Remesis swallowed, although her throat was completely dry at that moment.
"...Here? Now?" she repeated, although in truth, she had subconsciously understood everything from the very beginning.
Asil smirked, continuing to watch her intently.
"Exactly. You won't refuse me, will you?"
Remesis tried to step back, but the princess wouldn't allow it, only gripping her waist tighter and pulling her close. So she found herself trapped — between a tree trunk and a stranger's body, from which radiated a heat that had nothing to do with the cold around them.
She was confused. And at the same time, she felt this heat rising to the very tips of her ears, making them sensitive to every breath of wind.
The words that their contract marriage did not imply such intimate relations did not come from her lips. The princess's intent gaze was still fixed on her. Under this gaze, as if caught in the paws of a beast, Remesis did not think she was capable of uttering anything of the sort at all.
"Your Highness, this place..."
No, really, wasn't the princess at all bothered by the fact that they were outside?!
"The place? What's wrong with it? It seems perfectly suitable to me."
Asil chuckled softly, and there was something in this chuckle that made a chill run down Remesis's spine, having nothing to do with the weather.
Remesis remained silent, unable to force out a single word.
And then Asil continued, her voice sounding almost gentle:
"Wife, do you know what this place is?"
"...Huh?"
"The place where you are standing right now."
Asil watched the expression on her face change and smirked.
"It seems this is where the body of the younger Lady Alseid was found."
Remesis's back went cold.
Was this truly that very forest? The place where Gardenia Alseid had been mercilessly torn apart by demonic beasts, leaving only remains? She involuntarily looked down at the snow beneath her feet. White. Clean.
"Meanwhile, wife, I have a confession to make..."
"..."
"Actually..." Asil deliberately paused, continuing to watch her face. "The murder of the younger Lady Alseid... was my doing."
Remesis let out a short exhale.
Surprise showed on her face, but it lasted only a moment. Very soon, her expression became calm again — or at least, she tried her hardest to make it so.
"Is that so?" she merely asked.
The Northern Devil couldn't help but chuckle — louder than before, with a note of genuine amusement.
"Wife, you don't look very surprised... Did you know?"
Remesis pressed her lips together.
In truth, it would be foolish to deny that she hadn't suspected as much from the very beginning. Even when the princess swore that the circumstances of Gardenia's death were merely an accident, Remesis deep down could not be completely sure. Too much seemed suspicious. And... she knew too well who she was dealing with.
"I didn't know, but... I suspected," Remesis muttered dryly.
The princess laughed softly. It seemed that after these words, her gaze became only slightly more interested — with that particular, predatory gleam that always took Remesis's breath away.
"In that case, this is indeed a fitting place, don't you think?" Asil purred, and there was not a shadow of doubt in her voice.
"I..."
Remesis frowned.
Fitting? Wasn't that more like desecrating a grave? She wanted to say something more, but the words stuck in her throat, because in the next moment, the princess had already pushed her to the ground.
Remesis's dark hair, like the night sky, spread out over the snow. Cold touched the back of her head, her cheeks, but she barely felt it — her entire body was burning, and this was strange, because nothing like that had ever happened to her before.
"Come now, wife..." Asil's voice became muffled. "Just give yourself to me."
Remesis was silent.
"I want you."
These words were spoken in a tone more plaintive than lustful, and there was something in this plaintiveness so unusual for the Northern Devil that Remesis's breath caught for a moment.
Soon, it became difficult for her to control her own thoughts.
The princess's hands, which had first only been stroking her waist, slipped under her skirt, and Remesis shuddered at the touch of cold fingers on her heated skin. The kisses became more and more insistent — and from each one, goosebumps spread through her body, mingling with the heat that was growing somewhere deep inside.
Remesis did not know what feeling had overcome her at that moment.
She had never experienced anything like this before. It felt like arousal, but at the same time — like fear, like dizziness, like a desire to sink somewhere where she didn't have to decide or think about anything. In any case, it was the first time in a long while that she wanted to simply turn off all her thoughts.
Driven by this vague, almost forbidden desire, Remesis unconsciously wrapped her arms around the princess's neck.
Her fingers trembled — whether from the cold or from something else.
Asil paused for a moment, feeling this movement, and then smirked — quietly, contentedly, right against her lips.
"That's better," she whispered.
Remesis did not answer.
She wasn't even sure she was capable of answering right now. Remesis's fingers, wrapped around the princess's neck, felt foreign — too bold, too desperate for someone who had always kept her distance. But there was no turning back.
Asil was in no hurry.
It was her habit — to stretch out the pleasure, to watch the victim struggle in the snare before taking the final step. Remesis knew this trait. She knew it, but had never before been on the receiving end.
"You're trembling," the princess stated, satisfaction evident in her voice.
"...I'm cold," Remesis breathed out.
A lie. And they both knew it.
Asil smirked, saying nothing, and lowered her head lower — to her collarbone. The princess's lips were hot, almost scorching in the frosty air. Remesis bit her lip to keep from making a sound.
The snow beneath them was melting, soaking the fabric of her dress with cold moisture. But the feeling of cold came and went in waves, mingling with something else entirely — something that spread somewhere in her chest and lower, making her toes curl.
The princess's hands slid lower, gripping her thigh, lifting it, forcing Remesis's leg to bend at the knee. The snow crunched beneath them. Somewhere in the branches, a crow cawed, and the sound seemed too loud for this place.
"Asil," Remesis breathed out, calling her by name for the first time, without a title.
The princess stopped.
She lifted herself up, looking down at her, and something elusive flickered across her expression.
"Again," Asil asked, a hoarseness cutting through her voice.
"...Asil."
The princess closed her eyes for a moment, and Remesis thought she saw her eyelashes tremble. But it lasted no longer than a second.
And then Asil smiled widely.
The princess leaned down to her again, and this time Remesis did not pull away. The kiss was deep, almost rough, and nothing of the former, performative tenderness remained in it. Asil kissed as if she wanted to take for herself something that Remesis had no intention of giving. Or, perhaps, something that the other had already given, without even noticing it herself.
The snow beneath them continued to melt slowly.