Chapter 1
“Think carefully.”
“Hm…?”
Floating in a sweet, hazy fog of consciousness, Litia asked back. Was it the alcohol? Maybe not. Either way, it didn’t really matter.
“I warned you in advance that there’s no going back. I don’t mind.”
The man, whose gaze was as dark as pitch-black night, swept over her insistently before firmly gripping her unsteady, slender waist.
Litia, her cheeks flushed a deep red, broke into a soft, silly smile.
“Mm. Then I don’t mind either.”
“Really? You said it yourself. That you don’t mind.”
“…Yeah. I said it myself, Caliph.”
The name he had told her slipped from her lips like a breath. At the same time, his warm lips brushed against her ear, and Litia instinctively closed her eyes, her delicate arms wrapping around his neck.
The man chuckled lowly, then suddenly claimed her lips.
“…Ah.”
Thud. Her back sank into the bed, silvery strands of soft hair spilling messily around her. Hot breaths escaped between their tangled tongues. Every time Caliph’s heated tongue traced her sensitive inner flesh, Litia’s eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably. When their lips briefly parted, a thin string of saliva stretched between them.
“H-hold on…”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
Her lips were captured again. His tongue swept across her upper palate, licked along her teeth. When he sucked on her reddened lower lip, a soft, involuntary moan slipped out.
As their tongues intertwined, the large hand that had been stroking her waist slid up to cover her chest. Rip— the fabric of her dress tore apart uselessly.
“Hah… mm… ngh.”
His lips trailed down from her ear and cheek, over her throat, and to her collarbone. Each time his teeth gently pressed there, Litia’s body jolted in small spasms.
Warm breath brushed against her softly rounded chest visible beneath the thin chemise, making her back arch on its own. Every tease of his tongue at her peak sent shivers fluttering through her abdomen.
“S-slowly… I feel dizzy…”
When she pleaded, fingers threading through his hair, Caliph lifted his head slightly.
“Slowly?”
At his soothing tone, Litia nodded frantically. A large hand pressed possessively over her exposed thigh.
Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. His lips brushed her bare skin as he moved downward at an unhurried pace.
He slowly dragged his tongue around her navel. When her pale stomach trembled and hollowed inward, he let out a quiet laugh.
As Litia tried to twist her legs together, he smirked and blocked her with his thigh, deliberately preventing her escape.
“No.”
“Ah…”
In the end, Litia buried her face into the pillow as if fleeing. Compared to his ease, she was completely undone. Wherever his lips touched burned and tingled as if scorched. The heat pooling inside her slowly drifted lower.
Caliph’s lips reached a place they shouldn’t. He untied the ribbon at her hips with his teeth, and the fabric slid down to reveal her delicate curves.
“Ngh! S-stop…”
From her first kiss to sensations she had never known before, her mouth kept going dry and her eyes grew wet. Frightened by the spreading intoxication and heat, Litia shook her head.
“Should we stop?”
His low, sunken voice brushed against her. When she barely managed to open her eyes, she met a pair of seductive black eyes, nearly consumed by heat.
“….”
“Is it too much?”
Instead of answering, Litia slowly reached out toward him.
Caliph kissed her pale knee, then obediently leaned into her hand. Rising up, he climbed over her, never stopping his soft kisses as he coaxed her heat higher.
Litia felt as though she were being swallowed by a vast black shadow.
Squirming beneath the lips brushing her ear, she spoke again.
“Just a little… slowly…”
“Shall I?”
The moment she nodded and relaxed her body, his hand slipped between her slightly parted legs.
“Ah!”
Even Caliph’s leisurely expression vanished, overtaken by raw desire.
He lowered his head, gently biting the swollen peak before peppering her cheeks with kisses.
“Hold me.”
“Hh… mm…”
Pressing her forehead against his shoulder, Litia shook her head weakly. The urge to escape and the desire to cling collided inside her. Her body, already soaked, yielded helplessly to his touch.
“…Ah!”
She pushed against the bed with her foot, her back arching high as a shattering sensation washed over her entire body. Tears spilled reflexively from her eyes.
Caliph held her even tighter, kissing away the tears tracing her lashes.
“…Say my name.”
