Right after uttering those words, he clenched his jaw and, with a sharp blade he always carried, he removed the protective leather cover.

The sharp blade was revealed.

As she watched with wide eyes, he cut his finger and placed his index finger on a spot on the newly laid bed.

“Ta-Tarhan…!”

She exclaimed and quickly approached him.

Still, he ignored her and raised the finger, dripping with red blood. The blood splattered on the mattress. When the bed was somewhat stained with his blood, Tarhan quickly licked the blood and used the thin cloth that was there to wrap it and stop the bleeding.

‘It’s over now. This will be the end of the coming-of-age ceremony.’

He thought wryly.

Anyway, if he just presented the evidence, the elders would no longer bicker over Enya’s coming-of-age ceremony.

With such complicated feelings, he resolved everything and avoided her gaze.

It was the worst night.

While for Enya, their first night should have been the most precious, for Tarhan, it turned into the worst night. His heart felt as if it had turned into clay that had cried. He had to admit to himself that he couldn’t lay a finger on her in that state.

Since that day’s memory, it has always been like that.

As his desire for her grew with each passing day, on the night when the sky of Cartantina collapsed, the horrific image of his mother and younger sister falling before him pushed its way into his throat like a knife every time Enya appeared in her most beautiful form and every time he wanted to touch her bare skin.

‘I can’t embrace you in my right mind…’

Tarhan muttered, raising his unscathed hand to rub his face.

He was the disgraceful one who had chosen to live a life that served as a stepping stone for the Aquilean men, even after experiencing such a thing. His life had lost the very concept of forgiving himself.

The devastation was immense.

The stagnant air in the room seemed to seep into his skin.

His mood sank.

Turning his head, he glared at a corner of the room until the bleeding stopped, when suddenly his hand touched her soft skin. Enya, who had come close to him, had wrapped her hands around his bleeding hand.

Tarhan, who turned his gaze, was startled by the closeness of her face, which was much closer than he had expected. He opened his eyes wide and looked down at her.

“E, Enya.”

He couldn’t gather his thoughts as her small face came closer to him.

Tarhan stepped back from his swaying position, but her body came closer to him. Enya, approaching him with small steps, sat down with her legs crossed and extended her hand with something, her voice sounding almost as if it would die out.

“Would you not put this on for me…?”

What she was offering him was the shabby wreath he had attempted to make the night before. At that moment, it felt like something was rising from his throat.

“I found it in the morning… You made this, Tarhan?”

The wreath that had been crushed and trampled on the previous night was now so destroyed that it was almost laughable to call it a wreath. He wanted to take it out of her fingers and hide it behind him immediately.

However, Enya, with the wreath that had been crushed and ruined countless times the previous night, held it tightly in her hands and offered it to him.

“I’ve never received anything like this before…”

It was the first time she had made such a demand to him, and her struggle to speak made it all the more difficult.

His heart felt heavy.

Tarhan picked up the pitiful wreath resting on her palm with his trembling hand. She lowered her head meekly, waiting for him to put the wreath on her.

Seeing her like that, he felt a surge of anger, as if his eyes were becoming sharper. Quickly, he gently placed the wreath on her head and just as quickly removed his hand as if he were taking it away from something sacred.

Then, he felt her gaze on him, somehow filled with heartbreak.

Tarhan forcibly averted his gaze from hers.

It was then that Enya, who had been lowering her head in front of him, suddenly wrapped her fingers around his bleeding hand. It happened in an instant. With her head still bowed, she licked the bloodstain from Tarhan’s finger that she had been tending to.

“E, nya!”

He was shocked, quickly trying to pull his hand away from hers.

Nonetheless, she didn’t stop there.

Enya came even closer to his body and pressed her small frame against him before she began to slowly lick the small scars that ran along his forearm with her tongue. Following the pattern of the skin, as if kissing, she trailed up to his shoulder, holding his hand tightly.

