The Cursed Beast Caught My Leash - Chapter 125

Islay fell silent, shifting his gaze between her eyes.

Stella was the kind of woman who would go to painful lengths to accomplish what she set out to do. Hadn’t she once tried to conduct a sacrificial ritual without even telling him? Recalling that, Islay felt the urgent need to pull her back into reality.

“Anyway, Estella, even if your brother and I leave the palace, stay healthy. No matter how long it takes, it’ll be over within a month.”

“…Even a month feels endlessly far away.”

“I know. Considering the time I have left, it’s not a short span. But I’ll make sure it doesn’t take any longer than necessary.”

Stella looked up at him, eyes full of unspoken words. But no voice followed. Islay, too, quietly brushed her lips with his fingers. He continued to caress her small, quivering lips, trembling with sorrow.

When winter came, he would no longer be able to whisper love to her. Perhaps not even after bringing down Pantege.

Their farewell could come at any time. It was hard to be sure how much rationality would remain in him after returning from a land soaked in slaughter, enough to suppress his destructive instincts.

“You mustn’t get hurt.”

“That’s the most unnecessary worry for me, Estella.”

“I mean, I hope you don’t get even a scratch. Not even a mark the size of a fingernail.”

Half-choking up, Stella murmured as she caressed the line from his earlobe to his jaw. Her hand, descending slowly, traced the veins in his neck, his shoulder, and the firm rise of his chest.

“So don’t betray yourself. Don’t forget you must come back to me. Take care of yourself.”

“……”

“Don’t forget your body belongs to me.”

Islay, silently savoring her warmth, froze like stone. The heat surged in his body that always reacted to her sighs. The sensation pulling tight from his thighs was unbelievably intense.

Their strange gazes held for a moment.

“…You’re trying to drive me mad, aren’t you.”

In a swift motion, Islay loomed over her, his shadow falling across her. Tilting his head, he kissed her at once. Their mouths met without a gap, and tangled breaths mingled between them.

It felt as if his eyes rolled back like someone tasting a potent aphrodisiac for the first time. Stella’s occasional kisses were like slow drops of honey. But the way he devoured her was like a torrential downpour on drought-parched land—reckless and consuming.

As if quenching a thirst, he drove his tongue deep, twisting around hers. He bit her lip, then opened her mouth wider, plunging in with fevered breath. His panting resembled that of a beast in heat.

Even though the kiss was anything but refined, Stella calmly wrapped her arms around his neck. She slid her fingers through his dark hair and pulled him closer, deepening the connection.

They breathed heavily, lips wet and clinging, until Islay finally pulled back and met Stella’s gaze. She looked up at him, blinking. Her pale, long lashes fluttered like something out of a dream.

…His body was hers.

That meant everything she possessed belonged to him, too.

The hair that spilled across the tilted chair like molten silver, the eyes that rippled prettily as they reflected him, the skin that glowed under the moonlight…

Islay gazed anew at the woman he had fallen for hopelessly from the very first glance. Her plump lips, full of color, were the most prominent feature of her delicate face. Every time she parted them, revealing small teeth, he was drawn like a moth to flame.

His burning gaze lingered on her lips, then slowly slid down. It paused on her chest, pushed up beneath a deeply cut neckline—and there, a dangerous glint flared.

He wanted to tear away the flimsy fabric and suck her skin greedily. Swallowing dryly to quell his desire, he pressed his lips to her chin. Dropping kisses as he moved downward, he suddenly bit into her neck.

“Ah…”

A thin moan escaped above his head. Unable to endure the stimulus, Stella clutched at his shoulders, and he looked up sharply.

“What, want me to stop?”

“N-no…”

“Then bear with it. Isn’t this why you wanted me here? Because you wanted to moan shamelessly.”

He pushed his fingertip into her lips and pressed down on the damp mucosa. Flushed red like an apple, Stella couldn’t deny it—she blinked slowly.

“Say it, Estella.”

“Mmh… Do more, please.”

