Chapter 1.5

Unable to hold back, he lifted the hem of her negligee and swiftly pulled it off over her head. While Tina was flustered, he enveloped her n*pple with his lips.

“Ah…!”

His elegant nose pressed into her soft flesh. When he sucked hard, her cheek hollowed. Cherilian kneaded her other br*ast firmly.

“Mmm, it feels strange.”

“Be honest, Tina. It’s not strange—it feels good.”

Is this what feeling good means? Maybe.

Tina’s body shivered on its own. Below, she grew wetter and wetter. The thin fabric started to feel like an obstacle.

When Tina stopped covering herself, Cherilian released her wrists.

He squeezed Tina’s br*asts with both hands, licking, sucking, and nibbling the small n*pples gathered in the center. Tina hugged Cherilian’s head, moaning softly. Her aroused, stiff n*pples looked so cute to him.

“Hnn…”

Tina squirmed her hips and rubbed her thighs together. Cherilian, noticing the movement, smiled slyly.

“If you want something, just say so.”

“Wh-when did I—”

Cherilian slid his hand down from her chest to gently touch her secret place.

“Mm!”

A tingling sensation made her cry out. Tina blinked in surprise at the sound she’d made.

‘They taught me it’s normal to make sounds during intercourse…’

It was more provocative than she expected. Unlike her confusion, Cherilian simply looked pleased.

“So you make sounds like this… It’s even better than I imagined. So alluring.”

To hear her former childhood friend, first love, and now husband say she was alluring… Tina fumbled, unsure how to respond.

“But why am I the only one undressed? Cherry, you too.”

“That was your complaint?”

Cherilian quickly tossed off his muslin shirt. His body, beautiful and filled with firm muscle, was covered in scars, giving him a wild look.

Tina felt a faint thirst as she examined Cherilian’s body. With every small movement, unknown muscles flexed and cast shadows.

“You can touch. It’s yours.”

Cherilian’s voice sounded sticky with desire.

Seeing his grand physique made her heart flutter. His sun-kissed skin looked so firm. Her gaze was drawn to the hollow below his navel, the deep grooves of his iliac muscle.

He’d only removed his shirt, but Tina felt overwhelmed by his presence. She wanted to cover herself again.

Before she could, Cherilian quickly hugged her close again. He buried his face between her chest and stomach, and Tina, feeling dazed, wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Cherilian’s eyes narrowed as he found the knot of her underwear below her hips. When he tugged, it unraveled completely.

“So… it comes off like this…”

His muttered words sounded rough. He looked a little angry, but not scary at all.

Cherilian shook the underwear, made of strings and a small patch of cloth, then tossed it under the bed. He spread Tina’s legs and settled between them.

He lowered his lips and sucked hard on her soft flesh, leaving reddish marks.

He moved his hand down and began to caress the wet folds diligently.

As a strange sensation surged, Tina tried to close her legs, but his strong, stone-like thighs made it impossible.

“Mmph, hng!”

With every embarrassing sound that escaped, she tried to bite her lip and hold back.

“Don’t hold back, Tina. …Well, you never were good at holding back.”

Cherilian chuckled quietly and kept playing. He gently stroked her sensitive bud and licked her stiff n*pples.

Tina trembled as Cherilian played her body like an instrument. Her whole body heated up. Her burning cheeks stung.

“Ha, hnn…”

Gasping, Tina reached for Cherilian’s torso. It seemed she wasn’t the only one deeply aroused—his body was hot and damp as if filled with fire.

Tina looked up at Cherilian with a flushed face. She knew the next step was the truly important one between a married couple.

‘What a man has below will go inside the opening between my legs.’

They said the first time would hurt. If she relaxed and trusted her husband, she’d feel pleasure and warmth, and receive the seed needed for pregnancy.

Tina was very curious about that feeling.

She looked at Cherilian with feverish eyes. His gray eyes glistened with l*st and yearning.

“Ha, Tina…”

Cherilian grabbed her bent knees and rubbed his lower body against her soft thighs.

“Mm…?”

Tina let out a dazed sound without meaning to.

‘It’s… bigger than I thought…?’

He didn’t seem fully ready yet, but even so, she could feel its heavy presence.

She’d learned it could get even bigger, but it didn’t seem like there was a hole down there big enough for it.

Was her s*x education wrong? Her confidence, which she’d secretly taken pride in, vanished in an instant.

“…Huh?”

Tina had known Cherilian for a long time. The ‘huh?’ he uttered was never a good sign.

She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Cherilian.

Halfway out of his pants, he looked utterly flustered. Like someone who’d seen a ghost that science couldn’t explain.

“…Why is this happening?”

He muttered in shock, and Tina quietly asked if something was wrong. But Cherilian seemed too distracted to answer properly.

Tina sat up a bit more. Her gaze naturally drifted to one spot. Cherilian, face red as a beet, was touching himself below.

Tina’s eyes widened.

His manhood had lost its strength and drooped. Tina knew that in such a state, they couldn’t consummate their wedding night.

