Chapter 67

“Lord Grondil, the babies. The baaabies… hic.”

“This much pressure is fine. We made a promise, didn’t we? You promised to trust me.” Fortunately, Grondil didn’t push any harder. Easing the force, he began to slowly, soothingly rub his palm in circles over Lino’s stomach to calm his panic. Then, he whispered in his ear, “I’m talking about the promise you made to tell me the second you feel even the slightest abnormality.”

“Ah, nnngh! I know. I knooow! Haa, hnnghh!”

“You aren’t carrying just one life anymore. It is about time you wrap up your little night outings.” The voice that had been so gentle when reminding him of the promise instantly roughened at the mention of the gatherings. Grrrrr—a feral, deeply dissatisfied growl rumbled from the depths of Grondil’s throat.

“Those! Those are just my friends and… s-seniors visiting, ahk!”

Lino felt deeply wronged. Night outings? It was merely a harmless gathering with his friends and senior knights.

The news that Lino had received an offer to become the exclusive knight for a high-ranking Imperial noble—and had accepted—had reached the Order of St. Margia. He could have simply claimed he was resigning for personal reasons, but out of respect for the time they spent together, he fed them a mix of truth and lies. The “Imperial noble” part was the only publicly known cover story anyway, and since Grondil wasn’t technically an Imperial noble, Lino couldn’t exactly tell them the whole truth.

Regardless, the knights who were close to Lino began traveling up to the capital in groups of two or three on what they dubbed “business trips for Lino’s farewell.”

At first, Grondil had readily agreed. Since Lino would soon be leaving for Isberg and might not step foot outside its borders for a very long time—perhaps even the rest of his life—it was a shallow, fleeting concession. He was highly displeased that these knights, descending from their remote mountain fortress to visit the capital, consistently chose heavily entertainment-focused venues for these gatherings, but he decided to tolerate it.

Not long after, Grondil bitterly regretted his shallow concession. Shallow or not, I never should have allowed it in the first place. But the regret came too late. He had planned to revoke his permission, but the sight of Lino returning home with a bright, flush face—clearly overjoyed from reuniting with his friends and seniors—paralyzed his resolve.

Initially seeing Lino’s red cheeks and giggly demeanor, Grondil had assumed he was pleasantly drunk and prepared to erupt in fury. However, knowing Lino was hyper-aware of his own condition and would never touch alcohol, Grondil took a closer look and realized the flush was purely from happiness.

So I can see this face without feeding him alcohol, Grondil marveled. Secretly, he vowed to become the one who made Lino wear that exact expression.

Thus, the first few farewell gatherings concluded peacefully without triggering the Beast’s wrath. However, a situation unfolded that neither Grondil, Lino, nor the Commander of the Order of St. Margia had anticipated: the applications to attend Lino Cliff’s farewell parties never ended.

Initially, Lino thought he would only need to meet his former roommates and a few peers from his graduating class. But as time went on, peers he had eaten lunch with maybe three times, seniors who had lent him bruise ointment, and even a senior who had sparred with him exactly once showed up. Eventually, it felt like every single knight who had ever so much as brushed shoulders with him in the hallway was crawling up to the capital.

“Lino, I am currently discovering that the limits of my patience are far deeper than I thought,” Grondil stated, languidly churning Lino’s melted insides. Since he had decided to be accommodating, he chose to be generous. Or rather, he had chosen to. To be precise, he had decided to make the effort.

That is, until he received the reports from the watchers he had assigned to Lino a few days ago.

Because they kept booking clubs for the farewell parties, Grondil had restricted the venues to wholesome restaurants that happened to serve alcohol. He thought that would solve the problem.

– A server ‘tripped’ into the target’s lap. – A woman from the adjacent table propositioned the target to join them. – Neutralized a male attempting to tail the target to the secondary venue. – One of the attending knights attempted inappropriate physical contact with the target and…

Grondil’s blood boiled with every incoming report, but what truly drove him insane was Lino’s reaction. According to the watchers, Lino’s response to all the above was maddeningly consistent:

– The target remained completely oblivious to the situation.

He was dense. Unbelievably, agonizingly dense. And needlessly kind. Because he treated everyone—from servers to uninvited strangers—with unfailing politeness, they all tested the waters, hoping for a chance.

Refusing to suppress his skyrocketing fury, Grondil vented it all on Lino. He mixed his rage, disappointment, and lust, driving them into Lino’s body until dawn broke on the boy who had returned home with that same dopey, happy smile.

