Yearning
After their outdoor lovemaking, just before she lost consciousness, Darin had said this to her son:
"Never again outside. I won't even go for walks with you anymore."
Having made a declaration she could never keep, she burrowed into her son's arms and sought sleep. The sight was so endearing that Kael cradled his mother with the utmost care.
The ceaseless coupling, day and night, had clearly taken its toll; she sank into a sleep so deep that she would not have noticed if someone carried her off.
Kael leaned against a tree by the clear lakeside and gazed steadily at the mother nestled in his arms. As a living weapon, going a day or two without sleep meant nothing to him.
He simply stared at Darin's face until the sun stood high overhead—roughly nine hours—without so much as a single blink, in a manner that bordered on the uncanny.
Anyone witnessing such behavior would have taken him for a madman. No matter how sharp a man's reason, no human could harbor an obsession this frenzied.
The sunlight flooding the forest was dazzling enough to sting the eyes. The wide lake and the woods spread around it formed a scene like a painting.
At last the man shifted his gaze and stole a quiet look at the scenery. The beast, giddy as a boy meeting his first girlfriend, found himself humming under his breath and even softened the corners of his eyes as he regarded the clear, transparent water.
When she had still been a girl, his mother had carried her son—afflicted with a severe organ disease—on her back, rocking him gently. Because he possessed only one lung, his cardiopulmonary function and vital capacity had been compromised, placing heavy restrictions on everyday life.
Thus the vermilion-haired woman would cradle her eldest, bursting into tears or forcing a smile as she nuzzled his cheek—apologetic, grateful, and at a loss all at once.
— Crumple.
Kael crushed the tobacco leaves in his right pocket. They had been one of the gifts received from the high-and-mighty gentlemen of the cult.
I can't soil what Mother gave me.
The man knew better than anyone why the frail boy he had once been had become such a superior male. He had grown up gorging on those mysterious "tangerines that improve health," and he had inherited a portion of the most precious woman in the world.
The one who had raised the man he was now was, of course, the little girl in his arms. So was it not only right that the woman who should possess him was this same girl? Kael truly believed so.
"Mother, you have quite the talent—giving birth yourself to the man who will be your husband."
It was pure nonsense. Had Darin heard it, she would have recoiled in horror and slapped her son's cheek. Yet Kael sincerely wished his mother were exactly that sort of mad slut. It would be better for her that way as well.
The lake where mother and son sat included valleys and streams, giving it a landscape distinct from ordinary lakeshores. The water was so clear that the clouds overhead were reflected in it—perfect even for washing hands stained yellow from eating tangerines.
Kael, isn't this lake so pretty? This is the place your father used to bring young Mom whenever he needed to soothe her.
The Viscountess had bent her neck and even offered a quiet confession to her son.
Still, Mom likes coming here with Kael more than with Dad.
"Heh heh heh…"
It was a laugh of pure triumph. This place was no longer that man's domain. It belonged to him and his pure bride.
Because the lake was so beautiful, because it held such special meaning for her, Kael had coveted the spot for long years. Small wonder, then, that he felt such satisfaction now.
Later he would have to try underwater sex with Mother in the shallow stream. With a whole heap of pleasures still waiting to be shared with his beloved, he smiled with eager anticipation.
"Mother."
The deep voice settled over her, yet the woman sunk in sleep did not open her eyes easily. Still, it was time they headed back.
"…Mother."
Kael called to his mother again, softly and steadily.
"You need to wash up and return soon."
"……Mm."
Darin answered only after a long pause, barely managing the word. Kael gave a short laugh and nuzzled his cheek against hers—just as she had once done in the days when he could not even walk properly.
"Skipping breakfast, not washing, sleeping on while drenched in sweat—you'll ruin your body."
Had Darin been awake, she would have been thoroughly furious. Who, exactly, had wrecked her lower half, only to turn around and say such things?
— Ssshh.
When the man stroked her soft vermilion hair, a slender, pure-white neckline like a doe's was revealed. He gently caressed her forehead and tapped her cheek, yet all he received was a faint knitting of her brows and a demure expression; no answer came.
Lately Darin had suffered from lack of sleep—entirely because of her son. Now that she had finally been forced into slumber, her body was fighting to claim every extra moment of rest it could.
Hss…
Unlike the nightmare of reality, the dream she was having seemed quite sweet. Her soft, even breaths looked peaceful. Gazing down at that lovely sight, Kael thought his mother truly resembled a fairy.