It was so unexpected she couldn’t find words. Honestly, she felt like she’d been hit from behind.

“……”

When Tina stayed silent, Cherilian anxiously tried several more times. But once it lost strength, it didn’t regain its vigor.

She was so shocked and embarrassed she didn’t know how to speak. Meanwhile, her heated body cooled off.

‘So, this is… what?’

It seemed their first night as newlyweds was ending in failure. Tina tried her best to stay calm.

“Cherry, it’s alright. You’re just nervous.”

Tina took Cherilian’s almost panicked hand and patted it. His fingertips were cold now; he must have been very startled.

Feeling sympathy, her own pride as a wife was soothed.

‘Cherry’s pride must have taken a big hit too.’

“We’ll be husband and wife for a long time. We have plenty of time.”

Tina comforted Cherilian in a gentle voice, meeting his eyes.

But Cherilian’s confused gray eyes soon calmed, as if he’d realized the cause of the situation.

“Tina.”

When he called her name, Tina tensed up. What was he about to say, with lips trembling like that? He’d never done this before, so she imagined only the worst.

Maybe he didn’t love her anymore, or maybe he was actually impotent…

Just imagining it made her nose sting.

“I think I’ve been cursed by a succubus.”

‘Ah, thank goodness. At least the cause wasn’t me… or rather—’

“S-succubus?”

“Before she died by my sword, she cursed me, saying I’d have to have intercourse with my beloved woman in a way you despise to break it.”

“……”

‘Good heavens.’

Being cursed by a monster was common. That’s why a priest capable of lifting curses always accompanied monster battles.

Cherilian explained.

Among the monsters he fought, there was a succubus. Of course, he’d resisted her temptations without flinching.

Just before slaughtering the enemy, he was struck by the succubus’s final curse.

Succubus curses usually amounted to nothing more than a brief surge of l*st.

“On the way back after clearing the rest of the monsters, just thinking about you made me so aroused down there that I had to borrow a steel guard from the Biente knights…”

Cherilian sighed as he spoke, and Tina’s cheeks reddened.

He explained that his manhood would stand up at all hours, so he had to use a steel guard borrowed from the Biente knights.

“So you didn’t lift the curse?”

Cherilian shook his head lightly. Just in case, after the battle, he had received a thorough cleansing from the healing priest.

“I even got a written statement saying no symptoms of any curse were found in my body.”

After a moment of thought, Tina spoke.

“There’s a temple in the Duchy, right? Let’s visit tomorrow morning. Let’s just sleep for now.”

His expression was very dark as he helped Tina put her negligee back on. Tina patted the spot beside her, forcing him to lie down.

Looking up at his troubled, handsome face, Tina gently stroked his cheek and said,

“Cherry. If even the temple can’t find a clear solution…”

Cherilian replied in a gloomy voice,

“Let’s not think like that. I’d rather revive the succubus I killed with forbidden magic and kill her twice.”

“No, I mean… The words the succubus left you. Maybe that’s the answer.”

Tina insisted that they needed to know what the succubus meant by the ‘way you despise’. 

“No. You don’t need to know that.”

But Cherilian’s firm refusal stopped her from asking more.

Tina was dissatisfied with his attitude, but she didn’t want to push him further when he was already at his emotional limit, so she kept silent.

Instead, she racked her brain with her limited experience and knowledge about intimacy.

Just what could it be, the way Cherilian Biente didn’t want to be treated by the woman he loved in bed?

* * *

The next day, the high priest summoned to the Duke’s order declared that he found no trace of any curse on Cherilian.

“You say you were cursed in battle with a monster? Hmm… It seems a skilled priest handled the cleansing. Your Grace, you are perfectly clean.”

Tina exchanged glances with Cherilian.

He looked determined to entrust everything to his wife.

‘I couldn’t just go around telling everyone about my husband’s private matters…’

She explained, over a long period, that after the succubus’s curse was lifted, Cherilian had been experiencing a minor ‘side effect’.

For Tina, who preferred action over words, this required considerable patience.

The high priest, discreet and perceptive, understood Tina and Cherilian’s explanation well.

“Hmm. First, I need to know which monster it was. Could you explain?”

Cherilian described the monster and the situation in detail.

“Oh, a succubus…!”

Since it was a monster related to l*st, it was probably an awkward subject even for this high priest. Just as Tina was growing anxious, the priest’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“In fact, I’ve published a few personal papers under a pseudonym about succubi. You can see them at the capital’s academy.”

Tina almost blurted out, ‘Why did you write about that?’ but held back.

“To think you were cursed by a succubus just before she died… You encountered a truly vicious one. That’s a curse even a healing priest can’t easily lift.”

The suspicious authority on succubi continued,

“But you don’t need to worry too much. Do you remember the succubus’s last words?”

Cherilian nodded with a heavy expression.

“The answer is probably in those words. Your Grace, your current condition is like a blocked waterway. Once it’s opened, everything will naturally resolve over time.”

With that advice, the priest left the castle.