The early stages of pregnancy had long passed. Originally, Lino should have been in Isberg right now, receiving the absolute best care as a Letia. Just thinking about that delay infuriated him.

“But it seems even my limitless patience is finally seeing its end.”

“Haa, ah… I-If it’s the end… ahhnn…”

“If it ends, I have no idea what I’ll do. So keep it moderate.”

“Ah!”

Punctuating his warning with a violent thrust, the venomous cock brutally scraped against the ruined inner walls. The wet, vulgar slapping of flesh against flesh accelerated to a frenzied, endless rhythm.

“Read the room.”

“Ah! Haahk! Nngh!”

Screams bordering on death throes wreaked havoc on Grondil’s ears. Lino’s pale feet violently pushed against the sheets. His toes splayed wide before curling tight, the arches of his feet bowing sharply. The muscles in his thighs and calves corded and bulged with tension.

“Finish.”

Smash! 

The engorged, crimson head of the Beast’s cock obliterated the prostate, digging in as if to burst it. An inferno bloomed deep within Lino’s stomach. A deep crease carved into Lino’s tightly clenched buttocks, and his own member violently spewed white fluid. Having already climaxed several times prior, it didn’t shoot out with much force, but the sluggish, thick white streams trailing down his shaft were a visual feast for Grondil.

The dangling, round testicles pulled up taut, twitching violently in extreme arousal. The base of Lino’s cock trembled uncontrollably, squeezing out every last drop of semen. That violent trembling wasn’t of Lino’s own volition. The spasms infected his internal walls, which were currently swallowing Grondil’s cock.

Unlike the exterior, the internal spasms writhed violently and erratically. As if a thousand blunt teeth had sprouted along the melted walls, they gnawed relentlessly on Grondil’s member, biting down and releasing in a frantic rhythm. Responding to the internal grinding that practically begged him to harden and thrust again, the Beast’s cock, which had just expelled a massive load, immediately flared back to life.

“N-No… Lord Grondil, just give me a min—ahk!”

“A minute for what? Who is the one… haa… gnawing on me as if trying to snap it off because I stopped thrusting?”

“What, no, I’m not. Ah! It hurts, haah, hnnngh…”

Before the aftershocks of his climax could even fade, his insides were ravaged once more. Forced pleasure was poured mercilessly over an already overflowing chalice of ecstasy. Pleasure that exceeded the permissible capacity was no different from torture.

Lino burst into loud, ugly sobs like a child. He hadn’t even cried out loud when he was young. It felt as if he was shedding all the tears he had repressed in his youth now that he had met Grondil.

“You claim it hurts, yet you harden it like this?” Hearing him complain of pain, Grondil scoffed in amusement and glanced down. Following his gaze, Lino’s face burned a violent red. His cock, which should have gone limp and lifeless after ejaculating, was half-erect and bobbing eagerly.

“It’s weird… My body is being so weird.”

“Feeling it so thoroughly that you get hard and cum perfectly is a good thing. What is weird about it?”

“But… nnngh.”

“You’re too obscene for your own good.”

Muttering words that blurred the line between praise and a scolding, Grondil resumed his pelvic thrusts. His movements had lost a fraction of their previous ferocity. Praising the worried Lino for doing well, Grondil slowly, deliberately applied and withdrew his weight. A guttural, agonized moan tore from Lino’s throat.

When it was fast, he felt like he was dying, but the slow pace offered no reprieve. In fact, because it was so agonizingly slow, the exact shape of the cock forcing its way through his inner walls was devastatingly clear. He could practically feel every bulging vein on the shaft grinding against his ripened insides.

It felt amazing but it hurt, and it hurt but it felt amazing. He was certain he would die if it went any further, but Grondil repeatedly pushed in just enough to keep him alive before retreating. True to his word, Grondil still left about three knuckles’ worth of length outside, but the womb that had already significantly expanded inside his belly left Lino gasping for air.

The pleasure layered directly over the ecstasy of ejaculation dragged him toward a second climax far faster than before. It was also because he had absolutely no stamina left to endure the stimulation.

“Nngh…!”

Lino’s abdominal muscles clenched violently as his lower back arched off the bed. His beautifully defined abs stood out sharper than ever, and the entrance clamped around the cock squeezed shut with all its might.

Keugh. 

A groan ripped from Grondil’s lips. The enraged Beast unleashed a savage roar. His locked jaw flexed violently, and razor-sharp canines peeked menacingly from between his pulled-back lips.

