Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Ah.”

At my question, the man said nothing for a moment, blinking his large, clear eyes, and then the corners of his handsome mouth curled up.

“Well, that is…”

He seemed to search for a fitting explanation, then soon gave his answer.

“Just because.”

“…Just because?”

I echoed the words without meaning to.

His thick hand came to rest on my thigh. It felt strange to have another person’s hand land so boldly on such a private, tender place.

My body trembled slightly, but I didn’t particularly dislike it.

“Mm, just because.”

“…”

“Leave it to me. Your husband will lead the way.”

He said it with such a trustworthy face that I nodded as if bewitched.

Right, the more experienced one would surely manage well. It seemed enough for me to simply trust him and leave it all to him.

Apparently, when a man and a woman kiss, tongues are involved. That was one more thing I’d learned that I hadn’t known before.

His moist lips touched my cheek. He kissed both of my cheeks lightly, then laid his lips over mine once more.

Why had he kissed my cheeks? I didn’t know the reason, but it didn’t feel bad. No, it was even a little pleasant.

His tongue came in again. His lips and tongue were both bigger than mine, so I struggled a little to take them.

His tongue tangled with mine and explored every corner of my mouth, leaving nothing untouched. As if I couldn’t escape him in the slightest.

My face grew hot on its own. My breathing quickened, and not knowing when I was supposed to pull my lips away, I held my ragged breath and endured. As the air in my lungs thinned, my vision gradually blurred.

“Haah, ha…”

It felt like walking through a forest shrouded in mist. His firm hand had, before I knew it, begun stroking my waist, and the wet sounds, almost too embarrassing to hear, sank deep into my mind.

So this was what a kiss between a man and a woman was like. So explicit. So relentless, so hot, so suffocating.

The slick warmth felt good. Not being able to breathe was hard, but even that was bearable.

A heat crept up from deep within my lower belly, as though a ball of fire had been set there. The sensation was so unfamiliar that I gripped the fabric of his clothes tightly in my fingers.

Could the man before me explain what was happening to my body?

As I received his kiss, I tried wriggling my small tongue a little, as if answering in kind.

Then he pulled his lips away and burst into low laughter. I didn’t know exactly why, but my instinct told me he was laughing at me.

“Why are you…”

He gazed down quietly at me, panting in a ruined state, my face flushed red. That gaze seemed to dig into the very depths of my soul, and I averted my eyes without meaning to.

I had never been cowed in front of anyone, yet now I was completely overwhelmed, gasping.

I hated it simply because the experience itself was unfamiliar. I hated that variables I couldn’t predict or control were unfolding.

And yet this man, so offhandedly, kept flustering me, carrying out the unexpected as though it were nothing, and robbing me of breath. His lofty bearing was too much for me.

It was precisely the kind of overbearing presence that only someone who had held everything beneath his feet could give off.

Merely being within his sight left me hopelessly short of breath. He seemed the very embodiment of the ideal life I had dreamed of.

‘…I’m jealous.’

Perhaps noticing that I had looked away, he took my chin in his unhurried hand and turned my face toward him. It was as though even my gaze lay under his control.

“You must look at me.”

“…”

“And you must take in, perfectly and without missing a single thing, how your husband handles you. Only then will you grow used to it and become skilled, won’t you?”

He pulled down the collar of my clothes without hesitation.

When the cloth that had wrapped my body slipped limply away, cold air touched my bare skin. The sensation, cool yet shamefully hot, froze me where I lay.

Without meaning to, I reached out and covered his eyes. I felt I could do nothing at all in front of those eyes. Being seen was terrifying.

“Don’t look…”

He seemed to feel how pitifully my hand was trembling.

“That is a rather difficult request.”

“Please…”

The man sighed as if troubled, then leaned over and climbed fully on top of me.

My view changed in an instant. I was now sprawled shabbily on the bed.

“No, Hwacheon.”

“But…”

“There is no ‘but.’ You must endure it, even if you’re shy.”

He gently tickled the tip of my chin. I squeezed my eyes shut and twisted my body slightly.

