Once the Marquis left, her body trembled on its own. Though they were inside the castle, it was early winter now. Fresh logs burned in the fireplace, seemingly just lit, and the heat didn’t reach where Ivona stood.

Of course, for the young master holding a cup of strong-smelling liquor, it wouldn’t be much of a problem. But for Ivona, wearing a thin dress more suited to early summer, the cold was unbearable.

An unnatural smile bloomed across the young master’s face when he belatedly noticed her trembling shoulders.

“Oh my, would you like to come closer to the fireplace?”

At his deliberately affectionate voice, Ivona approached the fireplace in a daze. But the moment she met the young master’s gaze, Ivona felt goosebumps for a reason other than the cold.

His fat face, wearing a fishy smile, gleamed with vulgarity. His slowly sweeping gaze appraised her body like merchandise. 

As the firelight flickered, smooth luster flowed along the curves of her body. The young master’s eyes were thoroughly groping her body, following that flowing sheen.

When a satisfied smile finally filled the man’s face, Ivona felt shame like she was standing n*ked.

Eventually, the young master leaned in close and whispered in a voice that had dropped considerably.

“Do you know that I’m Mutheira’s only son?”

She didn’t know. He hadn’t even introduced himself in the first place, had he? Interpreting her ambiguous expression somehow, the young master thrust out his chest and began to swagger.

“It’s because Mutheira guards it like an iron fortress that this Alvidion Empire can remain safe. It’s not something just anyone can do, serving as a barrier for generations…”

The young master continued boasting at length, swaggering on for quite a while after that. About how remarkable the position of sole heir to the Mutheira territory was, and how formidable the northern military power was.

Unfortunately, however, Ivona couldn’t figure out what the young master’s intention was. 

The news that reached her, having lived confined only to the tower, was limited. She’d never had any opportunity to have conversations like this with other noble children her age.

As she just nodded and went along with him, the young master pressed his body uncomfortably close.

“So if you want to become the wife of someone like me, Miss, you’ll have to show that much sincerity, won’t you?”

“…?”

Though she reflexively pulled away in discomfort, Ivona couldn’t understand what on earth he was talking about. She’d only come to this place because her father had ordered it. It was her father who was desperate to form a marriage alliance with Mutheira.

So if there were conditions he wanted, it would be right to tell her father. In fact, marriages in most noble families were contracts the heads of households handled themselves.

But what sincerity was he telling her to show? When innocent curiosity rose in her round eyes, the young master of Mutheira cleared his throat in embarrassment.

“Ahem, if one is to be the next head of a great house like Mutheira, the lady of the house naturally has heavy duties as well. What would be the greatest duty and virtue of a noblewoman?”

Ivona tilted her head and retraced what she’d learned.

“…Overseeing domestic affairs, managing subordinates…”

The more Ivona counted off on her fingers one by one, the more the young master’s face twisted unpleasantly.

“That! Isn’t there something more important than that!”

At the sudden outburst, Ivona flinched and hunched her shoulders.

“…Bearing heirs to continue the line…”

“Ahem. That’s right. For that purpose, there’s something you must prove to me, Miss.”

Prove? What? 

Even having just heard it, she couldn’t follow the context at all. While she mulled over the young master’s words alone, he tossed something. What landed on the table was a small velvet pouch. 

When she opened the drawstring entrance, a smooth, elongated bead came out, seemingly carved from obsidian. Holding the oval bead that was exactly the size of her pinky finger, Ivona didn’t know how to react.

“You practice with that. Practice squeezing to please a man.”

Squeeze? This? Where? 

The more explanation she heard, far from resolving her curiosity, new questions sprang up.

“You have to please your husband and receive lots of seed to bear many heirs, don’t you?”

“…Pardon?”

Only then did her foggy, murky mind seem to clear. But it was knowledge she’d have been better off not knowing. The hand holding the bead trembled with humiliation.

“So, what you’re saying now, young master…”

Unable to continue her words, the young master answered with a proud face in Ivona’s place.

“Finally we’re getting somewhere. I’m telling you to practice squeezing that with your lower parts to please me, Miss.”

Words followed that he’d check in a week whether she’d practiced properly. The moment she heard it, Ivona couldn’t control the surging displeasure. She’d never heard such things before. What the young master was saying was terribly insulting.

