Grant Me Your Grace

A fever suddenly flared up briskly on the nape of my neck. The vivid dream sensation made me feel as if Hissin had actually licked my skin.

‘He has no idea what I’m dreaming about,’ Dahlia thought guiltily, starting an unlikely conversation.

“Did I, by any chance, interrupt your rest?”

Hissin raised an eyebrow. It was a questioning look.

She wished she hadn’t said anything. But even in retrospect, she couldn’t catch the words that had already spilled out. 

Dahlia pursed her lips and spoke carefully, “I’ve heard you spend all day meeting with and praying for the people of the land, and once the temple closes, it’s all yours, and I’m afraid I’m interrupting you…”

The night temple was the only freedom Dahlia was allowed. 

A place filled with the grace of the Nuit goddess. It was a place of equality for all, where no one could harness the power at their disposal.

But now that the gift of the gods had come and claimed this place, he might take offense at her trespassing after the doors were closed.

“If you’re uncomfortable with this visit, I’ll try to come when you’re not around,” Dahlia said sincerely.

Having been denied the privileges of being a princess, or any of the other privileges of royalty, Dahlia was bound to be cautious in all things.

“If even that makes you uncomfortable… I won’t come anymore.”

Dahlia lowered her head, sullen. She didn’t expect him to turn around and leave anytime soon.

“That can’t be.”

His voice shook her from her thoughts.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come back ever since that day.”

“You’ve been… waiting for me?”

Dahlia looked up in disbelief. Hissin was staring at her with red eyes, the overcast moonlight on his back.

“Yes. I was waiting for you.”

“…”

“I’ve been waiting for Princess Baran Dahlia… for you.”

She felt as if those straight gazes were ripping off her face covering and fiercely searching her bare face. 

Dahlia gave a small gasp, involuntarily clutching the hem of her robes.

“What… why?”

“Does there have to be a reason?”

Dahlia’s question was answered by Hissin in a tone that was ambiguous whether it was a question or not. The question left her speechless. Dahlia stared at him blankly, then let out a breath that was a beat too late.

“…Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because there is… no reason why I should be seeing a gift from the gods.”

Suddenly, my wrist throbbed, as if it were chastising me for lying. 

Dahlia curled her sore hand tightly in denial. As she stared at it, Hissin let out a small sigh, then began to walk toward her, step by step, just as he had the last time.

“If you need a reason, it’s because I am…”

Dahlia could barely take a step backward as Hisisn lunged forward on his long legs.

The man’s body, solid and massive like a sculptor’s work, cast a long shadow over her. His hand rested on her shoulder.

“I’ve been wanting to see you.”

The large hand slid down her arm, smooth as water, and caught her left hand, hidden behind her back. 

Slowly, but without hesitation, he brought it forward and kissed the back of her hand.

His lips untangled the black silk from her ring.

Her wrists, ugly with red spots, were revealed. Horrified, Dahlia quickly tried to pull her hand away, but her strength was not enough to resist the man’s grip.

She stared at the spots for a moment, bewildered. Hissin leaned down and pressed his lips to her wrist again. 

Dahlia sucked in a small breath at the feel of his hot lips against her bare skin.

“Let go, please, what are you doing?”

Dahlia strained against his grip, but he didn’t let her go. Instead, he parted her clasped fingers, sliding his hand between them and clamping it tightly.

Then he began kissing along the red splotches, tracing them with a loud, slurping sound.

“Hmph…”

The tantalizing sensations I’d tried so hard to erase from my memory were back, spreading through my body on Dahlia’s hand. 

Dahlia shook her head, breathing heavily as her body heated up.

“Oh, my god. Please…”

Her plea was cut off as Hissin pressed his lips to her wrist. His gaze flew straight up, digging into Dahlia’s eyes like a punch to the chest.

“Call me by name, Your Highness.”

His lips parted to gently brush against Dahlia’s flesh.

“For to you, I am only, Hissin.”

