Riven could feel Ashtoria's breath brushing against his own, warm and fleeting in the cold night air. The space between them had nearly vanished. Her face, usually so composed and distant, looked different up close—fragile, yet strangely captivating.
Those crimson eyes did not waver, as if intent on piercing into the deepest layers of his being. Riven wanted to look away, yet his body betrayed him. His gaze lingered, moving helplessly from the ruby gleam of her eyes to the delicate line of her nose, before falling upon her lips, moist and slightly parted.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears. He barely noticed when his body leaned forward, pulled by something stronger than his will. Ashtoria did not move away. She remained perfectly still, allowing the distance between them to close.
The water around them rippled softly, the pale light of the moon spilling across the lake's surface, as though the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for what might come.
Riven drew closer, inch by inch. The chill of the lake meant nothing compared to the heat spreading through his chest. Just as the last gap between them dwindled to a single breath, a voice called out from the distance.
"Riven… Riven! Brother, where are you?" Melly's voice, clear and innocent, rang from the forest's edge.
Riven jolted, eyes widening as awareness crashed over him. Their faces were far too close. He jerked back, water splashing violently, chest heaving, his cheeks burning with shame.
Ashtoria did not flinch. She only regarded him with the same expression as before—calm, steady, almost indifferent. As if nothing had happened at all. That calmness made Riven feel even more awkward, as though he alone had been swept away.
"Damn it…" he muttered inwardly. He felt like a fool, caught in a tide only he seemed to drown in, while she remained unshaken, untouched by the awkwardness.
Melly's voice rang again, this time closer. "Brother?!"
Riven glanced toward the sound, then quickly back to Ashtoria. He could already picture Melly's mischievous grin if she saw this. She would never let him live it down. He could almost hear her calling him "pervert brother" every single day.
His heart still pounded wildly, his body hot despite the cold water. Slowly, he forced himself upright, trying to mask his fluster with a straight back. A reckless idea flickered in his mind, a way to shatter that unshakable calm on her face.
'Screw this!' Riven grumbled to himself. 'I'm not going to be the only one who ends up like this.' Boldly, he let his eyes travel over the curves of Ashtoria's body one last time before he left the lake; from her wet red hair plastered to her shoulders, her full breasts with their rosy peaks, her slender waist, all the way down to...
Suddenly, Ashtoria's expression changed. Her usually calm eyes widened in what could only be shock as they inadvertently found "something" between Riven's legs.
Riven froze, stunned by the change. The icy water could not cool the fire burning up into his head.
The woman, who had been so unshakably composed moments ago, now looked down, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson all the way to the tips of her ears. Her wet red hair fell across part of her face, but Riven could still see how her typically impassive lips were now slightly parted, her breathing quicker than before.
'So... you can feel embarrassed?' Riven thought, almost laughing at her dramatic change. But his amusement died when Ashtoria peeked at him again—her deep eyes, normally so tranquil, now sparkled with something familiar: curiosity.
And that was more dangerous than anything.
"Brother! Where are you?" Melly's voice echoed again, closer than ever.
Reality returned in a rush. Riven sprang out of the lake, water cascading from his lean, scarred frame as he scrambled for his clothes. Ashtoria remained in the water, her face flushed scarlet, her lips parting as if to speak.
"You…" her voice was faint, almost a whisper. "Why is it… so big?"
Riven nearly choked. What the hell?! He stared at her in disbelief. "You—you really don't know?"
Ashtoria shook her head, her slender fingers tracing the lake's surface in nervous patterns. "I have never seen a man naked before."
'Never—?!' Riven drew in a sharp breath, trying to steady the chaos inside him. Impossible. Not when Ashtoria herself was sitting there, half-submerged, her divine form gleaming with droplets he desperately tried not to notice.
Melly's voice carried through the trees, now only a short distance away. "Brother!"
Riven cursed inwardly, his pulse racing. "Are you… some kind of sheltered noblewoman or what?" he blurted, his voice strained with both shame and panic.
Ashtoria frowned lightly. "I simply did not expect it to be like that."
Her words hit him like a weight. Not embarrassment, but realization. This woman… truly did not know. She wasn't just composed, she was unworldly, untouched by the simplest things. A life surrounded by rules, by wars, by isolation… perhaps so much so that she had never learned the boundaries between two human beings.
"You… really didn't know?" His voice softened despite himself.
Ashtoria raised her eyes to his, unflinching. They were clear as always, though something restless stirred beneath. "Am I supposed to?" she asked quietly.
Riven did not answer. He turned away, the pounding in his chest only growing louder. The longer he spoke with her, the harder it became to contain the heat in his body. Awe, confusion… and something heavier gnawed at him.
Before the feeling could break him, he forced himself into his clothes, his voice rough as he muttered without turning, "Don't stay in the water too long. You'll catch a chill."
Ashtoria only bowed her head, still crimson, silent.
Riven strode off, leaving the lake behind. Yet even clothed, he felt as though he carried fire under his skin. Melly's voice drew closer, spurring him into a near run. Still, his mind lingered by the water's edge. On Ashtoria's face, her rare vulnerability, and the way she had shaken him in ways he had never expected.
"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, his blood still boiling despite the night's cold. If Melly finds out, I'm finished.