteously to welcome the Empress. Olga was one of those who fawned over Callista out of deference.
“Who was the one who shared His Highness’s bed last night?”
“That is…… why do you ask?”
Unable to contain her fury, Callista slapped Olga across the cheek.
“Eek!”
Olga lost her balance and toppled over. Callista laughed in disbelief. She knew exactly how hard to hit from experience—it was enough to knock her down without killing her.
Callista had calibrated the force so Olga wouldn’t crumple instantly. It was consideration for the head lady-in-waiting of the Crown Prince Palace.
“Stop exaggerating…… What’s this?”
Spotting bruises on Olga’s leg, Callista eyed her curiously. Olga hastily covered it with her skirt.
“I-I’m sorry. I broke the rules and was punished…….”
“Never mind that. Who was the woman Asherad slept with? That seductress’s daughter, perhaps?”
That filthy woman the Emperor was after. Olga would tell her the truth. At Callista’s sharp question, Olga calmly shook her head.
“No. That woman’s probably at the laundry doing chores right now.”
“Hmm…….”
“If His Highness had slept with her, he wouldn’t leave her working at the laundry, would he?”
“R-Really?”
Callista pondered deeply. Think of her own father—how he had wooed her mother. Always showering gifts, protecting her like she might fly away at any moment.
And yet, working at the laundry?
Even she wouldn’t allow that.
“His Highness wouldn’t sully himself with some lowly wench.”
Callista frowned. It made sense. For the noble imperial Asherad to keep that woman close just to torment her—that she could understand. He could enjoy watching her in rags.
The twisted, sinister hobbies of nobles and royals were so varied that Asherad’s eccentricity fit right in.
His rage was justified. She had learned the details since coming here. How precarious Asherad and his late sister’s positions had been, how much of a scum her husband the Emperor was.
Right, Asherad wouldn’t sleep with a woman like that.
“Then who was it?”
“We don’t know either. She wore a hood, so truly, we have no idea.”
Olga spoke politely. Callista furrowed her brow. Fearing another slap, Olga bowed lower.
“It’s true. Even if he did, it would be someone who wouldn’t cause trouble later. Rest assured.”
Misreading Callista’s emotions, Olga added that. Callista nearly pressed her further but stopped, choking back her breath. No matter her ‘motherly’ position, digging deeper would paint an odd picture.
“Where’s Asherad?”
“He’s in his office attending to duties. He said to let you know he’s waiting if the Empress arrives.”
She lowered the hand poised to strike Olga. The words “he’s waiting” were too sweet. Right. A vigorous man had needs……
No, wait. Could it be?
Seeing how Asherad always waited for her like this, he clearly liked her. But he cherished her too much. So he couldn’t unleash his burning lust, just endured it in torment.
In the end, Asherad had succumbed to desire.
“That week he vanished…… and he won’t even tell me.”
It stung personally that Asherad had slept with a woman. But Callista could understand. Men were creatures like that, after all.
She walked toward the man waiting for her.
Olga let out a sigh. She had barely escaped having her wrist chopped off for giving the infertility drug.
If she leaked more secrets here, her head would roll. She trembled. No matter that she had cared for the Crown Prince since he was a boy, Olga had no desire to become his enemy.