Episode 26. Marriage (1)

“Why are you being so lukewarm?”

The next day, Monica came to see Winnie, who was still holed up in her house making dolls. Since Winnie wasn’t in a state to be seen by Monica, she shoved the dolls and other junk into the storage room and greeted her in the drawing room. The drawing room was the only place in her mansion that was clean, as it was where Monica stayed whenever she visited.

“You said last time that a carrot should come after the stick. I’m trying to give a reward, but why are you reacting like that…?”

Well, that guy is already taking his own rewards, that’s why.

Monica, who had come to see her only friend since morning, was pouring out her worries about Edward. Winnie, enduring the envy of the fact that the man was still receiving Monica’s attention, summarized the situation as follows:

She gave Edward a stick, so it’s time to give him a carrot, so she decided to give him a reward. Coincidentally, he did well in the subjugation of the barony last time and didn’t cause any problems, so she said she would give him a reward, but he doesn’t seem to like it as much as she thought.

“…Isn’t it because it’s too late?”

“Is that so? Should I have given it to him yesterday? Or right when I saw him in the barony?”

‘I think he’d be lukewarm no matter what you gave him.’

Winnie remembered the things she had tacitly agreed upon with Edward, but she couldn’t say them. That man was eliminating as much room for Monica to feel affection as possible. Since he’s doing his job properly, she can’t be stupid and miss out on it.

“…What did you say you’d give him?”

“I didn’t say anything specific. It’s no fun to give if there’s no reaction, so I got annoyed and told him to just leave.”

“You must have had something in mind.”

“Hmm… Money? A bonus?”

“…Well, it’s good that you’re saving money… And you said you didn’t want to get involved much. Isn’t it good if you don’t interfere with each other?”

“Yeah, that’s true, but… it’s still annoying.”

As Winnie looked at her with a questioning gaze, as if wondering what was so annoying, Monica added,

“I don’t want to get involved much, but it’s annoying because it feels like I’m being ignored. He doesn’t even have a title, yet he came to marry into the family as a son-in-law!”

Monica takes a sip of tea.

“Of course, I don’t want to be interfered with in what I do. But I’m the lord and Edward is a vassal. Shouldn’t he be loyal to me then?”

“…Is this something to doubt his loyalty…?”

“No, it’s that he’s not showing respect to his lord.”

For a moment, the thought that it’s also not respectful for a wife to try to control her husband flashed through Winnie’s mind, but she shook her head to clear it. She thought that she shouldn’t be trapped in such prejudices. Leaving aside the fact that controlling others is not desirable in itself.

“…I will always be respectful, Countess Yulstein-nim.”

“No, don’t you do that. You’re the only friend I can confide in.”

Monica hugged Winnie tightly. Winnie felt her heart beating fast. Monica’s hair, smelling like fresh flowers, her soft breasts pressing against her meager flesh. Monica was beautiful even to another woman, no, even more so to another woman. Normally, she would have been moved by this hug and melted with happiness, but today she took a step further with courage.

“…If you hate it that much, you don’t have to marry that man. Or you could marry another vassal.”

Monica buried her face in Winnie’s shoulder and remained still. During that silence, Winnie felt like her small chest would explode like a failed experiment. But unlike what she had secretly hoped for, Monica’s expected answer came out of her mouth.

“That won’t do. Winnie, don’t you hate the idea of me getting married too much? I’ll take good care of you even after I get married.”

Monica smiled and patted Winnie’s butt.

“Marrying another vassal is even more out of the question. Edward is at least six years older, but the other vassals are either pot-bellied old men or wrinkly old geezers.”

‘What about me?’

The words rose to her throat, but eventually, they were swallowed back into Winnie’s throat. It would take even more courage to bring up the idea of a woman marrying a woman, which would destroy basic common sense.

‘It would have been nice if I had been born a few hundred years earlier.’

She heard that in the old days when the church was not dominant, it was not uncommon for people of the same sex to be in love. Of course, that was same-sex love between men, but if men hung out together, would anyone say much if women hung out together too? Winnie could only resent herself for being born in the wrong era.

“And I need an heir too. It’s my mother’s wish to continue the family line, so shouldn’t I grant her that much? I also refuse to let the family line end with my generation.”

After that, they talked about various things, and then Monica left. Winnie, who had nonchalantly chimed in, had only one thought left in her mind.

