episode_0168

[Episode 164] – Return Home (3)

“So, I plan to put in more effort for my difficult mother. Really, you can expect that.”

Titania smiled, her eyes crinkling as she met mine. When I heard her say I could expect that, I involuntarily swallowed hard. It felt like stepping on a landmine.

Though Titania’s face looked full of laughter as she looked at me, her smile seemed strained, as if she were angry while smiling. Was it because of my mood that she seemed to be smiling but not really?

The red irises visible through her crinkled eyes seemed to say, “I’ve endured enough until now.” It was a look of patience and restraint pushed to its limit, one might say.

After a brief silence, due to my uncomfortable position, I let out a small sigh as my waist swayed. Well, I was still in a situation where I was perched on Titania’s lap, essentially “bare.”

Was it because I was trying not to sit too heavily on Titania’s lap by exerting force on my thighs, or was it because I was getting tired, my waist began to tremble slightly. It was due to lack of exercise.

“…Alright. I get it, so could you please let go now?”

“Yes, I understand.”

As Titania still held onto my waist tightly, I forced a smile and asked her to let go. Only then did Titania release her hold on my waist and flashed a broad smile.

As I descended from Titania’s lap, I let out a small sigh and wiped my damp neck with a cloth. As I wiped my neck, I could feel the indentations left by her teeth and kiss marks made by her lips.

Surely, my neck was a mess. It must have been covered in bite marks from Titania gnawing on it and kiss marks made by her lips, leaving it in disarray.

…I should have brought a mirror.

“…Would you help me change clothes and look away?”

“Shall I assist you?”

“Looking away is how you can help me.”

Titania lowered her eyes as if expressing regret, then turned her head away from me. I let out a small sigh and began to take off the thin cloth and pulled out underwear from my bag to put on.

After changing into the clothes brought from Wangsung, I pulled up the collar of the garment to cover my neck as much as possible. Since there was no mirror, I had to rely on the sensation of my fingertips to check if any traces were covered by the clothes.

As I felt around my neck with my fingertips, I couldn’t help but frown. It seemed that even with the collar of the clothes, the tooth marks left by Titania were not completely hidden.

Titania’s ambiguous display of the tooth marks on her neck began to irritate me. The ministers and other officials must be waiting outside, what should I do about this? It will surely remain distinct…!

Annoyed, I touched my neck and turned to look at Titania. Her words from earlier flashed through my mind, the words she whispered in a voice filled with affection.

“I want to always wear this mark of yours, Mother, so it never fades away. If possible, I want to do more than this right away. I want to keep seeing you, touching you, kissing you, embracing you, and eventually, I want to sleep with you.”

As those words flashed through my mind, I found myself involuntarily groaning. Just moments ago, my anger had surged, but recalling those words made my anger dissipate like a lie.

Instead, a rush of embarrassment flooded in to fill the void. Feeling the heat in my ears, I took a deep breath and sorted through my emotions.

Truly, this is maddening.

The fact that Titania desires me, to be honest, wasn’t something I disliked. Truly, I didn’t have any real aversion to it. From the start, there was no reason to dislike it. My beloved daughter, Titania, wanting me.

As a mother, I couldn’t possibly dislike the fact that my child wants me. However, the problem lay in the fact that what Titania desires and seeks from me is not a “mother’s role” but a “lover’s role.”

I’ve lived my whole life as Titania’s “mother.”

I couldn’t imagine taking on a different “role” now.

Yeah, I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to…

…Lately, I’ve been feeling a little different. At first, when Titania sought love from me, it was just confusing. Emotions filled with denial that it could ever happen.

But now, what should I call it?

It was truly an indescribable feeling.

It was a strange feeling that I had never experienced before in my life. But I didn’t dislike it. Avoiding Titania now was because the unfamiliar and not unpleasant feeling was growing stronger and it scared me.

Every time Titania kissed me, whispered love to me, held me, the feeling grew a little more. Not disliking it, but feeling a dislike. An addictive feeling that seemed like I would quickly fall into if I didn’t pull myself together.

This feeling was unfamiliar and frightening.

What should I call this emotion?

“…Let’s think about it later for now.”

…For now, I felt that figuring out the name of this emotion wasn’t important. What I needed to do right now was to scold Titania not to leave marks like this on me in the future.

Once again, I straightened my collar and turned to look at Titania. She was still sitting behind me. I sighed and pointed at my neck, reproaching her.

“What am I going to do about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is really…!”

She was already smiling as if she knew everything! With her giggling smile, I felt a rush of heat to the top of my head. I pointed at my neck again and muttered softly.

“Look at this! How am I supposed to go out like this?!”

“It’s okay. It’s beautifully carved.”

“The problem isn’t that it’s beautiful…!”