Tarhan watched her actions in a daze, feeling as if his body were chained, unable to move at all. Finally, she leaned in even closer, pressing her lips against the largest scar that crossed his chest.

Thump, thump.

It felt as if her lips were devouring his pulsating heart.

“Enya…”

Tarhan, his other arm tensing, rubbed his face in confusion and bit his lip.

Regardless of where she might have learned such behavior, he couldn’t help but be consumed by the desire he had never experienced before. With his eyes wide open, he watched as she lowered his other arm and began to kiss each of his fingers.

“Don’t, don’t do it.”

He urgently whispered and quickly withdrew his index finger from her lips.

In response, Enya blushed deeply and pulled away from his body. It wasn’t because he disliked her touch. Feeling dizzy, Tarhan quickly added,

“My hand is dirty. Don’t do it.”

His voice came out absurdly strange. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at him.

After a brief silence, she gave an astonishing reply.

“But Tarhan also… did this to my ankle. When I said I was dirty, you said it was ridiculous.”

Somehow, her trembling voice sounded resolute in the dim darkness.

“To me, not even a single one of Tarhan’s hands is dirty.”

Her words made it feel like the wall he had solidly erected in front of her had collapsed. At the same time, an indescribable sensation surged through his thighs and spine, making him shiver.

Enya approached his chest and neck once again. Her dry lips started to lick his wounds one by one.

Tarhan lost his mind to the sensation. It felt as if he was enveloped in a comfortable pile of cotton. Despite knowing he should push her away, he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. Her soft and warm lips carefully traced the countless scars on his neck for a while

The next moment, she placed a kiss on his jaw.

Now, her lips were trembling, too.

Tarhan closed his eyes.

He had no choice but to entrust everything to her now. From the beginning, he knew… he had never reached even her toes when it came to bravery.

He sat before her, his senses dulled and defeated, as he closed his eyes powerlessly. He had no will to resist left in him. Once again, he had decided to entrust everything to her, just like on the rainy day when she had faced his mother.

Enya, trembling like a bamboo in the wind, did not shy away from the situation. Her lips descended slowly and unwaveringly over Tarhan’s entire body.

Like tending to the wounds all over his body, she kissed him all over.

Tarhan’s lips parted slightly.

He surrendered himself to her touch as if he were a person drained of all strength. With every pass of her soft lips, carrying a lukewarm temperature, he felt a new sensation budding along his veins, one he had never experienced before.

And when she finally enveloped his lips with hers, he felt once again that everything he had crumbled before her.

At the moment when something that had been enclosing him inside broke, an unstoppable wave-like sensation engulfed him.

“Uh-uht…!”

His reason snapped once, and the desires and carnal instincts he had denied for so long toward her started to overwhelm him too easily.

He couldn’t hold back any longer.

The girl who had once followed him like a shadow was now becoming his goddess. He had to pour himself into her, even if it meant doing so just to keep her by his side, the woman who felt like she didn’t belong to this world.

Otherwise, it felt like she would disappear before his eyes like an illusion.

His desperate action happened in the blink of an eye. Unable to regain his senses, Tarhan embraced her as if worshiping her.

“Ah, Tarhan…!”

She screamed out his name, pulling him close with force. The wreath that had been on her head fell to the ground, but neither of them paid any attention to such trivial things.

Tarhan delved deep into her mouth with his tongue.

The slimy and moist interior wrapped around his tongue.

He groaned roughly, experiencing a tremendous sense of fulfillment for the first time in his life. It felt as though even if someone were to thrust a knife into his throat, he wouldn’t be able to pull his tongue out of her mouth.

A savage yet sensual and almost ferocious sensation whipped at his flesh.

How could something so complete, soft, and warm exist in this world?

As he moved his hand through her still slightly damp hair and hastily moved his lips, it felt like lightning was striking his back. A parched passion engulfed the two of them. An irresistible heat seemed to dominate the moment, something that no one could contain.

The fallen petals on the floor were crushed and crumpled mercilessly by their movements.

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