Contract Marriage Rewritten
Chapter 20
The whispered words were thick with heat and a long-suppressed, burning passion.
It was an emotion so vivid that even Laniakea, who had never encountered such feelings before, recognized it instantly.
Her mind, already thoroughly disoriented and overwhelmed, ground to a complete halt.
He had waited for this day?
It made no sense. Weren't those words meant only for someone who saw the other often and had harbored feelings for a very long time?
The days Laniakea and Hyperion had actually met could be counted on one hand.
Besides, hadn't Hyperion always hurried off the moment they finished their meals?
He had always arrived in a disheveled state, so much so that one day, watching him leave, the Empress had remarked with feigned pity:
“I must apologize on behalf of the 1st Prince for his insolence. To rarely visit the Imperial Palace and then arrive in such a state… I hope you can find it in your heart to be understanding.”
The Empress's underlying meaning was easy to grasp.
Hyperion was so reluctant to share her company that he couldn't even be bothered to present himself properly.
The Empress had a habit of pretending to be gentle while delivering words that cut straight to the quick.
Laniakea had tried her best not to take those words to heart, but they had lingered within her far longer than expected.
She had come to this place essentially fleeing her past. She knew better than anyone that there was no one here to take her side, nor anyone to build a genuine friendship with.
Though she trusted and cared for Lucy, the girl was still bound to the Imperial family—less an ally to lean on and more someone Laniakea felt responsible for protecting.
So she had never spoken it aloud, but on the days Hyperion returned, she had felt a quiet flicker of gladness at the sight of him.
She had thought that, at the very least, they were bound on paper as partners on the same side.
Yet perhaps because he saw her as the Empress's person, Hyperion had arrived in a wretched state every time he visited the Imperial Palace, with bloodstains marring his clothes and skin.
During their meals, he would occasionally look at her in silence. Laniakea could never decipher the emotion behind that gaze.
What was it? Was he curious to see how she would react to the bloodstains? Or was he reproaching her for failing to send proper care packages last time? Or perhaps…
Whenever that happened, the hand holding her cutlery would tremble faintly. She simply could not understand why he was staring at her.
With every meeting, his gaze had grown sharper, and in the end, Laniakea had only shrunk further and further in his presence.
She did not think he hated her. Unlike the eyes of others, his gaze held no trace of contempt.
So she assumed his demeanor was mere wariness, watching to see what the Empress's doll would do.
She had believed that was all there was to it. He might not hate her, but he certainly harbored no affection.
That was why his proposal for her to remain Empress had been so perplexing.
Even if he had his reasons, was there really any need to keep her by his side?
Yet not only had he agreed with ease to demands that felt almost unreasonable, he had even stepped forward to offer terms several times more generous.
When she received the revised contract, Laniakea had been happy.
It wasn't merely because he was giving her more. It was because, contrary to what she had thought, Hyperion didn't seem to dislike her after all.
And now, he was saying he had waited a long time for this moment.
Like someone who had truly yearned for this very instant…
At the unexpected confession, the tension that had stiffened her body slowly dissolved.
As if sensing the shift, he urgently began to press deeper inside.
“Nngh…!”
Startled, Laniakea jolted beneath him.
“Ah, ah…”
He had barely pushed in, yet that alone sent an unprecedented, heavy ache radiating through her entire body.
Her hands unconsciously clamped down hard on the bedsheets. If she didn't cling to something, a scream would tear straight from her throat.
While she was lost in panic, he pressed closer against her. The breath caught at the base of her throat, and the world spun before her eyes.
Only moments later did Laniakea realize the sensation came from a tremendous, dull pain unlike anything she had ever experienced in her life.
“Ugh, ah…”
She tried to ask him to wait just a moment, but the unfamiliar agony stole her very voice away.
Loud warning bells clanged in her head, her vision blurred, and phantom shapes seemed to dance before her eyes.
Judging by the circumstances alone, this was supposed to be like the first intimate embrace described in books, yet why did it feel not like the paradise they spoke of, but as though she had been dropped onto a battlefield?
“Kh…”
A sound that sounded far from comfortable escaped through his gritted teeth as well.
‘Why?’
Even through her hazy consciousness, the question rose in Laniakea's mind.
