Chapter – 07
Overwhelmed by a sudden surge of fear, Nadia clutched her stomach and sobbed. She had hoped that he might pity her even a little and act with gentleness or formal courtesy, but it was clear that such hopes were utterly futile.
“How cute.”
He spoke in a voice that sounded deliberately staged to be sweet, then leaned down and bit her neck hard.
It was painful enough to make her body jump. A mark would surely remain. She wanted to push herself up and escape this terrible position, but her trembling arms lacked even a shred of strength.
Nadia gripped the bedsheets as if they were a lifeline, and he gently wrapped his hand over hers. It was a stark contrast to the movement of his hips, which were thrusting so violently that her body was being pushed forward continuously.
It felt as though a pulse was thrumming in her temples.
“Ugh, ah… mmm….”
Nadia moaned distractedly, losing the strength in her hands without realizing it. Not missing the opening, the man’s fingers pried their way in and interlaced with hers. It was an act that felt so intimate and tender that her face flushed deep red.
Just as Nadia felt a flicker of relief for some unknown reason, the man pulled his body up and yanked her arms behind her back. Her upper body was dragged upward by the force.
“Ah, wha—what are you….”
No one had told her about this. Did everyone really do these things? The mere brush of his fingertips against her pink-flushed skin caused her eyes to flutter shut with a gasp that was more like a sigh. It felt as though her fingertips were crackling and burning.
Could people really become indifferent and cold to one another after sharing such sensations? This was a completely different world from the one Nadia had known. She felt that once she experienced this, she could never go back to how she was before. Whether that change was for better or worse, it was terrifying to her. Her eyelashes were soaked with overflowing tears.
Like a beast mating, the man pressed his lower body tight against her and began to shake her again. The sensation of her hair spilling forward and even her breasts—marked with red handprints—swinging back and forth was so humiliating that she was suddenly struck by a sense of sorrow.
It was a lewd act, enough to make her feel ashamed of herself for having thought the holding of hands was “tender.” She had wanted to sit up, but certainly not like this. She was even ashamed of herself for crying out and feeling pleasure while in such a state.
She wondered if he was mocking her, treating a once-proper lady this way. The wrists he held so tightly they hurt would surely be bruised by tomorrow.
Suddenly, he yanked Nadia toward him. Her knees gave way, and she was forced to collapse onto his lap, helpless. She was still harboring him inside her. Nadia gasped for breath.
The man, having let go of her arms, hugged her waist from behind and moved powerfully as if to drive himself entirely into her. Her internal walls—aching and burning to the point she wondered if they were swollen from the ordeal—tightened around him regardless of her will, spilling a thin fluid mixed with semen. The tops of his thighs where they touched became increasingly slippery. Nadia trembled and wept.
“No… sto… stop, ah! Now, please… stop… stop it!”
As he had done until now, the man didn’t even pretend to hear her tearful pleas. Only after satisfying his urges several times did he finally let her go. Nadia was so overwhelmed just trying to catch her breath that she couldn’t even lift a finger. Her body, which had been pushed to the limit, twitched involuntarily even though no one was touching her.
“Ah, hugh, ugh….”
Nadia bit her lip and closed her eyes. She sensed him getting up, and soon her vision flickered and went dark as if she were fainting.
The next day, she managed to shake off the desire to sleep more and opened her eyes, but it was already close to noon.
Knowing that the celebratory banquet was scheduled to continue for two days, she needed to get up and prepare, but Nadia simply couldn’t move her body from the bed. As expected, her wrists bore clear blue bruises in the shape of a man’s large hands, and her breasts, which had been kneaded like dough, as well as the area around her shoulders, were scattered with red welts.
Her private area felt swollen, stinging and burning. Her hair was a tangled mess, and on her inner thighs, where redness still lingered, the marks of dried semen were vivid. Her throat, having spent the dawn screaming, was half-hoarse. It was the first time in her life she had ever been in such a wrecked state.
The Marquis of Elantz—no, her husband—had already left, leaving no trace behind. It was a strange feeling. Not a good one. She let out a small sigh, put on a robe, and pulled the cord by the bed.
