When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 8

‘He told me to do as I please, but……’

Gideon grabbed her arm as it was about to slip down his neck. Then he lowered his shoulders and neck a bit more, drawing closer to her.

He still didn’t say anything, but even she could understand well enough that this meant not to unwrap her arms.

However, Tatiana asked as if to confirm. Just…… because she was curious about what he would say.

“……What’s wrong?”

“I feel…… a bit……”

“……”

“It’s nothing.”

Gideon shook his head lightly as if trying to shake something off. His hair swayed gently above his eyebrows.

His platinum hair, bathed in moonlight, was as noble and beautiful as ever. Like an angel. But his eyes, which had been like ice shards, were now a darker shade than usual.

Tatiana wanted to observe this change a bit more, but she couldn’t.

Because Gideon buried his face in her neck again.

“Ah…… there……”

It’s not painful, but it’s not comfortable either. If you ask her if it’s enjoyable, it’s not, but if you ask her if she dislikes it, that doesn’t seem right either.

Tatiana thought she might be becoming strange.

Perhaps because of this, the moans escaping her lips were endlessly strange and sensual.

Tatiana decided not to hold back those sounds anymore. Didn’t he say it too? To do as she pleased, as she felt comfortable.

But in reality, Gideon was barely holding something back right now. He had been in this state ever since she wrapped her arms around his neck.

And as she let out small nasal sounds bit by bit, he gripped the sheet fiercely.

It was the exact same spot where Tatiana had created wrinkles just a few minutes ago. ……Did she feel like this earlier?

Gideon tossed aside the white cloth from his grasp and cupped Tatiana’s cheek.

Unlike how he roughly handled the bedsheet, this was a rather restrained gesture. Then his lips, which had been tracing her collarbone, traveled up her neck to her jawline.

At the same time, his fingers circled her earlobe and probed her tiny, pitch-black ear canal. As if he wanted to push his fingertip all the way to her eardrum.

And Gideon’s lips, which had been hovering around her chin, finally moved towards Tatiana’s mouth.

Tatiana’s lips were dry, only swallowing saliva, as if mimicking his lewd lips that were covered in saliva from marking his territory.

Gideon moistened those parched lips several times as if raining upon them, and impatiently licked them.

“……Haa.”

Now, there were no 16 and 13-year-old boy and girl on this bed anymore.

A belated realization of their first kiss and an uncontrollable heat.

Gideon, engulfed in that heat, abruptly slipped his hand under the hem of her clothes.

He hadn’t meant to do this from the first day. Inwardly mocking himself that his body wasn’t listening to him.

Gritting his teeth that things weren’t going according to plan.

As expected. Tatiana, intoxicated by the kiss, opened her eyes slightly at the touch of his hand invading her clothes.

If she had shown even the slightest sign of reciprocation, he wouldn’t have stopped.

He couldn’t have.

But the moment their gazes met in the darkness.

“……”

“……”

Tatiana froze as if greatly surprised by something.

Gideon belatedly avoided her gaze and turned his head towards the wall. Then, rubbing his face and regulating his breathing, he eventually moved away from her body completely.

Tatiana blinked at the ceiling for a long time with her hand on her lips.

What surprised her now wasn’t the daze of her first kiss or the hand that had grasped her soft flesh without permission. It was his eyes that she had unexpectedly met.

‘Just now, his eyes…… seemed to be rolling, didn’t they?’

No matter how skilled Gideon was at managing his expressions, one’s gaze was inherently something that couldn’t be hidden. Moreover, she thought she even heard the sound of him grinding his teeth as he got up.

Tatiana wanted to check once more, so she looked at him lying beside her. But Gideon had already placed his arm over his eyes.

Unable to shake off the strange feeling, Tatiana curled up with her back to Gideon. Then she glanced back again and opened her mouth.

She knew it was unnecessary to say, but she found it difficult to just let this awkward and embarrassing atmosphere pass. Because she felt somewhat responsible for it too.

