The princess of Feldif, whom the Emperor had brought, began to raise a snake the same color as her hair.
This sensational news soon spread like wildfire throughout the palace, reaching everyone, from the noble elders to the maids who tended the menial tasks. And the maids gathered at the edge of the wing-shaped palace, west of the palace, were no exception.
Twelve maids sat in a circle in a semicircular study. Each holding a corner of a large cloth large enough to cover an elephant's back, they were embroidering a banner for the memorial service.
After days of night work, they're feeling drowsy even in the middle of the day. One of the maids, yawning profusely, suddenly opens her mouth as if she just remembered something interesting.
“Did you guys hear that story? About the snake the Red Princess raises.”
Nothing was more effective than the act of mouthing to banish the drowsiness that was pulling at one's eyelids. The maids, engrossed in their work, perked up their ears as the Emperor brought her home, arousing their curiosity.
“They say it follows the Princess around like a puppy.”
"Puppy?"
"Yes. As you know, the red snake is free to roam wherever it pleases, but it follows the Princess around like it's on a leash."
“How do you know that?”
“Well, my aunt works at the Sun Palace. I heard about it from her.”
Only the highest-ranking maids, even the most senior, are allowed to freely enter the Emperor's palace, the Sun Palace. The maid's voice, a mixture of bravado and pride, caused the other maids to shrug and show displeasure.
“Well, a snake is a snake. Why would a precious Princess raise a snake? Oh my... I'm scared and disgusted.”
"That doesn't look like a normal snake. My aunt said it behaved as if it understood human speech."
"No way."
"Isn't that a lie?" A look of suspicion rose between the maid's frowning brows. At this response, the chatty maid's face took on a more serious tone.
“Even if it’s true! So I thought about it... Could it be that the Princess uses magic too? Like the Princess.”
How else could that hideous creature follow humans so obediently as a lamb? The other maid, struck by the maid's suspicion that the Red Princess was using forbidden black magic, looked around in shock.
“Huh, black magic... Watch your mouth!”
The maid, her eyes wide as if she were about to strike a nerve, looked around with a prickly gaze. Fortunately, the door to the office remained firmly shut.
“So what I mean is... in a good way.”
“The good side?”
"Just think of what has changed to His Majesty the Emperor. It's been two days since it rained, and can you believe we can now be so peaceful?"
Perhaps fearing punishment, she spoke indirectly, but her point was clear. She was talking about Rahikan's madness. The other maids, sensing this, all lowered their eyes, dumbfounded.
Rahikan's infamous madness was one of the many aftereffects of the Great Fire. Normally calm, his madness intensified during the rainy season, becoming a living curse.
He saw things unseen with open eyes, and heard things unheard with closed ears. Tormented by excruciating fever, he suffered from hallucinations, visions, and auditory hallucinations. Every night, he would sleep with hundreds of poisonous snakes in his arms, and when he opened his eyes, he would act like a demon-possessed man, slaughtering anyone he came across.
On rainy nights, the sound of a long sword scraping the floor behind the Emperor as he walked down the hallway continued until dawn, so naturally, the court ladies who served him could not have been in their right minds.
Dozens of pots simmered daily to drain the blood that fell like rain. Steam billowed from the pots, enveloping the palace in a thick fog, forcing the maids to grope their way along the walls, as if blind.
"That person who used to be like that no longer seeks out the snake palace or burns incense. Instead, he seeks only the Princess. What does that mean?"
“That’s... well... that’s true.”
The Emperor has indeed become incredibly gentle over the past few months. The maid, who had been perplexed for a long time, was suddenly filled with curiosity at the news that his condition, which even the most renowned doctors could not cure, had been cured.
"Leah, don't just listen. Say something. Is it true?"
Unable to contain her curiosity, the maid poked the side of the maid sitting on her right and asked. The maid, with her brown curly hair and freckles, was named Leah. Of all the lower-ranking maids gathered here, she was the only one who had ever seen the princess's face.
At her best maid's urging, Leah silently lifted the edge of a large embroidered cloth.
“Well, I guess I need to revisit this part.”
Perhaps because she had been dozing off while embroidering, the corners where Leah's fingers touched were a mess. The flowers, which should have been delicate crescent-shaped, were half-crushed, and the leaves, crumpled and torn, looked as if they had been eaten by mice.
“How are you going to take responsibility if the embroidery for the memorial service is messed up?”
“Tch, anyway, Leah won’t be able to do any real embroidery work because she’s busy serving the Princess.”
"If you keep doing that, I'll leave. You kept begging me to come help you, and now you're asking me irrelevant questions."
To keep the schedule, even a cat's paw was needed. Leah's light threat caused the maid, who had been opening her mouth, to shut up. The silence that soon followed was the only sound in the spacious, round office, the sound of a silver needle weaving through fabric.
But that was only for a moment, as another question burst out of the maid's mouth, unable to hold back her trembling tongue.
“So... anyway, is it true that His Majesty the Emperor has great favor?”
The topic of conversation, which had been jumping around like a frog, now turned to the Emperor's love for the Princess.
This time, no one reprimanded the maid's question. Eleven pairs of eyes rolled back to Leah, who remained silent once again. Leah, enduring the silent pressure, finally placed the frame in her hands on the floor.
Leah stepped out, her face puffed with disappointment, and the jeers poured down her face.
The narrow gate used by the servants was always crowded with palace attendants coming and going. After winding through the labyrinthine corners, Leah finally reached a secluded garden, unvisited by anyone, before stopping.
She was out of breath from walking briskly. Leah clutched her chest, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. But perhaps because of the humid rainy season air, her anxiously pounding heart didn't calm down, but rather, it pounded faster.
It was only natural. Her anxiety wasn't caused by the humid air or her fast pace.
Is the Emperor's favor so great? Does the Emperor love and cherish the Princess of Feldif?
Leah laughed in vain, recalling the maid's question. The answer to that question was beyond her comprehension.
Leah's job was simple: changing the Princess's bedding. Even then, she worked when the Princess was away, so she only had time to see her for about a day and a half. However, it was enough to understand the relationship between the Emperor and the Princess.
The Emperor's favor was not only immense but also terrifying. Frankly, it seemed as if the Emperor was drowning in love, struggling to keep himself afloat.
If even a lowly maid like her saw it that way, how would he have appeared to the high-ranking officials? It was only natural that all sorts of rumors would circulate in the palace.
Cold lead bit into her dry mouth. As she lay face down, hands on her forehead, a flaming sword slid behind her head with a sharp whirring sound.
By the time she finished the ritual of spitting lead into a bucket of black water, her neck, back, and even her armpits were drenched in sweat.
She told herself it wasn't a big deal, as it was a ritual any servant serving a high-ranking official would undergo. But she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine every time she thought about it. This was especially true when she was serving the Princess, who was cherished like the apple of the eye of the Emperor, who was known for his madness.
“I have to be careful. I just have to do my job well.”
Leah, steeling herself, entered the garden. She passed through a wooden gate and headed further inside. At the end of a path, surrounded by tall bushes like a wall, was the entrance to the underground storage room.
Opening the wheel-shaped lid and descending, the distinctive, cool smell of the underground storage room assaulted her nostrils. This was where all the herbs and spices used in the palace were stored. Leah often visited this storage room in search of a grass that softened fabric.
Leah was rummaging through the herbs in the top drawer when something dark crept silently toward her, tiptoeing. Leah didn't notice anything as the thing, with its forty-nine pairs of legs, approached her, right beneath her shadow.
Beneath its whip-like antennae, its saw-toothed mouth gaped open. With its head erect and its body swaying, the weasel grabbed her calf with a lightning bolt.
Leah's vision darkened after a short scream. The hand that had been gripping the corner of the drawer fell, leaving a long mark on the floor, as if it had been clawed with a rake.
Thin, thread-like hair swayed in the wide, shallow, oval-shaped bathtub. Amidst the black waves, only the naked woman's body stood out, dazzlingly white.
This was the Elder's private residence, and within his palace-like mansion lay several bathtubs modeled after the Serpent's Palace. Unlike Helgatria, who lay reclining against the wall of the enormous tub, the Elder paced restlessly around it.
This sensational news soon spread like wildfire throughout the palace, reaching everyone, from the noble elders to the maids who tended the menial tasks. And the maids gathered at the edge of the wing-shaped palace, west of the palace, were no exception.
Twelve maids sat in a circle in a semicircular study. Each holding a corner of a large cloth large enough to cover an elephant's back, they were embroidering a banner for the memorial service.
After days of night work, they're feeling drowsy even in the middle of the day. One of the maids, yawning profusely, suddenly opens her mouth as if she just remembered something interesting.
“Did you guys hear that story? About the snake the Red Princess raises.”
Nothing was more effective than the act of mouthing to banish the drowsiness that was pulling at one's eyelids. The maids, engrossed in their work, perked up their ears as the Emperor brought her home, arousing their curiosity.
“They say it follows the Princess around like a puppy.”
"Puppy?"
"Yes. As you know, the red snake is free to roam wherever it pleases, but it follows the Princess around like it's on a leash."
“How do you know that?”
“Well, my aunt works at the Sun Palace. I heard about it from her.”
Only the highest-ranking maids, even the most senior, are allowed to freely enter the Emperor's palace, the Sun Palace. The maid's voice, a mixture of bravado and pride, caused the other maids to shrug and show displeasure.
“Well, a snake is a snake. Why would a precious Princess raise a snake? Oh my... I'm scared and disgusted.”
"That doesn't look like a normal snake. My aunt said it behaved as if it understood human speech."
"No way."
"Isn't that a lie?" A look of suspicion rose between the maid's frowning brows. At this response, the chatty maid's face took on a more serious tone.
“Even if it’s true! So I thought about it... Could it be that the Princess uses magic too? Like the Princess.”
How else could that hideous creature follow humans so obediently as a lamb? The other maid, struck by the maid's suspicion that the Red Princess was using forbidden black magic, looked around in shock.
“Huh, black magic... Watch your mouth!”
The maid, her eyes wide as if she were about to strike a nerve, looked around with a prickly gaze. Fortunately, the door to the office remained firmly shut.
“So what I mean is... in a good way.”
“The good side?”
"Just think of what has changed to His Majesty the Emperor. It's been two days since it rained, and can you believe we can now be so peaceful?"
Perhaps fearing punishment, she spoke indirectly, but her point was clear. She was talking about Rahikan's madness. The other maids, sensing this, all lowered their eyes, dumbfounded.
Rahikan's infamous madness was one of the many aftereffects of the Great Fire. Normally calm, his madness intensified during the rainy season, becoming a living curse.
He saw things unseen with open eyes, and heard things unheard with closed ears. Tormented by excruciating fever, he suffered from hallucinations, visions, and auditory hallucinations. Every night, he would sleep with hundreds of poisonous snakes in his arms, and when he opened his eyes, he would act like a demon-possessed man, slaughtering anyone he came across.
On rainy nights, the sound of a long sword scraping the floor behind the Emperor as he walked down the hallway continued until dawn, so naturally, the court ladies who served him could not have been in their right minds.
Dozens of pots simmered daily to drain the blood that fell like rain. Steam billowed from the pots, enveloping the palace in a thick fog, forcing the maids to grope their way along the walls, as if blind.
"That person who used to be like that no longer seeks out the snake palace or burns incense. Instead, he seeks only the Princess. What does that mean?"
“That’s... well... that’s true.”
The Emperor has indeed become incredibly gentle over the past few months. The maid, who had been perplexed for a long time, was suddenly filled with curiosity at the news that his condition, which even the most renowned doctors could not cure, had been cured.
