Chapter 905: What Sort Of Kiss Is This?!

The shift in atmosphere was immediate. The playful energy between them settled into something warmer, more intimate.

Ragnora gestured toward the living room.

"Please, come in. Sit by the fire. I’ll...I’ll make tea."

"There’s no need for tea, Commander." Cassius walked inside, making his way to the sofa that faced the fireplace. "Lets just get straight into it "

Ragnora gulped, realising she wasn’t going to have any time to warm herself up.

But before closing the door, she glanced outside, looking left and right to make sure no one had seen him arrive.

’What am I doing?’ She thought. ’I’m acting like a woman sneaking around with another woman’s husband.’

Well. She was sneaking around with another woman’s husband. But Isabellehad approved. So it wasn’t really wrong.

Wasn’t it?

She pushed the thought away and closed the door, hurrying to join Cassius on the sofa. She sat on the opposite end, maintaining a respectful distance.

But Cassius clicked his tongue. "Not there."

"What?"

"I said, not there." He pointed to the spot directly beside him. "Come closer. Sit next to me."

Ragnora’s heart launched into a frantic rhythm.

’It’s just like in the novels.’ She thought wildly. ’The assertive, dominant protagonist who commands the heroine with just a few words. The heroine who can’t resist, whose body moves before her mind can catch up.’

Except in those novels, the heroine was always a delicate princess or a shy village girl. Ragnora on the other hand was neither small nor soft nor easily overwhelmed.

She was a giant among giants, a warrior who could tear S-class monsters apart with her bare hands.

And yet when Cassius spoke to her in that commanding tone, she felt her body responding as though she were exactly that delicate princess from the novels.

Before she knew it, she had scooted across the sofa and settled herself directly beside him, her massive thigh pressing against his much smaller one.

"Good." Cassius said. And then, without warning, he placed his hand directly on her thigh.

Ragnora’s entire body tensed.

His palm was warm. And those clever, agile fingers that had solved impossible enchantment puzzles and polished her horns with such tenderness were now tracing lines against the thick muscle of her thigh.

"Cassius, what are you—"

"Stay still." Cassius murmured. "This is how lovers sit together. The man’s hands are never idle. They’re always reaching for his partner. Touching. Stroking. Feeling."

His fingers pressed deeper, kneading the corded muscle beneath her crimson skin.

"If you were Isabelle, I’d already have my hand sliding up to her breast. But you’re not Isabelle, and something tells me you’re not quite ready for that yet."

He glanced up at her, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"You look like your heart is about to burst, Commander. So, let’s keep it to the thighs for now."

Ragnora swallowed hard. "I...yes. That’s...fine."

"Good." His hand continued its slow stroking, moving from her knee up toward her hip and back again.

Each pass sent shivers racing across her skin.

"Just breathe. Relax. Let yourself feel it."

She tried. She really did. But relaxing was easier said than done when Cassius’s hand was on her thigh.

Meanwhile, Cassius himself was having a difficult time maintaining his own composure.

’Dear gods above!’ His thoughts screamed. ’These thighs! These incredible, magnificent, impossibly powerful thighs! I can feel every single cord of muscle beneath my fingers!’

’Every groove, every ridge, every inch of raw, primal strength. She could crush a man’s skull between these thighs without even trying. She could probably crush a boulder. She could—’

He forced himself to take a breath.

’And the deeper I press, the softer the skin becomes. How is that possible? How can something be this hard and this soft at the same time? It’s like touching living steel wrapped in velvet. I want to—’

He stopped that line of thought before it could go somewhere he couldn’t control.

’Focus. She’s nervous. She’s innocent. Don’t ruin this by being a degenerate.’

But when he finally looked up, he found Ragnora staring back at him with an expression that made his heart stop.

Her golden eyes were limpid, filled with an expectation so palpable he could almost taste it.

Her lips were slightly parted. Her breathing had quickened. And she was looking at him like she was waiting for something.