She didn’t want to face him tomorrow morning with this uncomfortable feeling.

“……Your Highness.”

“What is it.”

“Is this really how we’re supposed to get closer?”

“I don’t know either. I told you it’s my first time.”

“……”

“How about you? Do you feel like you’ve gotten closer to me?”

“I have no idea at all.”

She answered rather curtly, but he seemed to have completely regained his composure now.

Without any sign of feeling hurt or upset, he chuckled and said.

“Then let’s keep trying until you know. Tomorrow, and the day after.”

“……”

“It’s okay, go to sleep now. Quickly. Before I change my mind.”

Tatiana pulled up the blanket with an embarrassed face, wrapping herself tightly as if preparing for a cold wave. However, contrary to his relaxed expression, Gideon’s body heat wasn’t subsiding easily.

Unlike her, he pushed back the blanket and even took off his top. When Tatiana gave him a dubious look, he even provided an explanation.

“It’s not for any other reason, this is just how I usually sleep.”

“……Who said anything?”

Tatiana replied bluntly while fidgeting with the blanket.

She wanted to know if this growing embarrassment was hers alone, but he didn’t seem likely to answer that far.

Just as Tatiana decided to sleep for now and think about it tomorrow, not understanding what was what, Gideon called her again.

“Wife.”

“……What is it?”

“You worked hard today.”

“……”

“With the ceremony, I mean.”

Tatiana stared at him blankly. As if knowing her gaze without looking, Gideon added, ‘Now really go to sleep.’

While he was telling her to sleep comfortably with his words, in reality, it was he who kept interrupting that sleep. But Tatiana couldn’t protest. Somehow, she felt a tingling sensation in her hands and feet.

With all her senses feeling unlike her own today, Tatiana spent a long time lying awake through the night.

* * *

Morning dawns early in the royal palace.

Strictly speaking, complete night never comes to the palace. When someone falls asleep, someone else wakes up. When that person goes back to sleep, another stands guard.

However, even considering all this, it was an extremely early hour now.

The maids were observing the newly appointed princess, and when she woke up at the same time for several days in a row, they all unanimously concluded.

‘So she’s a morning person?’

In fact, Tatiana wasn’t just a morning person, she was more of a dawn person.

But could this diligence be spoken of only as an ideal example and model for others? When the princess wakes up early, the clocks of her staff have to run much faster than that.

It was natural for the maids to feel at a loss, and at the center of them stood an elderly woman who looked particularly thoughtful.

Isabelle Knox.

She was the person designated as the princess’s chief maid and secretary. That means she had a rock-solid career.

But she had one more very unique background besides that.

Isabelle was the wet nurse of Princess Scarlet, Gideon’s half-sister.

In fact, many of the maids here had similar backgrounds. They were all recruited from the Princess’s Palace, essentially Scarlet’s limbs.

If someone were to ask how this situation came about, one would have to answer once again that this wedding was that rushed.

The time given to fill the princess’s staff with new people was woefully insufficient. To make matters worse, Gideon, the culprit of this situation, had an obsession with not easily trusting unverified people.

Fortunately, Princess Scarlet’s maids were quite competent.

However, these veterans had to feel like they were sitting on pins and needles for days. It was because of the princess who neither gave special instructions nor asked any notable questions.

She just looked out the window all day with a very indifferent expression.

And finally today.

Tatiana, sitting neatly on the sofa, finally turned her gaze towards them. People felt inwardly tense but smiled brightly, very artificially, as if to say ‘order us anything’.

But Tatiana turned her gaze back to empty space again, and with that, this awkward silence entered its third day.

“……”

“……”

Have you noticed? That’s right. They were now engaged in a mutual exploration. To figure out what kind of person each other was.

Some might think this way. Even if it’s understandable for the maids, why should Princess Tatiana be mindful of them?

However, whether noble or royal, the desire to keep people who get along well with oneself close is the same. In fact, the royal family was the group that scrutinized this most meticulously.