"Leah, don't just listen. Say something. Is it true?"
Unable to contain her curiosity, the maid poked the side of the maid sitting on her right and asked. The maid, with her brown curly hair and freckles, was named Leah. Of all the lower-ranking maids gathered here, she was the only one who had ever seen the princess's face.
At her best maid's urging, Leah silently lifted the edge of a large embroidered cloth.
“Well, I guess I need to revisit this part.”
Perhaps because she had been dozing off while embroidering, the corners where Leah's fingers touched were a mess. The flowers, which should have been delicate crescent-shaped, were half-crushed, and the leaves, crumpled and torn, looked as if they had been eaten by mice.
“How are you going to take responsibility if the embroidery for the memorial service is messed up?”
“Tch, anyway, Leah won’t be able to do any real embroidery work because she’s busy serving the Princess.”
"If you keep doing that, I'll leave. You kept begging me to come help you, and now you're asking me irrelevant questions."
To keep the schedule, even a cat's paw was needed. Leah's light threat caused the maid, who had been opening her mouth, to shut up. The silence that soon followed was the only sound in the spacious, round office, the sound of a silver needle weaving through fabric.
But that was only for a moment, as another question burst out of the maid's mouth, unable to hold back her trembling tongue.
“So... anyway, is it true that His Majesty the Emperor has great favor?”
The topic of conversation, which had been jumping around like a frog, now turned to the Emperor's love for the Princess.
This time, no one reprimanded the maid's question. Eleven pairs of eyes rolled back to Leah, who remained silent once again. Leah, enduring the silent pressure, finally placed the frame in her hands on the floor.
Leah stepped out, her face puffed with disappointment, and the jeers poured down her face.
The narrow gate used by the servants was always crowded with palace attendants coming and going. After winding through the labyrinthine corners, Leah finally reached a secluded garden, unvisited by anyone, before stopping.
She was out of breath from walking briskly. Leah clutched her chest, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. But perhaps because of the humid rainy season air, her anxiously pounding heart didn't calm down, but rather, it pounded faster.
It was only natural. Her anxiety wasn't caused by the humid air or her fast pace.
Is the Emperor's favor so great? Does the Emperor love and cherish the Princess of Feldif?
Leah laughed in vain, recalling the maid's question. The answer to that question was beyond her comprehension.
Leah's job was simple: changing the Princess's bedding. Even then, she worked when the Princess was away, so she only had time to see her for about a day and a half. However, it was enough to understand the relationship between the Emperor and the Princess.
The Emperor's favor was not only immense but also terrifying. Frankly, it seemed as if the Emperor was drowning in love, struggling to keep himself afloat.
If even a lowly maid like her saw it that way, how would he have appeared to the high-ranking officials? It was only natural that all sorts of rumors would circulate in the palace.
Like a limbless snake, the Princess lying on the bed made Leah shudder violently. It was because the sharp sensation that had pressed against her tongue on the day she first entered the Princess's quarters came flooding back.
"The Emperor detests chatterboxes above all else. From now on, your tongue must sink like lead and never rise again."
By the time she finished the ritual of spitting lead into a bucket of black water, her neck, back, and even her armpits were drenched in sweat.
She told herself it wasn't a big deal, as it was a ritual any servant serving a high-ranking official would undergo. But she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine every time she thought about it. This was especially true when she was serving the Princess, who was cherished like the apple of the eye of the Emperor, who was known for his madness.
“I have to be careful. I just have to do my job well.”
Leah, steeling herself, entered the garden. She passed through a wooden gate and headed further inside. At the end of a path, surrounded by tall bushes like a wall, was the entrance to the underground storage room.
Opening the wheel-shaped lid and descending, the distinctive, cool smell of the underground storage room assaulted her nostrils. This was where all the herbs and spices used in the palace were stored. Leah often visited this storage room in search of a grass that softened fabric.
Leah was rummaging through the herbs in the top drawer when something dark crept silently toward her, tiptoeing. Leah didn't notice anything as the thing, with its forty-nine pairs of legs, approached her, right beneath her shadow.
Beneath its whip-like antennae, its saw-toothed mouth gaped open. With its head erect and its body swaying, the weasel grabbed her calf with a lightning bolt.
Leah's vision darkened after a short scream. The hand that had been gripping the corner of the drawer fell, leaving a long mark on the floor, as if it had been clawed with a rake.
***
Thin, thread-like hair swayed in the wide, shallow, oval-shaped bathtub. Amidst the black waves, only the naked woman's body stood out, dazzlingly white.
This was the Elder's private residence, and within his palace-like mansion lay several bathtubs modeled after the Serpent's Palace. Unlike Helgatria, who lay reclining against the wall of the enormous tub, the Elder paced restlessly around it.
“Is this okay to be like this... No matter what, this is how it is...”
The sound of fingernails being chewed matched the brisk footsteps of the busier men. Helgatria, unable to contain her anxiety, furrowed her brow. Her hand, submerged in water, waved in the air.
At the woman's gesture, one of the men who had been sucking her pussy in the bathtub crawled under her thighs and knelt.
Helga, who had stepped on the man's back, turned to the elder and gave him a look of displeasure. Her eyes were cold, as if offering a silent warning to her father, who dared to doubt her magical skills.
The elder, startled by Helgatria's momentum, hesitated for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
“Of course, I don’t doubt your abilities. But... haven’t you already failed once?”
This refers to the spell cast upon Rahikan as he crossed the desert before he reached the imperial palace. The spell, intended to bite the red woman's neck, ended up biting the soldier guarding his barracks. Helgatria snorted.
"It's no big deal. It was just a threat anyway."
The distance was too far to expect success, and the sacrifice was insufficient. Even if she failed to kill the woman, her prowess would have been clearly demonstrated, so the sorcery had done its job.
Of course, it would have been much better if the Princess had been beheaded then.
As she recalled that moment, a stabbing pain once again washed over her skin.
Helgatria spread her thighs wide and wrapped her arms around the man's head as he entered between her legs. His red tongue slithered between her lips, gently licking her wound. With each stroke against her blackened skin, Helgatria's head tilted back sharply.
“Huk, ugh, haa...”
The price of black magic was as gruesome as its power. It required sacrifice not only for the victims but also for the practitioners themselves. If the spell failed, the consequences would be reflected back at the practitioner, like a mirror.
Thanks to this, Helga's mouth, eyelids, and even her vagina, unlike her smooth outer skin, were covered in stains. Her purplish, almost pitch-black vagina glistened with saliva. Her screams, dangerously close to falling, continued as she grabbed the man's hair and shook it.
“More than that, hak, the big mistake, huh, was made by my father.”
The sound of her panting breath rebuked her father.
“To that woman, hmph, you actually permitted the mark of the serpent to be placed upon her. Thanks to that, hmm, the task has become several times more difficult.”
Helgatria, who had been riding the man, suddenly groaned and fell backward. At the same time, the man's lips, sucking her bottom, seemed to swell like a balloon, then began to melt like mud.
She pushed the man, who had collapsed like a doll, away with her toes. His tongue, hanging from his flabby chin, had already turned a dark shade like her skin.
After being locked in her quarters, she felt light, having enjoyed a bit of play for the first time in a while. Helgatria, catching her breath, raised her head with a smile. The sound of her paper tail twitching could be heard from outside the door.
“Father, open the door. The offering has arrived safely.”
A body shriveled like a bracken fern knelt at her feet. It was the presence of Princess Helgatria, of whom she had only heard rumors. The thick, incense-like scent, a scent only found in those who practiced black magic, was suffocating.
While Leah's back trembled like an aspen tree, Helgatria looked down with cold eyes at the maid who had been brought into her quarters.
“Now, tell me what you saw and heard.”
“Ugh, ugh...”
“They say a female who crawled in from Feldif tamed a snake exactly like it. Is that true?”
“Ahhhhhh...”
“They say that not only does she feed it, she also carries it around like a puppy?”
“Ah, ugh..!”
A few questions yielded garbled answers. Drool poured out of her mouth, as if gagged, despite having nothing to eat. Her bewitched tongue hung limp like molten lead, and her upper and lower teeth clenched tightly together, making it impossible to open her jaw no matter how hard she tried.
Then, the black thing that had been wrapped around Leah's ankles began to climb up her thighs. The feeling of the insect-like fingertips wrapping around her waist and climbing up her back made a sound like an animal's cry escape her clenched lips.
The centipede's long antennae probed the victim's jaw, forcing open the clamped lips. Inside the gaping mouth, lying flat on the floor, was not a red tongue but a black lump of lead.
Perhaps it was advice from one of the elders who followed Rahikan. The puppet Emperor was more clever than expected. Helgatria clicked her tongue in annoyance, not expecting her cousin, who abhorred sorcery, to resort to such tactics.
“Sorcery? Are you saying the Emperor cast a spell in advance?”
The maids entering and leaving the Princess's quarters were under strict surveillance. Simply piercing this tight net to kidnap Leah would have been a major undertaking, but things had gone awry again. The elder's face turned pale.
“If, at this rate, it gets revealed that we were involved in this...”
"Don't be so excited, Father. Do you think I'm not prepared for this kind of danger?"
Helgatria looked at her frightened old father with contempt.
The few blood relatives she has are all useless. The foolish Ferzan ran wild like a child and ended up in prison, and the elder lost his fighting spirit. Thinking back now, she regrets believing in these things and stepping aside for even a moment.
She should have stepped in long ago. She was the one who set the palace on fire, who simultaneously threw the royal family into the fire, and who cut off Rahikan's wings. It was only natural that she should personally take charge of the woman's punishment.
Helgatria, who had been growling, grabbed Leah's chin. She shuddered at the sight of her purple tongue flicking out, and her long nails dug into her cheek.
"Your tongue may be dry, but your ears are still functioning. All you have to do is nod. Isn't that what your neck was made for? Yes?"
“Ahhh! Ughh...!”
The centipede's antennae, segmented and protruding, traced the throat. Terrified, Lea nodded frantically.
It was a gesture of betraying one's master and swearing obedience to the enemy. Blood spread across the lips that had broken the taboo.
Helgatria watched with smiling eyes as the blood mixed with saliva flowed down her spine. If she nodded again, this pitiful sacrifice would incur the wrath of the sorcerer, and she would vomit blood and die on the spot.
“It won’t be difficult. Just run a small errand for me.”
The Princess's purple lips pressed against the maid's earlobe. A whisper, audible only to the offering, slowly penetrated her eardrum.
***
Hidden right next to the Emperor's office is the Empress's office. While the Emperor was away, Diara, who had taken up residence in her own room, had been silently concentrating on her assigned task.
Things seemed to be going wrong. Her small head tilted lower and lower. Her long, thin hair, like threads, obscured her eyes and nose, leaving only a round forehead and wing-like eyebrows.
As a faint moan flowed through her rosy hair, Matali, unable to bear to watch, took a half step closer to Diara.
“It would be easier to have the maid do this, Princess... What if you end up scratching your beautiful fingers?”
As she pushed her long hair back, Diara tilted her head to the side and helped her with her hand.
"Uh-huh. No, it's almost done. Now I just need to tie the knot here..."
Her face, narrowed between her brows, looked quite troubled, holding a pouch the size of a teacup. The fine, pale pink cloth pouch had a pointed nose and a flaring mouth, giving it the appearance of a long-tailed, plump goldfish.
"You shouldn't go in that direction. The hook will fall off. I'll show you again."
