Chapter 2: The Tyrant Emperor

Her frozen ears couldn’t hear any sound. It took time for her to breathe again. Barely managing to turn her creaking neck, she cast a fearful glance…

The Emperor’s long sword was terrifyingly embedded in a thick tree, with a black snake skewered at the end, sizzling as it burned.

It was a sign to stop talking nonsense.

In the midst of overwhelming fear, she had to speak out to survive. If she failed, she might end up worse than that snake. At least the snake’s head was still attached to its body. She would simply be decapitated. Somehow, she had to calm this crazy Emperor.

She couldn’t die like this. Mustering all the courage she didn’t have, she whispered softly.

“Kalik. We are husband and wife…”

His eyes narrowed. Struggling with the tightening tension, she moved her lips again.

“Aren’t I… your wife?”

Her desperate, trembling voice slipped through her quivering lips. Seeing the Emperor’s increasingly terrifying expression, she knew it was all over. Like that snake, she was only moments away from death. Her mind went blank, and her whole body trembled as she lay on the ground, holding her breath.

It seemed that this life would end here. She would die here.

She didn’t have the power to change the original story. The problem started when she possessed just before dying. She couldn’t fathom how painful her death would be, making her nearly lose consciousness.

Suddenly.

Rustle.

Crunch.

Trudge.

Strangely, the sound of soldiers moving busily reached her ears loudly as she lay on the ground. Not knowing what was happening, she remained still, holding her breath like a corpse.

“Lift your head.”

Filled with fear and terror, she raised her head with a frightened expression.

Was I..going to die now?

Her neck trembled as she lifted her head, feeling it might be cut off at any moment. She cautiously looked around. But…

It was strange.

There was no one around.

Except for the Emperor.

So it was just the two of them left in this forest.

Where did everyone go? Is he planning to kill me when no one is around?

But oddly, the atmosphere had subtly changed. The murderous tension seemed to have eased a bit. Even the air felt different to breathe.

Thinking it might be her own illusion, she still held her breath and looked up at the emperor standing in front of her.

“Were you my wife?”

She stared blankly at the Emperor’s golden eyes, which had returned to their original color, and just nodded.

“Then prove it.”

“Pardon?”

Prove? Prove what?

“Prove that you are worthy of being the mistress of the Imperial Palace.”

She blinked, trying to understand the meaning of the Emperor’s words.

So… does this mean he won’t kill me now? Does this mean… we’re going back to the imperial palace together?

To her, it sounded like he was telling her to go back to the imperial palace and prove herself. She first let out a deep sigh of relief. She had been trembling in fear for so long that her legs felt numb and she couldn’t feel anything. As she tried to sit more comfortably and let out another deep sigh of relief…

Suddenly, the emperor’s face swiftly approached her nose. His rough yet eerily handsome face was etched into her wide-open eyes. She waited, trembling, for the next words the emperor would say.

“I said prove it.”

“Pardon? R-right now?”

Wasn’t it about returning to the imperial palace?

Staring blankly at the Emperor’s persistent gaze, she soon realized she was wrong.

“How… how should I prove it…”

The Emperor’s eyes pierced through her as if asking why Bellita would ask such a thing.

“So… here?”

Her voice, trembling with fear, began to shake her eyes wildly.

***

Ah…

It was so rough, the Emperor’s lips.

It felt like her lips were being completely devoured. She was pressed against his steel-like chest, receiving a fierce and tingling attack from his sharp tongue. Her delicate mouth felt like it would burst from the merciless assault.

At first, she had no idea what he meant by proving it. The Emperor demanded that she make a marriage vow. In this novel, a kiss was considered a marital vow. That’s what he was asking for.

Though they were originally married, kissing a man she had never seen before was unfamiliar and required great courage for her. It was better than dying, so she had to do whatever he wanted.

When he urged her, she, who had never even held a man’s hand properly, approached him with embarrassment and awkwardness, closed her eyes tightly, and pecked the lips of this unfamiliar man like a bird. That was how her first kiss happened. Though their lips soon parted.

Are you kidding me?

That was the look on the Emperor’s face. His expression mixed with anger and disbelief left her unsure of what to do, her eyes trembling wildly.

The Emperor, not missing a beat, tilted his head slightly in a peculiar way. His eyes looked at her as if she were a curious animal, or rather, a bizarre one. His expression was not one of misunderstanding but of not wanting to understand. With a chilling gaze, he urged her again.