Her urging voice was quiet like a whisper. He planted a light kiss on Stella’s cheek as if in praise, then pulled down the fabric barely covering her chest.

He hadn’t come to her room with such lewd intentions. Crushing Pantege was one thing, but the reality was that he would soon be far from her. He only wanted to spend an intimate moment with her while saying goodbye.

…But confirming each other’s affection with their entire bodies perhaps amounted to the same.

Islay buried his face in the jiggling curves without a second thought. He sucked and bit her reddened nipple like a beast.

“Haa…”

Enjoying the sensation of the tender flesh in his mouth, he used his hand to fondle the other breast. A rough hand, which had only ever tightened throats or taken lives, gripped the soft breast hard. Flesh bulged between his fingers, and he deliberately twisted her nipple between his calloused knuckles.

Despite the rough touch, Stella moaned. Her slender thighs, seated across his lower body, trembled.

Lowering his hand, Islay lifted the cumbersome hem of her skirt. He groped her reflexively twitching bottom and pulled down her undergarments, then thrust two fingers into her already dripping wetness.

“Ah…!”

She let out a short cry, her legs flailing. It was a reaction she showed every time the stimulus was hard to endure.

Judging by the subtle wince between her brows, she seemed to feel slight pain from just a couple of fingers. Her body was small, and they hadn’t had frequent enough relations to grow fully accustomed, so it was natural.

Islay immediately lifted his upper body and laid Stella on the lounge chair he had been leaning against. Then he moved down and settled between her legs.

He parted the moist folds with the bridge of his nose and buried his lips against her exposed center. He ran his tongue over the entrance where her juices pooled, flicking the small protruding bud with its tip.

Stella, who had been near tears just moments ago at the thought of parting, now had her mind turn white as pleasure slowly filled her. Islay grabbed her twitching thighs tightly and pushed his fingers back inside.

“Ah, huu, stop…!”

Moist breaths escaped in a high-pitched voice. Islay pretended not to hear, veins bulging in his forearms, as he rammed into her narrow insides.

“Islay…!”

Overwhelmed by his strength, Stella was at a loss, unable to endure the pleasure. She bucked as she climaxed, and Islay watched every movement of her trembling body. Though he hadn’t even touched his own trousers, he felt an intense pleasure just from watching her succumb to ecstasy.

Stella, trembling, lost all strength. Slowly blinking, she reached out her arms, and Islay hugged her tightly, reclining against the chair.

Unlike just moments ago, when they had lain calmly together, their breaths now came warm and unsteady. Stella, resting her face on his chest, reached downward.

Realizing where her slender fingers were headed, Islay quickly stopped her.

“No, Estella.”

“But…”

“You don’t need to. I just want to watch the stars with you now.”

The man who had shamelessly ravished her moments ago now spoke of romance with a straight face. Stella nuzzled against his sturdy body, her expression dazed from a single climax.

“After riling me up like that…”

“You liked it. And I enjoy it every time you get wet, so that’s enough.”

“Next time, I won’t let you off so easily…”

Islay let out a chuckle in the end. It wasn’t a lie, so he gently adjusted the disheveled front of her dress.

Their gazes, locked on each other, turned to the brilliant night sky. The scene was so breathtaking, it made their fate feel like a fleeting illusion.

“Islay, if I fall asleep, you have to wake me.”

“I’ll carry you to your bed so no one will notice. Don’t worry.”

“No, I want to stay with you fully awake for as long as I can…”

Her murmuring voice gradually faded. Nodding off, Stella couldn’t fight sleep and closed her eyes. Islay watched her delicately lowered lashes and chuckled softly, like scattering the breeze.

The woman bathed in starlight behind him was infinitely precious. Holding her like this, he felt, as always, an overwhelming wish for time to stop.

It might be the last moment. Even in the best future, it would only be a few more seasons together—if he managed to return with his sanity intact after the endless carnage.

Rather than continue his unwelcome thoughts, Islay held her closer and pressed his lips to her round forehead. Beneath the brilliant night sky, it was a careful kiss meant not to wake her from her rare peaceful sleep.