At her response that left me speechless, I could only grin.

Just imagining other people or officials seeing this stubborn mark on my neck made me dizzy, but Titania seemed completely unconcerned, chuckling away.

“Seriously, you don’t care about my thoughts at all…!”

As I let out an irritated sigh, Titania patted the seat of the carriage, urging me to sit. Resigned, I threw myself onto the spot she had patted.

Sitting with crossed legs, I glared at Titania, who sat beside me with a look of annoyance. Suddenly, as I was about to question her actions…

“I think this will cover it.”

She wrapped an unknown scarf around me. Titania tied it so that it wouldn’t come loose easily, muttering “There.” under her breath, then smiled at me as if to ask how it looked.

“…When did you prepare something like this?”

“Actually, I was planning to give my mother a small ‘gift’ to commemorate her return to vigor as an adult today. The scarf was prepared to conceal that, you see.”

“…? A gift? Conceal?”

“It wasn’t originally intended for a situation like this…”

Titania sighed as if disappointed, then took out a small jewelry box from her pocket and showed it to me. When I raised my eyebrows, she opened the box to reveal the ‘necklace’ inside.

As the jewelry box clicked open, a golden necklace with an elegant charm was revealed. At the end of the graceful gold chain hung a small ‘gem’ the color of Titania’s eyes.

“This is…”

“It’s a small gift from me.”

*

Titania took the necklace out of the jewelry box and showed it to Vivian. It was a carefully chosen piece of jewelry that Titania had wanted to put around her mother’s neck since she was young.

It was a piece of jewelry that suited her mother’s simple taste, excluding accessories other than the ring, yet not too burdensome. She even prepared a scarf in case her mother felt uncomfortable wearing the necklace.

I found it embarrassing to wear the gem-adorned necklace and absolutely refused to hear that I would use it later. Instead, I thought it would be better to cover it with a scarf after putting on the necklace.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but-”

“If you’re grateful, then please accept it.”

“Ugh.”

Titania stopped speaking as if she had expected Vivian’s reaction. How could her expectations not be met at all? Titania took a deep breath and stood up, holding the necklace.

Then she untied the scarf that was wrapped around Vivian’s neck and put the necklace on her directly. She wanted to put it on in a more romantic and pleasant atmosphere, but now there was no other choice.

As the expensive necklace suddenly hung around her own neck, her mother hesitated, unsure of what to do, and muttered as she awkwardly tapped the necklace. Really, couldn’t she just be happy about it?

“It’s really okay…”

“…If it’s really okay, please accept it. And-”

“…? And?”

…She had read it in a book.

The act of putting a necklace on someone you love means “I want to keep you by my side.” From the moment she read those words, she always wanted to give her mother a necklace.

To express her desire for her not to leave her side.

To convey that she would never let her go.

She wanted to put a beautiful chain around her beautiful mother, keeping her by her side. She also wanted to do it in a more romantic and tender atmosphere, but-

Titania looked at the necklace around Vivian’s neck and smiled as if she were happy. I guess I have to be satisfied with this much for now. It’s my fault that I ruined the atmosphere.

Looking at the necklace around her mother’s neck, she noticed the red marks she had sucked and nibbled on. Smooth skin with clearly visible large and small red marks.

Titania lowered her head again and kissed the marks she had made. Her lips gently touched the neck, and then her tongue traced the marks as if comforting the marked skin.

“Ha…! You again…!”

She wanted to hug her mother again and kiss her neck and shoulders, but if she did any more, her mother would definitely get angry. Before Vivian got angry, Titania quickly moved her body back.

Before she could get angry, Titania ran away, and Vivian puffed up her cheeks as if she found Titania truly annoying. Titania looked at Vivian and smiled, then whispered softly in her ear while stroking the necklace around her neck.

“Please think of this necklace as me and always wear it from now on. Even when you bathe, even when you sleep. You must never take it off. Do you understand?”

“…I don’t know.”

Titania chuckled at Vivian’s sullen expression. She then wrapped the scarf around her mother’s neck once again, tied it neatly, and opened the carriage door.

After keeping them waiting for quite a while, Bangso and other ministers were huddled inside, shivering in the cold. Titania quickly got off the carriage and reached out her hand to her mother.

It was just an ordinary escort, but perhaps due to what had happened inside the carriage, Vivian blushed. With a small groan, she took a deep breath and clasped Titania’s hand as she got off the carriage.

The moment Vivian’s feet touched the ground,

Titania welcomed Vivian with a bright smile.

“Welcome, Mother.”

At that radiant smile, the feeling of being sulky just moments ago dissipated instantly. Unable to help herself, Vivian smiled wryly at the unfamiliar yet not unpleasant feeling welling up in her heart.

“…Yes, I’m back.”