Chapter 15.2

Chapter 15.2

When I drew him in with a strong pull, he tilted his head back, a breath escaping him. The veins along his length stood out, and the swollen tip throbbed like it was about to burst. I could tell he was close. I was about to move again when—

“S… stop—!”

Deputy Ki pulled me away and stood. Gripping himself with a commanding hand, he looked down at me.

I’d seen that kind of gaze before, ever since I woke up in this prison… but this was different.

When the other guards looked at me, it was with contempt, the way you’d look at something worthless. But his gaze was the look of an owner. 

The look of someone taking what belonged to him.

“…Haa… ngh…!”

Deputy Ki let out a short groan, his brows tightening as he released himself. Thick streams of white spilled over my bare chest, warm against my skin as he kept his eyes fixed on me.

The scent of night flowers filled the air as the hot liquid spread across my chest. Did he always release this much? From the flushed tip, more of that white fluid kept spurting out again and again. Just when it seemed over, another pulse followed.

Maybe there was something intoxicating in it, because even though I hadn’t climaxed, a hazy daze washed over me. I simply let it happen, letting his fluids coat me.

When he had released everything, his face changed.

He looked startled, almost flustered, staring at the mess he’d made before his face turned completely red. Pulling a handkerchief from his back pocket, he began to gently wipe my chest.

“I’m sorry.”

He murmured softly as he carefully wiped away every trace of what had dripped down the curves of my breasts.

When his hand accidentally brushed my n.p1p!e, a sharp tremor ran up my spine. At my quiet gasp, he bit his lower lip and wore the face of a monk enduring fire.

Sliding his hand under my arm, Deputy Ki helped me sit up and pulled the prison uniform back over my shoulders. Then, starting from the bottom, he began fastening each button, one by one, all the way to the top. I caught his hand before he could finish.

“Deputy Ki.”

“…”

When our eyes met, a thought flashed through my mind. Something that had crossed me often when I leaned against the wall before evening roll call.

Maybe I’d grown attached to this body after living in it for so long, but I often found myself pitying Ham Yeohee. Not for what she’d done, but because this face, this body, seemed far too beautiful to rot away in a prison cell for seven years.

And now, looking at Deputy Ki, I felt the same.

His smooth forehead, straight nose, the way his brows and eyes looked like they’d been drawn by hand, the lines and color of his lips, and that sharply cut jaw… his features had a rare, deliberate beauty, like a piece of art.

Deputy Ki was beautiful. He looked like a sculpture a devoted artist might spend a lifetime crafting to offer to God.

That’s why it felt like such a waste, being trapped in this bleak prison.

Even if Yeohee was here by force and Deputy Ki by choice, both were spending their youth in a place that didn’t deserve them.

Maybe that’s why my chest felt strangely warm. Or maybe it was just the languid calm that came after something intense. I gently held his chin and made him look at me.

“Did you like it?”

The scent of his body still lingered on my skin, thick and intimate. But it didn’t make me feel dirty. If anything, it felt comforting. With his mark all over me like this, I knew Deputy Ki wouldn’t pretend not to know me.

He looked down at me with a quiet, searching gaze.

Something inside me trembled. Just as my eyes began to waver, his low voice spread through the air, echoing close to my ear like it came from deep within a cave.

“Do you really… like me?”

Do I like him? Of course I do.

I pressed my face against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. His heartbeat thudded hard against my ear. I rubbed my cheek against his firm chest and answered without a hint of hesitation.

“Yes, I like you, Deputy Ki. I like you so, so much.”

He wasn’t a man who showed much on his face. Even when he came, the most he did was furrow his brow slightly. He didn’t seem like someone whose emotions ever showed easily.

But even so, he was human. His heart didn’t lie. When I said I liked him, it suddenly began to race, pounding like a runner’s, and the more I nuzzled into him, the faster it beat.

Encouraged by that, I lifted my head and asked softly,

“Deputy Ki… it’s okay if I keep liking you, right?”

A little fear lingered in me. Maybe this stubborn man would still choose his sense of duty over desire, maybe he’d step back again.

Deputy Ki looked down at me, his eyes dark and unreadable. I couldn’t tell what was inside them, they were so deep, like an endless abyss. Then he cupped my face in his hands.

“I told you,” he said quietly. “You can like me all you want.”

His lips brushed against my forehead.

“If you’re sure you won’t regret it later.”

As if that could ever be true. What scared me more was imagining myself letting go of this lifeline called Deputy Ki and living to regret it.

Strangely, I’d never felt the urge to throw myself at Chief Park or any of the other guards like this.

Maybe my standards were just high. That’s what I told myself.

“I won’t regret it. Liking you, Deputy Ki.”

When I burrowed back into his arms, his strong arms wrapped around me tightly. The same arms that once stayed motionless when I cried and begged to be held now pulled me close with firm, steady warmth.

Inside, I was cheering. I’d finally grabbed hold of something real—my rope, my way to survive this place. I was happy.

Never realizing that the warmth I clung to was, in truth, a trap.