Episode 15
After I spoke, I shut my eyes tightly.
When Amoide heard the words, he just laughed in a fake way.
“Since we could die today or tomorrow, I guess we should leave children and grandchildren quickly.”
His voice was cold and emotionless. I felt my body shrank.
“So, is tonight the big night?”
His blue eyes looked over at me slowly.
I was wearing a thin, fluttery nightgown that was appropriate for the first night. This made me feel a little self-conscious, so I huddled closer to myself.
“Today is a good day to get pregnant, the doctor said.”
Did he say nothing else? The doctor also gave me a special medicine that was said to help me get pregnant, and the diet was made up of only things that are good for getting pregnant.
Before tonight, I had been like that for a week.
“What else?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
I paused because I didn’t know what he wanted.
“Is that all that they taught you?”
He smiled and the corner of his lips raised.
“This is…”
I went through each event of the past week in my mind. Eating healthy food and taking your medicine as prescribed…
“There were some other things, too.”
“Like what?”
“Like the food I eat, positions, and everything else like that…”
When I was nervous, I mumbled.
“Apart from that.”
“…”
I just looked at my fingers because I didn’t understand what he was asking.
What kind of answer is he looking for?
“You know what the important thing is?”
His sleepy voice kept coming back to me. That voice made me remember ‘something’ I had learned in the past week, even though I had learned it from a special teacher.
It was important information for a couple to learn before they got together.
“I guess you didn’t learn?”
His voice got a little quieter.
They did, of course. I looked at books with all kinds of pictures and listened to explanations…
“…”
As soon as I thought about what I had seen back then, my face turned red.
<Amoide is weak. You should start things off. Don’t put too much stress on his body.>
I also thought of Camilla’s voice.
<Stop right away and tell others if he shows any signs of an attack. And don’t get too excited. It’s more than just a simple pleasure. It is a very important “duty” to keep the Ifrit Duke’s family alive.>
As each of Camilla’s words came back to me, my face got hotter.
I could tell my face was on fire even though I hadn’t touched it.
“That’s so sweet. Raymond and my mom put in a lot of work.”
His voice was full of clear mocking, as if he already knew.
“Come over here.”
Amoide put out his hand into the air. I took a few steps back because of what he did.
“Why?”
His sleepy voice was relaxing in a way that was annoying.
“…”
As I moved away, he looked at me from head to toe, smiled, and smiled.
“This isn’t why you came, is it? To have a child whose father could die at any time.”
That was right. Even so, it was true.
I don’t think I was ready enough. I didn’t even notice that my legs were shaking.
I had only read about it and heard about it. I had never done it myself. It was natural to be afraid.
“Don’t you want to?”
When he asked, he looked like he didn’t care.
But I still couldn’t get away. I couldn’t ever give up.
I made my way slowly over to where he was sitting.
It was very embarrassing to walk one step at a time.
When I was almost there and stood in front of the bed, he asked, “What did my mother teach you?”
He looked up at me with his head tilted.
I wanted to get away from his eyes, which looked at my shaking legs and hands and my red face.
“Try out what you’ve learned.”
“…” What should I do? I couldn’t even move my head, and making eye contact was hard.
At that moment, everything I had learned and remembered up to that point was completely useless.
“Can’t you do it?”
He mocked me with his voice.
“I… I am.”
My body was shaking so much that it could be seen.
I was very, very afraid.
Even though he was very beautiful, I was with a man I had just met for the first time today.
My deep-down fear suddenly came to the surface, and for a moment, I couldn’t think straight.
“I mean, I…”
I almost cried. My hands squeezed the skirt so hard that it hurt.
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward him.
“…”
In a flash, I was lying below him and looking up at him.
Both of my wrists were held and pushed down by his hands, like a butterfly that had been caught.
“Uh, I…”
I turned my hands in every direction, but they wouldn’t move.
“You know what happens when a husband and wife or a man and a woman are alone in a room with the door shut, right?”
His body came close to mine and pressed against it.
