Chapter 13 (Part 2)

After passing through the forest, a flat meadow spread out under a sky of completely different light from what they had seen from the castle. It was a place where purple, pink, and yellow colors were scattered among the green bushes.

“Oh, already.”

Ellenia pushed off her husband’s shoulder and quickly jumped out of his arms. Even actions that could seem rude were utterly lovable when done by his wife.

Edarson gazed blankly for a long time at her figure, excitedly running with her robe fluttering.

His fairy, with platinum hair flying, running back and forth across the meadow under the high sky.

Edarson thought he wanted to keep that image in his eyes for a long time.

Really for a long time. Even after failing to achieve an honorable death on that dreadful battlefield and returning, for a long time.

“Honey, is that area beyond also part of Tarnu’s territory?”

“Yes, from the forest on the left to the ranch on the right, that’s Tarnu.”

“Wow…”

“And to the north of that is the Heller’s territory.”

“Oh, I know. That’s the northern end of the east, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And the north is so barren due to the climate that there are no territories there.”

“…I didn’t know my wife was so knowledgeable about geography.”

The northernmost end, ruled by a harsh climate, was the grave the king had designated for him. It was also the direction he would march towards after visiting the royal capital in a few weeks.

“Beyond the north…”

“Honey, aren’t you hungry? The sandwiches will get cold.”

“Oh, now that you mention it.”

Unaware that her husband had deliberately changed the subject, Ellenia looked around as if searching for a place to sit. Though they could eat on this field where flower buds had bloomed, he was worried about damaging the flowers.

“There happens to be another place I want to show you nearby.”

“What is it?”

“My secret base.”

“Oh, ah, ha…! Honey, what about the sandwiches…”

“You’re warmer than the sandwiches.”

“Honey! Ah, ah.”

The place Edarson took her, calling it his secret base, was a cabin behind the mountain. Though he had intended to show her the forest and meadow by circling the mountain, he had also expected this from the beginning.

It was indeed a secret base. He said it was a place where he, as a young lord, used to come to play when he felt lonely. Balls and dart arrows he used to play with alone were scattered here and there.

Saying it was a place where he cried missing his parents and fell asleep, he had sat his wife on a makeshift bed and then burrowed into her skirt. The fabric that had covered her skin until a moment ago lay on his robe spread on the floor.

“Ah, ah, ha, ha, honey…”

Edarson spread his wife’s thighs with her skirt and buried his mouth in her bush. As she pushed his shoulders away while he licked her folds with a pointed tongue, Ellenia unconsciously sought greater stimulation. Her sensitive pearl was caught on his nose.

With a slurping sound, he inserted his tongue to lick and swallow her sweet nectar.

Thinking of leaving made him want to savor every drop of her. He had wanted to do this since they left for the outing, but seeing the distant northern horizon made him feel like he was going crazy.

“Ha, honey…”

Not even bothering to hide his desperation, he began to suck her sensitive flesh with his lower lip, already hardening endlessly inside his pants in anticipation of the pl*asure to come.

“Honey, honey.”

With slurping sounds, Edarson repeatedly sucked her lower part as if kissing. Ellenia’s bare feet dangled in the air, trembling.

“Honey, honey.”

Her call stretched long. Edarson paused his attempt to push her to cl*max and raised his head.

“I want to see your face.”

Even if it’s just with your hand… 

Blushing to her ears, Ellenia finished her words.

Only then did Edarson feel a bit more composed. Perhaps because spring was approaching that he felt so rushed.

It was cowardly not to tell his wife about his impending departure so she wouldn’t become unhappy sooner, but he had been so anxious that he sought her morning and night, inside and outside. Even though the rainy season had ended and there was no longer a need to calm her condition.

I want to swallow you whole and carry you inside me. I want to hold you deeply and carry you in my arms. 

He repeated these words internally hundreds, thousands of times.

Feeling miserable about his unspoken urgency, Edarson slowly stood up. He slipped his hand from her neck to her armpit, fussing for a moment.