Matali demonstrated with another pouch in her hand. Her deft hand movements easily solved the problem Diara had been struggling with for a long time. Diara, who had been craning her neck to watch Matali, rubbed her forehead with her palm and smiled awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, Matali.”
"Are you annoyed?" She asked, her face quietly examined, as if she was reading her expression.
“I’ve never learned anything like this... I wish I had had the chance to learn it.”
Matali looked at Diara, her eyes narrowed, with a complex expression. Of course, she hadn't learned anything like this. It was the first time she'd heard of a royal family making their own children's clothes and handkerchiefs.
"No, it's something I should do. But more importantly, Princess... from now on, you must not apologize to the maids."
"Yes?"
"The maids are servants who are there for the Princess's convenience and use. They are not people for whom the Princess needs to seek her understanding. Of course, that includes me."
This was true not only for Matali, but for all the women in the palace. Princess Helgatria, who had been frequenting the palace as if it were her own home, had long been confined to her own home. Now, with neither the Empress Dowager nor the Queen Mother, Diara was the most high-ranking and noble woman in the palace.
Besides, she was soon to become the mistress of the royal family. A Princess who made excuses to a subordinate who could easily be crushed to death with a single gesture or nod of the chin was enough to fluster even the most skilled maid. Matali, concealing her emotions, chose her words once more.
“So, Your Highness, you have no need to apologize or make excuses. To anyone, absolutely not, except His Majesty the Emperor.”
If a master apologized in front of the head maid, the one receiving the apology would be severely beaten. However, no such explanation was given. The Princess was too high up for that. A swan on the water had no need to know what was happening in the mud.
“Never... even when I was wrong?”
“The Princess is not at fault. The master’s fault is always the subordinate’s fault.”
You say I shouldn't apologize for my mistakes. Then how am I supposed to be treated like this?
Diara tilted her head, bewildered. It was understandable. The maids in Feldif were always angry, and Diara routinely worked herself to the bone to appease them.
The maids greatly disapproved of her clumsiness and dullness. No matter how hard she tried, she could never become the virtuous and well-groomed Princess they desired, and so Diara was always intimidated.
If she soiled her bedding, she had to wear the same underwear for weeks and soak herself in freezing water. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't asked to apologize.
But Matali's voice was too firm to question further, and Diara felt it was too much to interrupt her with her needle, so she held her tongue. After all, this wasn't Feldif. Unlike Feldif, Cardion had no red-veiled maids to watch over the Princess, nor any disciplinarians to whip her.
“If you make a ribbon like this here...”
“Oh, I think I know how to do it. Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her long, delicate fingers tangled and untangled several times. After struggling, she tied the knot as instructed, then smiled contentedly. Matali was momentarily captivated by that radiant, white smile. The way her almond-shaped eyes curved like crescent moons was so beautiful it drew a sigh.
They say she's the Rose of Feldif, and indeed, it is a truly exquisite color.
Because of her beautiful face and innocent expression, Matali initially misunderstood the Princess. With her seductive features, she seemed unsure whether to address her formally or informally, and she didn't know how to manage her maids. As is often the case with exceptional beauties, she seemed a bit lacking.
But as if to prove her narrow-mindedness, the Princess surprised her by revealing an increasingly clever and intelligent side.
She never forgot what she was taught, and seeing one taught her two. After days of struggling at her desk, she was finally able to write and read the imperial language, which had once been unfamiliar to her, with remarkable fluency.
Therefore, her innocence was not due to foolishness, but rather to a kind and gentle nature.
The maid looked at Diara with pity as she examined the newly completed handkerchief. The sight of a woman sewing a child's clothes, anticipating a child who would never be born, evoked a sense of pity.
The mad Emperor was doing such a terrible thing to such a beautiful and delicate woman. He promised to break the shackles as old as the empire's history and conceive a child. No one but the Princess truly believed the absurd promises of the love-blinding Emperor.
Everyone in the palace said his madness was getting better, but to Matali's eyes, it seemed like he was getting worse.
For example, the Emperor, under the pretext of having a child...
“Lara.”
A low voice called the snake's name. Matali knelt at the sound of the Emperor's voice, entering without a trace. Ever since the Princess's office was created, the man who barged in at any moment had surprised Matali, making her heart leap out of her mouth. She had learned not to show it.
“My snake can even sew now.”
Rahikan, leaning against the pillar, said with a look of astonishment on his face.
"Your Majesty."
A flush came over Diara's face as she discovered Rahikan. He watched with cold eyes as her face instantly took on a rosy glow, like paint dropped into clear water.
“Shh, shh, just get up.”
A white hand tapped her foot, and then a bright red head poked out from beneath her skirt. The snake, which had been napping between her ankles all morning, opened its mouth wide and yawned.
“His Majesty has come, so you must greet him.”
She must have been imitating something, but her stern expression and the gesture she made to the snake's head were quite subtle. Only then did the snake, upon discovering Rahikan, show no sign of joy. Instead, it clenched its jaws in surprise. Then, it slowly disappeared under the sofa, as if it had never forgotten the man who had clutched its jaws when they first met.
“Did you come here because you had a fever again?”
"No."
"Then..."
“I came to see your face since I had some free time.”
The voice, speaking casually, glared at her ankles, tickled her heart. Diara laughed silently.
“Go out.”
The carpeted floor and sofas were strewn with piles of cloth, silk, pink ribbons, and palm-sized garments of unknown purpose. It was a scene befitting a maid's office, not an Empress's office, or even a Princess's playground.
He bent down deeply, pushing away the stray threads with his toes.
“So, my Princess, after taming snakes, has she now developed a hobby for playing with dolls?”
“Yeah... That’s not it. I was just making something.”
The lips that rested on her eyelids tickled. When she squinted and answered, Rahikan simply said, "Hmm," as if he didn't care. Seeing the man leaning back on the sofa, Diara, who had put away the bundle of cloth, approached him on her knees.
Her knees sat high, thanks to legs as long as a leopard's. Diara placed her hands on his knees that nearly touched her chin, lifting them high so Rahikan could see what she had made.
"Look, Your Majesty. I made this myself. It only took two days, but don't you think it's pretty well made for a first time?"
The woman's fingertips, soft and supple, seemed to have been overworked for two days, and they were a little more red than usual. Rahikan, who had been watching the fingers subtly pressing against his thigh, slowly raised his gaze.
A plump body and a pink tail danced before his eyes.
“Goldfish?”
“...My hands are cold...”
“Hand warmers.”
"It's a pouch that covers a newborn's hand. Newborn babies have fingernails that are as thin and sharp as paper. The cloth pouch that covers them is called a swaddle."
"Baby." Rahikan's eyes narrowed strangely at the unexpected answer. His narrowed pupils slowly scanned the floor. He wondered if all the clothes strewn about were handcrafted by these leaf-like hands.
The attached maid's hand is broken or something.
“Why are you doing something like that yourself? What if you get hurt?”
"It's fun. And if a mother puts her heart and soul into making something, the child will appreciate it and enjoy it even more."
“Who says such nonsense?”
“Just... in the book...”
Perhaps intimidated by the less-than-stellar response, her once confident voice softened as she moved further back. The hand she had confidently extended slowly fled away. Rahikan, who had been silently watching, restrained the fleeing wrist.
“Well done. It’s pink and looks like a goldfish.”
“Do you like it?”
What's there to like or dislike about a piece of cloth that wraps a child's hand?
"Yes."
Still, he rested his chin on his hand and smiled quietly, and her green eyes, as green as grass, sparkled with life. Gently stroking her cheek as if petting a cat, Rahikan effortlessly offered the answer his beloved wife had expected.
“Wrapping your hands in your pockets—very... practical. I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
"I just found out about it, too. I saw it in a book I borrowed from the library last time and thought how cute and amazing it was. I really wanted to make it."
The Imperial Library, located in the north, was her second favorite space in the vast palace. The first, of course, was her study, where she now sat.
Rahikan silently watched as her lips, quickly regaining their energy at the light compliment, began to quiver again. How much had she struggled to hold back from saying so many things?
Indeed. Even back when she was so shy she could only open her mouth to say sorry, that adorable mouth still let out a breathtaking moan. He gazed at her plump, swollen lower lip, then smiled quietly. The bite marks he left on the corner of her mouth were still there.
"I'll have the maids make a few more. You can put them on your hands, too. Then you won't have to bother clipping your fingernails every day."
The hand stroking the round back of her head from top to bottom was gentle, as if he was comforting a small animal.
Long, straight fingers slid through her hair, rustling as they fell. It was a firm yet gentle gesture, unlike her own, which scratched and wounded him at every opportunity. Diara's heart pounded with the sensation of her scalp brushing against his and the subtly lowered voice.
He told her to put on a glove. She couldn't tell if he was just joking lewdly or if he was really trying to flirt. Of course, it was embarrassing and bothersome to shave her entire body and grind her fingernails and toenails every night...
“...”
As her reddish eyes glanced up at him, the man smiled, one corner of his mouth tilting up.
“Are you going to keep sitting there?”
With Rahikan sitting on the sofa, there was only one place for Diara to sit. The curve of his lips, as if asking how long she was going to keep him waiting, was so beautiful it made one sigh. Diara glanced sideways at the tightly closed door and stood up.
As she lifted her skirt and sat on top of his thighs, he pulled her waist closer to him. Diara moaned softly as her legs spread apart and the sensation of a gentle pressure pressed against her bottom.
Her buttocks were crushed by thighs so firm they felt like they were made of stone, not flesh. She was the one on top, but once again, it was she who was being crushed.
“I need to take off my clothes.”
“But you said it wasn’t hot earlier... Ugh!”
A hand reached under her skirt and slapped her buttocks. Her thighs instinctively clenched, squeezing the man's waist.
“Don’t leave me out, I don’t have time. I’m only out for a moment, so I have to go quickly.”
He said he came only to see her face. When she pouted at him, he let out a long breath and urged her on in a slightly anxious voice.
“Quick.”
Fingers reached up near her collarbone and untied the long ribbon. The sound of the silk ribbon rustling through the hole was ticklish. As her breasts, wrapped in thin fabric, burst forth from within, Rahikan tilted his head above them.
First, his straight, high nose, then his thick hair and smooth forehead, and finally, his soft lips brushing her skin. He buried his lips beneath her slender chin and slowly inhaled and exhaled.
The man's massive shoulders rose sharply, then slowly sank, resembling the back of a breathing whale. Diara gently stroked his neck, as if patting a wound. The skin, heated from within, left a warm, burning sensation on her palm, dissipating.
“How are you feeling today?”
Instead of answering, Rahikan let out a ragged breath. The heat pooled in his chest and then slowly spread inward.
The fever that had plagued him intermittently, simmering mainly at night after dark, now occasionally engulfed his skin during the day. He attributed it to the pouring rain that filled the sky around this time of year. And it was also because of this that Rahikan often visited her, even at her usual rate.
In contrast to his scalding skin, her moist body was like an oasis, relieving his fever. As usual at the start of the rainy season, the doctor, who had brought sleeping pills, was taken aback by the Emperor's seemingly normal appearance, contrary to rumors, and quickly made that diagnosis.
Rahikan didn't show it at all, but his furrowed brow, his ragged breathing, and the sweat on his forehead spoke volumes about the pain he felt. He clung to her blindly, as if he couldn't bear to be separated even for a moment, like a wounded animal. It was impossible not to notice his suffering.
How can I describe the feeling I had when I realized that only I could ease his suffering?