She had heard that while women often struggled through this act, men derived immense pleasure from it.
Wasn't that why all men went wild over it?
Indeed, it was no exaggeration to say that men of power and wealth almost always had women at their sides.
Among them, some were so excessively lustful that they would bring multiple women to banquets, claiming them to be their protégées.
Such sights were commonplace both in Priatra and in the Empire.
She had seen men hesitate, but she had never seen a man hold back when given the opportunity. In fact, scandals caused by excessive indulgence were far too common.
So why did Hyperion seem to be in such agony?
Her train of thought did not last long.
“…!”
Faced with this surreal reality, Laniakea could do nothing. Embarrassment was a luxury she couldn't afford to feel right now.
All she could register was a suffocating tension, raw pain, and utter bewilderment.
‘He's going to go further than this?’
Her mind went completely blank.
She felt like she was dying right now, and there was more?
Belated pants tore up from her throat. The spreading ache brought tears stinging to the rims of her eyes.
The last time she had cried from physical pain was so far back in her childhood she couldn't even remember it. To think that at her age, she would be reduced to tears by pain once more.
“Haa…”
Exhaling a ragged breath, Hyperion paused his movements for a moment. But she could tell it was only preparation to push deeper.
She had to tell him now.
That it hurt. To stop, please.
Though she still didn't know him well, he seemed like the kind of man who would faithfully keep his promises.
She parted her lips to speak.
Then he looked down at her.
The moment his eyes met hers, wet with tears, Hyperion's face went rigid. He seemed to realize that she was in agony because of him.
“…”
A complicated expression surfaced across his silent face. He looked apologetic, yet beneath it lay a strange, unreadable satisfaction.
Hyperion lowered his face close to hers. He offered no apology, nor did he tell her to endure just a little longer. Instead, he began to press gentle kisses to her forehead and her cheeks.
Even the light graze of his lips carried a searing heat. After leaving careful, trace-less marks of affection across her face, he took hold of the hand clutching the bedsheet.
His long, thick fingers intertwined firmly between her own, which still ached from tension.
Gripping her hand without the slightest gap between them, like ancient, gnarled tree roots, he slowly tightened and relaxed his hold over and over.
Through their touching palms, Laniakea could feel a thudding pulse. His heart was beating just as wildly as her own.
Before long, their once-erratic heartbeats began to fall into a shared rhythm.
Even so, fear still gripped her. If it hurt any more than this, would she truly die…?
He had said he wanted this moment, but she still could not fathom the man that was Hyperion.
Amid the confusion of not knowing whether to trust him or keep her guard up, Hyperion slowly stroked her finger with his own.
Wondering what he was doing, she turned her head and realized exactly what he was touching.
The ink stain that had been left because of him. He was softly caressing the mark that still lingered beneath her fingernail.
As if apologizing for not being able to wash it away completely.
At that gesture, Laniakea drew in a long, deep breath and let the tension drain from her body.
She had no idea what lay ahead, but she instinctively felt that a man who fretted and worried over such a trivial mark would never harm her.
So for now, she had no choice but to trust him.
The moment her stiffened body relaxed, a faint smile touched Hyperion's lips.
He had understood her silent permission to continue.
“Laniakea.”
Because no one in her life had ever spoken her name with affection, the sound of it whispered in such a sweet voice felt terribly unfamiliar.
“Laniakea.”
Hyperion whispered once more, pulling her into his embrace. Just as Laniakea reached out her arms to wrap them around his neck—
“…!”
With a dull impact, the world flashed brilliant white, and Laniakea blacked out on the spot.
* * *
Much later, Laniakea's consciousness slowly drifted back to the surface.
What had happened? Had she just fallen asleep and woken up?
Slowly opening her eyes and turning her head, she was met with an unbelievable sight.
“No matter how long you have waited, how could you take Her Majesty the Empress in such a reckless manner, Your Majesty?!”
A stranger was glaring fiercely at Hyperion, raising their voice in outrage, while Hyperion stood before them with his head hanging low, looking like a puppy caught doing something wrong.
‘What a strange dream.’
Convinced that such an absurd scene could only be a dream, Laniakea quietly closed her eyes again.
She clearly needed to sleep a little longer.