“Honey…?”

Watching him, Ellenia twisted her body slightly. She felt quite empty, as the stimulation that had almost reached her disappeared.

Seeing her looking up at him with a tearful face, Edarson felt an indescribable surge of emotion. His worries, his urgency, all seemed to vanish with this moment of happiness.

His lips curved into a slight smile.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his throbbing heart, he bent down and swallowed Ellenia’s lips. The taste from below mixed with their saliva.

“…Because my hands are cold.”

The hands cupping her cheeks were indeed still cold. Ellenia, who had momentarily frozen, made a pouty face, thinking she had been teased.

“That’s fine.”

“Really?”

Nodding, her trembling eyes changed color with the movement.

Edarson grinned and placed his hand on her private part. When he inserted his fingers, her membrane tightened, perhaps because it was cold.

“Is it really okay?”

“…You said I was warmer than the sandwiches.”

Ellenia said with a red face, feigning indifference. Her eyes fluttered beneath his teasing movements.

‘Ah, really.’

Feeling a surge of joy filling his heart and lungs, Edarson kissed her repeatedly, as if to swallow her whole. If only he could swallow her with hundreds of thousands of kisses.

How could I leave such a lovely person behind?

If I hadn’t loved you, it would have been better, but if I hadn’t loved you, I wouldn’t have known this happiness…

The lord and lady descended the mountain slope when the sun was setting.

The cold sandwiches and fruits had already gone into their stomachs, and the linen towels Edarson had packed with this intention filled the picnic basket. They were stained with the traces of their intimacy.

Ellenia, feeling sorry for the young mule, climbed onto her husband’s arm, as she had when they wandered the mountain slope. Holding his wife in one arm and carrying the picnic basket and leading the mule with the other, the lord entered the courtyard, where all the servants were strangely gathered.

The faces of the servants under the twilight were oddly shadowed. Though dozens had come out, the silence was heavy.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone out here?”

Edarson looked around at the servants with an innocent face.

Normally, the servants would have joked about whether he had gone to fetch the young lady, but now they were silent. They avoided the boyish smile of the thirty-four-year-old lord, looking away.

Sensing something unusual, Edarson slowly set his wife down. The stable boy quickly approached and took the mule.

“What’s going on, did someone die?”

“Well, that is…”

It was the butler who stepped forward and spoke. As he did, the servants all took a step back with troubled faces.

The smile that had not left the lord’s face since leaving the cabin slowly faded.

“…They have come.”

“Yes. An envoy from the royal capital…”

The time he had been avoiding had finally arrived.

The envoy from the royal capital commanded that the knights of Tarnu prepare their forces and depart before the fourth month, for the campaign promised last year.

All of this was a bolt from the blue for Ellenia.

***

Knock, knock.

Leni knocked on the lady’s door with a familiar gesture. With a small sigh added, Greta patted her shoulder soothingly.

The storm had been severe last night. It had been ten years since the lady’s condition had worsened each year after being left alone. She must have suffered greatly last night as well.

In their hearts, Leni and Greta hoped for a miracle that Edan had been in that room, allowing the lady to spend a peaceful night.

Even though it was their comrades who had put him in the underground prison.

Closing her eyes tightly, Leni unlocked the door and nervously pushed it open.

“…Oh my.”

Greta’s voice flowed out sorrowfully next to her ear. Opening her eyes cautiously, she saw the peaceful scene of the room. Nothing was broken. Despite the fierce thunderstorm last night.

Leni’s eyes, filled with curiosity, scanned the room.

The lady was also lying quietly in bed. Considering the severe storm last night, it didn’t make sense.

But if there was anything different…

“…Madam!”

Leni and Greta immediately rushed to the lady’s side. Her face, pale as if about to ascend to heaven, had traces of blood at the corners of her mouth.

The physician, hastily summoned from the village, diagnosed it as pneumonia.