Chapter 13 (Part 1)

The servants of Tarnu were delighted that the lord and lady had finally consummated their marriage. While no one openly made inappropriate comments, whispers about how the bridal chamber had been closed for nearly half a day and the unexpectedly large amount of linen to be laundered spread joy among everyone about the couple’s good relationship.

Simultaneously, several restricted areas appeared within the old castle of Tarnu. These included not only the bridal chamber but also places like the lord’s study, where the lady occasionally visited, the observatory at the top floor of the west wing where the bridal chamber was located, and the lord’s private reception room where they sometimes enjoyed tea together…

Despite the couple’s harmony, the lord’s affectionate gaze towards the lady, and the constant smiles among the servants, the lady’s condition worsened.

Only Edarson knew about this, thanks to the well-maintained restricted areas in Tarnu.

It wasn’t even raining, so there was no reason to comfort Ellenia, but it was a night when they had holed up in the bridal chamber using the sound of drizzle as an excuse from early evening.

Edarson woke up to the sound of mumbling. Just then, lightning struck.

“Oh God, God, I’m sorry, I’m, I’m sorry. It’s not because I’m a lewd wench, it’s not, it’s not because I’m lustful…”

Following the source of the sound, he found trembling hands within his embrace. Ellenia, who had been lying on her side, was clawing at her neck beyond his thick arm.

“I am sorry, I am sorry, please, please, Grandfather…”

Startled, Edarson laid her down on the bed properly. Her eyes were half-rolled back, and she kept scratching her neck, seemingly experiencing a hallucination of being strangled.

“Ellie…”

A dull grinding sound came from Edarson’s molars.

He hadn’t known that thunderstorms would come when they were intimate. When she accepted him as much as he gave, the poor woman would fall asleep exhausted. It had been fortunate that she could sleep peacefully and wake up.

‘Madame. Are you okay with the thunder?’

Having learned this during their first night, Edarson had continued to hold her and indulge himself.

It had started because he couldn’t send her back to Nux, so they consummated their marriage. Although it was enjoyable, he hoped it wasn’t just for his own satisfaction. Fortunately, she seemed to overcome her condition because of him.

With various excuses, they embraced each other like any newlywed couple whenever their eyes met.

For Edarson, it was an act of shedding guilt repeatedly, but it seemed not to be the case for Ellenia.

“M-Madam, the seed of a witch, how dare, how dare, a harlot…”

Her hallucinations, deeply ingrained from long-term brainwashing, grew more intense. Every night, she mumbled apologies to the divine apostle or her grandfather to avoid divine punishment.

Edarson looked down gloomily at his pale wife, who lay n*ked beneath him, mumbling her sins and excuses.

He didn’t know what to do. He embraced her to prevent her from suffering, but it only deepened her condition. He couldn’t stop now, caught in a deadlock, feeling self-loathing for his persistent ar*usal.

‘But no matter what I do or don’t do, I’m going mad.’

He slowly leaned down, hoping his wife would wake from her hallucinations and show him her beautiful blue eyes.

“Madame.”

He whispered softly, nibbling her ear.

As he always did.

“Madame, it’s me. I am here.”

He made his tongue protrude to tickle her earlobe. Tracing the ridges and grooves of her cartilage, he made a moist friction sound as he inserted it into her ear.

“God, God, forgive me…”

Her mumbling continued, but the hand scratching her neck slowed down.

Seeing this, Greta would again glare at him as if he were a bug.

Whenever Ellenia couldn’t overcome her hallucinations and hurt herself, the kind maids, thinking her condition had subsided, would glare at the lord, believing he had a peculiar f*tish.

Edarson lowered her weakened wrist and embraced her from behind. Held firmly in his arms, Ellenia’s hands could no longer reach upwards.

“I, I’m, I’m not lustful… Hng!”

Ellenia jerked up. Edarson’s hands, embracing her from behind, pinched both her n*pples hard. With a moan, her mumbling began to cease gradually.

Her slender and soft body in his arms had already made him fully er*ect. Though it was shameful to be ar*used by her pain.

“Ellie. Let’s not listen to anything or see anything.”

Whispering this in her ear, Edarson squeezed and kneaded her br*asts while his lips wandered around her earlobe.

When her nasal breathing began to carry a trembling excitement, Edarson felt somewhat relieved.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, honey. There’s nothing to fear.”

A sniffing sound came from her nose. He buried his face in her long neck. Hoping the marks she had scratched would be covered by his own. He sucked deeply.

Rumble… The sky roared, and the sound of rain intensified again.