He spoke quietly into my ear, and his breath was hot and heavy.
“I bet my mother taught you everything with the help of all the connections she had.”
I took a deep breath as I looked into his eyes, which were lit up by a cold blue light.
My throat was tight with a fear I had never thought of.
“Everything, including what you should do and how you should react.”
He looked over my face slowly, like a snake watching a mouse.
“Oh, did they really send you into my bedroom without any experience? Just depending on what you’ve learned from books? Huh?”
Practical experience? What in the world did he mean?
“I, I, I am, Your Grace… Huh.”
Just as I was about to say something, one of the hands that had been holding my arms moved down and landed on my neck.
Maybe he wants to kill me.
“No, no, Your Grace, please don’t hurt me. Please…”
I fought and kicked my legs.
“You don’t seem to know where you belong. To me, you’re just a sacrifice I’m making tonight.”
I heard echoes of a scary voice.
“If I kill you and get rid of you, mother will just buy me another girl. If I kill that girl, another one will come…”
I grabbed the hand on my neck with the hand I had just freed.
Even though he didn’t use any force, I had trouble breathing, as if someone was already choking me.
“Stop, please…”
My eyes filled with tears, which ran down my face. But no matter how hard I tried to move my arms and legs, I couldn’t beat his strength.
‘He should be sickly and weak!’
I let out an inner scream.
I thought back to how Camilla always said, ‘’My son is weak and sickly.’’
“Please…”
I tightened my grip on his hand and looked up at my ‘husband.”’
His eyes were fixed on me. They were shining with a cold blue light.
“…”
All of a sudden, I felt less weight on my body. After a moment, he let go of my hand, and I quickly got to my feet.
“Ugh… Hah…”
I passed out on the bedroom floor and tried to catch my breath.
When he looked down at me, my body shrunk on its own.
“Get out.”
“…”
“I said get out.”
“Your Grace.”
“Do you not hear me? Get out!”
“I can’t,” I said.
I grabbed his leg and held on to it as soon as he tried to get up.
“Your Grace, please. I… you need to make love to me tonight. It’s an absolute must.”
Only then could I get the money I was promised and keep my siblings safe. If this is how it ends, I won’t gain anything.
“Why do we need to do that?”
He made fun of himself with his voice.
“What? That’s why, that’s why…”
I was about to speak, but I quickly shut my mouth.
‘I can’t let him know.’
In the deal with Camilla, it was very clear.
If party B tells a third party about the deal between party A and party B, party B must pay a fine.
Money. Money was more scary than anything else.
Once I told my ‘husband’ about this deal, everything would be over. “I can only be a real duchess if I do this,” I told myself.
I tried to get the words out. As he listened, Amoide’s face showed he didn’t like what he was hearing.
“I don’t want to lose my place. If you take another wife, it’s not a big deal for you, but if I’m kicked out, I have nowhere to go.”
Words came out of my mouth even though I didn’t mean to. I spat out the rest of the words with my eyes tightly shut.
“Then if you must, kill me. I cannot leave.”
I didn’t really think he would kill me. Even as I said those words, I had a hope that wasn’t true. Then, however…
“…”
Screech.
I slowly turned my head when I heard metal on metal.
When I saw what he had drawn, I got scared and moved away.
Even in the dark, the sharp silver glow of metal was easy to see.
He took out a knife with a sharp, cold blue edge.
“I…”
I put my hand over my mouth and looked at the knife. I stopped moving.
He got up slowly and walked toward me. As I looked at him, the room was filled with a cold blue light.
I didn’t like how my jaw was clenched and my body was still.
Is he going to try to kill me? No, this was still too much.
“Please, spare me.”
As I moved back on my hands and feet, I lowered my head even more.
Even though I had agreed to get married, it was too much for me to be killed on our wedding night.
When he saw how pathetic I was, his eyes, which used to be filled with a fierce light, sparkled and he laughed.
“You’re so scared, but you’re going into the bedroom of a man you’ve never met?”
I could still hear his frightening words.
