Chapter 2 (Part 2)

Another thunderclap.

For nights like this, Edan had kept his treasured sword for years.

From the time he was collected as one of the few survivors on the battlefield of Schwafelt, through every military trial where he confessed to the defeat’s responsibility, relying on the lord’s token that Edarson carried, hoping for lenient treatment.

In all those moments, Edan kept his treasured sword.

To prevent it from being taken, he endured beatings from some guards, faced demands for certain favors, and spent days in solitary confinement where he couldn’t even lie down properly.

‘We declare the innocence of Thomas Asius and the remaining 17 survivors of Schwafelt, but hold them responsible for the defeat and sentence them to 240 days of labor.’

The royal family, unable to publicly admit the defeat to the foreign hordes, especially in the war led by the warrior Edarson, tried to blame the survivors in any way possible. Those taken were insignificant soldiers who didn’t even know of each other’s existence. There was no one capable of properly defending themselves.

After that flimsy ruse gained some semblance of plausibility, Edan could finally head to Tarnu.

To return the treasured sword to its rightful place.

And to protect Edarson’s wife on nights like this.

It was a great relief that he arrived in Tarnu just before the rainy season began. Using that as an excuse, he could stay longer in the guest room and be by her side when needed.

It took too long, but…

Boom, bang!

As the sky roared again, Edan was already standing in front of the Madam’s door.

Without window shutters in the hallway, the sound of the wind swirling around the inner castle and the rain being driven here and there by the wind could be heard clearly.

Each time lightning flashed, Edan’s vision flickered, and then…

“…Ahh.”

From inside the room, a high-pitched breath faintly echoed.

‘With such a face, how dare I.’

He was actually hesitating. Once he took the first step, everything would proceed naturally, but the beginning was always difficult.

But when he heard that delicate sound seeping through the old, thick wooden door of the castle, he felt all the energy in his body rush to his gr*in.

Only then did he realize how long he had been holding back.

“O, God…”

As the thunder filled the hallway like a sudden revelation, a faint sob leaked through the door. The trembling from deep within added volume to the sound.

Before he knew it, Edan was knocking on the door.

Knock, knock.

No sound came from outside the castle or inside the room. A brief silence settled eerily.

He fiddled with the hand that had knocked on the door, then smiled slightly, thinking of her trembling like a rabbit at the sudden noise.

He moved his hand again, gently.

Knock, knock.

“Madam.”

“…”

“It’s me.”

Edan leaned his forehead against the door frame and let his voice flow through the crack. His hardened manhood pressed tightly against the gap.

No voice came from inside the room. Perhaps it was blocked by her sobbing.

Sniff, he recalled the sound of her breathing that he knew and remembered.

“I’ll hold you.”

“…”

“On a night like this, it’s hard for you.”

The green eyes that Ellenia recalled along with her husband’s shone desperately.

“So you can’t hear or see anything…… I can do that for you.”

Having said that, Edan rested his forehead against the gap where the door frame and the door met.

His nose filled the gap, the closest he could be to her without being allowed inside. As he inhaled, the thick wooden smell of the door frame filled his nostrils. It was as if he were deeply inhaling the scent of her beyond that gap.

Much time had then passed.

“…Come in.”

Her voice pierced the silence. His prominent Adam’s apple moved up and down beneath his refined jawline.

The door, which could only be locked from the outside, was helpless against the visitor. After undoing the latch and pushing the heavy wooden door, the hinges made a feeble sound.

The scene inside was calm, as if the storm outside the hallway was someone else’s business. In the farthest corner was a bed that had borne the weight of one person for a long time, and on it lay its owner.

Too weak to even curl up, Ellenia lay on her side, facing the door. Her hair clung to her face where tears had dried, leaving streaks across her face.

And her tunic, rolled up haphazardly…

Edan immediately understood her situation.

Boom, several flashes of lightning, and the sky roared again.

“Ahh…”

The white flashes seeping through the window shutters cast strange shadows on their faces. Wanting to cover her ears but lacking the strength in her slender arms, Ellenia just let the tears flow.

