RAMHM Chapter 119

Don't Hold Back

For a moment I stood there, at a loss for words, then awkwardly rose and entered the carriage.

It felt too strange to close the carriage door in his face, so I lay down on the cot. Only then did Rhodness fully straighten his posture and stand.

"Will you close the door?"

Through the large window attached to the silently closed door, I could see him still standing there.

'He's distracting.'

I forced my eyes closed, but whether I'd caught it from Rhodness, strange imaginings chased each other through my mind.

Even when I tossed and turned several times before snapping my eyes open, Rhodness was still just standing there.

I sat up abruptly and opened the window.

"Rhoan."

He moved closer toward me. I grabbed his cravat tightly and pulled him slightly toward me.

His face—drawn effortlessly close—stared down at mine.

"Sleep well."

Did I call him just to say something pointless? Feeling both awkward and regretful, I pressed a very light kiss to his cheek.

"A goodnight kiss..."

Before the words finished leaving my mouth, two large hands shot through the window and seized my cheek and the back of my head, pulling hard.

"Rho—"

And Rhodness swallowed my lips quickly.

Unlike the outside air, his thoroughly heated breath immediately conquered the inside of my mouth. We were clearly separated by a door, yet heat rose as if our bodies were pressed together.

"This is a kiss."

With a wet sound, he whispered, lips still joined.

The strength of his grip was so powerful, his hands absolutely refusing to let go as they pulled me in again to devour my lips.

Feeling like I'd be eaten alive, I desperately pulled my body back. He gasped for breath and glared at me.

Even a mortal enemy wouldn't glare like that.

But I knew.

What blazed in that sharp gaze wasn't resentment but naked desire itself.

I clutched the front of my dress—already fastened with nowhere left to close—and backed further away.

Something wet—whether mine or his—glistened on his lips in the moonlight, and he didn't even pretend to wipe it away.

I prayed his rough breathing would settle.

But contrary to my hopes, Rhodness muttered something under his breath, then opened the carriage door and barged in.

He immediately locked the carriage door and drew all the curtains. Then he sat cross-legged on the bed opposite where I sat. As he settled, he seemed to let out a deep sigh.

"You're sleeping here?"

"Rather than stand outside like an idiot thinking about you asleep, I'll watch you fall asleep here."

At those words, I quietly slipped under the blanket and lay down.

"If you keep touching me when I'm trying to stay still like before, I can't control myself. It's better if I can at least predict what you'll do."

I hadn't even asked.

Rhodness, who'd been muttering to himself, gleamed his eyes in the darkness.

"Rhoan. I can't sleep if you stare like that."

"Close your eyes."

I decided not to provoke him further and burrowed into the blanket, closing my eyes as ordered.

I could hear his rough breathing gradually settling.

"...Like Viktor said, will the King of Ellaconia receive us?"

I filled the silence with my voice, afraid he might hear my pounding heart.

"They said Ellaconia viewed you favorably."

"What if the King of Ellaconia falls for you? I heard he doesn't have a consort yet."

"Such pointless worrying. I told you, nothing will make you anxious."

Cute.

Very, very small, but I definitely heard him add that last word like a sigh.

Had I spoken too honestly, following my train of thought?

Viktor had been certain his sisters would absolutely love Rhodness, and I'd felt inexplicable jealousy as well.

I just hadn't shown it because Rhodness was openly displeased.

'We're going to do something important, and here I am feeling jealous over nothing.'

But what was Rhodness thinking in all this? Calling me cute. When I was being serious.

The one treating me like a child wasn't me—it was Rhodness.

At least I didn't show it in front of other people!

Feeling unfairly wronged, I was about to pout.

"Rhoan. But don't be too rude to Viktor. He's helping us, even though he has no real reason to."

"..."

"What I mean is, just pretend to listen if he's upset. He's simple and kind, so if you just do that much, he'll like you even more."

"..."

"If you really intend to compete for the throne, the relationship with Ellaconia through Viktor... Rhoan?"

The atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

I opened my tightly closed eyes. Rhodness, still sitting with legs crossed and leaning back, had even folded his arms and was looking at me.

"Are you listening?"

He sat there like a statue, not blinking once, making me wonder if something was wrong. I quietly sat up.

When he didn't answer, I waved my hand at him. And in that moment.

Rhodness snatched my hand and pulled it forcefully toward him.

"Ah!"

It didn't hurt, but it was so sudden I was startled.

In the blink of an eye, I was straddling his solid thighs.

"Rhoan, what are you—"

Rhodness pulled the back of my head toward him and swallowed my lips again.

The earlier kiss had been urgent but quite gentle.

Now it was incomparably rougher, more impulsive.

"I told you not to provoke me."

"When did I provoke—"

"You keep calling another man's name while you're with me."

The hot breath scattered around my lips swept inside me again without restraint, and one of our clasped hands had somehow circled my waist.

At first I was flustered, but thanks to him moving like the world's greatest libertine after just one day, I melted in an instant and couldn't help but respond.