As if they had been waiting, the maids brought bathwater and assisted her, washing her body clean.
Nadia was inwardly embarrassed by the traces left all over her body from the previous night, but the maids didn’t seem to care. After receiving a massage in the warm water to loosen her stiff muscles, it was much easier to move.
After her bath, she ate a light meal and applied makeup. Her eyes were a bit red, but the maids skillfully covered it up. Then, the maids styling her hair paused. As they lifted her tresses to pin them up, the bite marks on the nape of her neck were clearly visible.
They seemed flustered for a moment but soon attached a floral decoration with long ribbons and lace trailing down the back to hide the marks. They then dressed her in a white gown adorned with dangling pearls and gave her silk gloves to hide the bruises on her wrists.
Once the grooming was finished, Nadia dismissed all the accompanying maids and walked alone through the quiet palace corridors, trying to ignore the burning sensation between her legs. Everyone would be busy preparing for the banquet, so she would have some time to think in peace.
She still couldn’t let go of the doubts raised by the previous night’s events. That excessive, decadent behavior was… what exactly? The sexual encounters in romance novels were always too vague to truly understand. Nadia desperately searched her memory for anything her governess might have said.
The story about it “hurting enough to die, but ending if you just endure a little” was definitely wrong. It didn’t hurt enough to die. She felt sensations that made her feel like she might die, but it wasn’t pain. And it didn’t end quickly, either.
Also… the part about it “going in somewhere below” was correct. She still felt as if she were holding something inside her; she was too scared to find out exactly where that was.
Nadia was so lost in thought, her face turning red and then pale, that she didn’t notice someone approaching. Belatedly sensing a presence stopping in front of her, she looked up and froze instantly.
Despite her efforts to forget him, the moment she looked into those pale green eyes, she realized all her efforts had been in vain. Her heart, which she thought was now fine, surged as if facing a violent storm.
Asil. The burning red hair and fresh green eyes. The long scar on his right cheek and his height, which required her to look way up—everything was the same. What had changed was…
He didn’t even seem to feel the need to fake it anymore, looking down at her with eyes that seemed to hold no emotion at all. Even though she had known this, she felt like she would burst into tears if she didn’t grit her teeth.
Perhaps it was a relief that she hadn’t stepped forward to demand a proper answer from him. Just looking at these cold eyes gave her the answer. Only then did Nadia snap back to reality. Scanning the surroundings with only her eyes, she confirmed no one was around, then pressed her lips together and tilted her chin up. She belatedly realized he was wearing a knight’s uniform, but it didn’t matter anymore.
“Is something the matter?”
He seemed to notice her half-hoarse voice as well. The natural association was the man who had made her wail last night. Last night, Nadia had become another man’s wife. She had truly become someone who had nothing to do with him.
Looking him straight in the eye was harder than she had imagined. It was because she had to keep swallowing the sorrow that kept surging up.
Nadia didn’t want him to catch her being shaken. If he thought of her as just a woman he played with for a while, she would treat him like a man she played with for a while, too.
To do that, she had to act as if nothing was wrong. She was so out of breath from hiding the part of herself that wanted to rush at him, slap his face, hit his chest, and cry while demanding why he did that to her.
If Asil had even a shred of conscience, he would treat her not as a former lover, but as a noble lady who deserved courtesy. If even a glimmer of conscience remained.
“…Even within the palace, you should not walk alone, My Lady.”
The familiar voice reached her ears. As her tension eased, an unjustifiable sense of disappointment reared its head.
Nadia asked herself: What were you expecting? Did you hope he would ask why you left without a word?
“I am returning now, so there is no need for concern.”
Nadia turned away without waiting for an answer. She didn’t know how he was in the palace wearing a knight’s uniform, but she didn’t want to run into him again, even by chance.
With this meeting that lasted barely five minutes, her spirit was left tattered again. Desperate to escape that place, Nadia walked frantically and stopped at a fork in the road she had reached.
While she was briefly debating whether to go back to her room and stay holed up until evening or head to the banquet hall early to mingle with the nobles, someone’s strength grabbed her arm violently and covered her mouth. Before she could let out a single scream, she was dragged into a nearby empty room.