Do it right.

She didn’t know why it sounded so clear without him saying it.

If I do it better, can I live?

For survival, she once again approached his lips.

Peck.

This time, a little longer than before, she pressed her lips to his and then parted.

Ha!

A short laugh burst from the emperor’s mouth. It was clearly a sneer that anyone could hear. It still wasn’t satisfactory. Not at all.

So… not this… inside the mouth… Oh dear.

Thinking that far, her face already started to heat up, and her brain began to crumple.

But she had to do it. On those lips.

Her lips, which had calmed down a bit, started to tremble again. With the determination of bungee jumping from a height of 100 meters, she once again brought her lips to his.

As she gently moved her lips over his cold ones, warmth began to spread. She moved them slowly up and down, thinking only of calming him. She gently nibbled on his upper lip and then carefully on the lower lip, looking up at him with frightened eyes as she pulled away.

Continue.

Fortunately, she read a strong message of expectation in his eyes as the anger slowly disappeared. Gaining courage from that, she approached again and this time lightly licked his lips.

Up… down… again…

Surprisingly, his tightly closed lips slightly parted. She had to proceed further… but suddenly lost her courage.

Swallowing her saliva to muster courage, she closed her eyes tightly and timidly extended the tip of her tongue between his lips, gently touching inside. His lips opened a little more, as if opening a door for her. Just a bit more, she brushed the area gently, and suddenly something moved. His tongue wrapped around her timidly moving tongue.

Ah!

Startled, she made the mistake of pulling her lips away immediately from the sensation and feeling. His golden eyes, which captured her dark topaz eyes, seemed to hypnotize her, preventing her from moving.

His eyes, slowly approaching without breaking eye contact, saw her lips glistening in the moonlight.

An angel.

She looked like a pure angel who had just descended on the moonlight.

Even though he knew she wasn’t, her appearance was so impressive that it deceived him.

He knew very well what kind of woman Bellita was, but that didn’t matter now.

What mattered now was the first desire to taste those lips.

She was an extraordinary woman. Her appearance alone was enough.

Her looks were so captivating that they overshadowed everything else.

He raised his hand, grabbing a handful of her hair to prevent her from escaping. With his other hand, he pulled her waist tightly against his body. The soft touch of her body made his blood boil even more.

No matter what she did with other men.

He devoured her lips immediately. Invading with brutal force, he savagely explored. Moving continuously between her sweet lips, he found it increasingly insufficient and thirsted more, making his movements more aggressive.

His low groan ran down her body. The secretive sound of this man she heard for the first time awakened every cell in her body.

Her arms automatically rose to embrace his neck. Responding to her, the Emperor’s arms tightened, pressing their bodies together without a gap, and they began to kiss more deeply.

Her soft tongue, which had been quietly enduring the attack, started to move. His sharp inhalation sounded pleasing to her ears.

Their mouths intertwined so intensely that it felt like everything inside was melting. Despite the danger of death moments ago, she was now panting with a heated body, tangled with him.

Ah!

Regaining her senses, she somehow broke free from his grip on her nape and barely separated their lips. But she couldn’t move far. With only a hand’s breadth between them, they panted heavily, staring into each other’s eyes. Of course, his eyes were darkening with apparent dissatisfaction.

Damn it. This crazy body…

Body and brain were separate.

She panted, trying to gather her wits to resist this body’s desires.

This body remembers. How to act with a man.

She wanted to reclaim herself. It was unbelievable to be doing this with a stranger. Even if he was the Emperor. Even if he was her husband. He was a man she was seeing for the first time. And she was aroused.

In this situation. With this man.

With the same man who had tried to kill her moments ago.

How could this make sense?

Crazy. Insane.

No, from the beginning, possessing this adulterous Empress, this troublesome, the promiscuous Bellita was a crazy situation. She resented her brain for not being able to control her still throbbing body.

“I…”

As if he couldn’t wait any longer, the Emperor approached her again, and she urgently spat out that one word in a cracked voice. But she couldn’t say anything more. His lips pressed against hers mercilessly, allowing no room for words.

Who said you could stop?

Do you want to die?

The Emperor’s voice, heard only by her, froze her in place. Pulled back into the intense and shocking deep kiss, she quickly succumbed.