The fur across his entire body bristled and trembled. Grondil tightened his grip on Lino’s waist. His instincts screamed at him to bury his cock to the absolute root. To crush down with his full body weight until those soft buttocks were mashed flat, to dig in endlessly regardless of whatever was growing inside Lino’s belly.

Damn it…!

Swallowing the curse that nearly escaped his clenched teeth, Grondil forcefully yanked out his cock, which was on the verge of erupting.

“Ahhk!!”

The sensation of his melted inner walls being brutally scraped triggered Lino’s climax once more. His cock, erect enough to slap against his lower belly, bobbed wildly, yet nothing flowed from the urethra. However, his convulsing body, his eyes rolling back in his head, and every minute twitch signaled that he was experiencing the absolute zenith of ecstasy. It was a dry climax, sending him over the edge without an ounce of release.

Having broken the connection seconds before ejaculating, Grondil mounted Lino, whose limbs were thrashing in aftershocks. Trapping Lino between his knees, he grabbed his furiously engorged cock and began to stroke it violently.

Slap, slap, fap, fap. The wet, frantic sounds of his hand jerking the shaft were deafening. The hyper-erect pillar reacted sensitively to every scrape of the fur matted against it.

Lino’s eyes, which had rolled back, barely managed to find their place. As he struggled to refocus his hazy vision, a scorching heat lashed across his neck and chest.

“Lino, haa… Lino…!”

“Lord Grondil…?”

The Beast growled, roaring Lino’s name. The moment Lino looked up in shock at the Beast straddling him…

Splat. Splat. Scalding, distinctly metallic-smelling bodily fluids violently sprayed across Lino’s chest, neck, and even his face. Unlike Lino, who spasmed and shot a few pathetic spurts, Grondil’s ejaculation—true to his Beast nature—was of an unimaginably massive volume.

The heavy globs of white fluid that splattered across him began to pool and stream down his skin. When he took it internally, the boiling liquid completely flooded his stomach, making him feel uncomfortably bloated. But taking it across his chest and body felt like he was literally bathing in semen.

“Oof…”

The sticky cum slid right into his mouth, which had fallen open in shock. As soon as the metallic taste hit his tongue, he clamped his mouth shut, but his face was already painted in semen. When it splashed into his nose, he hastily wiped it away with his hand, effectively scrubbing his own face with cum.

“I will see you… in three months.”

“…”

Despite being in a room where the mana stone maintained the optimal temperature, Lino felt as if he were standing naked in the middle of a blizzard-swept tundra. Why three months? See me for what? He didn’t need to ask to know the answer.

Intent on squeezing out every last drop, Grondil continued to stroke his cock for a long time. Once there was nothing left to extract, he slumped forward, catching his ragged breath. His cock, its aggressive momentum finally broken, drooped limply, resting against Lino’s jaw and the corner of his mouth.

“…”

Wh-What do I do with this?

His face frozen stiff, Lino darted his eyes wildly. Despite enjoying a wildly debauched sex life with Grondil day and night, he had never actually performed fellatio. Thinking about it, it was quite bizarre.

Perhaps because it had just been subjected to intense friction from Grondil’s hand, the flesh pressed against his mouth radiated an intense heat. It even twitched sporadically. Furthermore, the sheer volume of it was terrifying—it had literally made a thud sound when it hit his face, and now it was so heavy it pulled at his lips.

Gulp. Lino swallowed unconsciously. He had no idea what specific aspect had just made his mouth water.

It’s just a long, thick, hot, twitching Beast cock… Why is my mouth watering over this? It was undoubtedly because his brain had been shaken so violently earlier that it had turned into mashed pudding.

Pudding…

Mashed pudding, at that.

Gulp. This time, it wasn’t just a dry swallow; actual saliva flooded his mouth. Damn it. This is all the pudding’s fault. Blaming this incomprehensible, deranged appetite entirely on the nonexistent pudding, Lino stealthily moved his hands.

Carefully grasping the cock pressing down on his jaw and mouth, Lino guided it between his lips. Extending his tongue, he rubbed it against the tip. A single, clinging drop of semen smeared across his red tongue.

“…Lino?”

As a foreign sensation brushed against his highly sensitive tip, Grondil’s body jerked violently. Having finally calmed his ragged breathing, he had fully intended to wash up with Lino and go to sleep. Instead, he experienced firsthand what it felt like for his cognitive functions to completely crash.

“No, why are you doing that…”

“Mmm… it tastes metallic.”

