The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 3

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 3
What was this?
I lowered my gaze and saw his fingers sinking into my pale skin. If he removed his hand, I was certain the red marks would remain.
…Yes, it was quite an effective display.
I feigned composure and answered Maximilian’s question.
“We could skip that part, couldn’t we? It’s just a transaction anyway.”
“All political marriages are transactions. Yet no one skips the process. After all, we are binding ourselves as husband and wife.”
“….”
This was strange.
I was the one who had kidnapped him. Maximilian was the one who had been kidnapped. Yet somehow, he had seized control of the conversation.
Husband and wife? Was that really what mattered? Caught off guard by this unexpected turn, I fell silent, and Maximilian spoke again.
“Do you dislike me?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then what is the problem?”
His persistence was oddly relentless. My head was beginning to ache.
The carriage would reach the Temple soon. I did not want to derail what I had planned.
So.
“…Later. We’ll discuss that later.”
I deferred my answer.
Should I have simply demanded obedience? But staring into those unwavering, resolute eyes, I found myself without the will to do so.
Fortunately, Maximilian did not press further. He merely nodded in acknowledgment.
“Understood. For now, let us address the immediate crisis.”
It was immediately after that his grip around my waist tightened.
My body, draped across his thigh, was suddenly pulled forward, and my chest collided with his.
Overwhelmed by his intoxicating scent, I barely registered the sensation before his lips found the nape of my neck.
“Mmph.”
Goosebumps rose across my skin at the warmth and moisture of his breath.
Maximilian drew my skin into his mouth and sucked gently. A sharp sting mingled with an electric current that seemed to flow through my veins, and my waist instinctively tensed.
He traced the curve of my neck with deliberate slowness, his lips brushing my skin before his tongue emerged to caress the edge of my collarbone with deliberate pressure.
The wet, slick sensation made my eyes flutter.
This was not what I had intended. There was no reason for Maximilian to slowly draw out the heat building within my body.
I was about to remind him of the purpose of this act when his tongue rolled over the prominent bone in his mouth.
“Hah.”
His hand, which had been gripping my thigh, began to move, gliding across the soft skin.
“Wait, what are you—!”
“There’s nothing wrong with feeling good, is there?”
With a brief whisper, Maximilian’s hand moved with purpose.
His touch was delicate yet decisive, like parting flesh, and my vision swam for a moment.
My waist and hips trembled involuntarily, but the firm grip holding me prevented any movement.
“Ah, ah, mmm!”
Heat bloomed from deep within my belly. I bit my lip hastily to stifle the involuntary sounds escaping me.
The carriage offered no soundproofing whatsoever. At this rate, the knights outside would hear the Holy Maiden’s breathless moans in real time.
“Ah, Rotar, stop, please….”
Rotar slowly withdrew the arm that had been wrapped around my waist.
He gently caressed my buttocks pressed against his thighs, then gripped firmly once before gathering the hem of my cumbersome dress and lifting it.
Simultaneously, his green eyes drifted downward. I felt exposed, my bare skin displayed beneath his gaze.
“Shh.”
He made a soothing wind-like sound before sucking hard at the hollow of my collarbone.
A sharp, pulling sensation accompanied by a stinging pain shot through me.
When he finally released me, his tongue traced the tender mark as he whispered.
“Your skin appears delicate. Marks form so easily on you.”
“Ah, mm.”
I couldn’t respond with the fabric of my dress filling my mouth.
Rotar paid no mind and lowered his head.
Just before he opened his mouth to bite the soft flesh, he made a request.
“Should anything prove unsatisfactory, please inform me. I shall correct it.”
His damp fingers were reaching for the back of my knee when—
“Halt!”
A knight’s voice called from beyond the carriage. The carriage began to slow to a stop.
I could have sworn I heard Rotar click his tongue in displeasure.
I snapped back to awareness and pulled my dress down below my knees, then whispered urgently to Rotar.
“Cut deeper inside.”
“Pardon?”
“We need blood!”
Rotar blinked at my insistence. He’d been so willing to do things I hadn’t even asked for moments ago—why hesitate now?
As I reached to shake his shoulder again, the hand touching my body withdrew.
He produced a small dagger from his pocket.
Before doubt could even form, he acted. Without hesitation, he drew the blade across his own palm.
“…!”
I was too shocked to make a sound. The knocking on the carriage window from outside went ignored.
Rotar’s expression remained unchanged as he brought his bleeding palm to the inside of my dress.
Only after watching him smear blood across the junction of my groin and buttocks did I grasp his intention.
“…What.”
“As long as it appears that blood was shed, does it not suffice?”
Well, technically yes. But this man is completely insane.
While I stood there slack-jawed, Rotar methodically finished his work, carefully staining the slip beneath my dress before looking up and asking.
“Is this quantity sufficient?”
“…Probably.”
Only then did Rotar withdraw his hand and pull my dress down to my ankles.
He then took a handkerchief from his pocket, dampened it, and began scrubbing his wounded palm clean—which alarmed me enough that I tried to stop him.
“…What?”
On my palm, now wiped clean of blood, only a long scar remained. It had already stopped bleeding.
As I stared blankly at the wound, Rotar tucked away his handkerchief and spoke.
“By the time we enter the Holy Temple, the wound will have healed completely.”
“….”
That’s it? That’s the whole explanation?
Sixth cycle of my life. I’d heard countless times that the Second Prince’s physical abilities were qualitatively different from ordinary people. This was simply the first time I’d witnessed it firsthand.
I was about to grab Rotar’s hand and press for more details.
Knock, knock.
“Holy Maiden, is something the matter?”
The knight’s voice carried an edge of tension.
Now that I thought about it, he’d knocked before and I hadn’t answered. He must be worried something had happened inside the carriage.
I quietly slipped down from Rotar’s lap and straightened my clothes. Then, as he knocked on the window again, I kicked the door open.
“Ugh!”
The knight, struck by the suddenly opening door, let out a sound like a pig being slaughtered.
Rotar, watching from behind, asked in a voice only I could hear.
“How did you manage to buy off the Holy Knight Order?”
Was that really important right now? The wound on my palm was still flickering before my eyes.
“I didn’t buy them off.”
I checked the back of my dress where blood had naturally seeped through, then pulled on the prepared robe as I answered.
“They swore their loyalty of their own accord.”
“…Did the Holy Maiden possess such authority?”
What was with that tone?
I turned around with furrowed brows and saw a man with calm, composed eyes. It didn’t seem like he was trying to pick a fight.
Well, unless someone was a complete idiot, they’d find this suspicious.
“I didn’t.”
Not just authority. Money, honor, connections—I’d been given none of it as a hollow Holy Maiden.
“So I created it.”
Instead, I’d been thrown the resource of a ‘repeated life.’ I simply used the information I’d been given as much as I could.
At my casual answer, Rotar nodded as if he understood.
“Sometimes coercion is an important tool.”
“….”
What was he saying? That was a bit unfair.
The only people I’d ever coerced were a dying Archbishop, a priest on the verge of retirement, and the Second Prince who was supposed to die.
…Could this really be considered a primary method?
Whatever I said, it would lead to the same conclusion, so I turned my head away. Outside the carriage, armed Holy Knights were moving in formation.
As I watched that sight and conversed with Rotar, a memory from my second cycle suddenly flashed through my mind.
A dozen Holy Knights escorting my side. Yet as a Holy Maiden with nothing to my name, my second life was hollow.
My goal back then was different from now. Escaping from Maximilian. I’d thought it possible until I successfully seduced a mild-mannered marquis into marriage.
But then.
‘Elise. How does it feel to be a widow?’
My husband was executed.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————