Jacob ran to the annex with a sweaty face full of desire. When he reached the maid’s boarding house, he opened the lock and rushed into the room where the collaterals slept.

And what Jacob found was an empty bed.

“No! Damn it! Lucerne must have taken her! That’s right– Lucerne would have the same thoughts as me.”

“Keep calm, Jacob.”

His escort dissuaded him. The women who woke up were shivering against the wall.

“Call the wizard–offer any amount of money and bring it back right now! I need to find her!”

Jacob pushed a maid and walked over.

‘He’ll find me and then I’ll be caught by Jacob… … ,”

All of Elisha’s internal screams raised her goosebumps; her hands and feet trembled.

“Oh, no. I don’t want to go.”

Bang Bang.

There was a knock on the door.

“High General! There’s a woman who escaped and is hiding in your room.”

Elisha looked at Lucerne as if asking for her salvation.

“Please open the door, it’s dangerous, I’ll search the room.”

“The people who are looking for you have come.”

Lucerne’s red eyes were very cold. Elisha thought.

‘If I go to Jacob like this… … .’

She would probably die. Then her second life would just end like this.

‘I have this opportunity, but really… … , Will it end like this? It can’t be.’

BangBangBang!

“Sir Lucerne.”

“Then, just make me your subordinate. I will do anything.”

“… … ,”

There was a sweet smell from Elisha’s mouth. His head spun.

Elisha’s face would be broken again. She would be dragged to see her ugly face in a mirror. She would be forced to confess again and again, ask that her sins are overturned and die… … ,

It was a terrible fate. It was better for her to kill herself now.

“Why can’t I? You could make me a subordinate and a female knight! The people of the world say that you are baptized and fair to your subjects, and I… … . In the past, I did everything— so that everything was taken away and not sold to the brothel… … .”

Elisha was serious.

“How do I try more— I got so much information in my hands— and even I’m a Countess. Why is my life like this… ,”

Elisha was caught up in the Cartier family’s war of succession.

Those who weren’t qualified just because they were of the Cartier family had a lot of wealth. She lived with her neck naked and exposed to them, as they sneered at others as they sinned and paid no price. [PR: “neck naked” means no protection]

Even Elisha’s competence was a consumable to them. Rather than savoring a little bit of Cartier’s wealth, Elisha had to live every day, worrying about her life.

He asked himself quietly, “Was she the Countess?”

Lucerne stared at Elisha with dark red eyes.

“Right. You inherited the title.”

It was a scorching gaze. But Elisha didn’t notice it.

“I’m sorry. Sir Lucerne, I will open the door.”

There was a loud noise from outside, as people were crowded around the enterance.

Elisha closed her eyes. She had to be calm. What card could she use anymore? She thought and scrambled for anything desperately.

“If I get out of here, I’ll tell everyone you’re a pervert.”

Elisha said the last thing she could think of. Her face was blank.

“What?”

Lucerne’s actions stopped. Elisha felt that she was strangled just by the changing energy of his body. He was too strong.

“I saw you masturbating to that corpse. When you kill people, you get excited. I’ll go around spreading that rumor.”

“… … Do you really think I masturbated to a dead body?”

Lucerne grabbed Elisha’s arm and pulled her, Elisha closed her eyes.

“I saw it clearly.”

“Um. It’s true that there are times when people get excited when they kill people. Really….”

Now it was either dying or living. Elisha had nowhere to retreat.

‘Think, let’s think… … ,’

She had no idea Lucerne was so unfeeling and detached from his mother. It was surprising that Lucerne had a cooler personality than she heard.

‘Why was Lucerne a single man?’

Elisha did not believe in powerful men. On the surface, they seemed elegant on the outside, but it was always the same.

Carola did the job of training a courtesan and dispatching her as a spy. If it was a hundred, then the men of a hundred came over. The same was true for a man who was known to have good wealth.

‘Lucerne de Kayas, possibly a perverted misogynist.’

