Chapter 21 Marital Rights
“I’m surprised that you said that first… So, may we perform the marriage right now?”
The man spoke in a creepily casual tone, running his long fingers down her spine.
Delphine shuddered at the strange, unfamiliar sensation that ran through her toes.
But the man’s metallic body didn’t flinch.
“I assume you’ve prepared yourself for this provocation.”
The words signaled the beginning.
The man thrust his body against Delphine’s like a tidal wave.
Delphine was thrown about like she’d never been thrown before, barely able to keep her feet on the ground.
“No, stop, what…”
She needs to take his shirt off. And she needs to check his back.
But his resolve evaporated all too easily as the man’s fiery hands roamed over every inch of his body.
His shirt, on the other hand, was as unmoving as the man’s eyes.
In a provocation that began with impulse, she was the one who ended up disheveled.
“Please, stop…”
Despite her desperate pleas, his hand continued to trace the curve of her waist.
Delphine gasped and sobbed, unable to hold it in any longer.
“Please, I’m sorry… Let go, let go.”
She thought he’d let go right away.
The movement stopped immediately, but the large, heat-radiating hand never left her body.
Neither did his arm, which remained firmly around her waist.
Looking up at the man staring down at her with eerily calm eyes, Delphine finally swallowed her pride and pleaded one more time.
“Stop, please stop… Please, no…”
Finally, with a suffocating gasp, his body, which had been wrapped around her, broke away.
Delphine flopped down on the bed, dazed and dizzy from the sensation.
The man, whose excitement had worn off a bit, looked at her with a complicated expression.
“…I’ll go clear my head.”
He turned his back and left the room.
The door to the quarters closed behind him.
Delphine sat alone on the bed, breathing heavily that wouldn’t calm down.
Her shoulders and white thighs bared through her half-off nightgown.
Delphine laughed bitterly as she realized what a mess she had made of herself in an instant.
This is what she gets for provoking a beast without the proper preparation.
It was unthinkable to her old self.
“Delphine Pembroke. What are you?”
She laughed bitterly once more, her emotions too complex for words.
And that night, he never returned to the bedroom.
***
It would be some time before Delphine would be ‘ready’.
What she’d done that night was unlike anything she’d ever heard of.
‘That strange feeling I had when he pressed his body close to mine.
‘That’s the kind of thing you should share with a… man.’
She urged not to provoke him without being prepared.
It was easy for Delphine to see that the man would never stop.
She stripped off his clothes to see his back, what if he couldn’t stop?
What if it turned out he wasn’t really Ioan, what then?
Would she be able to share such an act with a man as herself?
Could she put the scene of her father’s throat being cut by his hands out of her head?
In the meantime, time passed quickly, and before she knew it, winter was upon her.
Delphine had stopped going for her daily walks in the garden.
The sight of the fragile flowers swaying in the cold breeze gave her an unfamiliar feeling.
A man who plants flowers in his garden until just before winter for his own sake.
But she still couldn’t figure out who he was.
The enemy of her father and her family.
She doesn’t know what to call this feeling that no longer frightens him or disgusts him.
“The ‘mania’ that heralds winter will be here soon, Lady.”
The man who had spent the morning with her spoke up.
He never touched Delphine again after that day.
He was as polite and gracious as ever.
Delphine had the impression that the mask he wore had only grown stronger since the incident.
“Ah, yes. I’ll have to tell Wilson to finish preparing for winter.”
Delphine replied weakly as she stirred her share of stew.
Winter in the Empire always comes suddenly, with a blizzard.
The maddening blizzards that mark the beginning of winter are called ‘mania’ by the Imperials.
The man who had been watching her carefully added cautiously.
“When winter comes, socializing will be impossible… Would you like to invite some acquaintances over for a tea party or something?”
Delphine shook her head in silence.
After a moment’s hesitation, he adds.
“… So, let’s throw a party to cheer ourselves up, and tell Wilson to make it as grand as possible.”
