"Felyn, will you always like me?"
Hearing this question, Felyn was stunned for a moment.
He recalled the contents of the contract.
There didn't seem to be any stipulation about falling in love with Adeline.
But the content did specify that he had to regret his past choice of selecting Viloti over Adeline as class representative.
So extending that to liking Adeline should also be within the contract's provisions.
Before Felyn could answer, Adeline continued speaking.
"Felyn, I feel like after meeting you, I've become a very petty girl."
Adeline had one arm around Felyn's neck while the other drew circles on his chest.
She lowered her head, pressing her forehead against Felyn's chest, trying to offset the headache brought on by the alcohol.
"I don't want to see you being forcibly kissed by Viloti again, and I don't want to see Zervanie completely possess you."
Adeline confessed, wanting to voice all the troubles she'd been having these past days for Felyn to hear.
"This afternoon, I even went to [Serafina's Secrets]."
Felyn raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that the nobles' favorite adult toy store?
She actually went to a place like that?
"I bought so many things, hehe, I was originally thinking of using them with Felyn, so I could keep Felyn firmly by my side."
"There's even a whip in the briefcase. Though I don't really understand it, Felyn, do you like using that to hit me? If you like it, we could try it."
Seeing the dangerous statements from the girl in his arms, Felyn's heartbeat skipped a beat.
Adeline's words and current posture made it impossible for him to stay calm.
"I would never do such things, Adeline. Where did you learn about all this? And you don't need to do these things for me."
Adeline's hands gripped Felyn's shoulders tightly, her body trembling slightly.
"Viloti kissed you, and Zervanie straddled you. Only I... only I have nothing, only I haven't been able to do anything to you, but I want to do something to you too."
"This is too unfair."
Adeline buried her head deeply in Felyn's embrace.
"Felyn, you'll love me forever, right? You won't leave me, right?"
Felyn fell silent.
He gently stroked Adeline's head, feeling the soft strands flowing through his fingertips.
"Adeline, you're drunk."
Adeline let out a soft whimper, her body still pressed tightly against Felyn.
The girl in his arms had a voluptuous and heated body. Felyn could feel her perfect curves.
When his fingertips accidentally brushed across Adeline's body, it elicited soft moans from her.
Each moan was like a small hammer striking at Felyn's rational defenses. He could feel his breathing becoming heavy, his heartbeat accelerating to a degree that Adeline could probably hear it.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and struggled to restrain his inner desires, keeping himself absolutely rational.
The world wasn't ending today.
Tomorrow the sun would still rise, and if he really couldn't hold back, there would be no way to explain it to his client then.
And Adeline was probably just saying nonsense because she was drunk.
He just needed to go along with her words, comfort her until she fell asleep, and everything would pass.
"Felyn, why aren't you holding me?" Adeline said softly.
She lay against Felyn's chest, listening to his heartbeat.
That rapid and powerful heartbeat seemed to reassure her. She closed her eyes and slightly curved her lips.
Moonlight had somehow quietly crept into the room, silver moonbeams spilling on the floor, converging into a brilliant river.
Felyn reached out and gently embraced the Adeline in his arms.
"I'm holding you, Adeline, and I won't let go."
Felyn's arms encircled her slender waist, feeling the warmth transmitted through her clothing.
This was just fulfilling his contractual duties, Felyn kept telling himself.
Go to sleep quickly, Adeline. Hopefully you won't remember what happened tonight tomorrow.
Adeline turned her head to look at the moonlit scene outside the window.
Moonlight poured down, streaming through the crystal-like glass window, weaving a dreamlike world indoors.
The moon goddess outlined Adeline's profile with a pale silver contour, making her skin appear even more crystalline.
Her gray-blue eyes held moonlight, her pupils dancing with Felyn's heartbeat.
Time seemed to stop at this moment, the world quietly feeling the girl's inner happiness.
"Felyn, my head hurts so much," Adeline said.
"It's because you drank too much... no, you only had a few sips. Your alcohol tolerance is terrible—if that's the case, you shouldn't drink at all."