It was something tinged with a profound sadness, a pang of regret, and a joy that transcended them all. Overwhelmed by this immense emotion, experiencing it for the first time, Diara was speechless.
“Come a little closer.”
The man's hand pulled her back in. Diara shivered slightly, feeling his warm body heat, his pain slowly seeping into her. His breath, slowly relaxing in her arms, made her heart beat like a small drum.
Insolently, a secret joy pounded in her heart, a part of her longing heart. Whenever Rahikan leaned on her like this, Diara felt as if she, a worthless person, had become something indispensable to him.
His vulnerability, unlike his other shining parts, was something that was unique to him and her, something that no one in the world could share, and it felt like they were sharing the most secret thing that a man and a woman can share.
And the same was true for the child, the child born between Rahikan and her.
As she thought about the child she was about to conceive, her heart seemed to be bathed in soft colors. A mixture of excitement and anticipation made a sound like the dripping of water droplets.
Will it be a boy or a girl? She loves a Prince who looks just like him. No, even if it's a Princess, she loves it if she resembles Rahikan more than her. A child with thick, dark eyebrows and golden eyes like his would be as proud, majestic, and elegant as a lion cub.
Like a small Rahikan. The thought of Rahikan, with his small stature and chubby cheeks, made Diara smile. A smile appeared on Diara's lips.
"Your Majesty."
“Rahikan.”
“Rahikan. What kind of person was Rahikan’s mother?”
“...My mother?”
Rahikan asked, tugging on the ribbon Diara had just untied with his lips. As he untied the long, fluttering strings, like fish fins, her dazzlingly pale shoulders were revealed.
It was smooth and glossy skin, different from his, which was covered in burn marks, cuts, and puncture marks.
“Are you curious about that?”
“My mother passed away early, so I don’t remember much.”
Her mother, a Queen, died before she could even hold her newborn daughter in her arms. Perhaps it was puerperal fever, or excessive bleeding during labor. Either way, her birth had taken her life.
Her half-sisters and brothers looked at her with cold eyes, as if she were the enemy who had taken their own mother away. Her childhood, where she had relied on her father's love, remained tinged with melancholy. It's more accurate to say she doesn't remember it, but rather, she doesn't want to return to it.
But she was curious about Rahikan's childhood. He must have been showered with love from a young age. She could tell without even looking. Any warm-blooded person couldn't help but love that boy.
"I'm not necessarily curious about Her Majesty the Empress Dowager's life, but rather about Your Majesty's childhood. With so many siblings, the palace must have always been bustling."
“Well, honestly, I don’t remember much either.”
“Don’t you remember anything?”
There was fluffy hair beneath her wide, wide-open eyes. Rahikan pressed his lips to her cheek, which resembled a child recounting a tale.
"Partial amnesia, they say. The council members say it's one of the aftereffects of the fire."
The man's massive body was nearly devoid of smooth, white skin, stretching from his right shoulder to his thigh. It wasn't just his body that was damaged; after his miraculous recovery, he lost most of his memories.
All that remained in his memory, etched and torn here and there, were images of his father's glaring face and his mother's pale lips. If only he could, Rahikan would have erased all those unpleasant scenes.
"Seeing as how I don't seem to regret losing my memories that much, it seems we weren't as close a family as I thought. I guess I was a bit of a troublemaker from a young age."
Rahikan laughed, but Diara couldn't. She hadn't asked to hear such a thing. His voice, as if he were simply talking about someone else's business, made no effort to conceal it, and her heart was completely torn apart.
Suddenly, she remembered the day she first met Rahikan. The day she saw the scars that covered his back and desperately wished for his death. Even though she knew all too well the terrible pain of burns, she felt less pity for his wounds than for the fact that the fire hadn't killed him.
How could that have happened? The more she thought back, the more her heart ached with guilt. She couldn't even imagine the loneliness Rahikan must have endured in that dark pain for so long.
Diara, like an idiot, suppressed the tears that threatened to well up. She strained her nose and tried to act as if nothing had happened, opening her mouth.
“But now I am by Your Majesty’s side.”
"Yes."
"I will definitely give you a child. I will create a family for Your Majesty. Seven might be a bit difficult, but I will definitely have at least three..."
“Up to three?”
"...four...?"
"Four."
“All right, up to five. Do your best... somehow.”
The number kept increasing, perhaps because she mistakenly thought it was insufficient and was being pursued.
Rahikan chuckled softly. "One is enough." No, the words, "I don't care about children at all, as long as I can have you all to myself," lingered in his throat.
Her words, "Now, isn't she by his side?" Her determined gaze, as if holding back tears, flowed hotly into his parched throat. Rahikan frowned and smiled, feeling the fever, barely abated, rise again.
“It’s difficult.”
"Why?"
“I stood up, didn't I?”
The man's eyes looked down. It didn't take long for her face, which had fallen with him, to turn bright red.
“W, why is this happening all of a sudden again... Ah!”
“Where are you going?”
Diara, who had been hesitantly standing up, collapsed again at the sudden tug of a hand. The sight of the snake that had been lying quietly on her left thigh now rising as if it were poking through her pants made her hold back the tears that had been on her mind.
“Is your husband’s penis a monster?”
"No, what if you do this? You said you had to go to work right away."
Diara tilted her head, almost touching the bridge of the man's nose, and whispered. Her narrowed brow and urgent voice held a faint rebuke. Peering beneath her lashes, which were almost tangled, Rahikan opened his eyes dimly and smiled.
This rascal is trying to lecture him, even though she's his wife. It's absurd, but he doesn't feel bad about being the dissolute husband who gets nagged by his wife.
“What can I do? You said it was good.”
“When did I... Ah, yeah! Eung!”
“You were sitting on my dick, begging me to get pregnant. Isn’t that your fault?”
He pressed firmly between the woman's legs with the protruding part like a stick, asking, "What?" The vulgar sound his red lips let out made her cheeks flush as if on fire.
The feeling of being stabbed precisely into the hollow spot beneath the bulging pubic bone was dizzying. Her buttock muscles clenched, and her insides, poked through the thin fabric, were already throbbing with pain.
"Eung, yeah, yeah," a shallow moan escaped her lips with each thrust. Diara, who had been trembling with her thighs, at a loss, finally buried her face in his neck and moaned.
“Ah, ah, stop...! If you keep doing that, ah, it’ll hurt!”
“It already hurts. Where does it hurt?”
“Yeah, inside...”
“Don’t look at the hole.”
“Look, the hole is itchy... It’s itchy.”
Rahikan chuckled. His tongue, licking his lips as if praising the lewd confession, was hot. To her easily aroused ears, even the man's low laughter sounded obscene. Rahikan tilted his head, following the hand that covered her ticklish ear.
“So what do you want me to do? Stop playing around and get back to work.”
“Ah, hmph...!”
A blunt tongue poked through the gap between her clasped fingers, sending goosebumps up her ears. The sound of the wet tongue poking between her fingers filled her eardrums with a squelchy warmth.
Her waist twisted, and her buttocks swayed involuntarily. As if on cue, a hand reached under her skirt and grabbed her buttocks, long fingers gently stroking the edge of her hole.
"Ask me to poke you. Don't go to work, ask me to touch you. Open you up, rub you, play with you to my heart's content."
“Ha, uh... yeah, uh...”
“Just don’t be so noisy.”
“Ahh!”
A thud, a light slap to the vagina. Her pussy, struck by a broad, firm hand, twitched wildly and squirted. Diara's face flushed with a surge of shame and excitement.
“Ah, Rahikaan...”
“Why, pretty girl.”
“Huh, if this is the case...”
“Don’t do it? Go to work?”
Her heart pounded as she watched his eyebrows narrow slightly, as if to ask if he was going to let her go like this.
While her eyes were riveted by the seductive man's face, his hand, cutting through the smooth flesh, circled around her entrance, almost as if it were about to enter. The way her flushed vagina twitched in time with his movements was unbearable.
She tried to pretend to be negative and push him away, but she couldn't fool her heart. She didn't want to let him go. Diara's lips, lying at an angle, found the corner of Rahikan's mouth.
“Don’t go, don’t go... just play.”
"How."
“Spread it and rub it, huh, yeah, my hole, play with it, yes?”
She smacked her lips together, making a licking sound, then pulled her lower lip with her front teeth and nipped it gently. Somehow, the longer she spent with Rahikan, the more frequently she found herself nagging him.
The man's golden eyes filled her vision, making her heart clench tightly. His eyes, slanted and cast long shadows, and the corners of his mouth, curled upwards, made her eyes dazzle.
“I guess so... then.”
Anticipation surged as his voice grew murky and a palm ran up the back of her neck. He could feel the damp hole clinging tightly to his fingertips.
“Haak!”
Diara's head jerked back. Rahikan thrust his tongue into her gaping, reddened mouth, as if inserting it. His tongue, thick and firm like an erection, was thrust deep inside, and his slow, slow exhalations were hot.
She felt like her underwear was being pulled down, and then, with a sound like a wolf's howl, fingers were thrust in, one by one.
“Haaah, haaah...!”
Diara's waist twisted with each thick finger that crisscrossed and spread her insides. As she licked and wrapped her tongue around the base of his tongue, as if sucking his cock, trying to somehow accept it, a third finger from below scratched at her vaginal opening, desperately trying to enter.
Gulp, gulp. The tightly closed hole stretched and contracted, sucking on the man's hand. The sensation of the entrance widening with each movement, from root to root, pulling out two joints, was vivid. As she tightened and released her thighs to the rhythm of his thrusts, Rahikan scratched her inner walls as if praising them.
“Ah, ah, ah.”
The back of her neck felt hot, and her lower abdomen felt cold. Her hips, which had been swaying, began to tremble in the air, and her upper body, which had been leaning backward, collapsed as if it were falling over.
“Clothes, Lara.”
As she bit his hand and gasped, Rahikan gave her a command in a subdued voice. Diara trembled as he unbuttoned his shirt, his broad palm gently caressing her throbbing vagina.
The heat that poured through the gaping fabric reached the back of her hand. The blazing heat, as if doused in flames, signaled the man's extreme arousal and the resulting fever.
Rahikan, who had been holding on, biting Diara's tongue, must have felt frustrated, so he began to undress with his own hands. Without lifting his mouth, he removed the clothes one by one, letting them fall under the sofa. Diara involuntarily held her breath as the man's body, previously covered in a red uniform, was revealed.
His muscular, sculpted muscles, carved with precision, flaunted his presence. Towering beneath her was a massive male genitalia that she never got used to, no matter how much she received.
The sight of the blue veins wrapped around the red-hot pillar was so menacing that her mouth watered. It wasn't as bad as the first time she saw it, but its terrifying presence was so terrifying, almost like a weapon, that she couldn't help but feel terrified every time. It was the same body, but how could his face be so different?
The pressure below her navel dug straight into her legs. Her thighs clung to him, wrapping themselves around his shaft.
“Huhhhhh... Ugh, huhhh, it’s hot...”
The blunt glans slid down, slicing open, seeking her entrance. Its smooth, heavy mass rubbed between her labia minora, making her feel dizzy.
His penis was the hottest part of his body. Placing the tip against his hole, it felt as if it were being burned, even though it was slippery and dripping with fluid.
Even though the friction had decreased due to the conspiracy, it was still like that. If he continued to thrust like this, it felt like everything from her insides to her uterus would be burned and torn apart, so Diara groaned, rubbing her thighs.
“I want to do it with my mouth first. Your Majesty, with my mouth first...”
