Third Person’s POV

The memories returned again and again, and each time, they were more vivid than the last.

Her mind traced the paths where his hands had touched her, the rough pull that had stripped away her top, the firm grip of his palms on her breasts, the way his fingers had kneaded her flesh until she had moaned.

Her lips tingled as she remembered the pressure of his mouth on hers, the invasive yet addictive slide of his tongue, and the way he had sucked on her saliva as if it were nectar.

Unknowingly, her hands began to move on their own.

She started fondling her breasts slowly, almost absently, her fingers pressing into the soft mounds through the thin, damp fabric of her clothes.

She replayed those moments again and again—the way he had sucked her breasts with his mouth, the way he had teased her pink nipple with his tongue, and had circled and circled until she thought she might go mad.

And the way he had bitten them gently, just enough to make her whole body tremble and a long moan erupt from her throat.

At the same time, without her conscious command, two of her fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her panties.

They slid lower, finding the wet heat between her thighs, and began to rub her pussy in slow, lewd circles.

The fabric of her net panties was already soaked through, clinging to her most intimate parts.

A few green strands of her pubic hair peeked out from the edges of her panties, a visible, almost obscene sign that she had never maintained herself in the way young noblewomen did, as she had never needed to.

She had never had any romantic relations with anyone and never had a lover who might care about such things.

But she did not care as she had never had a reason to care, until now.

Suddenly, her mind cleared, and she came out of her trance like a swimmer breaking the surface of deep water.

She looked down at her hands, one still cupping her breast, and two fingers of the other still buried inside her wet panties, still rubbing it.

Suddenly, horror washed over her, and her body was covered in sweat.

Her clothes clung to her skin, and she suddenly felt damp and uncomfortable.

The fact that she had been touching herself like some common, lovestruck whore who could not control her own desires caused anger to flare within her.

Shame followed close behind the anger, and it was hot and suffocating.

’What am I doing?’ she thought furiously.

’Why am I acting like a cheap woman? Like someone who has never been shown any attention in her entire life, and now cannot control herself at the first taste of it.’

But that was not entirely untrue, was it?

She had never been shown such attention before.

No man had ever looked at her the way Ethan had looked at her with such hunger and lust, with that intense, focused gaze that made her feel like she was the only woman in the world, like he wanted to devour her whole.

The realization only made her angrier.

In a burst of frustrated movement, she tore off her damp clothes, including her top, her bra, her skirt, her soaked panties, and threw them across the room.

Then she crossed to the bathing pool that was a natural basin fed by the same cold springs and jumped in without any hesitation about the deep cold and the fact that it was nighttime.

The water was freezing, to say the least.

It shocked her system, stole her breath, and closed over her head completely.

She submerged herself entirely, from head to toe, and let the icy darkness envelop her as if wanting to punish herself for her shallowness.

The cold bit into her skin, numbed her burning flesh, and slowly, slowly began to calm the frayed edges of her nerves.

The rush of hormones that had flooded her body began to recede, and the heat that had pooled low in her belly began to cool. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The wetness between her thighs that was still fresh was also washed away slowly in the cold water.

Her chaotic, spiraling mind finally began to settle.

About five minutes passed, or perhaps longer, as she had lost track of time.

Finally, she poked her head above the surface and gasped for breath.

Freezing cold vapors emerged from her mouth with each exhale and misted in the air before dissipating.

Her pink lips had turned blue, her skin was dotted with goosebumps, her nipples hard and visible even beneath the water, but her thoughts had finally streamlined.

She treaded water slowly, and her emerald eyes stared at the ceiling as she processed everything with a clearer head.

She had finally realized that there had been two main reasons why she had been so easily and seemingly so completely attracted to that mysterious young man.

First, there was the magnetic manly charm he displayed.

His absurdly handsome face, with its sharp jaw and high cheekbones.

Those dangerous crimson eyes seemed to look straight through her and melted her insides with a single glance.

The way he had looked at her naked breasts with such naked hunger, the way his tongue had felt on her nipple, and the way his hands had squeezed her ass, finally made her feel that she was also a woman and could be desired by somebody so much.

Second, there was the undeniable fact that he had defeated her.

Or to be exact, he had not just defeated her, he had done it thoroughly and perfectly, despite being one realm below her in cultivation.

Now that she thought over it, he had been the one who had led the tempo of their battle, and despite the seemingly close shaves he had gone through, he had actually been in complete control of the battle.

He was absurdly talented, powerfully built, and possessed sharp battle instincts paired with the skills to back them up.