Deertes shook her head as his face came closer to hers. He pushed his leg between hers. She was not naive enough to not know what was heavy between her legs.

He must have still been wearing clothes. But the fact that the feeling something bad was about to happen had rose in her terrified. So, she cried.

I don’t want it. I’m scared. Stay away from me.

“I… I don’t want to… I…”

She had tried to keep herself composed a while ago, but now, it was just too much for her. Deertes was terrified for and of her body, so she covered it up as much as she could.

“Don’t… Please…”

In the midst of crying, she croaked out. At that moment, Deertes hated herself more than anything. The fact that she could do nothing in this situation other than pray. That’s why she could not help but cry even more. The sound of her cries filled the room.

After a while, Lachlan spoke quietly.

“Don’t cry anymore. I won’t do anything. I’ll stay still here…”

Deertes looked up in surprise at his words. Even though she could not see his facial expression since he was lying down, she somehow imagined him with the same face as when she asked whether she remembered him.

It was then, Deertes felt Lachlan’s lips touch her neck. Those lips slowly moved downwards. Lightly pressing her skin as they moved. His actions reminded her of stamping a seal.

Carefully, and slowly, leaving a trail that shows who she belongs to.

Suddenly, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and slowly maneuvered upwards. His movements were precise, as if he were handling the most precious thing in the world. Deertes trembled even more at his movements.

She had not thought that he would be doing this to her. She had assumed that since she had taken the vow, the fulfilling of it would happen the same way.

The hand that had been crawling up her arm soon reached her shoulder and to the tied bandages. The feeling was weird and ticklish.

“Ha…”

A breath of hot air hit her neck.

The lips that were hovering over her neck slowly made their way down and to the hollow of her back. Deertes felt it hard to breathe as she buried her face into the sheets.

Soon, the place where the lips were was replaced by the feeling of his palm that had moved from where it had originally been at, her shoulder.

With the feeling of his palm sweeping down her neck, she found it even harder to breathe.

“I want to touch more of you.”

Lachlan’s voice seemed suppressed.

“It’s so soft here as well… How… Do you…”

Lachlan muttered before burrowing his face into her back.

She didn’t know how long they stayed in that position. Tired all of the tension between them, Deertes, unbeknownst to her, she started to relax. Though, the pain didn’t stop pulsing at her shoulder. During their scramble, sweat had continued to build on her body.

Just how much longer are we going to stay like this for?

Lachlan pushed himself up, and away from Deertes’ exhausted body. For a moment, she heard the sound of creaking before suddenly, something cold touched her back.

“Eek…!”

Deertes yelped in surprise as the cold towel touched her back. He paused at the sound. Before continuing on cleaning quietly. Deertes also tried keeping in her voice after that.

Lachlan quickly, and skillfully, wiped away all the sweat at her back. As if showing to her that he indeed had many nights of experience.

Then, placing the towel away, he placed the fresh set of pajamas he had brought with him, one side on her now clean back. All that’s left was for him to tie the front of it.

“Turn around.”

“…”

“…”

Deertes, who had thought that he would leave after cleaning her up, was staring at him, eyes wide in surprise.

“You can’t do… I mean…”

“You-You’ll see it…”

She couldn’t bring herself to say out her thoughts. Lachlan, now with his hands free, laughed at her words.

“I think you must’ve forgotten. But mind you, I’ve already done this for a few nights. There’s no way I wouldn’t have seen your breasts.”

“…”

“If you want me to leave soon, then turn around.”

Deertes could not figure out in which position she should be in so that she would not be completely exposed. Noticing her hesitation, Lachlan clicked his tongue before reaching towards her. His arms wrapped around her waist and turned her to face him.

“Kyaak!”

The cloth that had not been able to be brought up by Lachlan’s movement fell. Now that Deertes was not trying to escape, Lachlan was holding onto her more securely in his arms. Fully aware of her back touching his chest, Deertes sucked in a breath.

“Is this alright? Now I can’t see it at all from where I’m at.”

“Ah…”

“So please try not to move around too much. You have no idea just how much I’m holding back right now.”

Deertes held her breath, she could barely hear his words behind his gritted teeth. Lachlan’s hands moved quickly. The two pieces of dry fabric were tied together and she could now return to how she was a while ago in bed.

His fingers neatly tied the last knot. She wanted him to let go now, but such hopes were shut down as his arms stayed wrapped around her waist.

Then, he gently rested his head on her shoulder.

There, he stayed. He let out a breath, as if he had finally found a comfortable position. Although Deertes had been drenched in cold sweat, her hair still smelled like the forest. Such a smell that cannot be found anywhere on this land infatuated him.

He was also overwhelmed when he suggested the vow. And Deertes was unaware of it. She had no clue just how much he wanted to burrow into her, and just how much he craved her warmth and sweetness.

He slowly turned his head away from the pale chest that would move up and down when he changed her clothes.

“Deertes.”

“…”

At his words, Lachlan embraced her body from the back as she flinched. Silence filled the room once again.

It was only when dawn broke did Lachlan pick up the clothes scattered across the ground and left the room. Of course, not before taking one more glance at Deertes. Instantly after, her body that had been tense for such a long time relaxed. She was relieved that she could finally breathe comfortably.

A while ago, Deertes wasn’t able to do anything asides from crying out, “No!” Even now, Lachlan had trouble keeping a tight lease on his desires. Nonetheless…

Lachlan looked at his now empty hands. Last night, Deertes had been sound asleep in his arms. That was enough for him.

“Good morning… Did something good happen to you today?”

Brian, who had wanted to greet Lachlan, almost spilt the tea he was drinking as he took notice of his facial expression. A key benefit of being around Lachlan all the time was that Brian can now easily spot any subtle change in Lachlan’s demeanor. And the expression Lachlan had on right now was the first he had ever seen since he became a general.

‘Come to think of it… Wasn’t she feeling better?’

Brian thought as he recalled when he asked Craig for the state at which Deertes was in. Although she still had to wear her shoulder brace, she was waking up more and more often. Well, that’s probably a given, seeing how much Lachlan had been hounding after Craig.

“Mr. Lachlan, the merchants that have come from Zebrem are here. They’ve already stayed here for two days, it’d be best to meet them soon.”

One of the butlers knocked on the door. Zebrem is one of the older settlements close to Endeavour that had a large piece of arable land and farms. Not long ago, a handful of merchants bought the land there and started to grow crops and produce many other things for their home country.

Honestly speaking, without Endeavour’s protection, granted by Lachlan, Zebrem wouldn’t have been able to build such farms and conduct their exporting business.

As such, they would report their products quarterly to Lachlan to ensure they’d have continual support.

As soon as the Zebrem mechants stepped foot into the room, their faces lit up. Before he could say a word, they placed the items they had brought in onto a table.

Normally, Lachlan would almost instantly ask them to take the items back since he already knew what they would present to him. However, this time around, something caught his eye.

“That’s…”

“Ah, it’s silk that we brought back from this time’s expedition to Saul. It’s made from silkworms. Try touching it. It’s much softer than the ones found in the East. It’s extraordinarily soft, nothing else in the world can even stand up against it.

Their voices rose as they spoke with pride. Although such material was still in it’s experimental state, should silkworms be able to be grown in large quantities, such silk could be able to be sold for high prices in the country.

Lachlan’s hands brushed across the silk as he listened to the buzzing of the merchants. As they spoke, Lachlan’s hand continued to glide across the soft fabric. However…

His hands went up to his face and clasped it.

‘Is there really nothing in the world softer than this? No way… Last night…’

Lachlan thought to himself as he recollected the events of last night.