“Ending… ending words.”

“Ending words…?”

Soon her expression brightened slightly.

“Opposite of ‘speaking down.’”

That was the word Wilfred had used with Lord Dunsany at the wedding ceremony. 

Only then did he understand her intention. Fenwick had particularly tricky and irregular honorifics. She seemed to be saying she didn’t know how to use honorific endings properly.

「…Sorry, but it’s difficult to explain.」

He still found himself smirking when he thought of the first words this woman had said to him. The audacity to answer the Crown Prince of Fenwick like that. 

However, currently in Fenwick, the only position that could practically match his was the Crown Princess, and if that was the case, he could generously overlook her speech being curt because she didn’t know the language well.

‘Better than groveling and using honorifics with inferiors.’

That was Wilfred’s thinking.

“I’ll find you a Fenwick tutor, so let’s finish what we were talking about.”

“Not elder sister Princess Lucille, but me.”

“Right. Do you know why?”

When Edith blinked, long shadows from her eyelashes fell across her eyes.

“Will tell.”

…As soon as morning came, he’d have to tell Bernard to find a Fenwick tutor immediately. He swallowed a sigh.

“Because you’re not a Fenwick woman.”

Whether she understood the meaning or not.

By his standards, that was explanation enough.

He slowly approached the woman sitting at the edge of the bed. The cloak slipped off her slender shoulders and fell. 

Even when he untied the strings of her tea gown, Edith remained still. When Wilfred cupped her small face with his hand, she naturally met his eyes.

Eyes of a color rarely seen in Fenwick.

Somewhere between pale purple and rose.

‘What do they call this color…?’

Princess Lucille’s eyes in the portrait had been ordinary light brown. He added without thinking.

“…Not even plain-looking for a substitute.”

She repeated his words.

“Substitute?”

“Instead of Princess Lucille.”

“Plain-looking?”

“Ugly.”

Actually, she was far from ugly. Edith was much, much prettier than Princess Lucille’s portrait. 

Considering portraits were usually painted better than reality, the difference in beauty would be striking if placed side by side.

Then again, that’s why the Grand Duke abandoned Grand Duchess Nadia, who had produced three children, and chose Jeremiah. 

If the Grand Duke couldn’t resist women, the reason for that troublesome divorce and remarriage wasn’t incomprehensible. The woman was that beautiful.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Not rock salt then?”

The threat about sending rock salt instead of sea salt to her homeland must have been quite intimidating. 

He shrugged. “Not yet.”

Under the tea gown, she wore a nightgown. He slowly moved his hands. What appeared beneath the nightgown was a chemise so thin her skin showed through clearly.

“Wait…”

At her words, Wilfred removed his hands.

Was she shy? He could wait a moment until she overcame it.

After glancing up at him once, she reached toward the night table. What the new bride picked up was a small water bowl placed there. That too seemed to be something the meticulous Bernard had prepared in advance.

She gestured for him to come closer.

“What, is it poisoned?”

Even when he spoke cynically, Edith didn’t care and dipped her white fingertips in it, urging him again.

“Here.”

Now Wilfred realized what she was trying to do. The intention wasn’t harmful, and the result wouldn’t be bad, but he didn’t much like the meaning behind the action. 

He didn’t like religion or superstition. By contrast, Aberdeen people were more devout compared to Fenwick people, especially those in the royal palace. Wet fingertips touched his forehead.

“This is?”

“Goddess Frieze’s… blessing for the wedding night.”

After dabbing a drop of holy water on Wilfred’s forehead, chin, and both cheeks, she lifted the bowl higher. She clearly intended to pour it over his head. Though he knew it wasn’t poison, he quickly stopped her, not wanting his hair wet with suspicious water.

“Stop.”

Edith looked regretful but didn’t insist. He wasn’t oblivious to what her hesitation while holding the water bowl meant. Still, when he pretended not to notice, she seemed to give up, set down the bowl, and dabbed a few drops on her own face.

“All done?”

Edith nodded.

He even removed the ornament holding Edith’s hair in place. 

Jet-black, lustrous hair cascaded over her shoulders, over his hands. He gently grasped a handful of that hair. She lowered her eyes.

At the same time, Wilfred pushed her down onto the bed.

Gently, with firm intent.

This was something like a duty the Crown Prince and Crown Princess performed for Fenwick’s future. Though a substitute, Edith was still a legitimate princess of Aberdeen. So she would fully understand the purpose of this act.

Then there was no need to drag out time unnecessarily.

She was looking up at him with a tense face again. Still, she wasn’t frightened.

Ignoring that gaze, Wilfred slipped his hand beneath the hem of her chemise. The thin fabric helplessly rode up with it. Below, pale, shapely legs were revealed.

