Chapter 95

“You keep misunderstanding something, but what we do is originally a noble and beautiful act of creating new life. Isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“So naturally, it should be based on mutual affection and respect… Even if you don’t know the former, shouldn’t you uphold the latter? Then, does not sleeping beside me mean disrespecting me?”

Rezette couldn’t help but maintain a hint of a smile on his face.

“So I’m truly an inadequate and rude husband.”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Not at first, but lately, yes.” Elise’s candid agreement to his joking remark caught Rezette off guard. “Because you have such a casual attitude, the baby isn’t coming to us.”

“It’s not a casual attitude.”

“Lies.”

“There’s no reason to lie.”

However, Elise seemed skeptical, and Rezette didn’t offer further excuses. He didn’t feel the need to explain that to him, the child was almost like her handcuffs or chains that would bind her.

“Earlier, I meant I don’t want to fall asleep next to anyone. Not just you, Elise. Anyone in the world.”

Dragons have divided phases of activity and hibernation. It wasn’t a big problem to live without sleep. He slept deeply and for long periods once he closed his eyes.

There was no aversion to sleep itself, but the problem arose upon waking. Before the armor-like reason returned, the dragon’s nature would be exposed vulnerably. Rezette summarized briefly.

“You never know what might happen while I’m asleep. There are plenty of precedents.” When he didn’t know this fact, Rezette often woke up in a bed full of blood. Therefore, Rezette usually synchronized the timing of sleep and the onset of madness. It was better to explode all at once.

After a considerable amount of time had passed, extreme outbursts upon waking up were no longer a common occurrence. So, the reluctance to seek someone’s company for sleep was primarily due to psychological factors. Rezette was all too aware of the revulsion that came with waking up in someone else’s sticky, blood-soaked bedding; it was an experience he found indescribably disgusting.

The mere thought of Elizabeth’s blood was something he dared not even entertain in his dreams. However, because he hadn’t fully disclosed his feelings, Elizabeth’s deductions veered slightly off track.

“It seems like you’ve fallen asleep next to another woman and been attacked,” Elizabeth remarked.

“There have been times I couldn’t push them away,” Rezette admitted.

“Genovia Irrien?”

Rezette didn’t outright deny it. It was true that he had unexpectedly received a kiss from her. Meanwhile, Rezette’s attention had been wandering towards Elizabeth’s enticing collarbone for a while now. Her embrace seemed to accentuate her curves, making her even more alluring.

It would be even better if her neckline got a little wet…

But Elizabeth’s words pulled him back to reality. “There’s no one else but me,” she affirmed, her voice small yet resolute. “No matter how you used to live before, the only woman you can freely indulge in now is me. Someone who… can embrace you like this, as if there’s no one else but you.”

Rezette fell silent, caught off guard.

“And probably in the future too, forever.”

At that moment, any distance between them and the bedroom was forgotten.

Elizabeth’s voice resonated with clarity, her words flowing smoothly.

“The essence of what I’m trying to convey is my concern for your irregular sleeping patterns compared to mine. I worry that you might be sacrificing your own rest for my sake,” she expressed gently. However, Rezette seemed to remember something, muttering something under his breath. 

“I’m also curious about your sleep habits… What?” Elizabeth paused, her attempt to ease Rezette’s guard falling short. A lone question hung heavily in the dimly lit space.

“Didn’t the doctor mention today being a good day for intimacy?”

“Ah…” Elizabeth’s eyelids fluttered at the abrupt inquiry. Dangerous days…

Freya’s warning about her fertile period starting today echoed in her mind. It was something Rezette couldn’t overlook. With a gentle touch, he lifted her from his embrace and stood her on the ground near a small window. The marks of their previous encounter adorned her body, sending shivers down her spine. Anxious, Elizabeth toyed with her abdomen.

Is it safe?

Just this morning, she had received a diagnosis about her body’s difficulty in conception, and she had recently ingested contraceptive tea. Even to her own eyes, Elizabeth knew she wasn’t in the best physical condition right now.