"I feel like I can't stand anymore..."
Felyn carefully lifted Adeline, one arm around her shoulders, the other supporting her legs.
"Felyn, are you taking me to shower? I think that might be a bit too fast... but my body is so weak right now, I have no strength at all..."
"Don't think weird thoughts. I'm just carrying you to bed to sleep, I won't do anything to you."
Complex light flashed in Adeline's gray-blue eyes—no one knew what she was thinking about.
Her body was even lighter than Felyn had imagined. With each step he took, Adeline's long hair shimmered with moonlight.
When Felyn reached Adeline's room and gently placed her on the bed, Adeline's hand suddenly gripped his tightly.
"Felyn, don't go."
"I'm not going. I'm just getting you some hot water." Felyn tried to pull his hand away, only to find that Adeline's strength was surprisingly great at this moment.
"Felyn, you still haven't answered my question."
Adeline still gripped Felyn's hand tightly. Her consciousness was beginning to blur, and the soft, familiar bed was tempting her into sleep.
"You'll always love me, right?"
"Of course, I'll always love Adeline. I regret my past choice every moment."
"Zervanie is a bad woman—don't let her deceive you." Adeline turned over to face Felyn, speaking seriously.
"I won't. Don't worry, no one can steal away my love for Adeline."
The shoulder strap slipped down, and Adeline's chest was almost completely exposed to Felyn's view.
Although Felyn immediately averted his gaze, that scene was already deeply imprinted in his mind.
"Felyn..."
Adeline's eyelids were making their final struggle.
"Felyn, even after the contract ends, will you still love me?"
Hearing this sentence, Felyn couldn't help but look into Adeline's eyes, trying to find some truth in those gray-blue depths.
Will I still love you after the contract ends?
This was a cruel question.
Even though Felyn attributed all of Adeline's behavior to the "contract," after Adeline spoke these words, he had to admit one thing.
Adeline might have fallen in love with him.
This development was truly absurd.
Love, such an advanced emotion, was built on equal relationships, but the relationship between him and Adeline had been unequal from the beginning.
He was the service provider, she was the one being served.
His interactions with Adeline were nothing more than pure monetary exchanges, like a microcosm of all human social interaction in the world.
Adeline had simply purchased an illusion of being loved.
Adeline was an imperially honored noble, the young lady of the Claude family that controlled Siveshus Empire's military industry.
He was just a poor guy selling smiles.
Even if she was temporarily lost in the fantasy he had woven, reality would eventually wash over her face like cold seawater.
The gap between the Sorester family and the Claude family was as vast as an entire world. When she sobered up, she would naturally understand, and everything would return to its proper course.
Felyn had experienced this too many times.
No matter what his clients called him—"boyfriend" or "master"—he was just an insignificant fragment in their journey of growth, ultimately forgotten in the corners of memory.
Felyn gently stroked her hair, carefully tucking her in.
"Sorry, Adeline. After the contract ends, I won't love you."
This was Felyn's answer to her.
Adeline's eyes had already closed. Her breathing began to steady, and it was unclear whether she had heard Felyn's response.
But her brow seemed to furrow slightly, as if even in her dreams she felt some kind of loss.
Her sleeping face appeared especially serene in the moonlight, the flush from drinking still lingering on her cheeks.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, a strand of hair fell across her face, rising and falling gently with her breathing.
Adeline's body curled into a comfortable position, her fingers still grasping Felyn's hand.
The blanket had slipped to her waist, revealing elegant shoulder lines and delicate collarbones, perfect as a carefully sculpted work of art in the moonlight.
"Are you asleep?"
Felyn gently placed Adeline's hand that was gripping his under the blanket.
Tonight's Adeline was the Adeline he least wanted to face.
This was really exhausting.
"Good night, Adeline."
Felyn's tone carried tenderness as he took one last look at the girl sleeping on the bed.
Felyn turned off the lights, and with the closing of the door, the room fell into brief darkness.
Only the drunk girl remained, still immersed in her dreams.
(End of Chapter)