Even the princesses residing in the imperial palace, even the daughter of his own lord the Northern Grand Duke—compared to the woman in his arms, they were wenches one would be embarrassed to call women. And not merely in beauty, but in every other respect as well.
Those girls knew only how to assert their own positions and throw their weight around. Unlike his mother, they had no idea how to truly consider another person, nor the capacity for it.
Looking closely, I'm not so different from them myself.
Kael gave a self-mocking smile and, just as he had when first meeting her, stared blankly at his sleeping bride.
The vermilion hair flowing as softly as valley water, the amber eyes sparkling like the sun, the red lips slightly parted as if ready to accept a man at any moment—utterly free of stubbornness—everything about her was so beautiful that looking too long could leave a man blind.
Gazing at her, Kael made a vow.
Whether a calamitous Demon King returned once more,
whether it was his lord the Northern Grand Duke,
or even if it were the Hero bearing the Holy Sword—
anyone who tried to claim her, he would tear to shreds.
The beast watching her finally surrendered to the lure of the faint scent of flesh rising from her. He crushed his lips against the nape of her neck and drew in the sweet, gentle smell of sweat that rose from her soft body.
When he tilted his nose lower still, even from the crotch soiled by coupling with her son rose the fragrance of a vulgar young lady. That, too, was precious, and he had to indulge in it to the fullest.
Every time their flesh met, he licked across her sensitive skin that prickled with goosebumps; her pale shoulder flinched, and at the same time the girl began to whimper in her sleep.
"Aung… a little more… sleep…"
"No."
"…Don't want to."
"Then wash first and sleep."
"Annoying."
Did she even know whom she was speaking with? From the way she purred in her sleep, she was clearly drifting through a dream.
"Please wake up, Mother."
"…Mmm, wash meee."
If he was going to insist on washing, then the very person disturbing this sweet sleep ought to be the one to wash her. Her lips, pointed like a little bird's, grumbled this way and that.
"Heh. Then shall I wash you?"
"…Yeah."
"Do you realize who is holding you when you say something so dangerous?"
"Don't know."
As he nuzzled their noses together and spoke, the girl frowned and shook her head.
"If you don't know, why casually ask to be washed? A bad man might hurt you."
"…No."
To rouse his mother's caution, Kael lightly cupped one of her full breasts, clearly visible in the sunlight. The nipples, hardened from being sucked by her son all day long, darkened further as his fingers toyed with them.
"Right now a strange man is fondling your breasts as he pleases, isn't he?"
"Aung…"
"You ought to wake up or slap him, don't you think?"
"…Kael isn't a strange man."
"……"
The beast looked at his mother with a delighted expression. That the man she unconsciously called to mind was him—how deeply this woman must love her son. The only pity was that it was not love directed at a male.
"Haah…"
When he flicked her nipple between two fingers, she moaned and trembled even in sleep. Soon her thighs began to part vulgarly of their own accord.
Between those wantonly spread thighs, dark pubic hair was thoroughly soaked in sweet juices. When he gently stroked the hair covering her mound, the woman shivered as if she liked the warmth spreading through her sex.
Having journeyed to dreamland, Mother offered no resistance no matter what her son did. Thanks to that, Kael could toy with his motionless mother to his heart's content.
He rubbed the head of his cock against her lips as they smacked and chewed in sleep; he spread the cleft of the buttocks he had always coveted and tasted even her pink rear entrance; he went on to her sweat-damp armpits—until he had his fill.
Finally, like a romanticist who had at last met true love, he gave her a deep, lingering kiss, wishing that the sleeping princess might be freed from her curse.
Even the time spent with his sleeping mate was maddeningly delightful. This woman was his, and he was hers. And in the midst of it all, he was grateful that she hummed her son's name.
"Aung…"
Kael gently stirred the damp cleft and smiled.
"Mother."
He recalled childhood memories. Mother had always asked him whether he was happy. Because her son was everything to her, if he answered that he was not happy, she would put on a tearful face or wear the most miserable expression in the world.
He had simply been jealous—every time she moaned in his father's arms.
"Now I can say it proudly. Your son is happier than anyone else in this world."
His one and only mother.
His one and only love.
The lovely girl. Mandarin Bayern.
The vermilion-haired woman who had always stood by his side, in joy and in sorrow alike.
Even if he were offered every woman in the world, Kael had no intention of giving up his mother.
And so he could only wish.
"Therefore, I hope Mother will be happy as well."
That her heart might become the same as his.