Chapter 3

Startled, Daniel tried to comfort her. After sobbing for a while, Alice, clutching the teddy bear tightly, whispered in a trembling voice.  

“…Can we not do it? That thing?”  

“What?”  

Alice, tears streaming down her face, gulped and said,  

“I don’t want to do it. Can’t we just not do it?”  

“What? But Alice…”  

Without consummating the marriage, the union would not be valid. Daniel’s heart sank. 

Did she regret marrying me? Was she trying to cancel the marriage…?  

“A-Alice, do you not want to be married to me? Do you want to annul the marriage?”  

His voice trembled as he asked. Alice, startled by his question, quickly shook her head.  

“N-no, Daniel. That’s not it.”  

If Alice broke off the engagement with Daniel, there was a high chance she would end up as one of the King’s consorts. Alice had always said she didn’t want the position of Queen, nor did she want to marry the much older King.  

The Duke, who adored his daughter, had allowed this marriage because it was what Alice wanted. If he had been the type to prioritize the family’s growth over his daughter’s happiness, Alice would have been forced to marry the King, crying all the way to the altar.  

But what if Alice’s heart had already drifted away from Daniel, and she had only chosen him to avoid the King?  

Even if the marriage wasn’t consummated, there had never been a case where a woman who had been in another man’s bridal chamber became a consort.  

Now that the wedding was over, Alice could marry someone else, but at least she would be free from the King’s grasp.  

As his thoughts reached this point, the blood drained from Daniel’s face.  

“Alice, do you have someone else you want to marry?”  

Alice panicked and grabbed both of Daniel’s hands.  

“N-no! Daniel, I like you. I really do. I’m happy to be married to you. I don’t want to annul the marriage.”  

Tears streamed down Alice’s face as she spoke. Her hands, which were holding Daniel’s, trembled slightly.  

“If we do it… it’s supposed to hurt a lot. They say there’s a lot of blood, and you can’t even walk the next morning…”  

Daniel was taken aback by Alice’s words. He had heard rumors too. Women often struggled after their first experience.  

When he remained silent, staring at her, Alice spoke desperately.  

“Can’t we just agree between us that we did it?”  

“…”  

“Mother said I should grit my teeth and endure it even if it hurts…”  

Hearing Alice’s tearful words, Daniel felt dizzy. She was afraid of consummating the marriage.  

‘What kind of education did they give her to make her this scared…?’  

Telling her to grit her teeth and endure it… Never once, in all the times Daniel had imagined their first night, had he envisioned Alice gritting her teeth and enduring it.  

‘This isn’t some kind of assault…’  

What should I do? 

Daniel was flustered. He had never anticipated something like this happening on their wedding night. After all, they had been childhood sweethearts who married for love.  

He had heard of brides refusing to consummate their marriages. In ancient times, women who were forced to marry men they didn’t want would sometimes run away on the first night to claim the marriage was invalid.  

That was why it became a tradition to lock the bridal chamber from the outside on the first night. The room they were in now was also locked from the outside. The door wouldn’t be opened until morning.  

When he thought about it, it was a cruel tradition. Wasn’t it essentially telling the groom to consummate the marriage no matter what, even if the bride cried or resisted?  

Given the societal expectations, no one would blame him if he forced Alice to consummate the marriage, even though she was saying no now.  

Even Alice, who was tearfully begging him now, might eventually accept it if he insisted, thinking it was unavoidable for the sake of validating their marriage.  

But Daniel had no intention of forcing Alice, especially when she was so distressed. Alice meant so much to him.  

He had fallen in love with her from the moment they first met as children. He had endured the disapproving stares of those who thought it was audacious for the son of an Earl to desire the daughter of a Duke, all for Alice’s sake. His unwavering sincerity had eventually reached her heart.  

Even getting engaged had not been easy. He had to endure the Duke’s death glare for months, as if he were some villain.  

Two years ago, after the Queen Consort’s sudden death, he had been on edge, constantly worried that the King might take Alice away from him. He had endured all of that, going through legal procedures to finally marry Alice.  

Now that he had finally become her husband, there was no way he could let this marriage be annulled. But he also couldn’t bring himself to force her.  

‘What should I do…?’  

Lost in thought, Daniel noticed Alice looking at him with teary, pleading eyes. Her innocent, sorrowful gaze, wet with tears, struck a chord in his heart. Daniel sighed and asked her,  

“Alice, you don’t want to annul this marriage, right?”  

“Yes, yes. So, let’s not do it today and just… later…”  

“Alright. Stay here for a moment.”  

Daniel got up from the bed. Leaving behind Alice, who looked at him with a puzzled expression, he stepped out of the bedroom. Before closing the door, he turned to Alice and said,  

“Don’t open the door. Whatever happens, don’t look.”  

Then he shut the door. The bathroom where he had washed earlier was still silent. Picking up the towel he had used to dry himself, Daniel walked to a corner, leaned against the wall, and sat down. The rustling sound of him sitting echoed in the quiet room.  

‘If I do it here, Alice might hear me.’  

Daniel’s cheeks turned red. Covering his face with both hands for a moment, he took a deep breath, then lowered his hands and untied the belt of his robe.  

Knowing what he was about to do, his lower body was already slightly aroused. Pulling open his robe to reveal his n*ked body, he glanced at his semi-er*ect member. Then, he looked toward the closed door that shielded Alice from witnessing this.  

From inside, he could hear the faint rustling of blankets as Alice moved. Suppressing his embarrassment and the warmth rising to his face, he closed his eyes.  

It wasn’t hard for him to imagine Alice’s disheveled appearance. Ever since he was young, every time he had touched himself, he had only ever thought of Alice.  

Her soft golden hair, untied, spilling over the pillow, and Alice lying beneath him, blushing and looking at him with an expression of both shyness and anticipation…