The Night Guest
The moment the sinister shadow reached the lodging, a look of puzzlement crossed his face. He had clearly broken the door handle — and yet the door stood firmly shut.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A knock thick with discontent hammered roughly against the wood. Darin had no intention of simply taking this lying down, so she had jammed most of the furniture in the room against the entrance. Arranged like this, it meant she had not invited her son inside. If he weren't completely mad, he wouldn't force his way in.
Creak — riiip!
But had that been nothing but wishful thinking after all? The door handle she had bound with curtain fabric began to give way. His strength was so monstrous that the gauze tore apart in a single instant.
Thud!
Toward the spreading gap of the door, the slender girl threw her entire body with all her might. Yes — as a man's wife and the mother of two children, she would protect her family. Unlike those refined noble ladies who did nothing, she was a common girl who had rolled up from the dirt. Even if the despair was inescapable, she could not surrender without trying anything at all.
"Ah — no, no, Kael!"
The mother's voice calling out to the child who meant to violate his own parent beyond the door was truly desperate. Even as she shoved against the door, she pleaded with him.
"M-Mother's words — listen to me. If things go this way, won't you lose more than you gain…?"
She was right. How would her husband regard a mad woman who had shared intimacy with her own biological son? He seemed to truly love her, so he wouldn't cast her aside — but he would surely treat her like a soiled, defective product. And above all, what of the conflict that would arise between father and son? And Piel, caught between them, forced to chew on that unbearable awkwardness?
No matter how she turned it over, the future that would be conceived from this was filled with nothing but despair. She wouldn't mind becoming a commoner herself — but her treasures, their futures, were truly bright. She could not let a wrong judgment born of curiosity ruin their lives.
Crrraack.
Even with all this thrashing, the merciless man did not stop pushing the door.
"Please, please! Listen to your mother!"
In the depths of despair, the mother cried out with everything she had. The desperation was doubled because of everything Darin had built over thirty years in the Viscount's household — her happy family among it.
The loyalty of the retainers was one of those things. What would they say if they saw her? No matter how long they had stood together, there was a minimum of ethics a Viscountess must uphold. An affair with her own son? Anyone capable of normal thought would never look kindly on that.
This can't be happening. My good son couldn't do this…
In her most desperate moment, the happiest memories flashed through her mind, and holding back the tears became almost impossible.
The tiny little boy who used to burrow into her chest and peek out with his little head — back then he wasn't even half her height, always whining. He had been so adorable she would press countless kisses to his forehead and soft cheeks.
It had been the same even after her second child, Piel, was born. No matter how much he grew to tower over her. Even if he no longer burst into tears over trivial things. Her only love. Her only pride. Even if he had achieved nothing at all, he was the most precious flesh and blood in this world. That child's name was Akael Bayern — and that was the name of the devil now pounding on this door.
Crack!
"Eek!?"
Ignoring her pitiful cries, the man could not kill his desire. Soon not just the door handle but the doorframe itself was torn away. Through the gap, the blue eyes that flickered into view were filled with the excitement of a beast in heat. Faced with that, Darin could only twist her head away in an ugly flinch of terror.
Pat-pat-pat.
Her small frame meant her strides were short. Only after several seconds did she reach the bed at the far end of the wide room. Having fled to the bedroom and pulled the covers over herself, Darin began to pretend to sleep — even knowing it was a meaningless act.
Ahhh, please…
She clamped both hands over her mouth as if she would not utter a single word.
She squeezed both eyes shut tightly as if she would see nothing.
Creeeak.
In the silent room, only the eerie sound of the door opening rang out. Alone together now, the beast seemed to have no intention of hiding his true nature. The only one who hung her head in shame at the moment a sin would be conceived was the mother with her tender heart. The white-haired beast had already long since shattered the bonds of blood.
"…?"
But something was strange. After the sound of the door opening, there were no footsteps. Could it be that he had decided to heed his mother's pleas after all? If so, that would be truly fortunate.