The heat enveloping his body only subsided after he had poured out his semen. Knowing this from experience, Diara arched her back and pleaded. The woman's cheeks, begging to be given oral penetration first, were flushed, as if she had been infused with rose water.
Rahikan slowly licked his lips, unable to tell whether he was embarrassed or excited.
“Please poke me from the throat.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I’m going crazy.”
Diara groaned again at the sound of his purring laughter. Rahikan, though still laughing, felt a burning sensation inside. He held back the urge to stuff her tiny mouthful of cock and lash out, gripping the back of her head with a firm grip.
He stuck out his tongue and swirled his dick around inside the woman's mouth, poking her with it. Grabbing her hair and turning it this way and that, he poked her mucous membrane, causing her breathing to become increasingly ragged.
“Ugh, uh, ah...”
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she clenched and unclenched her soft thighs around his cock. Drool flowed freely between their locked lips. Rahikan, who had been watching the woman, barely able to breathe, let alone spit, raised his upper body and climbed on top of her.
Her waist, so slender it seemed she could be grasped with one hand, tucked beneath his thighs. Perhaps because she was naturally slender, even with weight, her torso remained as slender as a young willow tree.
A strong musky scent wafted from the man's penis, thrust all the way down to her chin. His scent, which was like ink or wine, made her dizzy, as if she was intoxicated.
Diara looked up at him with shaking eyes as he climbed onto her body.
“How can you receive something too hot to see with your mouth?”
"Huh..."
Rahikan, bending over, lifted Diara's chin.
“Well, this mouth is a hole that exists to eat me.”
A firm thumb parted her mouth and gently traced the mucous membrane of her lower lip. The sour scent of the hand poking her made her roll her tongue, and she found herself biting his fingernails. Rubbing her tense lips, Rahikan smiled lazily.
“I don’t know if you know, but this place looks exactly like the deepest part of your vagina.”
The rounded shape that seemed to be wrapped around a frame, the wrinkled and soft flesh, and the part that hit his tip when he pushed it in the deepest were exactly like that.
Perhaps that was where a woman's womb would be. The warmest, most secret part of her cool body. He branded himself onto it, thrusting himself into her countless times, sinking into her like a bottomless swamp.
And it was the same for Diara.
"My slutty snake loves it when I rub this spot. When I ejaculate, you insist that it be shot right here."
He knew that every time he ejaculated against the entrance to her uterus, her hips would tremble. It was so deep, he knew, that even as he thrust with a cocky, clawed thrust, she actually enjoyed the deepest penetration.
He slowly brushed his lips against hers, looking into her sparkling, light green eyes.
"The way it tightens when I thrust deeply, then pulls back as if sucking. The way it licks without even realizing it's drooling. The way its insides swell as I poke and stir it."
“Ahhh...!”
A thick finger crawled down her throat, tracing her molars and pressing deeply against the root of her tongue.
The squeaky, teasing gestures, as if digging, sent a surge of heat through her. Diarw hadn't even noticed herself clutching his wrist, panting and drooling. Just like the heat in her mouth, her lower body was burning unbearably. The sound of her thighs rubbing against each other echoed faintly from beneath his legs.
The sound of her breasts squeezing together as she moved her hips as if fucking herself was obscene. The sight of her nipples, perked up above her rippling chest, swaying red from side to side, was so obscene it made him want to curse.
Rahikan, who had been moving leisurely, took his hand out of the woman's mouth and dragged both of her hands under his thighs.
“I'm prepping it first. I'll wrap it up and bring it right over.”
“Uh, ahhh...”
She could hear the gurgling sound of her breath, drawn from beneath her gently arched back and her raised chin. He pushed two fingers into her wrist, then, as if to confirm, gently tugged at it, and her chin tightened.
“Don’t let it slip away.”
“Huh, ah...!”
"Put it in deep and turn it around to spread it evenly. If it doesn't spread properly after I push it in, you'll get in trouble. Got it?"
The sound of her cheek being slapped and his laughter was ominous. Her body trembled in response, her forearms clinging tightly to his ribs. As a result, her plump, voluptuous breasts seemed to half-eat his pillar.
He then increased his momentum and sank himself into her mouth, which was as close as a vulva. Slurp, slurp. A dizzying, lewd sound flowed from the glans, which clung to the mucous membrane and then fell away.
She tried desperately to avoid being stabbed in the mouth, but it was no use as the pillar rattled viciously with each thrust, slapping her face all over. Sticky fluid spurted and clumped from the corners of her mouth, down her chin, cheeks, and the tip of her nose, tangling and stretching like a thin thread all the way to her hole.
A sticky smell stung her nostrils, and her hot head spun. Her mouth was parched, as if she had a fever, and she couldn't breathe properly. Diara squeezed her eyes shut.
“Ra, Rahikkaan, euuh... Rahikkaan...”
Her face, flushed like a ripe pomegranate as she called out to him with her eyes tightly shut, groaned like a child holding back tears. Looking down at her face, contorted like a child holding back tears, Rahikan laughed.
Why did she call out to me when she couldn't even open her eyes properly because she was so scared? It was so cute that he couldn't stand it, and instead, his sadism only grew. He stroked the woman's cheek, rubbing her tiny front teeth like the baby teeth of a small animal with his slimy glans.
“Why can’t you stand it? I told you I’d piss you off right away.”
“Uh, no, no…”
“I told you to wait and poke my penis, but you’re just sticking it in again. You’re going to get in trouble.”
“Ahhhh!”
A stinging blow, so sharp it brought tears to her eyes. Her nipples, hard as rocks from the sudden touch, trembled.
Diara's chest tightened helplessly, her whole body trembling. The hole where his finger had bitten throbbed and gushed fluid without any effort. The sensation of her anus becoming wet caused her to twist her waist, and this time, the fluid fell onto her other breast.
Crack! The sharp, cracking sound made Diara's butt jump up in place, and she cried, rubbing her arms.
“No, don’t, ah! It hurts, ugh, no...!”
"If you don't want to be hit, you have to do well. Is it okay to be lazy when you're being loved?"
“Huh, no, ugh, no, I didn’t.”
"You weren't being lazy. Then what's this? Is it not your heart, but your lazy arm that's not listening?"
“Ah, no, yeah! No, ah! Aaaah!”
The urgent voice was drowned out by the groans that followed. A vicious hand grabbed her wrist and shook it until it made a cracking noise, forcing her fingers, which had been caught in the entrance, into the hole.
Her hands, mercilessly thrusting in and out, scratched and tore at her inner walls. The sudden surge of stimulation sent flashes of light through her vision. Diara, who had been gasping for breath, finally burst into tears. She writhed frantically, rubbing her face against his cock as she wept.
“Oh, oh! Aah! Oh, oh...!”
I want to do it, I want to do it. He finally let go of her wrist as she cried and cried.
“Shove it.”
Thud, he was struck in the chest again. The light touch, like a spanking of a naughty calf, finally caused her trembling fingers to begin thrusting in and out of her vagina.
“Ugh, ugh, bad, I, I hate you... Mm, mmm.”
If she continued to thrust slowly, she might get another whipping, leaving her nipples numb. Or maybe he'd grab her wrist and shake it himself. Either way, it was a thrilling experience, and equally humiliating, so she couldn't help but feel a pang of fear.
He smiled and licked his lips at the sight of her spreading herself open while supporting the dick with her pursed lips.
“Push deeper. Don’t leave any knots, go all the way to the root.”
“Eung, ssu, ah, it’s stinging, euung...!”
“Yes, huh, don’t stop.”
“Ahh, ahhh...!”
Squeak, squeak, squeak. A large hand grasped the pillar and shook it violently up and down. A spurt of fluid covered her lips, smacking her flushed cheeks with a loud slap.
She could see the red glans penetrating between the fingers, curled round like her hole, right in front of her nose.
A hole smaller than a pinky fingernail on his swollen glans throbbed rapidly, as if ready to spurt semen at any moment. The clear liquid formed into round droplets, then tangled in a stream, entangling itself from his fingers to her lips and nipples. And the sight of herself, squeezing her pussy while watching this obscene sight, was even more so.
The throbbing flesh swells, coveting the penis before her. She wants that thick, hard thing to quickly rub and rub her itchy insides. She wants it to be thrust deep inside and pounded up.
Diara felt her inner walls, heated by such lewd imaginations, sucking her finger like a candy. A maddening excitement, a delirious sense of depravity, washed over her.
“Can you wrap it up?”
“Eung! Ah! Sss, ah! Sss, please..!”
“Ah, do it.”
“Ah, ahh...! Huh, uh, ahhh...!”
Diara's mouth opened wide. His heavy breathing and the occasional slurp signaled the man's impending ejaculation. Her lips, parted in anticipation of the cum he would pour into her, slapped against the throbbing glans, making a squelching sound.
Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst and kill her. She didn't even realize she was shaking her hips, poking her hand into the hole that was tightening around her finger as if about to bite it.
And soon.
“Ugh, ha...”
Semen shot out into her wide-open mouth. Thick, concentrated cum hit the roof of her mouth and filled her red mouth.
“Ah, uh, ahmm...”
Rahikan, gasping for breath, let his cock hang over her swollen mouth, squeezing out the remaining fluid. The white liquid clung to her crimson upper lip, dripping down to her lower teeth, making it seem like she'd spilled starch rather than semen.
It was quite a sight to see her small face squirming in the cum he spilled. Rahikan, admiring the sight, rammed his cock deep into her gulping throat. The woman's eyes widened at the sudden intrusion, almost popping out, and he grinned, widening his eyes.
“Because it was so delicious.”
“Ah, ah... ugh.”
She pressed her tongue against the moist surface, making a slurping sound, then slowly pulled it out. The afterglow of ejaculation still lingered in his penis, leaving a sticky trail from the woman's chin to her collarbone.
“Whew... Is it delicious?”
“Oh, oh, there it is, oh... It’s delicious.”
Rahikan, bent over, raised the corners of his mouth and smiled. He bit her bloody lips, and the bitter taste of semen filled his mouth. What could possibly taste so good?
Wicked, icked, the man's long tongue licked the traces of his precum, while slender arms groped his back and hugged him. Her fingers, moving up and down like a keyboard, tickled like feathers. With her arms around his neck, Rahikan pulled Diara over to sit on top of him.
“It’s delicious. Should I just have some for you?”
She thrust his tongue in, biting her lip and sucking gently. The flesh sloshed in her mouth, as if to say, "When did that bitter, bitter taste come back?" It was so sweet that it made her tongue melt.
“Uh... Me?”
“You can’t even open your eyes properly, so what are you trying to ask? How delicious are you?”
She had cried so hard that her eyes were soaked with tears. He pressed his lips against her clammy, salty eyelids and let out a sigh.
It's so absurd. With this obscene and depraved body, she have to tame the Emperor like a stallion and ask him what he wants.
“Well... it must have been incredibly delicious, but I don’t know what it tasted like.”
“Ah! It hurts!”
The woman's nose twitched as if tickled by the languid, dissipating laughter. He nibbled on her pert nose, and a cotton-like fist pounded against his collarbone.
The hand that had made him think about putting a glove on her became more and more habitual as the days went by, and now it was pushing him away and hitting him with a bat.
Rahikan, who had been clicking his tongue, reached under the sofa.
“Well, you’ll know when you try it again.”
As if soft silk were touching the backs of her hands, her wrists were tied behind her back in the blink of an eye. A pale pink ribbon wrapped around her wrists and stretched down to her tailbone.
