14 | The Whip +18

Warning: Mature Content

The woman, hastily getting to her feet, turned her red face and watery eyes towards Lydia with a look of great horror. Lydia took a few steps inside with an expressionless face, ignoring Damian's stubbornly following gaze.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Lydia herself was surprised by the curiosity rather than anger in her own voice. Even she couldn't understand her own limits of composure in moments like these.

Before Damian could allow the woman to speak, he addressed her in a voice that could be considered calm.

"You can leave."

The woman, already engulfed in overwhelming shame, hadn't even lifted her head from the ground. Without needing any further words, she swiftly disappeared through the other door of the hall. Lydia was aware that this wasn't their first meeting here, but she was likely the first person to catch them in the act.

Alone with Lydia, Damian spoke without even bothering to adjust the open front of his pants, clearly indicating he was on the brink of orgasm, and without averting his gaze from her.

"You look stunning in equestrian attire."

Despite everything, Lydia couldn't have guessed that his gaze still held enough shameless desire to sparkle. She hoped her astonishment didn't reflect in her voice.

"That's not enough to silence me."

"I wasn't trying to silence you. I'm just stating the truth, Lydia. When I saw you, I came to the brink of-"

Realizing she couldn't tolerate any more of his talk, Lydia didn't hesitate to use her whip once again. The veil of hypocrisy that society had placed between them was long shattered.

Damian wasn't as angered by the whip that pressed against his lips to silence him as much as Lydia had expected. Instead, his tongue, freed from the slightly parted lips he managed to create, traced the cold and harsh leather of the whip without hesitation. As he did so, his green eyes, watching her without any restraint, suddenly weakened the strength in Lydia's grip.

Damian's disturbingly calm voice was heard again.

"I told you. You can tell them what you've seen here as you wish. Even more..."

While Lydia still harbored a strong desire to just leave, to ignore what had happened, she found herself yielding to Damian's gaze for the first time.

"You can tell them how I seduced the princess's close friend to obtain all the necessary information to reach the princess. How I planned to seduce the princess by knowing every place she went, every person she talked to, every meal she ate. You can even add how the collaborator I left behind when leaving the country ensured that the princess only ever thought of me..."

"So, your charm is nothing but despicable games hidden behind a handsome face..."

A mocking smile played on Damian's lips.

"Unfortunately, that's how things work in high society. Still, it's a great pleasure to hear that I'm handsome from you, Miss Lockhart. You even seem less ugly to my eyes now."

Under normal circumstances, Lydia wouldn't have considered this insulting, but in this moment when her heart had already lost its rhythm, beating wildly, and she burned with fever, she couldn't control herself.

However, as she moved the whip again, she encountered resistance from Damian's sudden movement to intercept. Thanks to her reflexes faster than Damian's attempt to take the whip from her hand, she managed to free herself and press the harsh leather against the man's long neck, just below the Adam's apple this time.

Despite this pressure, Damian managed to swallow and smiled.

"I used to think you were a heartless creature like your father, Lydia, but not anymore..."

Heartless creature? Her father? Remembering his eyes that always looked at her with love, Lydia pressed the whip harder.

"Bringing up my father in such a moment shows how despicable you truly are. I always knew you were like this!"

"Oh, did you? Then why don't you tell everyone what you've seen? You could achieve great success in high society. Well, if you can find someone to believe your words... Maybe the princess would like to listen to you and become sure of your platonic love for me. That way, she could realize my worth and you could do me a great favor."

Lydia immediately averted her gaze upon hearing this. Who would listen to her against Damian, the darling of society? By not leaving the moment she noticed them, she had foolishly put herself in a stupid position.

"Or you stay silent and our friendship goes on."

Lydia, startled by Damian's sudden hands closing over the hand holding the whip, turned her gaze to him. With a strength he hadn't shown before, he chose to slide the whip down rather than take it from her hand. He then moved it past his heaving chest and onto his abdomen, covered with tight muscles, without hiding the pleasure he took from Lydia's inevitable following gaze, then he pressed the whip against his groin.

"...Even when I marry the princess..."

Lydia felt a strange sensation intensifying in her abdomen, gradually flowing down between her legs. This feeling was further heightened by Damian's frequent and warm breaths against her face. By the time she realized that Damian's hand, gripping hers and guiding the whip, had already led it towards his highly aroused cock, it was too late to stop him.

As her hand made contact with the hot and still damp cock pulsating like a heartbeat, her breath caught in her throat. She heard Damian's chuckle. One of his hands, skillfully switching the position of the whip with his own pleasure tool, had already reached around her waist to pull her completely towards him.