But still, there’s a chance, and if I reject it, I might be pushed away…

However, as a beam of sunlight poured in from the distant window, casting a slanting light onto Rezette’s face, she found herself captivated by the intensity in his already fervent, brightly lit eyes. At that moment, she had nowhere to escape as Rezette leaned down to whisper in her ear while gently caressing her upper body.

“Say you want it.”

“What…”

“Me.”

His knees pressed firmly between hers as his hand, tracing the curve from her waist to her hips, staked its claim on the vulnerable space between them.

“As much as I want you, you want me too.”

“Ah…” Elizabeth’s lips parted, a breathless sigh escaping her. Surprise flickered briefly before she acquiesced, nodding in agreement. It had become instinctual for her stomach to tighten and her body to respond eagerly to his touch. She now recognized that feeling him intimately, without pause, eased the aftermath.

In this realm of pure physical sensation, distractions vanished. The chaos and intensity only served to liberate Elizabeth further. After screams verging on hoarseness and tears shed, exhaustion would bring clarity, enabling rational judgment to return.

It was bound to happen again, she realized, as she writhed and surrendered her body to his touch, sensing something shift in Rezette’s gaze.

In one swift motion, he lifted her and pressed her against the wall. Gasping for air, Elizabeth clung to him, her body tensing with the need to hold on. Amidst the pressure, Rezette let out a short laugh.

“I could release you, Elizabeth.”

“Don’t say that… please.”

“Why not? I am nothing more than an inadequate husband, after all.”

“It was a slip of the tongue… Rezette, I feel like I’m losing my balance…”

“Then, find another way to express it.”

Despite knowing he wouldn’t accidentally drop her, Elizabeth suddenly felt a wave of terror. The space beneath the dimly lit staircase stretched like a gaping abyss. Rezette’s arms encircled her waist as her legs dangled in mid-air, causing her to whimper.

“Don’t… ah… it’s… too much…”

“Too much? What do you mean by ‘too much’?”

“Everywhere I go, you… you’re suddenly so… arous*d!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t be effortlessly beautiful everywhere you go.”

“Rezette, this place is too risky… Ah!”

“Stop acting so provocatively.”

Her white silk nightgown, now bunched around her waist, fluttered with each movement. With sudden force, Elizabeth gasped for air, feeling a surge of tension as if her lower half hadn’t yet fully surrendered. Rezette’s warm breath caressed her collarbone.

“Ha…”

Then, he thrust against her forcefully, pinning her to the wall. Sharp sensations shot through her, leaving her struggling to catch her breath. The sound of moisture echoed strangely in her hypersensitive nerves.

Struggling to focus her blurry vision, Elizabeth saw his face contorted in fierce desire, his lips grazing hers.

“Elizabeth… Relax your body. It’s too cramped here, you might get hurt.”

Though he seemed to be speaking, his words drowned in the whirlwind of sensations. Elizabeth was consumed by a strange blend of pain and pleasure, a moment where words and emotions held no boundaries.

“Re.. Rezette.”

Unintended words fought to escape her lips. If not now, she feared she might never find the courage to speak them.

Before her stood the man whose desire seemed reserved solely for her, evident in his ragged breath, blurred gaze, tightly clenched jaw, and perspiring, trembling frame. In this moment of intense craving and dangerously peaking pleasure, every aspect of him overwhelmed her.

It was all too much.

Too much…

“…I enjoy it…”

At Elizabeth’s confession, Rezette paused, suspicion clouding his features.

“What did you say just now?”

“I enjoy it. Yes, I enjoy it…”

The meaning behind ‘enjoying it’ remained ambiguous. As Rezette halted his movements, leaving her body bereft of stimulation, Elizabeth weakly squirmed.

“Don’t stop…”

“What’s enjoyable about it? Tell me what you truly desire, and I’ll fulfill your wishes.”

“You…”

“Me?”

Finally voicing a sentiment long buried in her heart, Elizabeth barely managed a nod. Rezette’s expression twisted in disbelief. Me? There’s no way she could like that.

Yet, her tear-filled voice swiftly dispelled his doubts like wildfire spreading across dry grass.

“It’s difficult because I like you.”

“……”

“If only you had said you loved me… everything would have been different…”