Breeding Season - Chapter 5
“Not that there’d be any man who’d want to violate someone like you, but still. If you do that, they’ll all fall for you.”
Her sister treated her like a living doll. On bad days, she would hit and torment her. On good days, she would throw out words like these—not because she expected a response, but as if she were vomiting up all the filth and depravity she couldn’t confess before God.
And so, unwillingly, Siren came to learn about ‘that act.’
“Knights get even more excited after a battle or a match. They always seek out women. If you let them do it then, they’ll lick your feet.”
She could only hope Angelique’s words were true. She didn’t know exactly what to do, but she could infer what kind of posture she should take.
‘If I stay still, does that mean I’m allowing it?’
She didn’t know. Well, it wasn’t as if she knew much of anything. Siren, used to despising herself, quietly placed a hand on the man’s shin. He had said he would sleep, that they would spend the first night together. He had told her to act cute.
Then this was probably the right thing to do. Her hand moved little by little toward the man’s center. Then, near his thigh, she felt something long and thick. For a moment, she wondered if he had hidden a club there.
Touching his thigh directly was too frightening, so she hesitantly trailed her fingers along the club-like object, assuming his manhood would be at the center. And that was when—
“Oh, you’re doing that on purpose.”
The dumbfounded tone made Siren freeze in place. Now, pulling her hand away would be awkward, and moving it forward would be just as bad. Hesitating and gauging his reaction, she felt his baffled gaze scorch her cheek.
“Do you even know what you just touched?”
“A club…?”
The moment she timidly answered, the man let out a scoffing laugh. Somehow feeling unfairly treated, she curled her fingers into a fist, pressing the soft flesh of her palm out of habit. If someone taught her, she could learn well.
She had learned the southern language even before her younger brother. That was why she had been able to beg for her life earlier and why she could now understand and respond to his words. So if her answer was wrong, he should tell her the right one.
Maybe it was because they had lain in the same bed for a few hours, and the usurper had become somewhat familiar to her. Or maybe she had simply lost her mind from fear.
‘He’s the butcher who slaughtered my blood family, so I should hate him, and yet… No matter how I think about it, I don’t feel any hatred at all.’ To her, this man was a liberator. She wasn’t sure if he was her savior.
“You’re so dull-looking, and your answers are just as dull.”
The man took another look at Siren’s face. Her small hands, which had been fidgeting on his belongings, seemed as though a bird had perched on them.
To be honest, he wasn’t turned on at all; if anything, it was more of an itch. But he threw a mischievous comment anyway.
“Because you were fiddling with it, it got hard. Are you going to take responsibility?”
“……!”
Three seconds. It took Siren that long to understand the meaning of his words. The man, watching her complexion first turn white and then blue, realized that her eyes were, in fact, blue.
Her jet-black hair covered her face as if it were a vine, so it was hard to see clearly, but her eyes were large and round. They were blue, like the sea.
‘Eyes that seem like they’d taste salty if I saved them.’
They weren’t really his type. Eyes that had cried so much their salt had dried were dangerous. He knew that from experience his late sister had had those eyes. No, wait. What am I thinking? She wasn’t my sister.
“…How old are you?”
The fact that he spoke casually was a bit of a problem. For some reason, it felt familiar, which was why he had brought her here alive. In reality, he had no intention of treating her as a wife.
He had already gotten her to sign the marriage vows, so it didn’t matter what kind of treatment she got from here on out.
His subordinates were violent. They were filled with hatred for the people of Wilkeron, so there was no way they would treat the princess of that dynasty with respect.
She was a prisoner who maintained her status for convenience. That was the extent of the original plan. But why had he kept her by his side? The man couldn’t understand his own choice.
What made it even more confusing was… the fact that he had actually fallen asleep, even if only for a moment. If the woman hadn’t touched him, he might have stayed asleep the whole time.
‘I just lay down to rest for a bit.’
I can sleep.
So deeply, without even realizing that I fell asleep. He couldn’t believe it because it was absurd. He decided to deny what had just happened.
However, another part of him, lurking inside, did not deny the miracle.
