Chapter 5 (Part 2)

“No… No!”  

She dreamt of being strangled.  

It was that man. The man with red hair and crooked teeth. His face was blurry, but his sinister and wicked impression was unmistakable.  

With his large hand gripping her neck, he climbed on top of her. He laughed cruelly, using his other hand to lift her skirt.  

No, no! Die!  

Cordelia thrashed her legs in pain and screamed, but then, through her blurry vision, she caught a glimpse of someone else.  

A tall figure… with sorrowful eyes….  

“Cordelia!”  

A loud voice suddenly jolted her awake.  

Startled, she opened her eyes wide and gasped for air, raising her head.  

Golden eyes filled with concern met hers. It was Levin. He had woken her up.  

“Ah… sniff….”  

Seeing his beautiful face, full of love and worry, Cordelia burst into tears.  

Levin, flustered, hugged her tightly and patted her back.  

“What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”  

“I’m scared… A scary man was tormenting me.”  

“It’s okay. It was just a dream.”  

“He strangled me… He kept hitting me… pulling my hair, kicking me….”  

“It’s okay. It was just a dream. That kind of person doesn’t exist anymore. I’m here with you. Don’t worry.”  

Cordelia didn’t explicitly say that it was a dream.  

She simply wanted to confess the truth, even just a part of it. Fortunately, Levin didn’t doubt her words. He seemed to think she was merely suffering from a nightmare and focused on comforting her.  

Was this fortunate? Was it really for the best for both of us?  

A sudden question crossed her mind.  

What if I just told him everything? That my old memories seemed to be returning?  

But at the same time, fear crept in.  

There was no way to prove she wasn’t losing her mind. What if all of this was just her delusion?  

Levin was an impeccable husband, beyond suspicion. What if she was simply mad and misunderstanding everything?  

When she thought about it, she had already been through life-and-death situations multiple times. It wouldn’t be strange if her mind had broken.  

If I truly was insane, and if I confessed that to him, would he still love me?  

Would he see me as a crazy woman, feel uneasy around me, and grow distant?  

Would he still accept me as the mother of his child?  

These anxieties overwhelmed her.  

So, once again, Cordelia chose silence over truth.  

Instead, she clung desperately to Levin’s embrace.  

Her desperate plea led them to begin their intimacy once more.  

In her pain, she felt that only through this could she breathe.  

She needed the vivid awareness that this beautiful man was by her side, within her, to feel reassured.  

“Ah, ah… ah! More, give me more… ah, ah! Ngh…!”  

His length struck deep inside her, scraping and filling her completely.  

The penetration felt much deeper than usual.  

Because of this, she could vividly picture the rounded tip that stirred her insides, the thick veins running along the shaft.  

She wanted him to go deeper, to pierce her completely, to fill her entirely with himself.  

As if pleading for this, her inner walls clenched tightly around him, holding him in.  

“Ugh… ha, Cordelia… ngh… ha….”  

Thankfully, Levin moved diligently for her.  

Sweat dripped down his body as he claimed her entirely.  

Only when her muscles screamed in exhaustion did he finally reach his climax after a long, intense build-up.  

“Ha… Sorry, that took too long… ngh.”  

“Don’t pull out. I don’t want you to….”  

His release had lasted so long that he tried to withdraw midway.  

The fluid had already filled her insides and was now dripping down, pooling outside of her.  

But Cordelia wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, pulling him back and savoring the sensation.  

Levin trembled all over, releasing the last of his essence deep within her once again.  

“You’re unusually enthusiastic today… Was your dream that scary?”  

As he caught his breath, he hugged her tightly and asked.  

The sticky fluid clinging to their bodies made them feel even more connected than usual.  

Ah, she wanted to become one with him like this forever….  

Cordelia hugged his chest tightly, nodding her head earnestly in his arms as foolish thoughts swirled in her mind.  

Then, rubbing her cheek and forehead against his chest, she muttered foolish words.  

“I wish… you would appear in my dreams too… Then I wouldn’t be scared at all… Why don’t you ever show up in my dreams? That’s so mean….”  

Even at her childish complaint, he simply answered, “Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” while enveloping her shoulders in his embrace.  

The sensation of his strong arms covering her upper body brought her a rush of comfort.  

Indeed, only when she was in his arms could she breathe properly.  

“I want to have your baby soon….”  

That’s what she said at that moment.  

His heartbeat, which had been thumping steadily, suddenly quickened.  

On purpose, she repeated the words once more.  

“My love, Nathaniel… Let’s have a baby soon. I want to give birth to your child. I feel like I’ll be more at ease if I do….”  

At this, he looked down at her with wide, surprised eyes.  

Then, with a bitter smile tinged with joy, he suddenly said something unexpected.  

It was the first time she had called him by that name.  