Like she wanted him to do something.

And then he understood.

She was waiting for the kiss.

Slowly, Cassius withdrew his hands from her thighs and placed them gently on her knees. He met her gaze directly.

"What do you want, Ragnora?"

The question hung in the air between them. Ragnora’s breath caught. Her hands, which had been resting helplessly in her lap, began to twist together.

"I..." She swallowed. "You know. The...the thing. The thing we didn’t get to do yesterday."

"I’m afraid I don’t follow." Cassius tilted his head, his expression maddeningly innocent. "You’ll have to be more specific."

Ragnora’s eyes narrowed slightly. He was teasing her. Again. And he knew exactly what she was asking for.

But he held all the power in this moment, and they both knew it.

"I want." She forced out, her voice barely above a whisper. "I want to...to kiss you, Cassius."

"A kiss?" He raised an eyebrow. "A kiss where?"

She opened her mouth to say yes, just on the cheek, or maybe the forehead, nothing more than that— but the words wouldn’t come.

Because the truth was, she’d been thinking about this moment ever since Isabelle had put the idea in her head. All day. All evening. And what she wanted was not a quick peck on the cheek.

She wanted a real kiss.

"A kiss." She said, her voice steadier now. "On the lips."

Cassius’s expression softened into a gentle smile.

"Of course...Anything you want."

He reached up and cupped her face in his palm. His fingers traced the line of her jaw, then slid down to her chin, tilting her face toward his.

"Come here." He murmured. "You’re going to have to bend down a little."

Ragnora obeyed, lowering herself until their faces were level.

This close, she could see every detail of his features—the sharp line of his jaw, the impossible blue of his eyes, the slight curl of his lips.

She could also smell the faint, clean scent of him—soap and something else, something that was uniquely Cassius.

"I..." Her voice trembled. "I don’t know what to do. I might mess this up. I’ve never—I might—"

"Shh." Cassius’s thumb stroked gently across her cheek. "Just leave it to me."

And then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

Kiss!

The world stopped and Ragnora’s eyes fluttered closed as the sensation washed over her.

His lips were softer than she’d imagined. There was a gentleness to the way he kissed her that made her heart ache, a tenderness that spoke of patience and care and something deeper.

’My first kiss...’

She thought, the words echoing through her mind like a prayer.

’I’m having my first kiss. After all these years. After all the waiting. It’s finally happening!’

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She’d spent so long believing this moment would never come. So many nights lying awake, imagining what it would feel like, knowing she would never experience it.

And now, here it was, more beautiful than anything she’d ever dreamed.

’This is enough.’ She thought. ’Even if nothing else ever happens. Even if I never experience this again. This single moment will be enough to carry me for the rest of my life.’

But Cassius wasn’t finished.

His hand slid from her cheek to the back of her head, fingers threading into her wild black hair. And then, he pulled her closer and his tongue slipped past her lips.

"Mwah!?~ Slurp!?~ Ohh!?~ Suck!?~ Mmm!?~"

Ragnora’s eyes snapped open.

’What—what is he doing? His tongue is—it’s inside my mouth—what is happening—’

Panic flared in her chest. This wasn’t in the novels. This wasn’t in any of the novels.

Kisses in books were always described as chaste, gentle things—a press of lips, a brush of breath, a moment of sweetness.

But this...this was something else entirely!

"Hmmm!?~ Mwah!?~ Haa!?~ Kiss!?~ Mmm!?~"

His tongue was sliding against hers, warm and wet and invading. She could feel it exploring the inside of her mouth, tracing the edges of her teeth, curling around her own tongue.

And he was sucking—drawing her saliva into his mouth like he was drinking her in.

’This is dirty!’ Her mind screamed. ’This is so dirty. Why does he keep—and he’s taking my saliva—isn’t that strange, isn’t that wrong—I don’t understand—’

The reason for her innocence, of course, was simple: the books she’d devoured her entire life had never contained such scenes.

