Free Web NovelOutside the window, the sky had darkened without notice.
And then, without notice, it had brightened again.
The candle had burned itself out.
Someone had replaced it with a new one.
The air in the room had grown thick and ambiguous.
The bedsheets had been changed an unknown number of times.
The two of them had also lost count of how many times they had fallen unconscious and awoken.
Each time they woke.
It was a new round of entanglement.
Sometimes, Eleanor was on top.
Sometimes, Pavela was on top.
Sometimes, neither knew who was on top.
They simply demanded and responded by instinct.
Like two flames entangled together.
Burning each other.
And illuminating each other.
Until the very end.
Until both were utterly exhausted.
Until they couldn't even lift a finger.
Only then did they finally quiet down.
Embracing each other.
Sinking into a deep sleep.
...
Sunlight squeezed through a gap in the curtains.
Casting a slender beam onto the bedsheet.
That beam of light slowly shifted.
Moving onto Pavela's eyelids.
She frowned.
Then, slowly, opened her eyes.
Ceiling.
Dark wooden beams.
An intricately carved lamp base.
Very familiar.
Hmm, the bedroom in the Schwartz Family manor.
Pavela blinked.
Her mind was still a haze.
As if stuffed full of cotton.
Turning very slowly.
Very sluggishly.
Who am I?
She thought.
Pavela von Schwartz.
Oh.
Right.
She was Pavela.
Where am I?
She thought again.
The Schwartz Family manor.
Victoria.
Hmm.
She remembered now.
What's going on?
Her mind usually wasn't this sluggish upon waking in the morning.
What did I do?
She continued thinking.
Then, memories came flooding back like a tide.
Eleanor's kiss.
Eleanor's hands.
Eleanor's...
Everything.
And ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) her own counterattack.
Her own...
Everything.
Pavela's face flushed crimson in an instant.
So red it seemed about to drip blood.
She abruptly sat up.
Then hissed sharply and lay back down.
Not a single part of her body wasn't aching.
Especially certain...
Indescribable places.
She stiffly turned her head.
To look beside her.
Eleanor was still asleep.
Dark hair splayed across the pillow.
The bloodstains on her face had been wiped clean.
No telling when that had been done.
Her complexion was still somewhat pale.
But much better than last night.
The corners of her eyes and brows carried a sated, languid expression.
The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned.
As if having a pleasant dream.
Pavela stared at her for a while.
Then, slowly, buried her face in the pillow.
What had she done ahhhhhhh!!!
How could she have...
How could she...
She actually...
Various shameful scenes flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.
The things she herself had said.
The things she herself had done.
The sounds she herself had made...
Sounds.
Pavela felt she could just suffocate herself by burying her face in the pillow like this.
Never lift it up.
Never face Eleanor.
Never...
"Awake?"
A lazy, husky, amused voice sounded by her ear.
Pavela's body froze.
She quickly held her breath and stayed perfectly still.
Trying to pretend she was still asleep.
Trying to pretend she hadn't heard anything.
Like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
Naively believing that if it couldn't see, others couldn't see it.
"Little Pa."
Eleanor's voice sounded again.
This time, closer.
So close Pavela could feel the warm breath on her ear.
"Do you plan to hide like this forever?"
Pavela didn't answer.
She buried her face even deeper.
So deep she was almost suffocating.
A hand reached over.
Slender, knuckled fingers slid into her hair.
Gently tousling it.
That gesture was very gentle.
Carrying a kind of doting tenderness that softened the heart.
"It wasn't like this last night."
Eleanor's voice held a laugh.
"Little Pa last night was quite fierce."
"When you pinned me down, your eyes were gleaming."
"And you said something like 'my turn now'..."
"Stop talking!!!"
Pavela abruptly lifted her head.
Her face was red as if about to drip blood.
"Please, stop..."
She met Eleanor's eyes.
Those eyes had returned to their icy blue.
The pink glow had completely faded.
But the amusement within them was even richer than last night.
Like a cat that had stolen the cream.
Smug.
Content.
"What?"
Eleanor tilted her head.
"I can't talk about it?"
"But I remember it all very clearly."
"Every word."
"Every movement."
"Every..."
Her gaze swept meaningfully over Pavela.
"Sound."
Pavela wanted to die.
She truly wanted to die. freeweɓnovel.cøm
She wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
And never come out.
"You... how could you..."
Her voice trembled.
"How could you be like this..."
"Like this what?"
Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just stating facts."
"Unless..."
The corner of her mouth curled into a dangerous arc.
"Little Pa wants me to demonstrate again?"
"No!!!"
Pavela almost screamed.
She instinctively shrank back.
Then hissed sharply, her brows knitting together in pain.
The aches all over her body reminded her of exactly what she had experienced last night.
Eleanor's expression changed.
The amusement receded somewhat.
Replaced by a hint of heartache.
"Does it still hurt?"
She reached out, gently stroking Pavela's cheek.
"I'm sorry, last night was a bit..."
She paused, as if searching for the right word.
"Excessive."
Pavela was stunned for a moment.
Then, she saw the marks on Eleanor's neck.
Red.
Purple.
One after another.
From behind her ear all the way down to her collarbone.
Some were love bites.
Some were...
Tooth marks.
Pavela's face flushed even redder.
Those were left by her.
She remembered.
During her counterattack.
When she was swept away by the Path of the Lover's erosion.
She had also done many things... fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Many things she would absolutely never do normally.
"You also..."
Her voice was as small as a mosquito's hum.
"Your body also..."
Eleanor glanced down at her own shoulder.
Then, she smiled.
That smile held no reproach.
Only a certain...
Pride?
"Mhm."
She said.
"I like them."
Pavela: "..."
How could this person say such things so matter-of-factly???
"You... don't you think..."
Pavela's voice trembled.
"What if someone else sees..."
"So what if someone else sees?"
Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
"They could only cast envious gazes upon the victor."
Pavela choked.
She didn't know what to say.
Her mind was still a muddled mess.
Last night's memories mixed with the current conversation.
Leaving her completely incapable of thought.