Again, Delphine simply shook her head.
Then impatience flashed across the man’s face.
Delphine stared at him, unmoving.
She knew he cared about her, given her recent silence.
Why is he being so nice to her, that man.
He’s a great hero, and there’s no reason for him to be so coddled by a traitor’s daughter.
He doesn’t even take himself…
Delphine shut her eyes tightly for a moment, the dizzying memories of that day rushing back to her.
The man who had been staring at her with a sullen expression slowly parted his lips.
“Lady. Are you… happy in this mansion?”
Delphine opened her closed eyes and looked at the man in disbelief.
Superimposed on his face was the boy who had disappeared three years ago.
“Lady. Are you happy?”
Why did that man look so much like Ioan, that boy.
Thud-.
Delphine jumped out of her seat.
The wine on the table spilled and soaked the white tablecloth.
Delphine stared at the red liquid with trembling eyes as it slowly stained the white cloth, then spoke in a trembling voice.
“I think I’ll go upstairs now… I’m feeling a little unwell.”
Delphine left the man staring at her and headed for her quarters.
***
The decision came surprisingly quickly.
‘I can’t live like this anymore.’
Sitting in his study, Delphine glanced out the window.
Everyone was busy preparing for winter.
Smoked and dried food was being prepared for long term storage, and blankets and outerwear were being stuffed with down.
While everyone was busy, she felt like she was the only one stuck in late summer.
She remembered the day her father’s throat was cut.
It’s not worth it to survive as it is.
Trapped in the memory of that day, unable to move forward, unable to go back.
If the madness comes soon, she will be trapped in the mansion, alone with him.
But first, she must check.
The man, Ioan Pride’s back.
If it was all a delusion on her part, she was prepared to endure whatever happened next.
That is, to face the man who had cut her father’s throat.
‘It’s not like he doesn’t want me.’
That was something she knew best, having met him every night.
A quick question to Anna revealed that not all men are in that state every day.
So he, too, must have reached a point where his abstinence had become too much to bear.
“I’m sure he’s prepared himself for this provocation.”
Delphine clenched her fists.
Yes. The determination you spoke of. It was finally here.
Tonight, Delphine was willing to stand at the crossroads.
Either she would admit it was all a delusion and embrace him, or…
and discover the identity of the strange man.
***
Late at night.
Delphine stood by the window instead of lying in bed.
She stared at the full moon for a long time.
It was a decision she had made because she often stayed awake until a man entered her quarters, then fell asleep at the first sign of his arrival.
Tonight, she mustn’t fall asleep in vain.
It’s been a long time since the moon has risen, and he’s been unusually late getting home.
Perhaps it would be better to ask him to come home a little earlier tonight, so they could talk in the morning.
As she stood by the window, the early winter breeze was chilling.
Just as her legs were beginning to ache, she heard someone walking down the corridor.
The sound of regular, measured footsteps.
Delphine could now identify her husband’s gait.
The door opened.
He was not at all surprised to find her standing at the window looking at him.
“Well. You can’t sleep, Lady.”
That was all he said.
The door closed.
“Go back to bed, and you will sleep.”
With that, the man began to unbutton his uniform, one button at a time.
Suddenly, he no longer reeked of blood, even when he returned home late.
In fact, he had a curiously absent odor.
Even when she snuggled up close and buried his face in his arms.
A man would smell a little bit of flesh, wouldn’t he?
Swallowing the question she hadn’t dared to ask Anna, Delphine moved slowly toward the man.
The candles were already lit, but the moonlight was brighter.
“Lady…?”
He asked softly, sensing something was out of the ordinary.
Instead of answering the question, Delphine placed her hand on the back of his large, undressed hand.
The bumpy knuckles and sinewy tendons contrasted strangely in the moonlight with his own hands, thin and slender as if they had never done a single chore.
“Determination.”
Delphine looked at her clasped hands and whispered a word in a low voice.
“It’s done.”