Without even the slightest resistance, she was stripped of her freedom. Whenever Rahikan bound her, it was only when she felt the urge to struggle and escape. Diara, anticipating what was to come, blushed under her eyes.
Before the red flag had even faded, the back of her neck was burning brightly again, and she looked completely immersed in a rose-colored color from head to toe.
“Yes, now let’s check how well it spread.”
The hand that had been resting on her groin spread her thighs apart. Her wet, excited vagina swayed shamefully before the man's eyes. No matter how much she rubbed her insides, being penetrated by him always made her nervous, as if it were the first time.
“Relax your stomach.”
“Ah...Ra, Rahikan...”
Unable to meet his gaze, her face twisted, and she gasped. The hot glans touched her equally hot vagina, making a squelching sound, and repeatedly moved in and out as if checking inside.
As if he knew exactly who was violating her body, he slowly pulled out and slowly thrust in. Each time the spunky penis darted in and out, her hole twitched helplessly, accepting him.
When he shoved it, her vagina bulged, and when he rubbed, her waist twisted. Diara's entire body trembled as she helplessly squeezed the slowly moving pillar.
“Hmm, it’s still a bit tight. Did I push it in properly?”
The round hole, now gaping open, twitched like crazy as he dipped only the tip. She hated the way he pretended not to know, even though she was biting the thickest part of his forearm-sized penis, but it was also so good that it made her stomach churn.
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“Ahhhhh...”
As she bit her lip, Rahikan thrust into her waist, urging her to answer. The sensation of the blunt member pushing deep inside her made her jaw drop, and her mouth fall open. Then, a teasing stroke of his hand on her nipple sent tremors down her thighs.
“Stop...Huhu, well, you did well. You worked hard, so, uh, please..."
She didn't know what to do with the gaze that was directed down at her gaping hole, biting him. The humiliation was too much for her body, which was already aroused by just a soft call, a calm gaze, or a light caress.
He smiled and kissed her in response to her pleas to stop the bullying. He licked and bit her tongue, which had entered with a laugh, out of habit, and continued to poke and prod her several times, as if to appease her tantrum.
A rippling pleasure filled her body, and her limbs felt languid, as if she had been plunged into warm water. Diara, her eyes half-closed, felt him moving in and out. The thing that had been stirring at her entrance was pulled out, pushing her lower abdomen back.
“Yeah, yeah...?”
Diara, lost in a languid state, looked up at him, seemingly at a loss for words. As their sparkling eyes met, the hand that had been stroking her breast lightly slapped her bottom.
“Turn around and pull back. I want to hit you while looking at you.”
His gaze was quiet, but his voice, steeped in heat, sounded like the growl of a large carnivore. Diara swallowed dryly and slid down from his lap, between his legs.
With her toes pressed against the floor, she thrust her buttocks back. Her ribbon-bound hands spread open like flower petals, splitting her buttocks open.
“Ah, ahhhhh...”
"Ha..."
A warm, raw sensation penetrated her body. The man's moans mingled with the squelching sounds of her vagina stretching wide open. Her feet were round and smooth, and jertoes pressed firmly against the floor.
“Shh, breathe.”
“Ah, hmph, hmph...”
The sound of her gasping, her back arching as if about to break, was dangerous. He rubbed the shallow area several times, relieving the tension in her hole.
“Find your center and hold on. Can you do it?”
“Ah, ah.”
“Don’t even think about finishing first. If you faint or spit it out, you’ll get in trouble.”
It wasn't that she couldn't receive it after ejaculating once, but it was still hot. The sizzling temperature and the swollen shaft were both equally demanding. Furthermore, Rahikan always tormented her more persistently and violently during their second encounter.
Even though she's only biting his head, he's already thrusting with the force of piercing her, putting pressure on her lower abdomen. She's been begging him to fuck her the whole time, but the sheer force of his thrusts now makes her tremble in fear.
She doesn't think she can do it. But if sje say she can't do it now, he'll probably spank her until she cries.
“Ra, Rahikan...”
As always, she had nowhere to turn but the man who violated her. Her eyes, swept with fear and confusion, searched for him like a rope.
Her red lips twisted as if in pain, then her head froze in place as his hand approached, as if waiting for that moment. He lifted her waist, locking their gazes.
“Ra, Rahikan...”
As always, she had nowhere to turn but the man who violated her. Her eyes, swept with fear and confusion, searched for him like a rope.
Her red lips twisted as if in pain, then her head froze in place as his hand approached, as if waiting for that moment. He lifted her waist, locking their gazes.
“Every time I slap it, my name is called—it sounds as sweet as the sound of a pussy opening.”
“Ah, Rahi, ugh, ah... ah!”
"More."
“Ra, rahi, kan, ah, ung, ah, aaaah!”
The thing that had been thrusting in from afar finally dug into the narrowest space. The buttocks clinging to his belly button trembled miserably, and the moment the hard object pierced deep inside, Diara twisted her waist and groaned.
It was her favorite spot, the spot where her uterus was. The sensation of her pelvis rising and falling, rubbing deep within, sent tingles down her back.
Despite her fears, her body, which slid to the brink of climax, was in no condition to reject the man. The hole, throbbing along the smooth, wet path, greedily swallowed him, then reluctantly spat him out.
“Ah, ah, ra, hikan, aang, ah!”
He pulled out and thrust in all at once. The man's pubic hair slammed into her peach-like buttocks, leaving a ridged, cross-shaped mark. Her cleanly shaven perineum was the color of azaleas, and above it, her cutely throbbing anus was a crimson like her lips.
The sight of a woman exposing her genitals and shaking her hips before his eyes brought him immense satisfaction. The head tilting back to the rhythm of the thrusts, the screaming of his name, the gaping hole squeezing and squeezing him from root to head—none of it was satisfying.
It was completely devoured, and each time it was pulled out, a thick, sticky liquid coated the penis like a film. The liquid, once as viscous and clear as glue, had become like a whitish foam from excessive friction. It pooled in a circle around the clitoris, and even stretched down to the testicles, as if a lustful pussy were drooling.
Rahikan, who was admiring the shape of the chewy flesh while spreading it, began to bring his pelvis close and lift his waist.
“Eung, ah, ah!”
With each thrust, her toes, still clinging to the floor, precariously lifted. Her light body floated, then sank down, biting his cock. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh resonated like a beating, and Rahikan's mouth locked with jer mouth, meowing like a she-cat.
His thick tongue slid into her mouth to the beat of his cock thrusting in and out. Her body, happily accepting whatever he put into her, was busily expanding both upward and downward, growing hotter and hotter.
The buttocks that had been grinding like a horse slipped off his thighs. Her knees touched the floor, her upper body flat, and only her buttocks, where his cock was lodged, were raised high. As she shook her waist, the closed passage trembled, and her stomach vibrated.
“You’re so fucking delicious, and so damn pretty. What should I do with you?”
“Ugh, ugh, ah!”
The pleasure, rising dangerously, tightened around her chin like a noose. Rahikan's lips curled into a smile as she groaned, her back shaking. A hand traced her spine, starting from her tailbone, and then down to brush her trembling mouth.
“Why aren’t you answering? You just keep babbling.”
“Ah, ahh, ahh...”
“I told you to kiss me whenever you wanted something, but you said you didn’t want anything. No matter what I did, you just said it was okay and didn’t even ask for anything.”
“Ahhhhhhh... Ugh...”
“There is no answer now.”
The fingers that had been groping her teeth pressed against her tongue. The sound of her tongue pulling back and laughing was so close it almost brushed her earlobes. The lewd voice flowing into jer ear heated her mind, sending goosebumps down to the soles of jer feet, and jer whole body trembled.
As she barely managed to open his glued eyelids, she saw Rahikan looking down at her.
His face, seen from below, was her favorite of all his features. The high bridge of his nose and the cool jawline that cast shadows when he tilted his head. When he pressed his lips to her rosy lips, the feeling of his chest, which had been rising and falling slowly, holding its breath beneath her palm.
What else could she possibly wish for? She had been begging him to give her whatever she wanted, but what she most desired was already held within her. Feeling his heart pounding, Diara braced her trembling knees.
“This, yeah, more of this… more please.”
She lifted her butt and crawled closer to him. As she wobbled under his legs, Rahikan let out a purring laugh. Her pelvis, gripped by a strong hand, was dragged down.
“Yeah, yeah.”
He straddled her buttocks, her waist bent at a near right angle. He thrusted and pulled out, pounding like a rice cake, and the sound of water splashing from the interlocked areas emitted a deafening, slurping noise. The sensation of her insides opening up sent a shiver down her fingers and toes, and her body, flattened by the hammering of her waist, slumped against the floor.
The hand, curled up like a cat's paw, scratched the air until it finally snapped. The sensation of the interlocked fingers tapping against her tailbone was familiar.
Even on the day she first received him, she had been struggling to spread her legs wide open, clenching her fists like this. She thought she be pierced in an instant and suffocated.
The man, who had forced himself into a gap she hadn't even known existed, writhed, cried, and begged, but wouldn't stop until he finally took everything she had. It was so excruciatingly good, she felt like crying. She swayed her hips in all directions, unaware of the pain in her knees.
“Ah, ah, ah, ahh!”
“How far are you going to crawl?”
“Ahhh!”
Her hair was grabbed, and her upper body was lifted. Jer body, struggling to get up, arched like a bow, and she spun around, slamming it into her thighs, causing them to tremble as if in a spasm.
“You keep asking for it, huh? What if you keep running away? We need to make a baby, don't we?”
“Then you should open your mouth quietly and receive the ejaculation.”
The sound of him laughing while opening her mouth with his hand and poking her tongue was sharp.
Her trembling buttocks brushed against his lower abdomen. Her anus, open as if in full bloom, clung to his belly button, making a slurping sound with each ripple. The sight of a woman pressing for ejaculation with her entire body made his lower abdomen boil so hard it felt like it was about to melt.
The finger slipped out of her whining mouth, replaced by something soft. He watched jer, with a smile, as he stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes shaking.
“Hold the baby's clothes, yes? I'll take care of the pussy, so you just cum on top of this.”
The tongue that slid across her lips whispered something unintelligible. Baby clothes...? Baby clothes? His words kept fading through her hair, which was now tinged with pleasure. Diara, who had been blinking and wiping away tears, finally looked down at the floor.
Her blurred vision revealed a room in disarray. The child's clothes, crumpled and torn from the floor, were strewn everywhere. Ribbons she folded herself into flower shapes, and things like the gloves and socks she showed him.
So, up until now, she had been drooling and rubbing her breasts on the clothes that the child was going to wear.
A moment of shame. And then a dizzying sense of crisis washed over her. No. No. This can't be happening. Doing something so obscene on top of the clothes her precious child is wearing. As she turned away, her face flushed red, a hand reached out and grabbed her chin.
Her mouth was locked with the one holding the sock, and his knee, inserted between her legs, spread jer thighs wide, preventing her from closing them. Her heart pounded as she watched him exhale slowly, her head, arms, and legs immobilized.
The movement that had been slowly rising seemed to gradually gain speed, and soon it began to strike at the speed of a galloping horse.
“Ah, ah! Aaaah!”
Diara's wide-open eyes twisted into a distorted squeal, and she wept like a child being beaten. Her face, flushed red, writhed meaninglessly in his hands.
Her knees, thumping in place, brushed against his thighs, clapping like hands. The sizzling pillar thrust at a frightening pace into the hole, frozen in midair.
Her limbs felt heavy as if she was sinking into a swamp, then felt like she was about to soar high into the sky, and her stomach felt like it was about to melt away, then swelled tightly.
