Free Web NovelHe pressed his lips beneath her earlobe and gently sucked at the fluttering skin there. Her slender shoulders flinched and drew inward.
Slowly rubbing the tightly tensed muscles beneath his palm, he pressed his chest against the smooth line of her back. The sensation of bare skin against bare skin was unbearably stimulating.
“D-Don't...”
She murmured in a frail voice.
Letting the protest pass through one ear and out the other, he lightly nipped at her delicate shoulder before sliding his hand down beneath her waist.
She was soaked. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
As he softly caressed the slick skin, slippery with the mingled fluids of both their bodies, the woman, who had been stiff as a board, began twisting helplessly.
He instinctively caught her wrist.
“What's wrong?”
“I told you to stop! I have no intention of doing that twice in one night!”
She cried out, her face drawn tight with apprehension.
Looking down at her through narrowed eyes, Varkas let out a quiet sigh before pulling the blanket over her.
“If Your Highness does not wish it, then I won't do anything else. Even so, please sleep in my bed.”
He wrapped her in the soft fabric and drew her back into his embrace.
Confusion and unease flickered across her small face.
Like a snail retreating into the safety of its shell, she hid beneath the blanket with only her face exposed, staring back at him with wary eyes.
“Why should I? By now everyone in this castle knows we've consummated our marriage. There's no reason for us to force ourselves to share a room if it's uncomfortable.”
He felt the languid warmth wrapped around his body vanish in an instant and fixed his gaze on her.
Had she not looked so painfully anxious, sharp words might already have escaped his lips.
Drawing a long breath, Varkas slowly stroked the curve of her rounded back.
“There's no reason not to share a room. It's perfectly natural for a married couple who have spent the night together to sleep in the same bed.”
“B-But we're...”
She trailed off, flustered.
Brushing the damp strands of hair from her face, he pressed his lips against her cooling cheek.
Perhaps his breath tickled her skin, because the slender nape of her neck—so thin it seemed he could encircle it with one hand—trembled softly.
Feeling his impatience steadily growing, he slowly stroked her lower abdomen over the thin blanket.
“We're no different.”
The moment he whispered beside her ear, he felt a faint shiver ripple through her body.
The face resting against the bridge of his nose gradually grew warmer.
Had it been bright enough, he would have seen a rosy flush spreading across her translucent skin like milky glass.
Feeling the desire he had only just satisfied rising once more, he gently caught her soft earlobe between his teeth.
She gasped sharply.
Her whole body quivered.
Since she didn't seem to dislike it, he slowly rubbed the flowerbud-like ear with his thumb before lightly brushing the tip of his tongue against the tiny opening.
She jolted violently and threw her head back.
“You said you wouldn't do anything else!”
“Am I not even allowed to touch you?”
Holding her small body snugly against his chest, he whispered against her forehead.
Her wide eyes trembled violently.
Realizing she was wavering, Varkas idly stroked her narrow waist through the blanket before lightly rubbing the shallow hollow around her navel.
She curled into herself even more tightly.
This time, however, it wasn't because of fear or tension.
It was because she was aroused.
The possibility that she might accept him one more time sent heat spreading through his stomach.
“Can I take the blanket off?”
“N-No.”
“Really not?”
Even in the darkness, he could clearly see her eyes darting about as she hesitated.
The corners of his lips lifted.
Slowly, he slipped a hand beneath the blanket and carefully parted her knees.
The instant he did, the woman, who had only just begun relaxing, struggled violently as though struck by lightning.
His brows drew together as he tightly locked an arm around her slender waist.
A shrill cry burst from her lips.
“That hurts!”
As though burned, he immediately released her.
She seized the opportunity without hesitation.
Leaping off the bed, she staggered toward the door, wrapped from head to toe in the blanket.
Watching her with a dark expression, Varkas quickly caught up to her.
“Why are you so determined to return to your room?”
“I... I don't want to stay here. My room is where I'm comfortable.”
Her voice was filled with unmistakable fear.
The moment he realized it, it felt as though cold water had been poured over his head.
She was a woman who harbored a deep aversion toward sexual intimacy.
Perhaps his forceful behavior had touched upon one of her nightmares.
“Have I made you uncomfortable?”
His voice came out tightly restrained.
A complicated emotion crossed her face.
Lowering her head, she answered quietly,
“You didn't do anything wrong. It's just... I'm more comfortable doing things my way.”
“Your way means running away like a frightened rabbit after we're finished?”
He had no desire to corner a woman who already seemed so fragile.
Even so, his voice sharpened on its own.
Fortunately, instead of shrinking back, she raised her thorns in defiance.
“Who says I'm frightened? I just prefer whatever's more efficient.”
In the bluish darkness, the arrogant Imperial Princess proudly lifted her chin.
“I'll stay only as long as I want, and leave when I want. While we're doing that, you can have things your way. But afterward, it'll be my way!”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he regarded her with a crooked glance.
Seeing her shoulders trembling even as she tried to bluff her way through it, a cruel impulse briefly surged within him.
He could do whatever he wished with her.
He could force her back onto the bed.
He could sate every desire he possessed.
But if he yielded to that barbaric impulse, he also knew he would wound her so deeply that it could never be undone.
He slowly closed his eyes before opening them again.
Those blue eyes that had provoked him relentlessly ever since childhood glittered in the darkness like shattered pieces of glass.
Meeting them directly, he asked,
“Is that truly what you want?”
Something like hesitation crossed her pale face.
But she stubbornly thrust out her chin.
“Yes.”
Silently looking down at her, Varkas twisted one corner of his mouth.
“Then I suppose all I can do is wait until the day you want to remain in my bedroom a little longer.”
The answer was so unexpected that confusion filled her eyes.
“That day will never come.”
“We'll see.”
Replying calmly, Varkas reached beneath the bed, grabbed his trousers, and quickly pulled them on.
He then draped the Tunka hanging on the wall over his shoulders before lifting her up, blanket and all.
She let out a startled cry.
“S-Stop! I can walk on my own!”
Ignoring her protests, he stepped into the brightly lit corridor.
She immediately buried her face beneath the blanket.
The sight of her hiding inside it like a caterpillar tucked into its cocoon drew a quiet chuckle from him as he strode down the hallway.
He caught glimpses of servants staring at them in astonishment as they passed, but paid them no mind.
Arriving directly before her chambers, Varkas supported her back with one arm while twisting the doorknob.
The moment they entered the room, she cautiously peeked her face out again.
The sight of her reddened, tear-bright eyes and her disheveled golden hair tightened his throat with a fierce thirst.
Suppressing the urge to kiss her at once, he gently laid her on the bed before kneeling in front of her.
“When do you think you'll want to come to my chambers again?”
“How should I know?”
“Tomorrow?”
“I said I don't know!”
His brows knitted together.
If she wouldn't come, then he could simply go to her.
Yet he wasn't certain he should pressure her that way.
She wanted to choose for herself.
If that was the only way this unbelievably timid woman could feel safe, then he had no choice but to accept it.
He carefully wound a lock of her hair, gleaming like strands of golden glass, around his fingers and gently stroked it.
“I'll wait.”
The light danced across her blue irises.
Gazing quietly into those dark pupils trembling so violently, he slowly added,
“Come to me when you want to.”
