When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 7

If she had to do it, she would, but if asked about her true feelings, even she didn’t know the answer.

And this wasn’t much different from the temperature Tatiana held towards this marriage.

Gideon had proposed to her in a quite one-sided manner.

Like someone saying, ‘I’m thinking of getting married soon, are you free?’

Since Tatiana had accepted, he was willing to accommodate her in all other aspects, but she went even further. Like someone saying, ‘Anytime is fine, you take care of everything.’

The attendants Gideon sent to the Muller household had to return to the castle time and again without any results.

But Gideon had absolutely not proposed on an impulse.

He had contributed to revising the Valter marriage law to prevent her from being entangled with some random family even before she came of age while under the protection of the Muller family.

But if you act like you don’t care either way about the bedroom, if you come with a lukewarm attitude as if telling me to do as I please…

‘Don’t you think I’d feel quite hurt?’

Even if he didn’t cry from feeling so hurt, he was about to feel spiteful.

Gideon kept racking his brains, like a hunter considering his options with prey right in front of him, wondering what to do with her. And after a while, he straightened his narrowed eyes and spoke as if making a suggestion.

He wants her to be emotionally responsible for this marriage and the night’s relationship.

“Wife.”

“Yes?”

“Then let’s try to get closer for now.”

“……How?”

Curious, Tatiana opened her eyes wide.

Her face looked as clear as when she was young, making Gideon curl his lips. But at the same time, he was thinking to himself. How would I know that? I’ve never been close to a woman before.

Instead of answering, Gideon slowly bent down, propping himself up with both hands on either side of her head.

His posture changed to be quite explicit in that one move.

Tatiana hesitated and then squeezed her eyes shut, but soon realized her mistake and regretted it painfully.

If a swordsman closes their eyes in the face of an opponent’s attack, they’ve already lost.

But Tatiana also wants to make an excuse. She had faced all kinds of attacks in duels with active knights until now.

Swords, fists, arrows, throwing stars.

However, this kind of facial attack was a first in Tatiana’s life.

And this new weapon she encountered for the first time was incredibly powerful.

‘It’s really burdensome… when someone so handsome keeps approaching.’

When Tatiana tightly shut her eyes, Gideon stopped mid-approach and chuckled. He thought she might open her eyes slightly if he waited, but she remained motionless.

He lightly pulled down the skin under her eyes with his index finger.

‘If you can’t even open your eyes, why did you pretend to be so brave?’

But the more he did this, Tatiana only stubbornly frowned, so he changed his approach and called her name.

“Tania.”

“……”

As if by magic, Tatiana’s eyelids opened, revealing emerald eyes.

Tatiana seemed surprised by his call. Because ‘Tania’ was a nickname even she hadn’t heard in a long time.

Only two people in this world had called her by that nickname.

Dad, and Mom.

Feeling somewhat strange, Tatiana mumbled her lips and then stared at Gideon.

What did he think was the reason for that bewildered expression? He thought Tatiana wanted to keep the name Tania as a domain only for her parents and herself. So he smiled slightly and immediately suggested another name.

“If you don’t like it, shall I call you Titi?”

“Titi? No, that’s a bit……”

It sounds like a pet name. It also sounds like a cat’s name.

The more she thought about it, the less she liked it, so Tatiana frowned.

But Gideon also thought, after blurting it out, that it really does sound like a cat’s name.

The name seemed to suit Tatiana’s purple-tinged hair and light green eyes quite well. Above all, Gideon became determined to use this name precisely because Tatiana showed such obvious dislike for it.

“Just call me Tania.”

“I’ll think about it some more.”

Gideon nodded halfheartedly at Tatiana’s request and smiled. Soon after, his pure yet chilly face drew close to her again.

Tatiana didn’t squeeze her eyes shut like before. The brief conversation had eased the tension.

But when his face, which she naturally thought would kiss her, moved towards her neck and collarbone, she flinched greatly, lifting her chest upwards.

