Pherenike - Chapter 34

In her dream, she saw Deucalion, not Actor, penetrating her body.

She dreamt of wandering nights in the desert with him, happily trapped under the veil of his silver hair. She cherished his boyish smile when she touched his cheek, looking at his strong body. She just gazed at him endlessly. She smiled, feeling his nose nuzzle her stomach and his lips explore her chest.

Illusions always appear more perfect than reality. Suddenly, she felt her hips lifted into the air as Actor penetrated her more deeply. Deucalion completely vanished.

Pherenike bit her lip. Actor paid no heed to this.

He pushed his thumb into her mouth, prying it open while simultaneously filling her stomach deeply. A moan of physical burden escaped her, hinted with an undeniable pleasure.

“Uht…”

Actor never missed even the smallest clue. According to his plain assessment, Pherenike was not a wife who readily expressed herself in bed. That’s why he reacted even to the slightest sounds brushing past her lips.

Suddenly, her knees were pressed down touching the bed. Her lower body was lifted along with her backside.

Ah, ah… Pherenike buried her face into the pillow and muffled her faint moans. Actor barely withdrew and thrust deeply into her, staying embedded with his tip into her.

Pinned down like a stuffed butterfly, she felt him climax inside her.

It was always the most humiliating moment.

Pherenike slowly pushed him away. Unlike usual, instead of backing off, he lightly kissed her arm. The true hatred of reality often came at such moments. Suddenly. When she was defenseless without any shield.

It was fine to surrender her body like a prostitute. It felt better to treat the act as a transaction. Standing naked and spreading her legs in front of him had been bearable from the start. She had given everything real to Deucalion.

But the man looked at her with inadvertently soft eyes, as if she was a lover he had allowed to be by his side. She could not bear the face of the enemy who put his lips on her body and examined her.

Pherenike pushed him further away, concealing her deep hatred.

She simply turned her eyes away, maintaining a certain line and distance as always. Actor then familiarly withdrew.

Such things were natural for people of their origin. Considering the start of their marriage, it was not at all strange.

They had spent several years together as husband and wife. Still, everything remained indifferent before bed, and even their physical closeness in bed was just a matter of bodily proximity.

Actor never wanted more. His original interest was always her body, simply taking her in a convenient and pleasing manner instead of inflicting a grand humiliation by toying with his old fiance or weighing his brother’s life against her.

As if acquiring a wife was just another expected part of life.

Since childhood, he had shown no enthusiasm or interest in his own marriage. At least, that’s how Pherenike perceived it. Their engagement, forced by his father, was always nothing more than a source of irritation for him.

Just as Pherenike always found his presence to be a thorn under her nail, Actor generally found her presence bothersome. The proof of this was his eagerness to rid himself of his marriage responsibilities as soon as his father fell ill.

When exactly did the young girl he found so annoying begin to appear as a woman in his eyes? Pherenike couldn’t pinpoint that moment. In any case, for him, marriage was something that could be abandoned with her or resumed with her.

He didn’t expect much from a wife he obtained so casually. Even if it had been another woman and not Pherenike, it wouldn’t have been much different. In bed, he might have been sometimes savage or gentle, but he was mostly courteous, but never expecting any emotional attachment.

Actor too was not a man to lay his heart bare. There would never come a day when he would pour out all he had and kneel at the feet of a woman.

Nevertheless, Pherenike was, in appearance, a faithful wife. She never once rejected his advances to bed. As that was the initial superficial agreement.

Deucalion, as they all knew, was still alive, ruling over the lands of Paetusa. Even after the death of his father and the ascension of his half-brother to the throne. This was quite unusual for the Pelagon royal family, given they were not full brothers.

Beneath this superficial agreement, there was another, hidden purpose, like a dagger concealed behind the clothes.

She also made efforts outside the bedroom. As Actor had often commented, she might not have been skilled at pleasing men, but she was consistent. They might not have been affectionate, but she always held on to what she could do as his wife.

She never did anything to arouse suspicion or show any folly. Even with the sanctuary behind her, she didn’t exert undue influence over his people or antagonize him in any way.

After all, being too kind or too harsh to a man could arouse suspicion in someone like Actor.