Squinting one eye and muttering about the metallic taste, Grondil had absolutely no idea why Lino continued to lick it. Staring with an exhausted, haggard face, Grondil seriously debated what to do with his Letia, who was suddenly provoking him with such an insane method.

A vicious desire boiled up inside him to grab Lino by the scruff of the neck, wrench his head back, force his jaw open, and ruthlessly fuck his mouth. On the flip side, for whatever inexplicable reason Lino was acting so obscenely cute, a massive part of him just wanted to soothe the boy, let him have a little taste, wash him, and put him to bed.

Of course, the primary reason he wanted to restrain himself was knowing that if he let loose and ravaged him now, he wouldn’t be able to touch Lino for at least a full day.

“…”

Completely oblivious to Grondil’s internal war, Lino swirled his tongue around, licking the semen off the shaft. It was bitter, metallic, and the texture was unpleasantly slimy. Yet, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why he kept swallowing so eagerly.

“This tastes awful.”

“If it tastes so awful, why do you keep licking it?”

“Hmm… is it morning sickness?”

“…What?”

Morning sickness? Baffled, Grondil let out a sharp scoff of disbelief. In all his life, he had never heard of someone consuming semen due to morning sickness.

Yet, Lino, despite scowling in disgust, had already licked every last drop of semen off Grondil’s cock. Witnessing it with his own two eyes lent a bizarre credibility to Lino’s hypothesis.

“Lino.”

Grondil, who had been leaning over Lino, pulled back and scooped the boy up. He seemed to have made a decision.

“I’d love to feed you more, but since you’ve already eaten a massive amount from the bottom, I will feed you from the top tomorrow.”

“Ah…”

You really don’t have to. Before Lino could voice his refusal, he buried his face in the soft chest fur and took a deep breath. Belatedly, exhaustion washed over him.

The farewell gathering today had been a bit tedious. There were people whose faces he recognized but whose names he didn’t know, and they had all gotten obnoxiously loud and drunk amongst themselves. He had desperately wanted to just go home. If I go home, a ridiculously rich, handsome Beast will be waiting for me.

Home.

A home he wanted to return to. It wasn’t a house in his name, but it was a home where someone was waiting for him. A safe house where he didn’t have to feel a single ounce of anxiety.

The things he had given up on long ago were steadily, one by one, being placed into his hands. How long will I have to run and hide? Will my future just end abruptly? Will I ever be able to live in a comfortable home with my own family? Everything had been so uncertain that he lived in constant anxiety. He had been so depressed, utterly convinced he would just be battered around by circumstance until his miserable life came to an end.

Perhaps that was why he had struggled so desperately to act as if he didn’t care.

“Your Highness. Lord Grondil. His Highness Grondil.”

“…Why are you calling me? I told you I’d feed you my cock tomorrow.”

“No, not that. About earlier. The conversation we had during the day.”

“?”

At the sudden change in topic, Grondil frowned, tracing his memory back to whatever conversation they had shared that afternoon.

Nothing comes to mind.

When he lounged around with Lino, they shared countless trivial conversations across a variety of topics. Today had been no different. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember; it was that he couldn’t pinpoint exactly which conversation Lino was referring to.

As they stepped into the bathroom, a wave of hot steam greeted them. Enoch had pre-filled the tub. Still carrying Lino, Grondil stepped into the bath. The moment his massive body submerged, a violent surge of water displaced, overflowing significantly over the tub’s edge. In his arms, Lino shivered violently. Still buzzing from lingering aftershocks of pleasure, his body reacted hypersensitively to the sudden movement of the water.

Slowly rubbing Lino’s goosebump-covered arms, Grondil spoke. Suddenly, he knew exactly which ‘conversation from the day’ Lino meant.

It was ridiculous that he hadn’t realized it immediately. It was that incredibly rare moment when Lino had shot him a rebellious glare. Grondil recalled that forgotten look in Lino’s eyes and found himself curious. Why was he so furious?

“Alright, let’s hear it. Tell me why you aren’t more pitiful than Sir Disson.”

“Mmm…”

Now that Grondil had laid down the mat for him to speak, Lino seemed to struggle to find the words, making vague ‘mmm’ sounds while fidgeting with his fingers. Watching those little fingers wiggle on top of knees poking roundly out of the water, Grondil thought they looked so cute he wanted to pop them in his mouth and suck on them. Finally, Lino spoke.

“If we’re only looking at the past, it’s undeniable that I was far more miserable than Sir Disson.”