Thinking these legs would soon spread and wrap around his waist, he inevitably felt a tingling below. Even wanting to mock himself, there was nothing he could do about it. Men were animals made that way.

Edith’s body froze. Admirably, she didn’t push her husband away. He was unhesitating, though he wouldn’t have cared even if she had pushed him away. 

With his palm, he stroked skin as soft as feathers, as smooth as silk. Then, to remove his hand from that firm thigh, he consciously reminded himself of the wedding night ‘duty.’

Next, Wilfred removed her drawers. Dryly, like drawing back a curtain. With the chemise hiked up to reveal her slender waist, the woman wearing only one tiny, practically nonexistent undergarment looked newly helpless.

Seeing that, his voice lowered.

“Lift your hips.”

Edith must not have understood his intention. Seeing her hesitate for a long while before gently grasping his waist, he let out a hollow laugh.

“Not my waist,”

Since she only blinked, Wilfred directly lifted her hips and pulled down her underwear in one motion. While firmly pressing down with his body on the woman who fluttered in surprise.

He didn’t want to do this with a woman he’d met for the first time today either. But he was the Crown Prince of Fenwick. Edith was now his consort. 

From her trembling body came a clear sense of tension. His hand spread apart legs that had instinctively closed and entered where surely no one had touched before.

Edith drew in a deep breath. He caressed with his fingertips the small bit of flesh hidden in that intimate place. It was very hot but not wet at all. 

More boldly, he grasped between his fingers the flesh beginning to swell. Soft yet delicate flesh clung stickily to his fingertips.

The education a crown prince should receive naturally included methods for the wedding night. The library even had several books describing the sequence and methods of *ntercourse in unnecessarily vivid detail. 

But actually encountering a woman’s body, what guided Wilfred wasn’t prior knowledge but instinct. He slid his long fingers lower, inward.

Edith let out a shallow m*an and drew her legs together. Unconcerned, he found the crevice hidden in the deepest place. The hot inner flesh wrapping his finger gradually grew wet. 

Gently stroking that inner flesh, he spoke again, “If you cooperate, it’ll end quickly.”

Edith’s tightly shut eyes snapped open. Her pretty face was flushed with bewilderment and shame.

“Cooperate, how…?”

“Try to relax.”

Then the woman’s legs spread limply. The space between was now quite slickly wet. Seeing the woman prepared to receive a man from the stimulation he’d given, a strange anticipation rose.

Still, it wouldn’t be easy for her. Looking down at her hands gripping the bed sheet tightly, Wilfred undressed himself. 

Images from the educational books flashed through his mind—n*ked men and women entangled in all sorts of lewd positions. Did he really have to remove all his clothes? 

He had no intention of obtaining something like pleasure through the woman’s body from the start. Especially not from a woman he’d met for the first time today.

With his lower garments removed, he positioned himself between her spread legs. Leaning over the woman who had turned her head in embarrassment, he felt a faint self-loathing. 

Though not touched once by the woman’s hands, he was already as ready as could be. Below felt uncomfortable to the point of aching. His tone became even more businesslike.

“We’re both busy, so let’s finish quickly.”

Edith was very flustered.

She knew about what happened on the wedding night from her education. 

Not only were the details included in the Goddess Frieze’s trial procedures, but the novels Lucille secretly kept hidden in her room also contained explicit descriptions of acts between men and women at night. 

Though embarrassing, according to the goddess’s teachings and the novels, it didn’t seem to be only a bad experience.

If it were such a terrible thing, all those people wouldn’t have continued marrying and having children for thousands of years, and above all, her mother and father wouldn’t have desired each other enough to marry despite the world’s opposition.

But…

This was…

More bewildering than unpleasant. 

Wasn’t there supposed to be a process first, like sharing kisses and thoroughly exploring each other’s bodies? Wasn’t that how each body prepared for *ntercourse? 

Wasn’t that also why they so carefully bathed and adorned the bride on the wedding night? Could they really proceed straight to the main point like this?

Because Wilfred progressed too quickly, at first there was no time to even feel embarrassed. The moment she came to her senses, she was completely yielding her body to his touch. 

He didn’t even try to remove all her clothes. She fell into confusion. Was it possible without being n*ked…?

When Wilfred pressed his body against hers, Edith realized it was possible. His manhood, now firmly *rect, pressed between her damp legs. 

It was such a… strange sensation. Even trying not to imagine it, the scene of it forcing its way into her body came to mind.

Even when he’d pushed his fingertips in, that foreign feeling had been vivid. Something that large… and hard at that, spreading her open and entering… 

Edith was deeply worried about what would happen next. She drew in a deep breath.