“Is it because you’re afraid? It’s all right, it won’t hurt. I promise.”

“Really…?”

“Yes, truly.”

He held out his little finger to me. I stared blankly at it, then hooked my own little finger around it and made the promise. A pinky promise, like children playing house.

Still, I decided to believe him this once. With him whispering in such a sweet voice, it was hard not to be taken in.

It was a voice that seemed to paralyze reason. Like a nine-tailed fox bewitching its prey, you might say. Though my liver surely wouldn’t taste very good.

* * *

This rotten fox cub… no, this nine-tailed fox, was a liar.

He hadn’t actually eaten my liver, but he might as well have. He had pulled an enormous scam on me.

Liar, swindler, pervert.

I couldn’t say any of these aloud, but had it been possible, I would have shouted them again and again.

‘You said it wouldn’t hurt! You said it wouldn’t hurt! You even hooked pinkies with me and promised! It hurt! And not just a little, it hurt mercilessly…’

Last night, Prince Hye had loosened my tension with great care. Had it been anyone but him, with that much effort, it likely wouldn’t have hurt much at all.

That he had done his best for me, I knew, he knew, the Buddha knew, and the Jade Emperor knew. But!

‘But he should have considered his own size! That absurd… haah…’

Good heavens, I was ignorant in such matters, yet even I could tell at a glance. That was no joke.

A man with a thing like that ought to have the conscience to shave his head and become a monk. Did he mean to kill someone? He had far too little conscience.

I glared fiercely at the face of the man who had tormented me until dawn, now sleeping soundly and shamelessly.

Even asleep he was lovely, but perhaps because of what I’d suffered, that lovely face only looked hateful. It would not look kind to me no matter what.

How could a man with such a pretty face harbor something not the least bit pretty? The mysteries of the human body.

Last night I had hastily voiced my refusal, but he had met it with the stance of an iron fortress.

He didn’t yield, whether I cried or not.

We had known each other barely a day, yet I could tell right away how monstrously stubborn he was.

Judging by the bright sunlight seeping into the room, the sun must already be at its height outside. We had both overslept spectacularly.

I bit my lower lip hard and kicked the blanket every time a memory of last night poked its head up.

Then, suddenly, a calm voice reached me.

“Hwacheon, you mustn’t kick the blanket.”

Startled, I looked to my side. Prince Hye was looking at me, slowly blinking eyes still hazy with sleep.

When our eyes met, the events of the night came back even more vividly, and I simply pulled the blanket up over my head. My face had turned as red as a radish.

I knew a crude trick like this couldn’t get me away from him, but I needed a moment, even a brief one, to catch my breath.

But the man wouldn’t allow me even that moment, and deliberately pulled down the blanket covering my face.

“Someone is sleeping beside you, isn’t there? If you kick the blanket, the person next to you will wake as well, won’t they?”

“Yes…”

“Shall it be so, then?”

It sounded as if he were asking my wishes, but that wasn’t his intent. There was no option to answer against his intent. He clearly meant to tame me and devour me.

I simply shook my head.

He stretched widely in his state of undress, then turned and patted my lower belly beneath the blanket where I hid.

“No stomachache?”

“No…”

“Don’t lie.”

I had tried to get by with a vague “no,” but apparently that wouldn’t do either.

“…A little…?”

“A little?”

“Actually, quite a lot…”

I didn’t know what the right thing to say was. Whether to answer honestly, or to mix in some falsehood, or whether anything I did would be wrong.

It might seem like a fuss over nothing, but it was a necessary process for gauging what kind of person he was.

Until my analysis was finished, it seemed best to lie flat and watch his movements. We would be seeing each other for a long time, after all.

“Do nothing today and rest. Don’t strain yourself.”

“Ah, yes…”

“When the herbal decoction comes, drink it. I’ll send a tonic to restore your vitality.”

Ah, I hate herbal decoctions.

“Drink it even if it’s bitter. It’s good for your body.”

…What on earth is this? Is he reading my mind?

“Your husband knows everything.”

What, he really can read my thoughts. It’s scary.