The wet sounds ruthlessly bored into my ears, and before I knew it, my straddling position had shifted to facing him, inner thighs wrapped around his solid waist.

The writhing muscles of his thighs, the heavy bulge rising in his trousers—everything felt provocatively explicit.

Following the hem of my dress that had ridden up, large, hot hands invaded without hesitation, caressing bare skin.

"This is why I—"

A low, growling voice was spat from his mouth.

"I told you not to provoke me."

"Rhoan."

"You don't know how pretty you are."

A resentful voice dropped.

Wet lips bit down on my earlobe.

The raw desire brought back memories of that morning that had lasted until dawn, making my spine tingle.

Rhodness's hot hands roamed freely over areas others couldn't see, then moved toward my back where every button was fastened to the top.

"Rhoan!"

'If those pitch-black men everywhere get even the slightest reason to imagine you...'

His vulgar imagination flashed through my mind like lightning.

At the same time, hot lips clung more insistently to my ear, then began chewing flesh hard enough to make my spine tingle and straighten my body.

He easily subdued my belated attempts at small resistance.

"...Too late."

A wickedly lowered voice clung wetly to my earlobe he'd been chewing.

Click. The topmost button on my nape—which had hidden the marks he'd given me—came undone.

My neck felt exposed in an instant.

"You—you said, Rhoan! With so many people around..."

Click.

The second button came undone too.

I clung tightly to his neck like someone falling off a cliff, crying out low at the chilling feeling.

"You said you didn't want others imagining..."

"The guards are quite far away."

Click.

The third button opened.

When my shoulder blades were suddenly exposed to the cool air, I shivered with goosebumps.

"You—you definitely said that. I, I won't hold back my voice at all when you move!"

Click.

When even the last firmly fastened button came undone, cold air swept down my spine. Now goosebumps covered my entire body.

"...Then don't hold back."

Immediately his hot hands ravaged the exposed skin.

The earlobe he'd been chewing steadily with each word I spoke was freed, and my lips were seized without gaps.

Rhodness's other hand—which had pulled me close as if to burst my body—naturally ran up my leg wrapped around his waist and crawled like a snake under my dress.

"So no other bastards can hear..."

Everywhere he touched blazed hot as if boiling.

Rhodness, who'd been watching my gradually blurring face as if entranced, briefly released the lips he'd been repeatedly biting and swallowing quite painfully, and whispered.

"I'll swallow all your sounds."

With that voice as his last word, he explored me very fiercely and boldly. And at the same time, surprisingly quietly.

"Don't hold back."

The hands removing my two hands clamped over my mouth were downright rude.

And yet, even when I was scattered breathless—nearly drowning—he showed no mercy.

"Don't hold back. Trust me."

With that desire-wrapped voice as his finale, seamlessly locked lips swallowed my irregular breaths.

The lawless conqueror stole every sound that emerged scraping from my throat, leaving nothing behind.

A rapture like endlessly sinking into a pitch-black, hot swamp swept over my body again and again as if to burst it.

"You look tired. Rest a bit."

That wasn't something the person who'd explored me all night without ever laying me on the bed—keeping me sitting the entire time—should say.

Just as he'd promised, Rhodness didn't allow me a single sound, blocking everything with his lips.

He really was more relentless than I'd imagined.

As dawn gradually broke and light seeped through the curtain cracks, remembering his face absorbed in excitement made my lower belly tighten with tension.

Only when dawn had fully arrived did Rhodness—seeing me covered entirely in his marks—begin showing remorse.

He carefully wrapped me tightly in blankets and woke the sleeping Yona to bring a change of clothes.

Then he somehow procured a wet cloth and quietly wiped my body, too exhausted to move.

At least he had some conscience—unlike the first night, he didn't insist on watching while dressing me directly, and when I said to step out for a moment, he went without complaint. Only when I asked him to fasten the buttons did he return to the carriage to attend me.

"I feel grimy. I want to wash. Lucky you. You can just strip off everything in the morning and wash outside."

"...Should I clean you up?"

I should stop talking.

Seeing the distrust reflected in my eyes, Rhodness opened his mouth looking somewhat wronged.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't mean with my mouth—I meant taking you to the lake where you washed yesterday to bathe you."

With his mouth?

Take me to the lake to bathe me?

Both were excessively lewd thoughts.

What exactly filled that gleaming golden head of his?

Always going one large step further than I expected, I was left speechless and shook my head at him.

"When we get to Ellaconia, I'll wash in a big bathhouse."

"A bathhouse?"

His gaze—arms folded, staring intently at me—sank low.

"I'll wash alone."

"You're an honored guest in Ellaconia, so you'll need someone to attend you."

"That someone won't be you."

"...Caught."

Even saying that, he didn't look the least bit sheepish.

His long, refreshingly open eyes curved gently.

With that languid smile and the flush at the corners of his eyes, his face was a breathtaking sight—making it clear why he was called Ronteaux's greatest rake.

Translator Rant: I shouldn't say this about a Rofan, but I wish there were lesser romance. My apologies if there were mistakes I missed, I skimmed this chapter.