After closing the door behind him, Edan stood there, staring at her blankly.

When the noise outside the shutters subsided, Ellenia’s voice seeped out. Her weak voice sounded dreamy and dazed.

“Did you come back… for me?”

“…Of course.”

Suppressing something rising in his throat, Edan found himself standing by the bed. On the bed where the wives of the lords had embraced their partners for generations, he knelt as if it were familiar.

Ellenia watched him approach her without missing a moment. His cautious movements as he checked the door again, his worried expression, his slow, deliberate steps…… all those familiar memories, with an unmistakable urgency he couldn’t hide.

The golden curls covering his neck glinted in the wall-mounted lamp.

Edan, who had climbed over her, straightened her up and brushed away the hair that had dried haphazardly on her face, tangled with tears, snot, and saliva. The golden strands, like spun gold, slipped behind her ears under his rough touch.

His hands then covered her ears instead of hers.

They were thick and firm hands. Not as much as her husband’s hands that helped her ten years ago, but…

His lips landed on each of her tear-streaked eyes.

‘Finally, like this…’

Ellenia’s gaze trembled as she watched. His lips then moved to her tear-streaked nose, and finally to her lips…

Edan clung to her lips, biting and biting again as if to avoid being swept away by this terrible storm.

He enveloped both her upper and lower lips at once, then sucked on her plump lower lip for a long time. As if he knew no other taste, he held her lips in his mouth for a long time. The wet, sticky sounds echoed softly.

The tender and soft sensation… An old heat rose in her throat.

Just when she thought it was taking too long, his thick tongue licked her lower lip once and then plunged into her mouth.

His tongue moved cautiously as if it were the first time he had ever done such a thing, yet swam familiarly inside her mouth. It brushed against the surface of her teeth, as delicate as her slender frame, parting them to meet the flesh inside. Carefully entangling this way and that, he soon began to suck strongly.

Wrapping his hands around her head as they covered her ears, he bit and bit again at her lips and jaw as if trying to devour her even more deeply. He couldn’t even leave any drool behind.

Ellenia’s eyes welled up, and her throat felt choked.

“Ha, ha, ack.”

Her breathy sounds echoed in her throat, and Edan briefly pulled away.

The traces of her crying were still evident. Her eyes were red, and a few strands of hair stuck to her face where tears and snot had dried.

But her small mouth was open in the same shape as when he had kissed her…

Overcome with emotion, Edan again pressed his lips to hers as if to swallow them whole. He ran his tongue over each of her teeth as if trying to carve the relief of that place, then hungrily entangled his tongue with hers. When Ellenia gasped, he gently released her and ran his tongue over the ridges of her palate.

It was a long and diligent kiss.

The feeling of someone’s saliva wetting her lips was so unfamiliar and long-forgotten that Ellenia simply followed his lead with her eyes closed.

There was nothing to see or hear.

Thanks to his thick palms pressing down, all she could hear was a buzzing sound that was not from nature.

For a moment, Ellenia felt as if all of this was not happening in her stormy room but in a dream. Something she had longed for a very long time…

He finally broke away from her lips, which he had clung to as if to consume her last breath, when her hand moved downward.

His hardened manhood brushed against the prominent knuckles of her small, thin hand.

“Ah, as I thought.”

Muttering so, he ran his tongue over his own lips, which had turned red from sucking on hers. His pretty face, just having reached adulthood, shone decadently.

“You prefer having more sensitive places sucked, don’t you?”

Ellenia swallowed hard. She couldn’t hear him clearly with her ears blocked by his large hands, but even the movement of his reddened lips made her face flush.

Edan took the two pillows that were lying on the bed, placed one on each of her ears, and then guided her hands to hold them in place. Though her arms lacked the strength to block out the sound as well as he did, soon she wouldn’t need to worry about it.

Ellenia buried her face in the white pillowcase that partially covered her eyes, anxiously waiting for what would happen to her body.

Her tunic, already rolled up, left her lower half completely exposed. Between her thin legs, a bush of hair the same color as her head was visible. And between that, the place she had tried so hard to focus her attention on would be.