“Hh… hah… Cal… Caliph.”
“Once more.”
“…Caliph.”
He swallowed her trembling lips again. Her legs spread, their bodies pressed together without the slightest gap.
At that moment, Litia opened her eyes and pushed against his shoulder.
“Ngh…! Ah!”
She squeezed her eyes shut again at the unfamiliar pain.
Between the endless kisses, she thought she heard his voice— the one that had warned her there was no turning back.
She lost count of how many times it happened.
Her entire body shook again beneath the pressure filling her. Somewhere between it all, she drifted into sleep, only to feel damp kisses brush her ear. When she squirmed to escape the pleasure, a low, hoarse laugh sounded nearby.
“Open your eyes.”
“Ngh, no… ah…”
The pleasure that had briefly retreated surged back again. As the simmering heat rose once more, her mouth fell open on its own. Her hoarse moans burned her throat, their slick, clinging skin trembling together.
“Ah, ah, Cal— Caliph.”
“Yes. Keep calling me like that.”
“Mmnh…”
The night stretched on, seemingly endless.
Until the faint dawn passed and morning finally broke.
Her throat burned with thirst.
A pale, slender hand fumbled across the bed. Enduring the crushing fatigue, Litia barely managed to open her eyes.
“…Ngh.”
At the same time, an unfamiliar sight flooded her senses, along with a sharp ache and numbness in her waist.
She was in an enormous room.
It wasn’t the ornate, aristocratic chamber she had grown used to— decorated with elaborate patterns and paintings. The space felt vast, with a bed just as large. In contrast, there were only a few pieces of furniture and hardly any extravagant decorations.
‘Where am I…? Why am I lying here…?’
Groaning, Litia looked around.
Her mind felt completely blank, as if a curtain had been drawn over it. As she tried to concentrate, a sharp pain stabbed behind her left shoulder, like dozens of needles. Her whole body ached as if beaten, but the pain in her shoulder was especially severe.
Bracing herself, Litia staggered upright. Her strength failed her, and when she instinctively reached back for support, her hand bumped into something warm and solid.
“…!”
Startled, she quickly turned around.
Covering her mouth, she lowered her gaze— and saw the broad, bare back of a man lying beside her.
Huh…?
Who is this man?
Her eyes widened.
A man. A man. Why is there a man next to me…? Ah. A memory flashed through her mind— the man she had met on the terrace at the banquet the night before.
The one she had asked for help, begging him to hide her from her rude, violent so-called ex-lover— an ex in name only.
But how had things ended up like this…?
As if answering her, memories began creeping back alongside a pounding headache. Litia clamped her hand over her mouth again.
This is insane. She had to be out of her mind.
Pressing her aching forehead, she tried to calm herself.
‘After talking on the terrace… then slipping away from the banquet to spend some time alone… and after that…’
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again.
No matter how she looked at it, she never imagined she’d spend a night like this with a man she’d just met. She had never even had a lover before— not even a first love or a crush.
Even that so-called ex was the original owner of this body’s partner, a relationship born from a forceful confession and used mostly for show. And she herself had cut it off yesterday.
Still… how could this have happened?
Angry at herself for releasing years of pent-up frustration in such reckless rebellion, Litia knew it was pointless. What was done was done.
Holding her splitting head, she quietly rose, careful even with her breathing. She glanced back nervously, afraid of being noticed. Fortunately, the man was lying face-down, his black hair spread softly, only his broad back visible.
I need to get out before he wakes up.
Her body felt unbearably heavy and limp, but now was her only chance to escape. She slowly turned— just as her foot touched the floor.
Like a shadow, a firm arm wrapped around her slender waist and pulled her down in an instant.
“…Ah!”
She was back on the bed before she could react. Her heart pounding, she looked up— only to meet dangerous-looking black eyes gazing at her with clear amusement.
Lazy, playful eyes— exactly the same ones she had seen last night.
It was him.
He clearly hadn’t been asleep at all. Those eyes were completely awake. The face she had been mesmerized by at first sight— too beautiful, too striking.
‘How can someone be this beautiful?’
She remembered sneaking glances at him over her drink.
And then— his perfectly shaped lips curved upward.
“Where are you going?”