“Your Highness, what are you doing?”

Gideon spoke with his soft lips pressed against Tatiana’s neckline.

“We agreed to get closer, didn’t we?”

“……Who gets closer like this?”

“Couples probably do this.”

“……”

“Actually, I don’t know well either. You’re my first.”

“……”

“It’s my first marriage too.”

Tatiana just blinked her eyes and then noticed that Gideon was laughing quietly.

And having wiped the lingering smile from his lips, Gideon once again buried his nose in her neck, baring his white teeth as if to savor her scent and taste.

“Ugh……”

Tatiana had already let out a sound, and belatedly clenched her molars tightly. If she didn’t do this, she felt like an even stranger sound than before would leak out.

Gideon continuously licked near her vocal cords. Sometimes he nibbled on her throat, and sometimes he gently chewed on her collarbone as if picking out only the tender flesh.

However, whenever Tatiana’s body stiffened, he quickly released the flesh and only pressed his lips against her skin.

Those lips had an unexpectedly warm and moist temperature.

Is this really how men and women, no, couples get closer? If that’s the case, Tatiana had nothing to say, but this process was more overwhelming for her than she had thought.

The windpipe was a vital point for everyone, second only to the heart. Even beasts bite the nape when hunting other beasts.

And Tatiana was a person skilled in defending and protecting that vital point.

For someone like her, this could only be an extremely unfamiliar experience. Not only was she exposing her vital point to the other person without any filter, but she was also offering it up entirely.

Tatiana thought that if he was going to keep doing this, she wished he would grab her shoulders. It might even be good if he pressed down on her whole body with his weight.

So that she couldn’t struggle.

But while Gideon was intensely teasing Tatiana’s neck, he didn’t restrain any other part of her. He was waiting for her to choose constraint over freedom on her own.

‘It’s ticklish when he keeps licking. I can’t stand it.’

Tatiana gripped the blanket she was lying on tightly and bit her lip until it turned pale.

Her elastic muscles tensed tightly, and her joints visibly protruded.

Only then did Gideon raise his gaze and ask.

“Why are you getting more and more tense, wife?”

“……My hands, my body isn’t listening to me well right now.”

“……”

“I feel like I might make a mistake.”

Right now, she was barely suppressing it with reason, but she might end up flailing her arms wildly. She might unintentionally scratch his face and neck.

What if an unsightly sound escapes her lips?

As if vividly showing that she was trying hard to hold something back, the sheet Tatiana was gripping was full of wrinkles.

Looking down at it, Gideon tilted his lips askew. Then he unfolded Tatiana’s knuckles one by one, making her release the edge of the blanket.

Tatiana’s glossy nails were all smaller than his. Gideon lightly stroked her thumbnail and said.

“Relax and do as you please.”

“I’m telling you I might hurt Your Highness.”

Tatiana was genuinely worried that she might cause bloodshed. However, it wasn’t something to say while bearing reddish-purple bruises on her neck.

The places where Gideon’s lips had passed had turned purple like her hair, looking at first glance like traces of injury. And those marks had already grown to the size of an adult’s palm and were continuing to expand their territory.

Gideon seemed unfazed even after hearing Tatiana’s statement that she might see blood on their wedding night if they weren’t careful. Rather, as if encouraging her, he said.

“I’m telling you to do as you please.”

“……”

“It’s okay. You think I was playing around while you were training hard?”

He nodded as if to say he was confident he could block everything even if she were to start slashing with a knife here.

At that nonchalant response, Tatiana forgot her tension and ended up laughing with a “Pfft.” Then, thinking it would be better than flailing about unsightly, she wrapped her arms around Gideon’s neck.

Tatiana’s hands, which had been futilely gripping the sheet, thus found their place with difficulty.

But Gideon seemed to find her touch sudden. A very shallow furrow appeared between his eyebrows, which had been neat until now.

Although he didn’t say anything, he stared at her so intently that Tatiana considered unwrapping her arms that she had entwined with difficulty.