With his left hand still rubbing her cl*toris, Edarson entered her from behind. The remnants of his earlier ej*culation made it easy for his hardened m*mber to slip in. Their intimately familiar parts intertwined as one.

“Hng, hng…”

A thin moan escaped Ellenia’s lips. Edarson slowly moved his hips, continuously rubbing her most sensitive spot.

It was okay. Everything was okay. Even if her condition worsened, he could make it right this way.

I’ll end the war with the foreigners within a year or two.

The territory was larger than the duchy but the soldiers’ armor would be less sophisticated. He felt sorry for his wife, who would have to spend a rainy season alone… but he would return quickly and make it up to her. In the rainy season, in the dry season, in the summer, he would love her by continuously thrusting into her.

“Ah, ah, honey…”

Frustrated by his slow hand and hip movements, his wife subtly twitched her hips.

Yes, like this. Everything would be okay as long as he was there.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, honey.”

With a light kiss, all his obsession settled down.

“Oh, how cute. Is this a mule?”

“I thought it might be useful if we ever go on a picnic in the back mountain. My wife, you walk slowly.”

Ellenia glared at Edarson.

Though the days of her condition due to storms were fading, she still had a thin face from engaging in nightly affairs with the best warrior in the east. Despite this, her cheeks glowed, and everyone always praised the couple’s good relationship.

It was around the end of the rainy season when Edarson returned from the village below the castle with a mule from a villager’s ranch.

Though he had bought it hoping his wife would enjoy outings even without him, he still couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Unaware of her husband’s complicated thoughts, Ellenia hugged his arm with an innocent face.

“Thank you so much, honey! Can I name it?”

“Of course. It’s your mule.”

“Hmm, then… how about Solipari?”

“Solipari?”

“Well, um… because your eyes are green.”

Saying this, Ellenia’s face turned bright red, and she twisted her body before running off towards the mule. The servants in the yard, watching the lady who had become healthier and more lovely after her first night with the lord, all wore pleased expressions.

“Honey, Ellie! Don’t run too fast!”

“It’s okay!”

One day, as spring began to bloom in the back mountain of Tarnu’s old castle, the lord and lady finally went on their long-awaited outing.

The lady, who had been longing to go out every day since getting the mule, had perfectly chosen a dry day when her husband wasn’t busy.

Though it was still chilly, the sunny weather was deemed acceptable by Leni and Greta.

Ellenia excitedly hopped around the grassy field. Even though the ground was muddy from occasional rain after the rainy season, the much healthier Ellenia shone with flushed cheeks as she darted around.

Tying the mule, Solipari, which had brought her, to a suitable tree, Edarson picked up the picnic basket and followed her.

Under the warm sunlight that evoked spring, signs of new spring were sprouting green between the branches that had been touched by morning dew. As Ellenia brushed past the bushes that had survived the winter, she ran towards one branch and then another.

“Honey, there are flower buds here!”

“Yes, those are azaleas.”

“Do azaleas bloom first?”

“Forsythias do too.”

Edarson answered his wife’s lively voice step by step, placing the picnic basket on a nearby tree stump.

The chef had packed warm sandwiches, suggesting they should be eaten quickly, but his wife, who was on her first outing since the end of the rainy season, did not seem to have any intention of sitting down.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Of course! This is the first time I’ve been out on the grass since coming to Tarnu.”

While it might not have meant much to the person saying it, it was a heart-wrenching statement for the listener. Edarson, who had momentarily paused, lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile and ran towards his wife.

“Then to let you wander around longer, I’ll lift you up and show you around.”

“Oh, my!”

With one hand, Edarson lifted Ellenia and sat her on his arm. As her view suddenly heightened, Ellenia screamed shrilly but then exclaimed in awe at the elevated perspective.

“Wow, you live looking at such a high world?”

“I haven’t seen such a high world either.”

Ellenia chuckled softly and gently stroked his hair. Her white fingers moved busily through his black hair, and the touch of her fingers made him feel relaxed again.

Being held by her healthy and strong husband allowed her to travel farther than when she came out with the maids. The back of the mountain had rougher paths and more randomly grown trees than the places she usually visited, so it was fortunate to come with her husband’s steps.

“The trees are so densely packed, it feels like a forest fairy might appear.”

“To me, you are the fairy.”

“Oh, you.”

“Because you’re small, and so small.”

“…I hate you.”

Ellenia silently tugged at the hair she had been stroking. Finding it endearing as a form of timid revenge, Edarson smiled inwardly.