Ch#122
Her pupils dilated significantly. Staring up at him blankly, she swallowed hard and asked, “What is this ‘way’ that you want?”
“……I wonder.”
He trailed off, brushing his lips with his gloved hand. As if uncomfortable under her steady gaze, a faint flush spread over his transparently pale skin.
Suddenly feeling a strange thirst rising in the back of his throat, he tugged roughly at his collar, which felt suffocatingly tight.
“At the very least, it won’t be a rushed affair with nothing but your skirts hiked up.”
The rosy hue coloring her face was now spreading to her earlobes and the nape of her neck.
He absentmindedly bit the inside of his cheek before surrendering to the impulse to touch her, leaning over the bed.
Her shoulders tensed as she gathered her skirts and tucked them around her knees. Ignoring the way she glared at him warily, he cupped her flushed cheek and pressed for an answer.
“What will you do?”
“You… you have to tell me specifically what you want….”
“I intend to take enough time to prepare you, so that you can accept my body without strain.”
As his thumb brushed against her lips—red as if fashioned from clotted blood—her deep blue eyes, shimmering with moisture, wavered violently.
Looking up at him with frightened eyes, she turned her head away to avoid his touch.
“Is there really a need for that? It’s better for both of us to just get it over with quickly.”
He withdrew his arm, his gaze turning icy.
“If you have no intention of accepting my request, then leave this room. You may be fine with acting the part of a broodmare, but I have no intention of being treated as such.”
Her soft pink face turned pale in an instant.
Varkas steeled his heart, which was beginning to soften. If he backed down here, they would be forced to repeat that disastrous night once again.
He crossed his arms over his chest and jerked his chin toward the door, as if asking why she wasn’t standing up to leave. Clutching her skirts tightly and gnawing on her lower lip, she let out a trembling voice.
“Then…… just do one thing the way I want.”
He waited in silence for her to continue.
After hesitating for a long time, she spoke with a look of grim determination.
“At least turn out the lights. If you do that, I’ll endure whatever you do.”
His lips twisted.
He knew she hadn’t said it with the intention of insulting him. However, her attitude—like a martyr facing a great ordeal—made his stomach churn. Had he not known she was truly terrified, he would have turned around and walked out right then and there.
After staring at her intently, Varkas walked toward the window. He extinguished the candles on the candelabra one by one, then lowered the cover over the fireplace. However, the light of the sun, which had not yet set, was still pouring into the room through the window.
He looked out at the dark, pale purple clouds and the golden sunset before turning his gaze back to her. His wife was still clutching the fabric of her dress, watching him with wary eyes.
He felt slightly dissatisfied, but if the darkness would put her at ease, there was no reason not to concede.
He drew the curtains over the glass window. Finally, a heavy darkness settled over the room.
“Is this enough?”
Thalia nodded slightly. Then, perhaps thinking he couldn’t see anything, she replied in a tight voice.
“It’s… it’s enough.”
He waited for his eyes to fully adjust to the darkness before slowly approaching the bed.
Sensing his presence, she immediately reached out. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned in so his wife could touch him.
Soon, fingers as cold as ice brushed against his neck. When he cupped her hand and pulled it toward his face, she flinched, shrinking back, but soon began to caress his cheek.
At the touch that seemed to be confirming his very existence, a dull ache tightened in his lower abdomen, and a powerful heat surged through him.
His eyes narrowed at the violent reaction of his own body.
He had felt his body heating up whenever he was near this woman before, but he had dismissed it as merely a typical reaction for a man in his prime.
He was a bit surprised that such desires remained within him, but he had never thought of it seriously. He had simply judged that producing an heir wouldn’t be impossible.
He ignored the fact that his body had never reacted to anyone else. If necessary, he could have just used an aphrodisiac.
He had been trained to strictly control all his desires, and he considered separating his body from his mind to be a simple task. Lust was merely an instinct for the preservation of the species. There was no reason to attach any special meaning to it.
However, those firm convictions crumbled easily under her touch.
Varkas exhaled a long breath and wrapped his arm around her waist. As he untied the knots of her dress behind her back, the fabric fell away, revealing a delicate frame and elegant curves. As he carefully stroked down her body as if savoring her, a tense voice leaked from her lips.
“You… you can’t see anything, right?”
Instead of answering, he laid her down on the bed and pulled the dress down below her hips. Thalia sucked in a sharp breath and reflexively clutched at the fabric. He could see her shoulders stiffening with tension in the darkness.
“Answer me. You really can’t see anything?”
Looking down at her face, which was disheveled with anxiety, Varkas whispered into her ear in a soothing tone.
“Yes. I can’t see a thing. So relax.”
Only then did she finally let go of the clothes.
He pulled the dress down to her feet. In the bluish darkness, a body so exquisite it seemed surreal was revealed.
Delicate shoulders that looked as if they were carved from ivory, breasts that formed perfect curves, a waist so slender it seemed it could be held in one hand, and a flat, taut stomach…. As Varkas slowly let his gaze slide along the precise lines, like an artifact to be placed on an altar, he suddenly stopped.
The moment he saw the bandages wrapped tightly from above her slightly twisted knee down to her calf, it felt as if a blade had been plunged into his throat.
As if to shake off that sensation, he urgently moved over her and pressed his tongue against her swollen lips.
Startled by the sudden contact, she flinched, but soon opened her mouth.
He searched through the slick membranes, winding her silk-like hair around his fingers. The more his tongue moved, the hotter he felt her skin becoming.
He slightly regretted agreeing to her request to turn off the lights.
If it were bright, he would have been able to clearly see the sight of her pale skin flushing red. He would have been able to see her lapis lazuli eyes clouding over and her reddened lids growing moist.
Feeling the parching thirst in his throat grow more extreme, he used his tongue to gather the saliva pooling in her mouth. He sucked it in greedily and swallowed it, but his thirst was not quenched in the slightest.
Swept up in a strange impatience, he pushed his tongue deeper into her slick mouth. Her small tongue flickered and fled. He chased it subconsciously. As he obsessively entangled the soft thing, she let out a groan and tilted her head back.
He instinctively held her tight as she tried to escape.
The heat that had been scorching his throat was now burning in his gut. It felt as if he were drinking the juice of belladonna.
“You… you take yours off too. The hilt is pressing against my stomach and it hurts.”
While he was hanging onto her lips, half out of his mind, she pushed against his chest and whined.
He let out a ragged breath and lifted his head. As he straightened his upper body, he saw his lower half, hard as stone, pressing down on her abdomen.
How would she react if he told her it wasn’t a sword hilt?
She would probably turn pale and shrink away.
He both didn’t want to see that, and wanted to see it.
He wiped his mouth, wet with saliva, while using his other hand to rip the buttons from his shirt.
After tossing his clothes aside in an instant, he undid his belt and pulled down his trousers.
The cool air brushed against his heat-flushed skin. However, his body, burning with arousal, did not cool down in the least.
