It's Too Late for Regrets - Chapter 2.10

“Certainty, huh?”

“The certainty that I can trust you… The certainty that Eleanor is the best place for me.”

The strength left her trembling legs, and her body collapsed.

As Ines sank to the cold floor, Rayan spoke gently.

“Half a year ago, during those eight days, why do you think I put so much effort into you?”

Her blue eyes trembled. Like a doll, Ines repeated what she had said before.

“To make me choose the position of Grand Duchess over Crown Princess…”

“Don’t you think I put too much effort into changing the heart of an illegitimate child abandoned by Jenaire?”

Rayan stood up from the sofa and walked toward the woman on the floor.

He crouched down to meet her gaze, and in her blue eyes, he could clearly see the stormy waves of emotion.

“I could have hurt you, Ines.”

With a voice stripped raw, he deceived her effortlessly.

“There were many ways I could’ve forced you. But I didn’t.”

“…I don’t believe in kindness without a price.”

“What if I did want something in return?”

“…”

“Have you ever thought about it?”

His hand brushed down her slender jawline and gently played with her black hair.

“Why do you think I kissed you…?”

Even Rayan was curious about that.

He could have just grabbed her, used her, and thrown her away. But the woman slipped through his fingers like a mouse, constantly annoying him.

Even now, it was the same. Her lips, red from biting down, glowed faintly in the dark, as if trying to tempt him.

Her lips slowly parted, revealing her even, white teeth. The dampness in her blue eyes still sparkled with a hint of wariness.

“…Do you love me?”

Rayan was only half listening to her small question. It wasn’t even worth answering.

Love? Ridiculous.

Ines asked again, more firmly.

“Please tell me how I should understand everything you just said.”

Such a foolishly innocent woman. If there was any emotion he felt for her, it wasn’t love—it was closer to lust.

And in that careless thought, he suddenly realized something. A flicker crossed Rayan’s eyes.

Ah… so that’s what it is.

It was a simple truth, but the impact was significant.

At last, the nameless thorn revealed its true form.

Yes. It was lust.

Not a pleasing fact, but what he felt for this woman was purely physical attraction.

Rayan let out a dry laugh.

Why did I struggle to find such an easy answer?

For him, desire was something to be dealt with in whatever way was convenient.

Simple. It couldn’t be simpler.

He held back the laugh rising in his throat.

Did they say Jenaire taught her how to seduce men? What a useless thing to teach.

This woman, just by existing, set off a man’s desire to dominate.

Her birth. Her looks. Her aura. Her gaze.

Her behavior—everything about her was irritating and made him want to crush her.

He wanted to see her trembling, crying out only his name.

“You provoke people.”

His grip on her jaw tightened. His voice lowered as he tried to suppress the rising thrill.

“Everything about you drives me crazy.”

That was the only honest thing he’d said.

Ines stared up at him blankly and muttered.

“It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“That you don’t hate me. I’m a woman sent from an enemy country, taught to do vile things and ruin your nation…”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t care…?”

“You haven’t done any of those things yet, have you?”

“…”

“Then just do them for me. Only for me.”

Do exactly what you were taught. Please me to the extent of your value. If you do, I’ll grant you what you want—something that means nothing to me.

His real thoughts came out more elegantly and lazily.

“Come to Eleanor, Ines.”

“…”

“If you do that, you won’t have to worry about war or anything else. You won’t need to think deeply about anything.”

“Live in my country. Like a human being, just as you want.”

Ines’s face twisted in sorrow. She knew—those were the words she had wanted to hear her entire life. His judgment wasn’t wrong.

There was now no distance left between them.

Just a little more.

As Rayan thought that, Ines placed her hand on the floor.

Her frail body slowly closed the last bit of distance. As if she were crawling.

After one last moment of hesitation, her pale forehead fell weakly against his chest.

It was surrender at last.

“A promise… promise me…”

Her voice trembled between sobs, barely more than gasping.

“To let me live safely… like a human being…”

“I promise.”

“So I can trust you…”

It was just a string of broken words. A satisfied smile curved Rayan’s lip.