Nodding his head as if agreeing with his own statement, Lino’s damp, golden hair—clumped together from the moisture—swayed gently.

If I suck on his hair, it would probably taste like honey. Grondil swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth.

“But um… it’s just my opinion, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”

“Hm?”

The past was miserable, but not anymore. He had offered a slight retreat by adding ‘it’s just my opinion,’ but his tone carried absolute certainty.

“How am I supposed to know if you just say that? Explain it in more detail. I’m listening.”

Grondil whispered soothingly. He desperately wanted to suck on Lino’s hair, but figuring it would ruin the current atmosphere, he opted to stroke his head instead. In exchange for having no hair down below, Lino had an incredibly thick, lush head of hair that was deeply satisfying to touch.

“Because I was alone from a young age, I never really thought of myself as lonely. I’m human too; wouldn’t I want to be cared for, to lean on someone, to complain, and to be spoiled? But at the orphanage, I was the one taking care of the younger kids, and at Baron Haklan’s estate, I was locked up.”

Lino calmly summarized his past. Because the dossiers Enoch had provided only contained objective facts, hearing Lino personally confess his feelings from that time made Grondil feel strange.

“I never imagined I would ever truly possess anything of my own in the future. Um… to be perfectly honest, I always assumed the time I had left wasn’t very long.”

“…”

The hand stroking Lino’s head stopped dead. What did I just hear? Blinking his large eyes, Grondil chewed over Lino’s last sentence.

“…Why would you think that?”

“You know my circumstances perfectly well. The Baron tracking me down even knowing I was with Your High… with Lord Grondil. Sir Disson tormenting me for over a month just because I accidentally let out a laugh. Outside of that, there have been quite a few times when my life was upended or put in serious danger. In the slums, well… the goal was just to survive each day.”

The person who tried to scam him by exploiting his kind nature. The human trafficker who lured him with the promise of information only to kidnap him and attempt to sell him to an illegal slave ring. The delivery job he barely managed to secure that turned out to be a drug-running operation, where the employers tried to kill him to avoid paying his wages.

It had all happened so long ago, and there had been so many incidents that he had tried to forget them, but looking back, they were all incredibly dangerous situations. At best, they ended in jail time; at worst, death. Surviving this long with all his limbs intact and without a criminal record was nothing short of a miracle.

Grondil knew that Lino, who had gone quiet, was desperately racking his brain to choose the least provocative words and anecdotes.

It seemed Lino had experienced far more perilous events than what was detailed in Enoch’s report. That’s why he’s calculating his words so carefully.

“So what comes next? Did something change?” Grondil prompted.

At Grondil’s question, Lino snapped his head up. Turning to look at Grondil, he answered.

“Yes…! Now, things have changed a bit.”

“…”

Right, so what exactly changed and how? Grondil was about to ask, but the moment he met Lino’s face, his breath caught in his throat.

Lino was smiling. It wasn’t the awkward, embarrassed smile he always plastered on to deflect an uncomfortable situation; he was smiling radiantly, as if he were genuinely, overwhelmingly happy. He smiled so brightly his nose scrunched up, his neat white front teeth were fully visible, and his green eyes were completely hidden behind beautifully crescent-shaped eyelids. His high, flushed cheeks gleamed so delightfully that Grondil wanted to take a bite out of them.

“…”

Grondil was incredibly thankful he was currently in his Beast form. He had wanted to shift into a human to properly feel Lino’s wet skin against his own… but if he had, he would have been caught red-handed with a face flushed so deeply it looked ready to burst.

Perhaps the spots with very short fur, like the bridge of his nose or the tips of his ears, had already turned a reddish hue. Feigning nonchalance, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and urged Lino to continue.

“Well, um… Lord Grondil, you might find this laughable…”

“…?”

Holding Grondil’s gaze, Lino suddenly turned his head and dropped it back down. Through his hair, which had grown quite a bit recently, Grondil could see the prominent bump of his cervical spine.

Why is he suddenly looking so gloomy? It was so nice when he was smiling. Smacking his lips in disappointment, Grondil consolingly stroked the nape of Lino’s neck.

“Even if it is only temporary, I have a place to return to now, don’t I…?”

‘…Temporary?’

What is temporary? Grondil was intensely curious, but he held back. He needed to hear everything Lino had to say before asking questions.

However, upon hearing the next sentence, his patience completely snapped.