His lips moved across Dahlia’s skin, covered in red spots. Dahlia’s whole body tightened at the touch of his lips as if he were eating a soft sorbet.

“Ahh…!”

The moist lips’ slick sliding sent erotic sensations across her flesh. The scene from her dream was superimposed on top of it, and Dahlia shivered uncontrollably.

At any moment, those lips would be on her secret place.

“I don’t think you were like this last time I saw you.”

His eyes narrowed as he examined Dahlia’s wrist. A crimson-red spot, not quite the color of blood, dotted across the surface of her wrist.

Dahlia pulled up her sleeve, trying to hide the spots somehow.

“…It’s a skin disease.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Because it’s a felony to divulge the name of an imperial disease.”

It was true, but the red spots were a more intimate and dangerous secret than that. 

For the first imperial physician to learn, the price of blood eventually disappeared like a mouse or a bird.

Dahlia lied, avoiding Hissin’s eyes.

“Sometimes, for no reason, I break out in a rash like this.”

“For no reason.”

His eyes dropped back to Dahlia’s hands, which she tried to cover as best she could with her sleeve, but it wasn’t easy with his grip on them.

Hisisn lowered his head again and pressed his lips to the spot the sleeve hadn’t covered. 

Over the saliva-slicked surface of the skin, a red tongue made a damp path through the soft lips.

“Oh…!”

Dahlia shuddered in surprise.

“Are you sick?”

Hissin lifted his gaze to study her face, the same face that had stared up at her in her dream as he sucked on her chest.

Dahlia’s stomach clenched involuntarily.

“It’s not, but…”

At my stuttered reply, Hissin’s eyes squinted, and he leaned in and kissed her once more.

Dahlia suddenly noticed something strange.

Whereas Rayrion’s tongue had burned her earlier, Hissin’s lips felt nothing like fire. If anything, they were ticklish against her bare, spotless skin.

The touch of even just the sleeve of her robe would cause red spots that hurt like a knife cut. 

She wondered why Hissin’s lips didn’t cause her any pain.

‘No way, a gift from the gods…’

But this was a sacred temple. Even if Hissin had claimed ownership of this place, he could not continue this indecent behavior in the presence of the goddess’s statue.

In the meantime, Hissin had lifted the sleeve of Dahlia’s robe, leaving a hot, damp trail across the spot beyond. Dahlia squeezed her arm once more, signaling for release.

“For the love of the gods, please…”

“Hissin.”

But Hissin only repeated his name this time. He would not let go until she called him Hissin.

Calling the name of a divine being so casually, she worried, but she had no choice. Dahlia closed her eyes tightly and gave him what he wanted.

“Hissin.”

“…”

“Please….”

The words came out pleadingly, and then Hissin’s lips stopped moving. His eyelids slowly lifted, and he smiled inexplicably.

The red eyes that had been dancing in the air turned to Dahlia with a soft smile.

“It is good to hear, my name in the voice of the Princess.”

That smile, was so clear and pure.

So innocent, like the smile of a little boy who knows nothing, that Dahlia almost forgot for a moment that just moments ago, this man had been planting deep kisses on her arm.

Dahlia pulled her hand away from Hissin a beat too late, and in a firm voice, she drew a line beneath him.

“I won’t tell anyone about this, so… please don’t ever do this to me again.”

Dahlia hastily pulled down her sleeve and tried to slip it into the ring on her middle finger, but her hand kept slipping as she was conscious of Hissin in front of her.

She hastily tried to hold it between her fingers, but Hissin gently squeezed her wrist.

“I won’t tell anyone either.”

He slipped the long strap of her sleeve through her ring.

“This will be a secret between you and me.”

Hissin tugged at the string, and the knot tightened.

“But I can’t guarantee I won’t do it again.”

A knot tied around a single finger.

“Next time, Your Highness will be looking for me.”

Somehow, it’s like binding Dahlia’s whole body.

“I’ll be waiting, Your Majesty.”

His lips, the same color as his eyes, drew a beautiful arc.