One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. With a trembling heart she counted out a brief biological clock. Confirming that no sound came from near the bedroom, Darin slowly pushed the covers aside — but…
"Huk!?"
To her shock, Kael had appeared right in front of her. He hadn't climbed onto the bed. He had simply thrust his face right up near his mother's head.
"I didn't expect Mother to welcome me so passionately."
The white-haired man growled as he looked down at the girl. Though his words expressed delight, it was clear he was displeased that his mother only kept pushing him away.
It was a low, resonant voice that seemed to echo through a cave — the voice Darin had heard most after her husband's. He had also been the angel she loved so dearly. And yet before that familiar presence, strangely, Darin could not utter a single word.
Why? How…?
To forget, she tried as hard as she could to look away from why her son's intrusion had happened. She spun dozens of questions, turning her thoughts toward the idea that her own child did not desire her. Surely there was some other reason.
Squeeze.
"Ah!?"
But with a single rough grip of his mother's buttocks, she understood everything — and could no longer turn away from the sad truth. Now Darin knew too. What this child was thinking, and how foolish her hopes had been.
This child intended to violate his own mother.
"…Of everything I've touched in my life, this is the softest. Plump and full — it looks even more delicious than a peach."
Those were not words one should speak to one's own mother. They were the leisurely antics of a male toying with a female trapped in a pen. Wasn't the real reason this child had brought her to the victory ceremony for this from the very beginning? Isolating her, waiting for the right moment, determined to pin her down somehow.
But what meaning did such deductions have now?
"Mother, why are you rolling your eyes like that?"
There was nowhere left to run.
"…Hic!"
The moment she recognized that fact — and the moment she recognized who the thug gripping her buttocks was — Darin burst into tears. The fact that all of this was not a dream but reality was piercingly, terribly real.
Whoosh.
The woman shoved her son with all her strength and flipped the covers back over herself, sniffling. Whenever something was frightening or terrifying, Darin hid her body this way. It was an old habit she had practiced since first coupling with her husband. When her hysteria grew severe, she would even crawl into the small gap under the bed rather than stay on it.
"What are you doing? Pretending to sleep at this point…"
How could a clever woman not know she had already been found out? Should she then thrash and scream and beg her son not to take her? She didn't want to face such a situation either. And a situation where she resisted only to be forcibly raped would clearly be even more horrific.
Pretend to sleep. Pretend to sleep…
The mother whose brain had short-circuited spun out idiot logic in her head. If someone discovered this, she had been asleep — and the child had merely fondled his sleeping mother. This wasn't rape so much as molestation. No — let's call it a slightly embarrassing mistake of family affection that had gone a bit too far.
"Should your precious son's first experience be with a sleeping woman?"
Darin clamped her hands over both ears, not wanting to hear her son's words that shredded her heart — but the shameless son only raised his voice further, with no intention of hiding his feelings toward his mother. And that wasn't the only problem.
Why — why is my body getting hot?
In a situation more urgent than any other, the sudden heat in her lower belly was also a problem. Even as Darin felt disgust at her son's act of grabbing her buttocks earlier, she recalled that a strange emotion had simultaneously sprouted.
"Hmm? Wake up, Mother. Ah — did you like the tangerines? I selected the ones with the highest sugar content as best I could."
His smiling tone was like that of a grown son full of charm. "But about the tangerines…"
"I saw the basket just now — you'd emptied it completely. That's truly fortunate. Unlike Father, I have no intention of forcing Mother to lie down."
"……"
Guh… hic…
The girl's tightly shut eyelids twitched. Her breathing grew rough and her heart began to pound. No matter how you looked at it, she was not a sleeping person — and her lower belly was throbbing too much to sleep any longer. But she decided to pretend to sleep anyway. This was the best action she could take. In this situation, the only way to avoid things was that alone.
"…I see."
Had he figured out why his mother was behaving this way? The man watching her in the darkness wore a sneer.
Whether Darin's choice was right or not, it was clear it meant nothing.
Because a hand that had already seized her waist was roughly digging downward.
"Ah…!"
A sharp scream burst from Darin's lips.