“Plus, I have a baby now… O-Of course, they are Lord Grondil’s babies, but I’m the one giving birth to them…?”

“To be precise, they are our babies.”

“…”

Lino fell silent at Grondil’s correction.

“Why. Do you disagree?”

“That’s…”

“Are you acting like this because you think I’ll claim they’re only my cubs and not yours? If that were the case, I would have made and birthed them myself. Why would I have you do it?”

His words came out harsh. The visceral, feral growl of the Beast scraped against the humid air of the bathroom. Startled, Lino drew in a sharp breath. Grondil desperately tried to soften his voice so as not to frighten Lino further, but it didn’t quite work.

“And I’m also curious what exactly you mean by ‘temporary’. Are you telling me you thought my promise to take you to Isberg and protect you was temporary?”

“…”

His silence was a damning confirmation.

“Did you think I would only take the cubs and throw you away?”

“No, that’s not…”

“I never knew you saw me as such a person.”

“No. That’s not it, Lord Grondil.”

Having turned around to face him, Lino fidgeted anxiously, completely at a loss for how to appease Grondil’s anger.

“What kind of deranged bastard throws away the person who birthed his cubs? Is that who I am to you?”

“No!!”

Lino screamed the denial so loudly it echoed off the bathroom tiles. Possessing sensitive hearing, Grondil’s ears flicked rapidly, and he grimaced slightly. Yet, despite the ringing in his ears, the fierce denial pleased him enough that the corners of his mouth quirked upward.

Having screamed his denial, Lino instantly lost whatever fleeting confidence he possessed, dropping his shoulders defensively and staring down at the rippling bathwater.

I always thought he was overly optimistic because he smiled so easily, but to think he could dig himself into a hole this deep without warning. Grondil realized Lino was far more fragile on the inside than he appeared. True, looking solid on the outside doesn’t mean you’re solid on the inside. Though he doesn’t exactly look solid on the outside either. He’s soft, chewy, and tender, definitely not solid.

He slipped his hands under Lino’s drooping armpits. Startled, Lino flinched and tried to pull back, but Grondil’s strong arms wrapped across his back, hauling him firmly against his chest. His other hand clamped down on the nape of Lino’s neck, ensuring he couldn’t retreat an inch.

“I take it back.”

“…Take what back?” Lino’s voice trembled slightly as he replied.

“I take back saying you were more pitiful than Sir Disson.”

“…Excuse me?”

Trapped helplessly in Grondil’s arms, Lino blinked his wide eyes. During the day, Grondil had stated it as an absolute fact; now, he was suddenly retracting it.

“Sir Disson will never be able to view the Imperial Palace of Cartia as a comfortable home. From the very beginning, that place was never meant for him. Furthermore, he abandoned his own mother who traveled to the Empire with him, meaning he has severed the only blood tie he could have relied on. Given his atrocious personality, there is absolutely no chance he will make any friends willing to help him. And there is no way in hell the impotent Emperor will treat him like an Empress.”

“I… see.”

“Knowing the Emperor’s temperament, unless Sir Disson produces a proper heir, he will never be permitted to leave the palace. Rather than the palace, he will likely be locked away in some obscure, hidden room.”

At the word ‘locked away,’ Lino bit his lip. That would be maddeningly suffocating. At least I had reading as a hobby, but him…?

“He will likely be confined for the rest of his life.”

“…”

“Because he is physically incapable of giving birth. And even if he could…”

It wouldn’t be human.

Easily deducing the unspoken end of Grondil’s sentence, Lino realized he could spend his entire life repaying Grondil for not sending him to the Empire and it still wouldn’t be enough.

Of course, since Lino was a true Letia, he would have birthed the Emperor’s child, but he guessed his ending wouldn’t have been much different from Yuneria’s. He would have been locked up and forced to continuously bear children, or perhaps killed once the children were old enough, all under the guise of ‘maintaining secrecy.’

Or, he might have been sold off to someone else. There was even a chance he would have lived and died in the Imperial Palace functioning as nothing more than a breeding whore.

“Just based on this alone, Lino, your life is infinitely better, so I retract my statement that you are more pitiful than Sir Disson. Furthermore, as my Letia, you will become an official citizen of Isberg and possess rights entirely equal to mine.”

“…Excuse me?”

Shocked, Lino tried to lift his head, but Grondil’s hand pressed firmly down on his neck, forcing him to listen while keeping his cheek pressed against Grondil’s chest.

