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Lips pulled inward, tongue sliding and caressing, gently rubbing and kneading.
The thin fabric, soaked in saliva, clung tightly to nipples standing sharp from sensitivity.
One nipple caught between lips, the other between fingers.
Eileen was on the verge of tears.
The soft, wet sensations from the caressing tongue and the hard ones from the scratching nails caused a strange agitation in her body.
An area whose existence she usually didn't even remember was becoming increasingly sensitive.
As she became aware of these sensations, heat gathered in her lower abdomen.
A hot, tickling excitement spread like flame lower, to her crotch.
It was a feeling that couldn't be explained by the knowledge and experience Eileen had accumulated in all her life.
Even breathing became unfamiliar and difficult.
She breathed fitfully, as if she had just been running at a gallop.
The nipples, sticking out hard through the thin layer of saliva, looked provocative.
If Eileen could see herself now, she probably would have emitted a muffled scream.
But she had no opportunity to look at herself.
She was barely coping with the flow of unfamiliar pleasure.
"A-a-ah, Your Highness, I—enough, this is strange..."
"Call me by name, Eileen."
"E-eh, Your Highness, I can't..."
"My name is not 'Your Highness' at all."
*‘How do I dare?’* the thought flashed.
But when he, with a mischievous smirk, firmly gripped a nipple and slightly turned it, she immediately gave in and uttered his name.
"Ce-Cesare..."
"Mmm."
"Enough, I don't want this anymore..."
"No."
"Whimper... please..."
"You must get used to it." Cesare caught Eileen's tearful gaze and whispered mockingly: "Can one even get used to this?"
"But, m-mm, but..."
She repeated the same thing as if she had lost her mind.
She needed to say something else, but her head was empty.
The words that barely escaped were raw, uncalculated.
"It's so hot down there..."
A throbbing pain, numbness, heat building up to a feeling of swelling.
When she murmured that it was like pain, he again pressed his lips to her mouth.
The hand that had been caressing her breast descended lower, lifting the hem of the dress.
He slipped his hand between Eileen's legs.
When the fingers touched her, Eileen realized belatedly that her underwear was wet and clinging to her crotch.
The sticky, wet feeling made her immediately want to change.
Long fingers easily rubbed the wet fabric.
And in that same moment, something gushed out between her legs.
"A-ah!"
Eileen squeezed her thighs in fear, as if trying to catch the invading hand.
But she had no time for that—she spoke in panic about her strange condition.
"Something, something came out..."
The sensation of sticky fluid seeping from her vagina and soaking her panties was distinct.
But Cesare did not stop despite her fright.
On the contrary, he began to rub her crotch with his fingers, especially persistently bothering the swollen clitoris.
At first the movements were slow, but gradually they accelerated.
Under the strong, pressing touches, her vagina itself started to twitch.
"This... this is strange.
Very strange." Eileen clutched his forearm in despair but felt only firm muscles—she could not stop him.
"H-hy, m-mm, ah, Cesare, ahh..."
She diligently called him by name, but he stubbornly brought her to the limit.
She shook her head, trying to restrain the surging strange sensations, but she could endure no more.
At some point, when she, almost losing her mind, breathing heavily, was already approaching the peak, he squeezed her entire crotch with his palm and strongly rubbed the clitoris.
The ball of heat that had been accumulating in her stomach suddenly burst.
"Ah-a-ahhh!"
Eileen arched her back, stretching out her legs.
Her toes trembled convulsively.
A loud groan escaped her throat.
Throwing her head back, she trembled all over.
Long fingers still gently caress the clitoris, and the heat that had spread through her body was in no hurry to subside.
A painfully long aftertaste continued to vibrate in her crotch.
He removed his hand only when Eileen was on the verge of tears.
Cesare kissed her flushed face in various places.
Eileen, limp, caught her breath and accepted his kisses.
She felt like the most depraved woman in the world.
She couldn't believe that now she would have to do such terrible things.
No, more precisely, even worse—for he hadn't even inserted his member.
Though the sensations were so vivid that for a moment her consciousness clouded, it was... too much, simply unimaginably strange...
Overwhelmed, Eileen belatedly met his gaze.
And she almost fainted, hearing him smirk and whisper:
"Next time, I'll suck you off."
After experiencing the most intense experience of her life, Eileen completely blacked out.
But even with half-closed eyes, she managed to murmur to Cesare:
"No... don't suck.
If the Grand Duke says... one mustn't..."
So she murmured for some time until she finally fell into sleep.
***
Cesare smirked, looking at the sleeping Eileen.
He changed her wet underwear and covered her well with a blanket so she wouldn't catch cold.
He looked at the soundly sleeping Eileen for a long time.
She didn't move, as if not even breathing, and he ran a hand over her cheek.
Eileen, feeling the touch, gave a quiet moan, reminding him she was alive.
The red eyes, which had absorbed the darkness of the bedroom, slowly went out.
He remembered Eileen crying with tears: *"Don't... don't go..."* He’d thought he would return and comfort her.
But when he finished the war and returned to the capital, he couldn't find even a piece of that child's body.
The crying voice continued to haunt him.
It was an illusion of time past.
But although he knew it was a hallucination, he wanted to wake Eileen right now.
Meet her gaze, hear her voice addressed to him.
Cesare habitually suppressed the impulse.
Instead, he untied the knot of the bandage on his palm.
The bandage fell silently onto the bed.
The remaining scar was long but shallow.
The dagger blade had been blunt, and the gloves had softened the blow.
Focusing on the rustles of the sleeper, he slowly clenched his fist.
Nails dug into the wound, and sharp pain flared.
Pain reminded him that all this was not a dream or an illusion, but reality.
He patiently squeezed until blood appeared from under his nails, then unclenched his hand.
After several repetitions, blood flowed down his wrist.
He looked indifferently at his bloodied palm, then looked away.
Cesare smiled, looking at the sleeping face.
"This is a world where there is you."
And also a world that was his first and last reality.
He placed his healthy hand on the bed and kissed Eileen on the forehead.
Then on the round tip of her nose, on her parted lips—and softly whispered:
"Sweet dreams, Eileen."
He wanted her to have happy dreams.
Even if he himself would never be able to escape his nightmares.
***
The trial of Matio took place.
The sentence: death.
He became the first nobleman sentenced to death for drug distribution in the Empire.
Before this, death sentences for drugs had been passed only on commoners.
The Traon Empire, with this execution, firmly made it clear that in drug crimes it made no exceptions even for the highest nobility.
However, some whispered because the Chairman of the Senate, Marquis Meneghin, had cleverly avoided punishment.
But there was no great resonance thanks to the Marquis's quick actions.
Right before the scandal, Meneghin's daughter had sent Matio divorce papers, quickly severing relations.
When the scandal broke out, the Marquis personally made a statement.
Now there was no connection between Matio and the House of Meneghin, but feeling responsible for the scandal, he resigned from the post of Chairman of the Senate and decided to renounce the title of Marquis.
A desperate step—to give up everything just to save his life.
People snorted, calling it an ignominious surrender, but they accepted it.
In the course of events, strange rumors spread that Marquis Meneghin had gone blind.
But the Marquis, immediately after his resignation, went with his daughter to the countryside, so it was impossible to verify this.
The trial and execution of Matio took less than a week.
The execution took place on a small square next to the central one.