A conflicting sensation surged from one extreme to the next, slamming into her back like a pendulum. Her head was boiling, almost ready to burst. He was helplessly thrusting from below, her vagina sank, unaware of the drool flowing from her gaping mouth.
“Haaaaaah!”
“Ugh, ha...”
The man's hand, which had been stroking her lower abdomen as her hips swayed from side to side as if dancing, slid down.
The moment the sharp protrusion touched his firm fingertips, her vision dizzied as if she been struck by electricity, and every hole in her body tightened. Unable to bear the stimulation, the man growled and ejaculated into the hole, which shrank like the eye of a needle.
“Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh!”
Thick and hot, like a torrential downpour, it poured down, pounding the walls of her vagina and her uterus. Even as she received the ejaculate, the clitoris, rubbing against her without mercy, spurred a lightning-like orgasm that gripped jer inner walls and shook them violently.
The trickling water formed a stream. The fluid spurted from her clitoris, spurting between his fingers, soaking his rippling chest and lower abdomen.
A scream-like moan rose and fell, then suddenly died down like a candle being blown out. Her thighs, unable to close, trembled like spasms before collapsing helplessly.
***
Diara lay face down and Rahikan lay on top of her.
The room was as quiet as a lie, with no groans or the sound of flesh slapping against itself.
Even after ejaculation, while waiting for the still taut penis to subside, the sound of the deeply bitten cock slowly moving in and out of the hole was the only thing that resonated in the quiet surroundings.
The trembling of her clenched thighs wouldn't stop. Just holding on felt like she climax again. Her arms were tied, immobile, and she was being thrust into unilaterally, but he could feel her swollen inner walls biting and squeezing against him. The pleasure that pierced his spine, as intense as his genitals, showed no sign of abating.
So whether it was good or not was another story.
“Ugh, mmmph, go away.”
He sensed something unusual about the swollen chest, and his fingers slid into her gaping teeth. The cloth, soaked with tears and saliva, slipped out, leaving behind a sticky trail, and the sobs intensified.
“I hate it, ugh, me, I hate it...”
“...What do you say as soon as I take it out?”
“Bad, ugh, that’s no good, ugh...”
She said no. She shook her head, telling him not to. Even when she kept her mouth shut, he could read her mind like a ghost, so there was no way he wouldn't notice the signal she was sending.
A mother who spent days and days agonizing over clothes for her baby and then poured her own blood on them. It was not only lewd and extravagant, but also pathetic. She had no face to face her child or her husband, and her face flushed red for a moment.
Rahikan, looking down at her slender back, hiccuped and let out a sigh. "You always rock your hips in a good mood, but as soon as you get what you deserve, I'm the one you hate."
He couldn't quite figure out how to describe the feeling of something so small and so unsettling, yet so heartbreaking. It was cute how she blushed bright red as she cried, but it was also absurd how she clenched her fists every time she whined.
“What do you hate so much? Why do you hate it?”
“Ugh, my clothes are all dirty, ugh, ugh...”
He wiped her wet cheek with his palm. When he stuck his tongue out and licked her eyelids, she frowned, but flattened her round cheeks as if she had no intention of running away.
“It’s not dirty. Every drop of water you spill, every drop of spit, every tear, every sweat, it smells so sweet. What’s dirty about it?”
“Ugh...”
A pungent, sweet smell permeated the room. It smelled like overripe, peeled fruit had been placed in a glass jar, steeped in honey and alcohol, and then smeared all over the walls and floor.
Had it not rained, bees and birds would have swarmed through the open window. Soon, when the rainy season passes and the desert spring arrives, it will. The rose of Feldif blooms in Cardion. The praises of his beautiful wife will never cease from the lips of those who love to chatter and sing.
“If it's a kid who takes after me, they'll be crazy about it, so don't worry.”
Her trembling eyelids willingly accepted his kiss. Her whimpers turned into sobs, and only a small tremble remained on her once-trembling back.
He thrust deeply, continuing his shallow strokes as he slowly stroked the woman's lower back. The ribbon holding her wrists loosened, and her wrists fell off with a pop.
Her body, held by the armpits and turned around, let out a thin, whimpering sound. As she spat out his cock, her thighs slapped against her breasts in the struggle to twist her body, then sloshed back down. He lifted Diarra up and carried her toward the bed placed in one corner of the office.
Her body, limp like wet paper, was smothered in the soft bedding. Rahikan laid the woman down, her eyes barely open, and sat down beside her.
“Besides, since everyone will find out anyway, you should tell them instead of hiding it.”
“...What?”
He smiled faintly, wiping his sweaty forehead.
“How you always shake your butt and whine under me.”
The intelligent child born between him and her could possibly not know the facts that everything with eyes and ears in the palace, from people to beasts, knows.
He had no intention of being a caring father who would hesitate to embrace her out of concern for his child's feelings. When a woman's clothes are undressed, it's the child who should close his eyes and leave the room, not him.
“So don’t be shy and tell them.”
“Yeah...”
"Mom was loved this much by Dad. I were loved so lewdly that my clothes were soaked with the water flowing down from below. I were loved this much when you were created."
At the light kiss, Diara raised her half-closed eyelids and glanced at him, but didn't respond. Her faint, steady breathing was sweet, like that of a child drifting off to sleep.
Passing out after a violent affair was a long-standing habit of Diara's. And cleaning and examining her body was one of Rahikan's new habits after meeting Diara.
Rahikan clicked his tongue as he examined the chest, waist, hips, and thighs where handprints were left.
This is going to be a bruise.
Her once-white knees were now as red and yellow as autumn leaves, and he felt bruises forming. Rahikan sighed softly, self-deprecating.
She didn't intend to lay her face down on the floor and slam her head. What started on the sofa somehow ended up like this. She's right there in front of a perfectly good bed, slumping over like a dog, making a mess of the floor. He doesn't even feel any regret. It seems like there's no further path to fall for this damned human nature.
“Is there nothing I can do about it, even if I incur hatred?”
Since meeting him, jer body, bruised and bruised, tossed and turned every day until she settled down next to his thigh. Lying face down, hugging his knees like a pillow, her face was tired.
He watched with smiling eyes as her hair fluttered over the bridge of her nose, following the breaths she exhaled in colorful bursts.
“...”
He brushed back her rosy hair and spoke insincerely. As if reading his mind, the hand clutching his knee didn't relax but tightened instead, making his chest ache with tenderness.
A scar ran down his right back and across his front, leaving a dark mark on the nape of his neck. A bitter expression crossed Rahikan's face as he noticed the soft fingertips running along the scorched skin.
Even mher insensitive eyes could easily guess how something so hideous would appear to her delicate eyes. Just as one cannot help but be drawn to something beautiful, it was also inevitable that one would find something hideous horrifying.
If it were something that could be erased, he would have done it sooner. Knowing it wouldn't work, he felt both futile and pitiful for the woman who tried to rub his scars away.
“I wish I had smooth, soft skin like yours. Does it bother you too much?”
“Yeah, I like it now. It’s just like a tiger.”
"Tiger."
“Yeah, it’s pretty.”
Diara smiled faintly as a strange light appeared in the man's eyes.
The sparkling eyes between the long, sunken corners, the majestic shoulders and the grayish scars that draped them—they reminded her of a handsome male tiger. From the moment she first saw him, she didn't think he was ugly at all. Despite ber pity, his scars were beautiful from the start.
"Your majesty."
“Rahikan.”
“Rahikan, actually, I don’t hate you at all.”
“I see.”
“Even when I look at it like this, I still want to see it. How can I hate it?”
"Yes."
She wonder if the resentment she lamented, crying, had come across as sincere. Her hazy, lucid voice, trying to explain itself, gathered in a hazy muffled tangle and crumbled like sand.
"I like you."
“...”
“I really, really like you...”
It was impossible to tell from her sleepy voice whether she was talking to herself or to him. With the last of her whispered confessions, her half-closed eyelids closed completely.
A veil-like silence covered the woman's body. The burning candles, slowly fading away, rippled with moisture. Rahikan sat for a moment, gazing at the shadows cast beneath her long eyelashes. Finally, in a cool voice, he spoke.
“Tataram.”
“Azad’s is here.”
The sound from the ceiling fell to the floor.
His faithful bird tolerated no delay in carrying out his orders. Unaware of this turn of events, he forgot to tell him to wait outside, so he couldn't bear it any longer and crawled up to the ceiling.
“I suppose it’s one thing to be clueless, but I guess the only way to fix my peeping habit is to gouge out my eyes.”
Knowing that he listened to everything but nothing, he was so irritated that he suddenly wanted to slit his throat. "As Azad wishes," he said. "Should I kill you?" His question was met with a polite reply. Rahikan sighed and rose from his seat.
“The last doctor spoke.”
“Azad is right.”
"Yes."
The corners of the lips are tilted upwards, creating a curved line.
The child's clothes scattered on the floor drowned out the sound of his footsteps.
The office door closed quietly behind him as he turned and left.
***
Inside the well-shaped, circular prison, red sand filled the air. At the signal of the Emperor's arrival, the lead plates clanged sharply, and the once-quiet surface of the sand rippled like crashing waves.
Behind the head, which jutted out like a sand ghost, the shoulders, waist, knees, and feet gradually emerged. Through her wild, beast-like hair, a man's face was encased in a sheet of metal. When it was removed, the man who had been trapped screamed, spitting out what had been bitten in his mouth.
“Keuk, keuaaak!! Aaaaah!!”
The man's cheeks were bulging in strange shapes because of the sand snakes that were so full in his mouth that they were trying to pierce through his cheeks.
The moment you fall, the pain that engulfs your body is so intense that you feel like you're going to die right away. However, this is the famous sand prison of Cardion, where even if you're locked in for ten years, your lifeline will not be cut off.
The screams, which seemed to never cease, were deafening. Rahikan, who watched them with indifferent eyes, muttered in a monotonous voice.
“You’d better be quiet. You don’t want to get stuck again.”
The sound of spitting sand at the slight threat immediately turned into gritting teeth and moaning. The sand snakes swiped their tails and scattered, leaving a swirling trail behind them.
The trembling man knelt down on the spot where the snakes were scattered.
“Great, great, great Sun of the Desert, Your Imperial Majesty, I humbly greet you.”
He was one of the doctors hired as Rahikan's personal doctor when the elder and Helgatria ruled the palace.
Of those who fled upon hearing the Emperor's return, nineteen died from snakebites. Of those captured by crows, twenty-nine had their heads severed in the sand prison. He could now be considered the last surviving member of the old council who had met Rahikan.
The court doctors, who had entered the palace under the pretext of managing the Emperor's madness, were charged with prescribing medicines and preparing incense. Ostensibly, their duties were to reduce the Emperor's fever, alleviate hallucinations, and promote sleep. However, their actual duties upon entering the palace were quite the opposite.
Incense was burned at the elder's command, and incantations were offered at the appropriate times. The tempo was adjusted so that the Emperor's fever would not completely burn him to death, but also so that he would not awaken with a clear mind. This was the task of the empire's most renowned doctors.
“Yeah, you finally thought of a way.”
“That, that, that, that, yes, Your Majesty.”
He found a way to implant his seed in Diara's body.
This was the answer obtained after arresting all those who had served as royal doctors for generations and had their names attached to them.
"Ha."
Rahikan's lips twitched with a low laugh. He must have been nearly fifty years old, desperately trying to get this answer. He'd planned to find a solution, even if it meant slaying the doctors, the madmen, and the sorcerers of the oasis. But things were resolved more quickly than he'd expected. The words from his enemy's lips were as sweet as fragrant wine.