“Once the cubs have grown a bit, let’s tour every corner of Isberg. After we’ve traveled so much we’re sick of it, we can journey across the Terne continent. I spent all this time searching every country for you, so this time, let’s tour them again together. Taking the map Erin made of tourist attractions and famous restaurants wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“L-Lord Grondil…”

“You don’t need to worry about accommodations. I believe I mentioned this before, but I own estates in the capitals and near the major tourist attractions of every country. Staying in crowded places is inconvenient, so I’ll replace the staff at those estates with my own people. Then it won’t matter if we roll around in my Beast form.”

“…”

Lino opened his mouth, calling Grondil’s name because he desperately wanted to say something, but closed it again. However, the more he listened to Grondil, the stronger the urge became to vocalize the overwhelming emotion crushing his chest.

“Ah, and do not worry about the memory erasure. Did you really think I would erase my own Letia’s memories? Furthermore, memory erasure is strictly for non-citizens of Isberg, so it does not apply to you. Even if I wanted to erase them, I couldn’t, so don’t even dream about it.”

“Lord Grondil.”

“Hm? What is it?”

His face buried deep in Grondil’s chest fur, Lino’s lips parted.

“Thank… you.”

Thank you. I am so grateful. How can I ever repay this debt? I feel like I couldn’t repay it even if I spent my entire life trying. If there is a next life, I will continue repaying it then. Even though the words were muffled by the fur into a near-incomprehensible mumble, Grondil understood every syllable perfectly.

“No need for thanks, just repay the debt. I plan to protect you for the rest of your life, and it seems you won’t be able to repay that in just one lifetime, does it?”

“Uh… pardon? Y-Yes, I suppose not?”

“Then you can just continue repaying it like that. Every time I meet you anew, I will protect you.”

“…”

As Lino fell completely silent, exhaling softly, Grondil’s breath—laced with a gentle smile—descended upon the crown of Lino’s head.

“It seems you wouldn’t be able to repay this debt even if you lived several lifetimes. What do you think?”

“If I can’t repay it all… what happens…?”

“What happens?” Grondil slightly pulled Lino back from his tight embrace, making direct eye contact. “You just keep repaying it. And you can give birth to my cubs again while you’re at it.”

Extending a long arm, Grondil grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the shelf next to the tub and pumped a generous amount into his hand. Lathering it smoothly between his palms, he placed the suds on Lino’s head.

“Don’t overthink it. You just need to focus entirely on enjoying yourself with me, free from worries or anxieties. That is how you repay me.”

The white lather bubbled up like a cloud, quivering atop Lino’s head. Soon, the suds transferred to Grondil’s chest fur, expanding their territory.

In that moment, an absurd question suddenly popped into Lino’s mind: When Grondil bathes in his Beast form, does he use body wash or shampoo?

“Lord Grondil, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“When you bathe, what do you use to lather up?”

“Haa… really.”

You’re asking this kind of question in this atmosphere? As Grondil stared down at him with an expression of utter disbelief, Lino—seemingly realizing the absurdity of his own question—slyly averted his eyes. Finding that reaction both ridiculous and undeniably cute, Grondil grabbed Lino’s turned chin, forcing him to look back, and lowered his face.

“Mmph…!”

Seeing the Beast’s snout approaching, Lino squeezed his eyes shut. He was still terrified of those long, razor-sharp canines visible within the parted jaws. However, what touched his lips wasn’t sharp fangs or a rough, abrasive tongue, but soft, yielding human lips.

‘Huh…?’

Expecting a kiss from a Beast’s snout, Lino opened his squeezed-shut eyes. He was greeted by the sight of Grondil’s hair, darkened by the water. Elegantly sweeping dark eyebrows, pristine white skin devoid of a single blemish or visible pore, and the exact same blue-gray eyes he possessed as a Beast.

In a split second, Grondil had shifted into his human form to press his lips against Lino’s.

Smack, slurp. Lips devoured lips. A tongue invaded the parted mouth, scraping the roof and probing the roots to draw out a flood of saliva.

Swallowing saliva without knowing whose it was, they tangled their tongues, gently biting and sucking. Grondil initiated it, but Lino clung to him just as aggressively. Due to the significant height difference, Lino drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around Grondil’s neck, kissing him as if hanging from him.

A dull heat began to pool in his lower abdomen again. Perhaps because it had been a while since their bodies touched while Grondil was human, arousal rapidly scorched his body.

Finally able to fully savor the texture of Lino’s bare skin, Grondil slowly began to lose his grip on his rationality.

“Can we do more?”

