Ariel slowly came to her senses. She felt as if her body was drooping like a wet blanket. At the same time, she felt a throbbing pain all over her body.

“Ah….”

Ariel groaned from the pain that came from her back. Why was her body hurting so much? And why was she so tired? More than that…… What was this warm thing that kept touching her skin now?

With much difficulty, Ariel tried to pry her eyes open in order to see what the hard and soft thing that was pressing against her back. Through her hazy vision, the first thing she noticed was how dim the room was. Only a single lamp was lit in the darkness of the room.

Yes, this was her room in Aunt Lucy’s villa. However, when did night come? Why was she naked?

Ariel, who had been gathering her thoughts, lowered her head. Someone’s thick forearm was wrapped firmly around her waist. The moment she saw it, she quickly came to her senses. Everything came rushing back.

“……Sion?”

Then the arm that was hugging her turned her body around. Ariel was now facing him. His familiar blue eyes were looking straight at her; they were shining so brightly in contrast to the room.

“Are you awake?”

Ariel trembled, unable to answer Sion’s question. Sion came to see her! He approached her and asked her to finish the ‘Things to Do at Night’ lessons…

“Oh ….”

Their bodies were closely pressed against each other as memories of the intense lovemaking flashed before her as her gaze lingered at Arsion’s thing. Their lower bodies were pressed closely together, and Arsion’s thing came under her.

He unceasingly drove her to her peak. He repeatedly, violently, and sometimes gently, vomited hot liquid inside her.

Ariel could feel it trickling down between her legs. It was as if it were to solidify the fact that the memories were true.

At that moment, Ariel roughly pushed Arsion’s chest back. She looked down, and her body shuddered. Even under the lamp’s dim light, the murky white liquid could be seen flowing down the thigh. Her eyes filled with tears as she blankly watched it dripped down for a long time.

‘I slept with Arsion and fell asleep.’

As soon as she realized it, more moisture started to form in Ariel’s eyes. At first, she tried to hold in her breath and cry, but in the end she couldn’t hold back the flood of tears.

Arsion, who was trying to reach out for Ariel, saw her crying face. Then, he asked in a painful voice, as if he had been stabbed.

“……Do you hate me that much? To the point of crying like this?”

Ariel shook her head at his words. She didn’t hate it. No, it was good enough to die for. She might have been in pain, but she was the one who had asked Arsion to go in deeper.

Every time Arsion moved his hips, she lost her mind again and again. She felt like her body was being reborn, experiencing new sensations that she had never felt in her life. In no way did she dislike it. Actually, it didn’t matter if it hurt. If the opposition was Arsion, she could do anything. However, only she felt good.

“No…… It’s not that I don’t like it…….”

“Then why are you crying?”

When Ariel said that, only then did Arsion cautiously grab Ariel’s wrists. He slowly lowered the hands that kept trying to shield her face and revealed a face painted with tears.

“Ariel, look at me and tell me. You said you didn’t hate it, so why are you doing this?”

“I, I… I ruined you.”

“What?”

“Sion, you are supposed to become a holy knight…… if you sleep with me…… you, now you can’t become a holy knight…….”

Ariel, who could barely contain herself, burst into tears. Even if Arsion rushed in, she should have said no. She knew if he did this, he would not be able to become a holy knight. She should have told him. In the end, because she was drenched in the pleasure of copulating with Arision, she could not tell him that, and eventually, she defiled him.

It wasn’t just Arsion’s purity that she took away. She even took away his future.

Now that she realized that, Ariel couldn’t stop crying, because she was afraid of how Arsion would look at her. Arsion then spoke in disbelief.

“Who’s going to be a holy knight?”

“What…?”

‘What does this mean?’

“Who the hell is going to be a holy knight.”

“Well, you were going to be a holy knight.….”

“I never wanted to be a holy knight. Not even once. Why would I do such a thing when that means I would have to stay away from you forever?”

On hearing Arsion’s response, Ariel wondered if she was having hallucinations right then. What did he mean, that he didn’t want to become a holy knight? Arsion asked Ariel, who was unable to say anything.

“Who the hell told you that I was going be a holy knight?”

“Um, it was….”

Come to think of it, she had only heard rumors that Arsion would be a holy knight. No one actually said for sure that Arsion was trying to be a holy knight. But…….

“But, there was a rumor going around. That you’re trying to be a holy knight. That’s why you came back.… and then the Duke took the family seal… and you never came back from the palace… it was all about you becoming a holy knight and not coming back as the Duke’s successor…”

“………What?”

At Ariel’s words, Arsion stared at her with a flabbergasted expression. It was as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. He touched his forehead a moment later and looked as if he knew what had happened.

With a long sigh, he got out of bed. Ariel tightly closed her eyes to elude seeing Arsion’s naked body, not wearing anything like her. When she opened her eyes, Arsion had brought over her bathrobe that had been hanging on her hanger.

After carefully putting the robe on Ariel, Arsion searched for his discarded clothes to cover himself. After donning on a pair of pants, he sat back down on her bed and told her.

“Riel, the reason why my father took the family seal and why I didn’t come back from the palace was because of another problem.”

“What was the problem?”

