5. The Wedding Night (2)

“Ung…”

This was killing her.

How to describe it? It felt like the morning after falling hard on a marble floor.

Saena groaned while squinting her eyes that wouldn’t open properly.

Regardless of her physical state, it was a nice day. Sunlight streamed strongly through the large window, and the air in the room was more than warm — it was toasty.

Chu.

That’s when someone’s lips touched her closed eyes.

Startled, she opened her eyes to find the Duke smiling down at her.

“Did you sleep well?”

Still not fully alert, Saena blinked several times before slowly burrowing under the blanket.

‘…Wait, what’s my situation right now?’

She wasn’t sure exactly what time it was, but the Duke looked quite refreshed and was already dressed like he’s ready to go out.

She was only wearing a robe that she assumed he had put on her during the night.

Though she wasn’t sure how long she had slept since falling asleep like she had fainted, there was no way he had gone to bed earlier than her.

And though he was up before her, which meant he definitely hadn’t slept more than she had, why did he look so fresh?

She felt somewhat indignant, but rather than showing it, she wanted to hide. She wanted to hide her face that felt completely swollen.

“Why are you going back under?”

“……”

“Should I take that as an invitation?”

“…Eh?”

That wouldn’t do at all.

“No…! Ugh!”

As she tried to sit up suddenly, Saena collapsed back down. She clutched her throbbing waist.

Every muscle in her body, from her waist downward, ached so intensely that it reminded her of the time in her past life when she had collapsed from exhaustion after cleaning an entire mansion on her own.

“…Oh dear. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Yes. It feels like I’ve been hit by a carriage…”

Saena groaned. Though she was exaggerating a bit, the unexpected muscle pain was beyond what she had imagined.

She couldn’t even say ‘I’m fine’ out of politeness.

“By a carriage… Hmm, that’s serious. I wonder why. Perhaps the positions were too strenuous?”

The positions… and the number of times… everything seemed to be an issue.

Saena recalled the previous night and became dazed again.

‘Really, I never imagined he’d be like that.’

To think that someone who looked like an ice block…

She realized she had made a huge misconception. Only his skin was cold… no, even that self-proclaimed cold skin was just slightly cold at first, and after a while, she couldn’t feel that coldness at all… anyway…

‘…I should stop thinking about it.’

“Are you really feeling that unwell?”

Saena straightened up quickly, startled by the feeling of the Duke sitting on the edge of the bed.

“No! I’m fine! Well, not fine, but I’m fine!”

What kind of nonsense was she speaking?

But Constantine seemed to understand what she meant. He smiled with a “heh” and brought something from the side.

“No need to get up.”

Constantine gathered the pillows behind her back so she could sit up comfortably, then placed a bed table over the blanket.

“Oh, this…”

“Let’s eat together.”

Breakfast, perhaps. No, judging by the intensity of the sunlight, it might be almost lunch.

Anyway, a husband personally bringing a meal to the bedroom for his wife… Saena was momentarily stunned by this unfamiliar world.

“Don’t you like the menu? Should I have something else prepared?”

“No, that’s not it… Um, I just didn’t expect…”

Even when they were trapped in the mansion during the heavy snowfall, he had taken care of her in small ways like this, but somehow this felt different.

‘…George Hollander was also quite nice before marriage.’

She didn’t want to make such comparisons, but it was true. She had heard many times that all men change like that after marriage.

Well, it was only the first day.

“Can’t I do this much for my suffering wife? I could even feed you myself.”

“What? No, that’s not necessary.”

Back then, she at least had the excuse of her injured hands, but now she was fine… well, her limbs were trembling, but still.

As if to prove this, Saena gripped the cutlery with both hands and moved them diligently. She took her first bite mechanically without even knowing what she was eating, but as she ate, her appetite returned.

“Mm.”

She unconsciously let out an appreciative sound at the rich and smooth taste of the stew.

“Is it delicious?”

The Duke asked with another eye-crinkling smile as he watched her.

“It’s delicious.”

Saena was earnestly spooning the food when she noticed a shadow fall across her face and glanced up.

Lick.

He briefly licked the left corner of her mouth before pulling away.

“You had something there.”

“……”

Ahem. Saena cleared her throat unnecessarily and picked up the napkin that had been set out with the meal, properly dabbing at her mouth. Seeing that something actually did stain the napkin, she pressed harder to wipe it clean.

Though she felt her cheeks warming up, she pretended not to notice and continued eating.

The Duke also began eating his meal that had been set up at some point on the bedside table.

After they finished, Constantine personally cleared away the tray and took it outside. She found it fascinating how he performed tasks meant for maids without any hesitation.

Especially while he’s dressed appropriately enough to enter the Imperial Palace right away.

‘Meanwhile I’m here like this, not even having had time to wipe the sleep from my eyes.’

Well, she didn’t dislike having her husband bring breakfast to bed the morning after their wedding night…

“……”

Her train of thought suddenly stopped.

‘…Wait, sleep in my eyes?!’

Saena jumped up quickly,

“Ugh!”

And nearly collapsed to the floor due to her aching waist and wobbly legs.

Barely steadying herself, Saena carefully moved her legs to walk.

Then she stood in front of the vanity mirror and despaired.

Her eyes were swollen, her lips were swollen. Her hair was a mess. Her complexion was as white as paper, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

“……”

Had she really greeted her husband on their first morning looking like this?

Saena heaved a deep sigh and picked up the brush that was lying on the vanity to start brushing her hair.

She couldn’t do anything about the swelling right away, nor about her complexion, but at least she could brush her hair. Though even that wasn’t easy with her trembling arms.

‘…I should wash up.’

While brushing her hair, Saena walked slowly toward the bathroom.

Then she stopped. Her frozen face turned bright red. She felt the bodily fl*ids flowing explicitly down the inside of her thighs.

“Ugh…”

As memories of last night came flooding back, she suddenly felt mortifyingly embarrassed.

She hesitated, unable to move, feeling the continuous flow of what must have been a large amount pooled inside her body.

She couldn’t bring herself to move, thinking she might leave traces on the floor along her footsteps. But staying in one place wasn’t right either.

“Saya?”

While she was covering her face with both hands spread out, she heard Constantine calling her, apparently having returned.

Ah, she should have just gone to the bathroom even if she left traces…

The thought of facing him in this state made her feel incredibly embarrassed.

“Is something wrong?”

To think she had to answer such a question in this situation… Saena couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes and turned to hurry to the bathroom.

“Ah.”

Unfortunately, she had to stop as his arm quickly wrapped around her waist.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurting somewhere?”

“No, I was just… about to go wash up.”

Perhaps because she still avoided his eyes while speaking, he didn’t let go.

“That doesn’t seem to be all…”

“……”

“Please tell me. If I hurt you yesterday, I should know, shouldn’t I?”

“……”

“It was my first time touching a woman’s body, so I might not have controlled my strength well. Are you very uncomfortable?”

What? Saena looked at him, wondering if she had heard wrong.

“…Your first time?”

You mean yesterday was your first time?

“Yes, it was…”

He answered casually to her incredulous question.

With that face, that status. And judging by last night, his desires were quite overwhelming… but it was his first time?

Noticing the doubt in Saena’s eyes, he added,

“Don’t you believe me?”

“…You were too skillful…”

“How would you know if I was skillful?”

“……”

While Saena’s only point of comparison was her worthless husband from her past life, she could tell Constantine was good even without anyone to compare him to.

Hadn’t he made her, who had thought herself frigid all this time, feel so… so…!