‘There is no woman in his circle.’

‘This man, Lucerne… … . He’s a lot more cautious than I thought.’

The report passed by. Lucerne at least did not appear to be gay.

‘Then… -… Since an unusual sexual kink can be a weak point, why don’t you put a woman on him?’

There was only one thing Elisha could use now.

“Then … .,”

Elisha bit her lips.

“That, I… your perversion… ., I’ll cover for you.”

“… … ..”

“Because your enemies have surrounded you, you have kept women away. Even for a man like you in your position, it’s still a vulnerability. You have nothing to lose if you use me to shield and satisfy yourself.”

Elisha decided to throw in her lot; it was her last chance. But despite what she said, Elisha didn’t have the skills nor the confidence to satisfy a man. But that was the only thing she could throw out at the end.

“You really think so, Elisha? You think I’m ashamed of my perversion, so I avoid women?”

Lucerne asked quietly in a subtle tone. Her face red.

Elisha turned her head and avoided his eyes.

“If not—if you want to send me away right now……. Strangle me with your hand and kill me right away. And I’ll be left as a thought in your life—just another thought in an unopened box of ‘what ifs’ in your mind.”

Elisha’s eyes were suddenly red.

It meant that if she died today, Lucerne would eventually remember this and wonder about what might have been.

“Do you usually offer to spread your legs like this?”

“Yes?”

Elisha doubted her ears. At first, she thought he was teasing her with a facetious question that she understood a few seconds too late— this was his response to her asking him to kill her.

“If so, 30,000 gold coins feels cheap.”

“What— is that… … ,”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter if you always do. Come here.”

“I don’t want to go.”

Elisha shook his head. She hated to imagine what would happen if Lucerne threw her out of his room.

Lucerne looked around after Elisha’s protest.

“Ekk!”

Elisha fell down at the enterance. Lucerne pushed her against the door.

“Quiet,”

“….”

“Officially, it’s the day your pussy’s cherry has popped. Strip, we need to be making the same sounds.”

S-strip? Elisha’s eyes widened.

Lucerne touched Elisha’s chin.

“Ah!”

The next moment, Lucerne’s arms wrapped around and lifted her from under her knees, pushing Elisha against the wall.

“I’m going to fuck you from now on. So…”

“……”

“Scream and moan, Elisha. Loud enough that they can hear everything outside.”

Elisha couldn’t even breathe, her eyes running around frantically.

“If that’s the case, I happily accept.”

With Lucerne, they blocked the door with their feet as if to herald the beginning.

***

What is this situation. Elisha thought.

“Huh, hu ah ah… … ,”

Creak, bang, bang, the wooden door began to shake. Lucerne’s sturdy arms dug under Elisha’s knees; her legs trembled in the air, not touching the floor as he rubbed his body against hers.

“Make some noise.”

“… … I can’t… … ,”

Her face was bright red. Lucerne was telling her that they should pretend that they were having sex.

But it was too embarrassing. In her previous or present life, there was no way Elisha, who was a scoured outcast, ever climaxed.

“You said you’d appease my libido. Have you changed your mind already?”

Lucerne pushed Elisha’s back further. As if they were having real sex, her back shook against the door.

“You should work hard.”

Lucerne whispered his lips on Elisha’s ear.

“So they will give up and go back. They’ll give up if they believe I’ve already done it.”

“… …”

“No one, including Jacob, would have the guts to come in for you while I’m playing with you.”

Lucerne was a first-rank high general. A high warlord pulling a woman into a room and having sex with her—who would have the guts to interrupt him?

When Elisha’s body wasn’t relaxed, and her voice couldn’t be heard, Lucerne’s arm grew stronger. Now he was pulled her body tight against his.

“As if we were really doing it… … . Please do it.”

Elisha said, closing her eyes tightly.

There was full of silence beyond the door.

No one said a word.

But often, there were rhythmic sounds of something moving and banging.

Elisha and Lucerne paid attention to each and every one of their actions.

***