She, who had defied him so many times, had finally come to him on her own—that thrill ran through him like electricity.

The long, tiring six-month chase was almost over. Now all he had to do was bind her so she could never escape and mark her with his brand.

His low voice carried unconcealed satisfaction and heat.

“I promise. In my country, you’ll have everything you’ve been denied until now.”

“…”

“If anything hasn’t changed, I’ll change it myself. That’s nothing difficult for me, Ines.”

“…”

“Then, is your choice made?”

There was no need for an answer. Honestly, he wouldn’t have listened to it anyway.

As Rayan felt the burning satisfaction rush through him, he lowered his lips to hers.

Just like before—he bit her soft lips, a rough kiss that crushed them.

Ines couldn’t remember everything from that night clearly.

“Tell me what you want, Ines.”

The sheets soaked in moonlight filled her vision. His voice was the only thing painfully clear.

She had barely managed to speak a few words between muffled moans.

“That child… Ronya. And Neia…”

“Right. That mother and daughter. Should I bring them with you to the Duchy?”

He didn’t let her go. Everything he gave her was overwhelming, new, and unfamiliar.

“You said… you’d ease the restrictions on illegitimate children… or remove them completely.”

“Eleanor is different from Lezan and Jenaire. I promise you that.”

He pried open her fingers, white from clenching the sheets, and laced his fingers with hers. He pressed her hand down firmly onto the bed. She felt trapped down to her fingertips.

His black hair swayed near her shoulder. Her pale, prominent shoulder blades were bitten painfully.

She bit her lip to stifle a moan, but soon, her mouth fell open helplessly as his calloused fingers invaded deeply.

She couldn’t tell if she couldn’t breathe because of the fingers teasing her tongue, the arms wrapped tightly around her waist, or the emptiness from finally giving in.

He entered her with a rough, urgent force that made her insides ring. He couldn’t go any deeper.

“Ah…!”

All the unfamiliar sensations, the tight pain, and the faint pleasure clouded her mind like a drug.

“I, ha… huh…”

“Say it.”

Ines exhaled warm breaths as she desperately voiced her long-buried wish.

“Can you love me…?”

Love her like a person, the way Robert had. Gently, purely.

And one day, like a husband loves his wife. Like that.

“Yes.”

At some point, her body had been turned over.

In her rising and falling vision, pure silver hair left a lingering image.

Even though she’d heard a clear answer, Ines kept asking the same thing over and over.

“Is it okay if I love you?”

“As much as you want.”

He answered every question.

“So do everything you’ve learned—everything you said you wanted to do with the man you love—do it with me, Ines.”

“Hh…”

“That’s what you called love, didn’t you?”

Ines closed her eyes tightly as the pain and pleasure pushed her to her limit.

He said this was love. That alone seemed enough.

She wanted it to be enough.

Her vision turned white.

“…So, you’re leaving?”

Robert looked at Ines with troubled eyes. The girl who hadn’t returned for two days came to his hospital room only on the third morning.

When Ines saw the bandages wrapped around the old man’s broken leg, her eyes drooped with guilt.

He had saved her life, and yet she had let him get hurt so badly.

To make it worse, after being gone without a word, she returned only to say goodbye. It was beyond shameless.

She couldn’t even lift her head and mumbled softly.

“I’m going to the Duchy, Robert.”

“The Duchy? You mean Lezan’s Eleanor?”

“Yes.”

Ines slowly began telling the story she had kept hidden. At first, Robert looked confused and shocked, but as the story went on, his face gradually darkened.

“…No wonder. You looked strange from the beginning.”

He groaned and sank into the chair. He had suspected from the start that Ines wasn’t an ordinary girl.

There was no reason for soldiers from the Kingdom of Apael and knights from another country to storm a small herbal clinic together.

If there was anything suspicious in his clinic, it was just one thing—the pale, delicate girl who had suddenly appeared one day.

But he never imagined she was the illegitimate child who had reignited the fragile peace on the continent.

Not a noble, but a royal bastard. He could already imagine what kind of life she must have endured.

“…Will you really be okay, if you go there?”

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