The doctor, encouraged by the change in air, took a deep breath and bowed at his feet once more.
“Ugh, if you want to achieve what you want, you have to use snake venom.”
“Snake venom.”
"Yes. As Your Majesty the Emperor knows, the blood of the Golden-Eyed Imperial Family flows with an ancient magic known as the Serpent Guardian."
The Serpent's Guardian. This refers to the founding myth of the Cardion Empire. Rahikan's eyes narrowed and deepened.
The founding myth of Cardion, which begins with the sentence, "A long time ago, the first King and the first serpent made a pact," is one of the oldest and most widely known of the hundreds of myths of the empire.
There was a time, before all of this land's continents were human, when the serpents who made the White Desert their home were locked in a never-ending war with humans who sought to conquer it. This war between the two-legged, two-tongued race raged for nearly a century, yet yielded no results. The blood shed on both sides in the interim stained the once-white desert sands red.
After enough time had passed for the child to become an old man, and for the old man's child to become an old man again, and the White Desert began to be called the Red Desert instead of its original name, the weary serpent offered the aged King a contract.
The Red Desert Serpent does not bite the King's descendants. However, cutting the snake without the King's permission is also forbidden. The serpent cast a spell on the simple peace treaty.
"As a sign of our promise, I will give you eyes that shine like the desert sun, and I will give your partner a seal made from my fangs. You will not share your offspring with another, and we will not share our loyalty with anyone else."
"While the sun shines in the King's eyes, the promise will be remembered," the legend of the serpent's words concluded.
Therefore, the selective sterility of the shining eyes was the price of receiving the serpent's protection. Passed down from generation to generation since time immemorial, the shackles were a symbol of the trust forged between the desert serpent and the Cardion royal family.
"So."
Up to this point, it was something that could be learned by simply looking through the imperial history books, so Rahikan crossed his legs with a bored expression.
“You didn’t call me here just to tell me some legendary nonsense, did you?”
The Emperor's shadow stretched diagonally across the sand. Long ago, when the Emperor was under the influence of drugs, the doctor would often see him writhing in shadow beyond the curtain.
It was none other than themselves, the doctors, who contributed as much as the Princess to driving the young Emperor mad. It wouldn't be strange for them to lose their necks at any moment, so even the Emperor's languid voice left their throats parched.
The doctor swallowed hard and carefully placed the precious fragment of memory he had unearthed in front of Rahikan.
“There is a method of removing gold from the shackles that was practiced by my late master’s master.”
Several generations ago, there was a Prince who, among the Emperor's descendants, took as his wife a woman not of royal blood. His teacher, who was also well-versed in sorcery, taught the woman how to conceive a child, and he did so as follows.
First, extract the venom from a viper caught in the desert and inject it into the royal family's bloodstream. The blood of the eyeless and earless royal family will be imbued with the venom, making the owner mistakenly believe he has been bitten.
Now comes the first betrayal of the snake's pact not to bite the shining eye.
"Thanks to the extremely small amount of poison used, there's no harm to the body, but the magic flowing through the blood never forgets the taboos broken. Even taboos as small as a grain of sand, if repeated over and over, eventually become irreversible."
Just like that, little by little, like raindrops falling on a rock, if you repeat this for a thousand days, a crack will form in the giant rock, like an indelible crack in the promise with the snake.
"So, on the thousandth day, when the bond between you and the serpent is at its weakest, cover the sun's eyes and embrace the woman you desire. If you do this, the seed sown in her womb will take root safely."
A thousand-day ritual. A ritual that sealed a pact with a snake. It was incredibly complicated, but given the long-standing legends of the empire, it was certainly plausible.
The Prince's record of successfully fathering a child through this method also lends credence to the doctor's words. Rahikan smiled faintly, satisfied.
"Yes..."
A thousand days. It was a heartbreakingly long time for his impatient snake to wait, but it wasn't so long for him.
A thousand days and nights. The mere thought of those long days, belly-to-belief, tongue-to-tongue, and slurping, made his mouth water. Truthfully, he didn't care if it took ten thousand, let alone a thousand. After all, he'd be buried in that sweet flesh for the rest of his life, oblivious to the coming and going of the seasons.
Knock knock knock, his fingers tapped lightly on the armrest.
What expressions will the cunning Helgatria and the Elders make when they hear this news? The Elders, who have finally found a way to continue the royal line, will be relieved, and the people of the capital will be overjoyed.
But more than anything, he was curious about the reaction of Lara, his snake, who slept beside him, her tail curled up. She'd hit him for wetting her clothes, called him a tiger, and picked him up and put him down several times a day, praising him and then hating him.
Should she laugh? Or should she shed tears? She's a crybaby and a mischievous child, no matter where he put her, so she might do both. A smile tugged at his lips as he imagined the smile that would appear on those rosy lips.
The Emperor's steps were light as he stood up and turned away. The doctor, who had been lying prostrate while awaiting the Emperor's command, became lost in thought.
“Now, now, wait a minute, Your Majesty, I, now, how should I, how should I...”
The Emperor had offered to release him on the condition that he found a way for women to conceive. He couldn't believe it, but his tongue twisted in a desperate urgency, wondering if he'd forgotten his promise. The Emperor, wrapped in his cloak, glanced over his shoulder.
“Of course, I plan to let you go.”
His eyes, filled with a smile as if in a good mood, were gentle. "I'm so embarrassed," he said. The doctor's back stiffened as he bowed.
“I will release you after spending as many days as the number of bowls of medicinal herbs you have given me and the number of incense sticks you have burned.”
The amount of herbs and incense burned daily for ten years was beyond calculation. Counting them all seemed better than counting the grains of sand in the desert. The despair that surged through the doctor clouded his vision.
“That, that, that...”
Before the protests could even end, at Rahikan's gesture, the sound of lead hitting the sand echoed again. His kneeling ankles vanished as if swallowed by the sand, followed by his knees, and then his thighs.
The doctor, who had been dragged up to his waist in the blink of an eye, began to resist by twisting his body belatedly.
"Your Majesty! Please! Please! Please wait a moment, for I still have more to tell you!"
There's one more story the Emperor would be pleased to tell. So, give me just one more chance. With a cry, the doctor's hands clawed furiously at the sand. The sound of hair-thin snakes swarming swirled and flowed, and Rahikan clicked his tongue in pity, laughing.
“What should I do? I don’t have anything I want to hear.”
“Ahhh, ahhhh!”
“I’ll listen to your interesting story next time.”
An iron canopy was placed over the doctor's head. The man's screams were torn apart by the high, barred window, then suddenly stopped.
***
Caaaak!
A crow perched on the citadel soared with a chilling sound. Startled, Leah dropped the bedding she was holding.
“Ah, aaaah!”
The quilt, rolled up like a silkworm cocoon, fell to the floor. Leah's shriek, as if torn apart, caused the maid, who had been drawing water far away, to panic and rush toward her.
“Leah! What’s wrong?”
“Oh, oh, no, it’s nothing.”
Leah, finally coming to her senses at the maid's worried voice, scooped up the quilt that had fallen to the floor. No, to be precise, she merely pretended to pick it up. Kneeling, she wrapped the rolled-up bedding around her body. Then, as if nothing had happened, her face was surprisingly pale.
“What are you doing? Why are you suddenly lying on the floor... Are you in pain?”
“This, this blanket, this blanket... is dirty...”
“Oh my, you're saying sand got on the Princess's things?”
The maid frowned in disbelief at Leah's boisterous reaction.
“This is useless anyway. It’s customary to burn blood-stained tissues.”
It was imperial rule that bedding stained with the menstrual blood of women serving the Emperor should be burned and scattered instead of being washed.
Even if it was made of fine silk as soft as a feather, it was a blanket destined for burning anyway. No matter how humble a maid might be, she wouldn't be scolded for getting a little dirt on a blanket meant for throwing away. She couldn't understand why she was so terrified, so frantic; she was scanning her surroundings.
“Give it to me. I'll help you carry it...”
It was the moment she reached out. The maid, who had been bowing at the ear-piercing scream, flinched and stepped back. Leah, her teeth bared, growled as the maid's face flushed red in embarrassment. She clutched the bedding as if it were a rope, her breathing ragged.
“This, this is mine. If I have to burn it, I’ll burn it.”
“...Uh, uh uh.”
“So don’t interfere unnecessarily. Got it?”
The maid, startled by the shouting, nodded as if in a daze. Leah left the woman standing there blankly behind, disappearing as if running to the crematorium.
A corner of the incinerator. A fire, never extinguished, flickered its red tongue beneath the black stone. Amidst the pouring rain, the smoke, thick as fog, was acrid.
Except for a few set times a day, this place is almost deserted. Leah, confirming there was no one, placed the blanket she had tied tightly onto the floor. As she untied the red rope with trembling hands, beads of sweat poured down her forehead like rain.
“Please... Ugh, please...”
I hope you get in safely.
She lost track of the days as she collected every single tribute Princess Helgatria had ordered. She was beginning to feel a sense of crisis, fearing she might have to cut off the Princess's finger if she delayed any longer. Then, the Princess's menstruation, which coincidentally came, proved to be Leah's lifeline.
As the blanket she had been rolling up was unrolled and the contents inside were revealed one by one, Leah's hands trembled with relief.
The Princess's red hair, as luscious as a newly bloomed rose. The bedsheets were stained with the Princess's vivid blood.
Leah, holding a knife, tore a corner of the blanket. An arrow shot out through the torn fabric, narrowly missing the back of Leah's hand.
“Gyaaak!”
The flying sword landed on the bloodstained bedsheets, and through it, the beast that had startled Leah emerged. It was the Princess's snake, with flower-red scales and leaf-green eyes.
Having been dragged out from its deep slumber under the Princess's blanket, the snake was on edge. With each thrust of its triangular head, its two fangs flashed bright blue, and clear venom dripped from its needle-sharp tips.
It was the viper's deadly venom, capable of causing death with a single touch. Leah, who had been trembling under the red snake's force, soon gritted her teeth.
Like a puppy? This disgusting thing?
The beast, so docile and lamblike in the Princess's arms, revealed its true colors the moment someone touched it. Its jewel-red scales, bristling with knots, were chilling to behold, but hatred outweighed fear. The wriggling of its tentacles beneath her long skirt, caressing her thighs, inflamed her rage.
"It's you, it's you. Because you crawled into this castle! Because you bewitched the Princess! Because of you, even me! You treacherous monster!"
Leah flipped the blanket over and slammed a rock onto it. The rock, larger than a man's fist, slammed into the blanket covering the snake with a loud thud.
Soon, Leah held a snake in her hand. The bloodied beast breathed hot, colorful breath into her palm.
The snake wasn't dead yet, but it appeared to be dying. Leah looked at it, half-souled, as if its strength had been exhausted, and it no longer bared its teeth or swished its tail.
A faint sense of guilt and a sense of distant despair clouded her vision. Having struck the Princess's snake without the Emperor's permission, she had nowhere else to turn.
There is no turning back now.
Leah, who had been staring blankly at the offerings in her hands, stood up unsteadily.
Red hair, red blood, and a living red snake.
All three offerings Helgatria had ordered were ready. The fire, which consumed the offerings one by one, blazed with a pitch-black light. The black flames, which had swept across the floor, soon vanished into puffs of smoke. The pouring rain erased Leah's footprints, and soon, nothing remained.
Comments
Post a Comment