‘Monica and my child…’

“Which book was the spell to create semen written in…”

After searching through several books, Winnie gave up and started working on making dolls again. Even if she created semen, she would have to succeed in confessing her love first, so she could at least try to put it in.

“What did you talk about with Monica?”

When I returned after being summoned by Monica in the morning, Vera asked me that. I still have to keep my promise.

“We promised to speak comfortably when we’re alone.”

“But you came here to study now. Right now, I’m not Vera-nuna, but Vera-sensei.”

I came to Vera’s room to study writing for the first time in a while. For several days, I didn’t study and only had sex under the guise of inspection. But when Monica returned and that became impossible, studying was the solution I came up with to create time alone. Um, my head still hurts just looking at the letters.

“You spoke so comfortably yesterday… Why are you so insistent on using honorifics?”

“That’s because I wasn’t in my right mind then…”

“Was our relationship so good that you weren’t in your right mind?”

Vera’s face turned red and she turned her head away without a word. She seems to think that it’s a loss to talk more. She should have quietly kept her promise.

“I’m trying to use only elegant words like this, shouldn’t the teacher set an example by keeping her promise first?”

“Ugh… I know, I mean, I know.”

Vera is cuter when she’s embarrassed to speak informally. It must be because she’s always been in the habit of using honorifics. I felt good because she seemed to feel comfortable rather than ignoring me when she spoke informally.

“So, what did you talk about with Monica…?”

“Just, she said she would give me a reward for my achievements, so I told her to go ahead.”

“You didn’t just tell her to go ahead as you said it, did you…?”

“Hey, I wouldn’t do that. I’m a knight who knows chivalry.”

I’m afraid of what might happen if I act obnoxiously in front of Monica. She needs to be a bit prickly. Vera made a face that she didn’t believe me more at the word chivalry, but she just moved on and opened the textbook.

“Okay, today. We’re going to study the Bible that we were going to study last time.”

What Vera took out was the Bible, the book that I had once splattered with white discharge. She said she wouldn’t use it until she had refilled all the contents, but it seemed like she had finished it all even in the midst of the hectic days of having sex with me.

“Um… Doesn’t it smell a little, teacher?”

“No! It doesn’t smell like that. Maybe… maybe.”

Vera trails off. Her voice sounds like she’s not sure herself. Even I felt like it smelled musty, whether it was my imagination or not. Vera seemed to be aware of this as well, so she opened a different page than last time. It seems like she’s trying to start from the first page of the book.

“You’ve become a little more familiar with the letters through studying things like memorizing words, so from today, we’re going to study by reading the book. The letters aren’t too difficult, and I’ll help you whenever you get stuck, so don’t worry too much. A student as excellent as Edward should be able to read it easily.”

I followed the place Vera’s finger was pointing with my eyes. But even when I tried to read it, all I could see was Vera’s beautiful finger, not the black ink. As if she thought I was stuck from the beginning, Vera started reading instead of me.

“In the beginning, there was light…”

That voice, like a comfortable lullaby, echoed in my ears.

Sgeun sgeun.

“…and made… um?”

It seemed like it was still too much to make Edward read from the beginning. While Vera was reading the text as if she was telling a story, judging that way, Edward had already fallen asleep. Unlike the face he usually made when he was teasing and smirking at her, his sleeping face looked innocent and young.

‘It feels like I’m seeing him sleeping for the first time.’

After having relations, she was always the one who got tired first and fell asleep as if she had fainted. When she woke up, Edward was always up first to train. It was as if he had stamina like a beast that never got tired, but he fell asleep right away when she made him study.

‘If I had a son, would it feel like this…’

For Vera, who wanted many children, not having a son was a painful part. It’s not that she felt lacking with Monica, but if Vera herself had given birth to a son, the succession would have been more stable. She had even resented her ex-husband for not having relations with her, but now that a lot of time has passed, it has dulled.

Edward’s mouth was slightly open while he was sleeping.

‘Will he not wake up even like this?’

She stealthily put her finger into his mouth. She put her index finger in, being careful not to touch the inside of his mouth, and Edward’s warm breath touched her hand.

‘Hehe, how cute.’

She moves her finger back and forth in and out of his mouth. It was a prank she used to play on Monica often when she was dozing off when they were young. After Monica grew up to a certain extent, there was no one who slept in front of Vera, so it was a prank she couldn’t do. How long will he not wake up? At this rate, it felt like she could do it until the sun went down.

At that moment, Edward’s mouth suddenly closed.