He kissed her deeply on the lips and added,  

“Of course, I’d be happy. But if you have my child, it also means you’ll never be able to leave me. When you first woke up, I told you, didn’t I? That if your memories returned, I’d let you leave freely. I might not be able to keep that promise….”  

“Let’s pretend you never made that promise.”  

“Cordelia….”  

“I’d be happy to be tied to you for the rest of my life. That’s what I want. I don’t want anyone else, and I don’t want a life without you…. So don’t think about things like that. Besides, it was a promise you made on your own, wasn’t it? I never agreed to it. From the beginning, I told you I didn’t want to leave….”  

As she spoke, she raised a hand and gently caressed his cheek.  

Then, slipping her fingers into his soft golden hair, she tugged the back of his head toward her.  

It was a very deep kiss.  

Soft yet passionate, their lips met in a way that expressed everything they felt for each other.  

In that sensation, Cordelia recalled the day they had first decided to become a family.  

The day they had shared their clumsy first kiss.  

Compared to that time, their love for each other had grown so much stronger, and they now wished to remain by each other’s side this intensely.  

Because of this, Cordelia harbored another wish in her heart.  

She wanted to have a child—someone who would serve as a bond between them and a testament to their love.  

A child.  

A child who resembled both of them.  

In her current unstable state, that blessing felt absolutely necessary.  

“I want to have a baby. I want to live with you and a child who looks like you… just the three of us.”  

“If that happens, it might not stop at just the three of us. I’m a bit greedy, you know.”  

He responded to her words with a joking tone, his face lighting up with a broad smile.  

It seemed he felt the same way as she did.  

Perhaps, in the image forming in his mind, adorable children who resembled them were running noisily around the house.  

And the two of them would sit side by side, watching the scene with amusement, their arms wrapped around each other’s waists.  

Ah, what a beautiful future that would be.  

How stable and happy that scene would feel.  

Surely, even her madness, her anxieties, and perhaps even the unhappy past that might have truly existed would cast no shadow over such joy.  

“I’ll give birth to as many as you want, as long as I’m able.”  

“You’re saying such sweet things.”  

“It’s true… If we have a new family member… we’ll be happier than we are now. Much more stable.”  

“A new family member?”  

“We’re already husband and wife. You’re my husband, and I’m your wife. It’s only natural for a child to be born between a loving couple….”  

She deliberately spoke as if hammering in a nail. It wasn’t just something she wanted him to hear—it was also something she needed to tell herself.  

‘This man is my husband now! So stop showing me that damned past!’  

Instead of replying, Levin nudged his now fully er*ect length against her entrance. Then, with a deep breath, he pushed it inside.  

Cordelia felt the liquid that had been filling her insides spill out like overflowing water. The sensation of the hot, viscous fluid running down her thighs was unmistakable.  

“Ah…!”  

“Yes… That’s what I wanted. I’m… really happy.”  

“Ah, ah… Ugh, ah!”  

With those words, their passionate union resumed once again.  

However, unlike before, when their focus had been solely on each other’s pleasure, this time, something had changed.  

It was as if they were aiming for a precise target, like shooting an arrow at a bullseye. Both of them seemed to concentrate more on releasing everything and fully accepting it.  

“To be honest, I also can’t wait to see a child who looks like you and me.”  

From that day on, the fragments of diary entries and the frequency of her nightmares began to decrease.  

Cordelia found herself able to get through the day without him by her side, and the times she woke up startled in the middle of the night became rare.  

Finally, happiness seemed to be returning to her life.  

Relieved, she spent every day with him, sharing intimacy, and afterward, they would hold hands and caress her belly together.  

She wished fervently for a child to come soon, for this anxiety to end completely.  

Levin, amused by her enthusiastic attempts to conceive, played along with a smile.  

Sometimes, they would discuss names for the baby, whether it was a boy or a girl, or decide where to place the crib in their home.  

Levin even made bold promises, saying he would make sure to soothe the baby at night so she wouldn’t be tired.  

He reassured her not to worry about breastfeeding, boasting that his previous experience with massages had taught him how to help with milk flow.  

When Cordelia said, “That’s reassuring. You’re already the best dad,” he chuckled softly, his face full of anticipation.  

“With you as my husband… I’m truly happy.”  

“Me too.”  

God, please, I beg you, do not give us any more trials.  

Help me make this man happy.  

Bind us together even more with love.  

As she prayed, a sudden warmth spread deep within her chest.  

It was as if she had received an answer.  

And then, not long after…  

Cordelia came to realize that the fragments of memories she had dismissed as mere nightmares and delusions were, in fact, divine warnings.  

They were hints given by God, out of concern for her safety.  

Red hair. Crooked teeth. A hooked nose. A cruel and savage smile. And piercing, predatory blue eyes.  

She was warned not to forget them.  

To recognize and avoid them at all costs if they ever appeared.  

…But foolishly, she only came to understand the meaning of those warnings when misfortune was once again staring her in the face.