However, the young master of Mutheira was a shallow and impatient man. 

Seeing her fair face crumple, the veneer of pretending to be refined peeled away in an instant. His roughened voice spat out words close to threats in an overbearing tone.

“Are you saying you can’t do as you’re told? How unpleasant. Did Castillia dare to push a woman who hasn’t even learned obedience onto Mutheira?”

“Th-that’s not…”

When he suddenly turned harsh and even brought up the family name, Ivona had no choice but to shrink. 

In her panicked mind, there wasn’t even room for the thought that what the young master was saying was unreasonable to squeeze in. And the young master of Mutheira didn’t miss that weakness in his opponent.

“If not, then why aren’t you answering that you’ll do it? If you can’t even do this much… we’ll have to call off this marriage.”

At the words about calling off the marriage, Ivona was shocked. It was because she recalled her father’s appearance, threatening her over and over until just before.

‘If you make even one mistake, I won’t let it slide!’

Even Ivona, ignorant of worldly affairs though she was, knew one thing well. Castillia was the center of Alvidion’s distribution network, and the Marquis who owned it was one of the great lords counted on one hand in the empire. 

Not only that, he was one of the five Electors who had the authority to elect the emperor.

This marriage was what the master of such a Castillia was desperately begging to arrange, taking the initiative himself. Though she didn’t know for certain, it was undoubtedly a contract with something tremendous at stake that Ivona couldn’t imagine.

And her father, Marquis Castillia, hated suffering losses more than anything in the world. If such a marriage were to fall through, how could she possibly handle that temper of his?

‘…I don’t even want to imagine it.’

So Ivona had no choice but to swallow her bitter tears and nod.

But in the first place, she was someone who didn’t even know exactly how intercourse between men and women worked. It was nothing more than superficial knowledge that a man’s thing entered a woman’s hole. 

The head maid had only said to stay still and let her husband do as he pleased. Even when she tried to ask more, the woman would just snap that knowing too much wasn’t chaste. 

That a woman’s place there must be kept clean only for her husband.

What on earth did he mean squeeze there, how would a man gain pleasure from that? Could a woman’s place there even be squeezed at will in the first place? 

Questions followed one after another, but there was no one to give answers.

“I’ll give you a week’s grace. After that, I’ll see the results of your practice and decide whether to proceed.”

“Pr-proceed, you mean…”

“Isn’t it obvious? I need to confirm whether you’re truly a woman who can properly give me pleasure before marrying you.”

The pudgy face of the man smiling while licking his lips was utterly despicable. Results of practice. Wasn’t he saying so naturally that he’d take her body? And he’d only marry her if he was satisfied with the results?

She learned for the first time that when something was too absurd, no thoughts came at all instead. 

Thinking she’d acquiesced since she’d frozen like stone, vile joy filled the young master’s face as he turned away. But Ivona, staring at the bead in blank despair, didn’t even notice the young master had left.

‘Put this… below, and squeeze…?’

Even mulling it over, it was a string of words that made no sense. But not doing it wasn’t an option. Ivona absolutely had to accomplish it.

It suddenly occurred to her that she’d never once looked at her place there. She knew there was an opening since she menstruated monthly. But when she tried to bend her waist and look below, it was no easy task.

‘If only I had something to reflect it in…’

But there, Ivona’s thoughts stopped again. In the tower, which had been frozen in time since the day Ivona was locked up over ten years ago, there wasn’t even proper furniture. 

The mirror on the vanity her mother had used was clouded and wouldn’t clear no matter how much she wiped it. There was no way something like a hand mirror would exist.

After much deliberation, what Ivona thought of was the stream flowing at the corner of the training grounds. That place, so shabby it was hard to call it a building, was where knights simply washed off dust after finishing training.

Fortunately, the moon was nearly full and it was a clear night without a single cloud. The thought that she could reflect her lower parts in the stream was the best Ivona could come up with. 

But on this unlucky night, God was not on Ivona’s side.

‘Wh-what do I do…’

The damned bead slipped inside all too easily and went right in. Panicked, Ivona hurriedly stuck her fingers in and stirred around. But the cruel bead didn’t come out so easily. 

Rather, the more she stirred, the deeper inside it only went.

Just when she didn’t know what to do, a blunt voice suddenly flew from behind her.

“What are you doing? Here.”