Red hair was scattered on the bed.
Elisia's shallow, intermittent breaths were coming out of her lips.
Elisia clung to Franz's shoulders, sobbing.
Every time she was with him, her entire body would tremble.
As if she had been thrown into a raging fire.
She was unable to hold herf together in the face of these feelings, something she had never experienced before.
With difficulty, Elisia raised her head towards Franz.
He was staring at her with a deep gaze.
Franz hugged her passionately.
She felt as if his entire world contained nothing but her.
As if he loved her.
He didn't look like the Franz you knew.
What does it mean, 'not like Franz'?
Elysia asked, her mind wandering, gradually sinking.
To her, Franz had always been a man she detested—
A man who was averse to even her passing touch,
He can't stand having her in the same space.
She didn't know this man now.
The man who seemed desperate to get more of her—
This was not the Franz I knew.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered that he wasn't even acting like himf earlier.
She remembered the moment he kissed her.
Even at that moment, there was something unusual.
He was polite, but he couldn't hide his possession of her.
At the time, she thought it was just a whim.
But now she is no longer so sure.
She began to discover new sides of him that she had never known before.
Franz, who looked at her not with hatred or contempt, but with burning passion.
Franz, who hugged a woman he loved.
As soon as I realized this, a wave of sadness followed.
She didn't want to know this.
She never wanted to know that Franz had this side.
In her previous life, even when she heard that Franz slept with Naerys every night, she did not feel angry.
Emotional or physical relationships meant nothing but horror to her.
She supposed that Naerys, too, had to endure such terrible nights.
But tonight...
This overwhelming pleasure...
Has Franz ever shared a night like this with Naerys?
The pleasure I felt now was accompanied by a deep bitterness.
She was the only one left ignorant.
The only one who trembled in fear every time she faced Franz.
How many times had Naerys laughed at her behind her back?
She had the right to do so.
And now, Elisia saw herf as stupid too.
“Very stupid.”
Her vision became blurry, and her gaze was scattered.
Her shuddering breaths turned into muffled sobs.
“Liz?”
While tears were streaming down her reddened cheeks, Franz approached her.
He kissed her tears, and gently whispered: “Don’t cry.”
“Huh...”
His kiss, full of affection, only deepened her sadness.
Elisia began to cry uncontrollably, overwhelmed by her emotions.
It would have been better if you didn't know.
If you hadn't discovered this side of Franz,
If you didn't realize how sweet their moments together could be...
Why did she feel so miserable remembering her old f?
“Stop...please stop.”
“Was it too much?”
When Elisia, with tears in her eyes, tried to push him away,
Franz backed away as she wanted.
He roughly wiped the warmth from his eyes and stroked her cheek.
“I'm sorry.
I must have hurt you because of my stupidity.”
Franz looked disturbed.
Seeing him blaming himf made her heart hurt.
She thought she knew everything about Franz.
But she didn't know that part of him.
And you shouldn't have known him.
Good, friendly Franz.
This burning night with him.
All this—what you should have known.
"decent."
Alicia stifled a gasp.
She gasped, shaking her head.
Her red hair, scattered across the pillow, stuck to her cheeks.
"continued."
She whispered, as if she was about to cry again.
It was painful, but it had to be completed.
Since he started, he must finish.
“Do whatever you want—destroy me completely.”
And she really meant it.
She wanted him to act like he always had.
To surrender to his desire only, and treat it as nothing more than a tool.
With this, even if her body hurt, her heart would be able to bear it.
“I can't do this.
You're crying.”
But Franz did not comply.
He even released her.
Elisia looked at him in astonishment, overcome by sudden astonishment.
If they stopped now, the soul bond would not be complete.
The entire night had to be spent for the ritual of the first night to be fulfilled.
However, Franz seemed prepared to ignore the weather—
As if her tears were more important than the bond of souls.
Why?
Elisia's eyes shook.
Franz looked at her with a kind expression.
“I don't want it to be this way.”
Franz put his hands on her face.
He kissed her eyes wet with tears, and whispered:
"I will not destroy you.
This is not the bond I want."
His deep voice stirred something inside her chest.
Franz furrowed his eyebrows slightly, as if trying to restrain himf.
He took a deep breath to calm his broad chest, and continued slowly: “I want you to want me... as I want you.”
Elysia stared at him for a long time.
As if she could read his heart if she looked hard enough.
The candlelight danced in the darkness, casting moving shadows on Franz's face.
As the shadows moved, his expression changed with them.
Sometimes he looked angry.
And sometimes sad.
Or worried.
Elisia couldn't tell which face was his real face.
The only thing she was sure of was that they needed to get through the first night.
So she said what she wanted: “…I want you.”
That gentle, unbearably good man—
Elisia wanted to take revenge on him.
Who was the one who tore her heart apart with his kindness again?
“I want you, Franz.”
As soon as she finished her words, Franz pulled her into his arms.
Elysia raised her head, panting.
“Ah...”
Her body burned with heat.
Franz hugged her tightly, holding her waist.
Her vision began to blur.
Hot breaths escaped her lips, followed by intermittent gasps.
The wedding room, saturated with the scent of roses, began to heat up with the heat of their bodies.
“Liz, Liz...”
Franz called out to her with bated breath, as if he missed her even as he embraced her.
Elisia reciprocated, extending her hand to him.
She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, and closed her eyes tightly.
Their upper bodies came together.
There is no space between them—as if they are one entity.
Franz's cold body began to warm with his contact with her, and their temperature harmonized.
The fire mana inside Alicia began to envelop the ice mana that had always tormented Franz's body.
“Franz...”
Finally, the Mana Bond began.
“Kh…!”
Franz groaned as he transferred his mana to Elysia.
He tightened his arms around her, until their bodies were more cloy connected.
"Yes…!"
Elysia trembled, feeling ice mana spreading from her heart.
It was a feeling as if she was freezing from the inside, and then being engulfed by fire again.
Her body trembled from the intensity of the shock.
Was this joy?
Or horror?
The joy of being associated with Franz?
Or fear that you will never be able to escape from it?
Conflicting thoughts that she had not experienced in their previous bond now invaded her mind.
Elisia clung to Franz tightly.
Franz hugged her tightly, his face distorted with emotion.
Even after he transferred his mana to her, he couldn't calm himf down.
His fingertips, which had been cold, now clung to her obsessively.
Elisia, clinging to him, whispered a faint plea: “S-stop...”
Her vision swirled.
Her heart, now flooded with the mana he had given her, could no longer take it.
Was it like this before...?
Elysia clung to the edge of her fading consciousness.
no.
This feeling has never been experienced before.
On the first night of their previous life, she ended up accepting only Manah.
"Liz, please.
Just a little more…"
As she tried to push him, Franz pleaded desperately.
He buried his nose in her hair, and inhaled deeply, as if trying to suppress the desire resulting from the union of their mana.
“Please, just one more time.”
Alicia closed her eyes at his pleading.
With the same hands that had tried to push him, she now hugged him.