Chapter 1
Her mind went completely blank.
She had just kissed a man she didn’t even know, mixing breaths and saliva with a total stranger.
It was something she would never have done under normal circumstances. Her shoulders stiffened with discomfort, and the rough exchange of breath made it hard to breathe.
“Wait…”
She didn’t even know when she was supposed to catch her breath.
Completely dazed, Ayla Everett pushed against the man’s chest in a panic.
The problem was that no matter how hard she tried, he wouldn’t budge.
“I just need to breathe…”
The man, who had been smothering her like a beast, shifted slightly and created a small gap.
Through that narrow space, Ayla gasped and pleaded. Only then did the man finally hesitate and pull his lips away.
He stared at her for a moment as she struggled to catch her breath, then his brows furrowed.
“Don’t tell me… it was your first time?”
The way he said it felt like he was blaming her somehow.
Ayla’s face flushed with embarrassment.
Realizing the answer from her reaction, the man rubbed his forehead and let out a dry laugh.
“I see. So now I look like the bad guy.”
Seeing her like that, small and defenseless, like a frightened animal facing a predator, he felt a sudden surge of guilt.
He didn’t need to show her mercy at this point. Still, something in him wavered.
Maybe there was no avoiding it.
With a faint sigh, the man stepped back from her.
“I will give you a choice. If you want to stop, then go back now.”
His red eyes, still burning with the effort to hold back his instincts, held a sharp warning.
For a man like him, who never went back on his word, this was completely out of character.
“Why are you saying that? What does it mean?”
Ayla, still breathing heavily, frowned as she looked him directly in the eye.
Her clear blue gaze reminded him of a calm lake beneath a wide-open sky.
Yes. That was the color. He remembered now.
As he stared at her, the man finally spoke in a firm, steady voice.
“If we go any further, I won’t be able to stop. So don’t do anything you will regret. Just turn back. I will not stop you.”
The words felt strange even as he spoke them.
It almost sounded like he was warning himself.
He swallowed hard as she stayed quiet.
This moment was unfamiliar to him too. He felt the same tension she did.
“There is no need to stop.”
Ayla’s breathing had calmed, and her blue eyes no longer wavered.
Her voice trembled slightly, but her tone was steady and unwavering, like something firmly set in place.
“You heard me. Tonight, I want you to have me.”
The man let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair.
“You’re going to drive me insane.”
How could someone say something so calmly and still manage to seduce him completely? His red eyes darkened with intensity.
“You’ll have to take responsibility for those words.”
His voice, low and rough like a growl, scraped through the air like that of a wild animal.
She had thrown away her last chance.
So even if she cried or begged, he had no reason to hold back now.
“I should warn you. I don’t have a night to give. So don’t plan on getting any sleep.”
It felt like he was drunk on the strongest liquor.
The one they called the Slayer of the Night had never once been drunk, yet here he was.
He pulled her into his arms, and her skin carried a sweet scent that clung to him.
It was a night unlike any other, one that made no sense to a man who had lived through countless nights in hell.
That was why he found it even more intoxicating.
Lying still and pretending to be asleep, Ayla slowly opened her eyes.
The dim light filled the unfamiliar room, and the silhouette of the man’s bare body rested beside her on the bed.
She let out a quiet breath.
“I did it.”
It had been her choice, and she didn’t regret it.
But the future she had now set in motion would be anything but easy.
The moment Ayla left, the proud Everett family would be thrown into chaos.
She would face brutal condemnation, more vicious than ever before.
What she had done was unbecoming of a noble lady, and the consequences were inevitable.
“As the daughter of House Everett, you must become a flower that no one can easily bend. Do you understand?”
That was Ayla’s duty, her responsibility, and the reason she existed.
She had to uphold the prestige of the family that once produced an empress. Her manners had to be flawless, and she was never to lose her dignity, no matter the situation or place.
For a day that might never come, she had trained relentlessly in every discipline, never sparing a single effort.
She had been raised with care, nurtured like a rare flower, one that was never meant to break its own stem.
Ayla looked at the sleeping man beside her, her gaze filled with quiet conflict.
He was strikingly handsome. His long lashes rested gently against his skin, and his dark hair fell loosely over his forehead.
Unlike the noblemen of the capital who preferred fair, pale skin, his sun-kissed complexion revealed him as an outsider, someone from beyond the Imperial city.
Still, he did not seem like a commoner. He was clearly unfamiliar with the capital’s customs, but the clothes he wore were made from the finest materials.
In many ways, he was the ideal person for Ayla to use to achieve her goal.
“I didn’t mean to use you. I’m sorry for that.”
She offered her apology to the man who lay fast asleep, knowing full well he would never hear it.
Whatever had happened between them that night was—
Even so, it was still true that she had used him.
Ayla swallowed a quiet sigh as she checked on the man beside her. When she saw how steadily he was breathing, she allowed herself a small smile.
He seemed to be in a deep sleep.
How ironic, he had warned her not to expect any sleep that night, saying there would be no rest. His voice, laced with threat and tension, still echoed faintly in her ears.
At first, she had brushed off his words, thinking he was just being dramatic. But as the night went on, she had begun to fear he might have meant every word.
Then again, after moving like that, it would have been strange if he wasn’t passed out.
Ayla tilted her head as she looked down at the man, who was now sleeping so deeply that he wouldn’t notice if someone carried him away.
Her eyes landed on the pendant around his neck.
Was the color always this red?
It hung from a thin leather cord, and a gemstone no larger than a fingernail glinted faintly in the early light.
She could have sworn it had been black—onyx, perhaps. But now it looked more like a ruby.
Ayla blinked slowly, unsure for a moment.
Then she let out another sigh as the pale morning light crept through the gap in the curtains.
The color of the necklace didn’t matter right now.
She needed to leave before he woke up.
She had achieved what she came for. There was no reason to linger.
Placing both feet on the floor, Ayla rose from the bed. Her legs trembled slightly, as if to prove the night hadn’t been a dream.
Still, she endured it without complaint.
She was used to things like this.
After pulling the hood of her cloak low over her head, Ayla stood by the door and turned to glance back one last time.
She looked at the sleeping man and whispered quietly to herself.
“We should never see each other again.”
To him, it would be remembered as nothing more than a foolish summer night’s mistake.
In high society, secret flings between unmarried men and women were common knowledge.
Everyone knew that, except for Ayla Everett.
The voice of her fiancé, Rodrigo Esteban, echoed bitterly in her ears.
“In the end, I will be the one to break the Empire’s graceful blue rose, Ayla Everett. I will turn that moment into a poem. Or perhaps I will call for an artist to capture it in paint. Look forward to it, my lady. That would make it more entertaining for me, wouldn’t it? So take care of that precious body of yours.”
The man who once seemed gentle and composed had only been pretending.
She used to believe that he was proof of her father’s love. But overnight, he became proof that her father had never truly loved her at all.
If she went through with this arranged marriage, her life would be filled with nothing but misery. That much was certain.
She refused to accept that.
Maybe she could not be happy right now. But one day, she wanted to be.
And if that was what it would take—
“This is unbelievable.”
He was stunned. The situation made absolutely no sense.
So, to put it simply…
“She slept with me and ran off?”
The reality Leo faced was painfully clear.
Interesting.
His lips curled slowly into a lazy smirk, and his red eyes gleamed with a sharp, dangerous light.