Recalling how exhausted Lino had been before entering the bathroom, Grondil barely clung to the last shred of his restraint to ask. However, it was entirely unnecessary consideration.

“You told me… to repay my debt for the rest of my life.”

With his earlobes and cheeks flushed a deep red, Lino replied, shifting his body. He moved his raised knees to straddle Grondil’s thighs. Reaching behind him, he grabbed Grondil’s menacingly erect cock and guided it to his own entrance.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to repay it even if I do it every day for the rest of my life… hnngh.”

I should stop him. Inserting underwater could cause an injury. But utterly captivated by the sight of Lino forcefully swallowing his cock all on his own, Grondil completely forgot to stop him.

“Once I… give birth to the babies, haah… I will repay you even more diligently.”

Slowly rolling his hips up and down, Lino guided Grondil’s member even deeper inside. It felt like a lie that he had been mumbling in a shrinking voice, completely devoid of confidence and courage, just moments ago. Hearing Grondil tell him to repay his debt in his next life, and the life after that, Lino felt courage bloom inside him—courage instilled by another person—for the very first time in his life.

“Don’t work too hard at repaying it. You can lean on me and reach out for help whenever you want. If you’re annoyed, act annoyed; if there’s something you want, beg me to buy it for you. If you have a desire, don’t hide it, don’t suppress it, and tell me everything honestly.”

“Hnn… yes. Understood. But, Your Highness.”

“Tsk.”

“Lord Grondil. Lord Grondil.”

Quickly correcting the title, Lino blushed deeply and admitted there was something he wanted. To speak up the second he was told not to hide or suppress his desires—how could Grondil not find him absolutely gorgeous?

Grondil urged him to speak immediately.

“The thing I couldn’t eat earlier.”

Clinging tightly to Grondil’s neck, Lino whispered directly into his ear.

“I want to eat that.”

“…”

Fuck. Crazy. I’m losing my mind. Is this brat actually a fox?

Grondil experienced the unprecedented sensation of vulgar language—words he never uttered in his entire life—bursting like firecrackers in his mouth. His mind ran so violently red he thought it might have dyed his eyeballs, because Lino’s face suddenly looked beet red.

“…”

Looking closely, it wasn’t his eyeballs; Lino’s face had genuinely flushed so deeply it looked ready to explode. Ah, I’m really going crazy. Where was this creature hiding all this time before appearing in front of me? To think this is my Letia. To think he is carrying my cubs in his belly.

It felt so surreal that Grondil devoured Lino’s lips as if trying to tear them off, desperate to prove it wasn’t a dream. Due to the violent movement, the inserted cock slipped out.

“Hnngh!”

Lino swallowed a moan as the cock scraped against his inner walls on its way out. Grondil grabbed Lino, hoisted him up, and turned on the showerhead, spraying water over him.

In a flash, he washed Lino’s hair and rinsed his body. Slapping some soap on himself and rinsing off hastily, Grondil tucked the dripping-wet Lino under his arm and sprinted for the bedroom without even bothering with a towel.

Despite the frantic sprint, the hands that laid Lino on the bed were incredibly gentle. Loving that stark contrast, Lino swallowed a laugh and reached his arms out to Grondil.

As Grondil willingly fell into the embrace Lino desired, he heard a soft whisper that filled him with absolute, profound satisfaction.

‘I really want to go home now. These farewell parties have gotten way too boring.’

Hearing the words ‘real home,’ Grondil couldn’t help but let a massive smile bloom across his face. To Grondil, his real home was his palace in Isberg, and now, it was also the real home of his partner, Lino.

Seriously, where did this miracle come from?

Despite being hailed as the “Beloved of the Gods” and blessed by the divine his entire life, Grondil had never once actually felt what that blessing entailed.

But right now, he offered a deep, fervent prayer of absolute gratitude to God, to the Lord Aquila.

Oh God, Aquila. I graciously accept the gift you have bestowed upon your beloved. I pray you never revoke a gift once given. May this bond last for eternity.

Even in death, may it continue into the next life. And that death into the life after that. I pray it never ends.

Please bestow endless grace upon your child.

The Beast’s prayer, much like the Beast himself, harbored an endless, insatiable greed. Such prayers were only made because he was a Beast. Grondil suspected his prayers might become even more explicit in the future.

What else could be expected? For a Beast, instinct always precedes reason.

So please, God. Hear the prayer of this Beast.

[END of VOLUME 2, MAIN STORY FINALE]