When Ariel asked again, Arsion suddenly blushed and could not easily answer. Then he grabbed her hand as Ariel looked anxiously at his actions and said,

“Because when I suddenly left …… our marriage had been postponed.”

“……Yes.”

As Arsion said, the wedding ceremony for the two of them had been postponed without another date.

“You know that every noble’s marriage is only possible with royal permission, right? More than a hundred requests are sent each day, and I don’t know if they will allow ours until a few months after filing one.”

That was a fact that Ariel was well aware of. The higher the aristocratic position is in the society, the more time it took to be granted a royal permission. This was not design nor customary. In the case of an aristocratic wedding that was connected to the royal blood, a wedding of that size would need some time to sort out more problems such as new local territory boundaries, or revision of the nobility registry plus many other minor matters.

“I couldn’t stand waiting for that many months for approval.”

“Huh?”

“That’s why I rushed to the palace as soon as I got back. I wanted to have a wedding with you in a month. That was why my father brought the duke’s seal. I had to write a pledge that I would not raise any complaints about any future problems because of the rush.”

“What?”

Ariel was having difficulty understanding what was going on around her, but one thing was for certain, Arsion was trying to marry her.

“Then why did Aiden and the holy knights visit me?”

“Aiden visited you?”

At that moment, the tails of Arsion’s eyes rose fiercely.

“What did Aiden say?”

At Arison’s question, Ariel recalled what Aiden had told her.

On second thought, Aiden had never once told Ariel that Arsion was about to become a holy knight. He just came in and complemented Arsion.

“Well, he came and complimented you…… and also just because he wanted to meet me …….”

Arsion had a cold look on his face after hearing her words. “He visited you without me realizing it.” As Arsion muttered for a bit more, Ariel suddenly remembered something.

“Then why did you leave for the temple?”

“Huh?”

“You suddenly left to join the temple. You became an apprentice knight. At that time, when you saw me, you definitely looked surprised…. so of course everyone thought you were going to be a holy knight…….”

The tears that had stopped started to fall again. It reminded her of the past that she had forgotten for a while. A time when she was sick enough to lose her consciousness. Arsion, who she had hoped for to be there for her, had left without saying a word.

The sadness that she had forgotten came rushing back once again. Arsion, seeing Ariel crying, gently pulled her into his arms.

“Yes, I was surprised to see you then.”

“…….”

“You were sick, because I didn’t keep my word to the goddess.”

“Huh …?”

“Riel, do you remember when we first met?”

Arsion started to talk about the past.

“I was praying to the goddess at the temple in the garden on the day you first appeared before me. I was so sure I had a mate somewhere, but I couldn’t find them. So I prayed to the goddess to please send her to me and pledged that if she did, I would cut down an abundant amount of evil that would surely satisfy her. And on that day, you appeared in the temple.”

“But I was just sleeping there?”

“Whatever the case, you came to where I prayed. I could tell from the moment I saw you. That the goddess listened to my prayers. So I completely forgot what I promised to the goddess out of joy,  and then I remembered it on the day you fell ill. So I went straight to the temple and found the holy knights. To deal with the monsters, you have to go to where they are.”

Arsion’s explanation left Ariel speechless. To be honest, Ariel was not deeply religious even though she was attending the temple gathering. Thus it was hard for her to accept Arsion’s words as the reason as to why she became ill was because of his failure to fulfill his pledge to the goddess at first.

‘But I can’t say anything about it when you are being so serious…….’

Ariel then remembered another resentment, and her lips pouted lightly. It was because she recalled he had left her without saying a word.

“Come to think of it, Aiden said you always called the goddess’ name when you fought against the monsters. You said you’d obey her for the rest of your life .….”

Arsion grinned at the slight sulkiness in her words. When she glanced back at him to see if he was making fun of her, he replied by shaking his head to suggest he was not doing so.

“I did say it. However, the name I called was your name.”

“………What?”

“My goddess, who I always wish for to be safe and healthy, is someone I have to go back to and meet again someday. That goddess is you.”

At that point, Ariel looked at him without saying a word. While he was away from her, she always thought that he loved the goddess, but in fact, that was not it. Arsion was always referring to her as the goddess.

With this realization, all her resentment for him, which had remained in a corner of her heart, had started to melt away.  She didn’t have to feel guilty anymore.

Still not able to find anything to say in Arsion’s arms, Ariel raised her head. She saw Arsion’s blue eyes looking at her. When she noticed his loving gaze, she opened her mouth and asked,

“Can I ask you one more question?”

“Whatever you want.”

“You… You said you were ‘annoyed’, because you were engaged to me. What was bothering you?”

Arsion pinched her cheek ever so slightly as to not hurt her and replied.

“I think you know the answer, but I can tell you want to hear it, so I’ll give you the answer. I’m going to marry you anyway, but I said it because I was troubled by other people’s needless meddling.”

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Ariel’s face smirked at his answer. Arsion kissed her cheek lovingly and added,

“Let’s go home tomorrow.”

Ariel nodded. Then Arsion continued to whisper in her ear.

“Everyone is waiting for the missing bride.”

As Arison finished, he carefully glided his hands between her legs again. Ariel’s moan of pleasures continued until dawn in the villa with no