A law enacted nearly a hundred and fifty years ago that was imposed by the Church to preserve public decency had banned all erotic material across the continent.

Every romance novel was carefully sanitized, its intimate moments faded to black, its love scenes reduced to tasteful euphemisms and poetic vagueness.

Ragnora had read hundreds of books about love and romance, but she had never once read about this.

So she was utterly, devastatingly unprepared.

And yet, after the initial shock faded, something began to shift inside her.

The panic didn’t disappear entirely, it still simmered beneath the surface. But it was slowly being drowned out by something that spread through her chest like honey poured into hot tea, sweet and slow and utterly intoxicating.

’This is what lovers do?’ The thought floated through her dazed mind. ’This is what Cassius and Isabelle do all the time? It’s so dirty. It’s dirtier than...than anything. But why does it feel so good?’

Her body was responding in ways she couldn’t control. Heat was building in her core, spreading outward through her limbs like liquid fire.

Her crimson skin felt like it was actually glowing, as though someone had lit a flame beneath her flesh and was slowly turning up the heat.

And then, just when she thought she might actually combust from the intensity of it all, Cassius pulled back.

"Haaah.....Haaaah.....Haaaa...."

They separated with a string of saliva still connecting their lips and their foreheads were pressed together, both of them breathing hard, sharing the same warm air between them.

Ragnora’s eyes eventually fluttered open. She found Cassius gazing up at her, his eyes dark with something she couldn’t quite name.

"What..." Her voice came out hoarse, barely recognizable. She swallowed and tried again. "What exactly was that?"

"That...was a proper kiss." Cassius said, his voice slightly breathless but still carrying that familiar teasing lilt. "That’s how lovers kiss when no one’s watching."

"But I’ve never...I’ve never seen anyone kiss like that before. Not in the streets. Not in the camps. Not anywhere."

"That’s because it’s not the kind of kiss you do in public."

His thumb stroked gently across her cheek.

"It’s too intimate. Too passionate. Something you save for private moments, behind closed doors. Especially in this world, with all those laws about public decency."

He paused, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Did you...did you not like it? Was I too aggressive? Too rough?"

"No!" The word burst out of her with surprising force. She blushed. "No, not at all. It was just...surprising. At first. I didn’t understand what was happening. But then..."

She touched her lips with trembling fingers, as though she could still feel the ghost of his kiss there.

"Then it became better. Much better. I...melted into it."

The admission made her face burn hotter than any battle wound ever had.

"I can’t believe I experienced something like that." She continued, her voice soft with wonder. "I can’t believe it’s real. I’ve read about kisses a thousand times, but the books never described...that."

Ragnora’s mind was still spinning, but one thought rose above the chaos.

"Something like that." She said slowly. "Something so...intense. So intimate. It must be very expensive, right?"

She was already reaching for her coin pouch, mentally calculating how much she might need to add.

"I might need to give you my entire month’s salary. Perhaps more. Because that was genuinely—that felt—"

"Heavenly?" Cassius supplied.

"Yes." The word came out breathless. "Heavenly. Like something that could only happen once in a lifetime and should be...auctioned off. Reserved for the highest bidder."

Cassius looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, very softly, he said:

"I could waive the fee entirely."

Ragnora’s heart stuttered. "What?"

"Consider it a gift." His hand was still on her cheek, his thumb still tracing gentle patterns across her crimson skin.

"Or rather, consider it a trade. I’ll waive the fee for this particular service...if you give me the chance to kiss a woman as beautiful as you one more time."

The words hit Ragnora like a arrow to the heart!

’Beautiful. He called me beautiful. He wants to kiss me again. Not for money. Not as a service. Because he...because he wants to.’

Her heart was racing so fast she could feel it pounding in her ears, in her temples, in the very tips of her horns.

She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t form words. So instead, she simply closed her eyes and leaned forward.

Cassius understood immediately what to do.

Kiss!