The First Night (4)
"Weren't you supposed to spend tonight with Monica?"
"Monica is already asleep."
I had been waiting in front of the room to steel my nerves, so I was taken aback when the door opened without me even knocking. Vera seemed just as startled, her voice faltering the moment she saw me. "Oh? Ah!"
I grabbed Vera by the arm and pulled her into the room. As I stepped inside, feeling the dampness of her hand, the first thing I noticed was a cup lying on the floor, the water spilled from it, and an unnatural, sour scent lingering in the air.
"I, um, accidentally spilled some water..."
It didn't look like water, and it certainly didn't look like an accident, but I didn't feel the need to point that out. I wasn't so oblivious that I'd call out such things in a situation like this. However, it wasn't my will that made my cock harden the moment I caught the familiar scent of Vera's arousal. Seeing the tent forming in my trousers due to its sheer size, Vera gulped, clearly realizing that I had caught on.
Calm down, I told myself. I hadn't come here tonight just for sex. I checked the item I had tucked away in my coat, then stepped back out to find something to clean the mess. As I silently wiped the floor, an awkward silence stretched between us.
"Monica must have been quite tired. She’d been handling paperwork for days before the wedding, dieting, and dealing with all that tension... Now that it’s all over, she must have finally relaxed and fallen asleep."
Her beautiful voice drifted from behind me. I organized my thoughts in my head. Vera, with me...
"She might have been even more nervous because it was all so new to her. She’s such an innocent child; she’s never even slept in the same bed as a man, let alone... I was terribly nervous on my own wedding night, too. I suppose you can't escape your bloodline, can you?"
I barely registered what she was saying. Her voice, like a well-tuned instrument, seemed to be pouring courage into me. Even though we had already shared our bodies and I had sensed her feelings, I was still bound by the labels of 'mother' and 'mother-in-law.' If my confession were rejected for that reason, even with the slim chance of that happening, I was terrified.
"If she’s already asleep, you couldn't have done it many times, could you? Sir Edward, your stamina is legendary—aren't you feeling unsatisfied? Um, would you like me to take care of it, like we did earlier today? Oh my, what am I saying..."
"Vera."
"Oh? Yes?"
"We agreed to speak casually."
"Ah, right. We did. My mind must be wandering."
Had she forgotten the promise she made to me? Was I not that important to her? Or was Vera just as nervous as I was? Before the wedding, I had assumed she liked me, and we had sex with that unspoken understanding, but now that I was trying to secure a definitive answer, anxiety kept rearing its head.
"From now on, can I call you 'Noona' instead of 'Noonim'?"
"Oh... yes, go ahead. You’ve been calling me that halfway anyway."
"Then, Noona, there’s something I need to tell you."
I took both of Vera’s hands firmly to ensure she couldn't run away. I pushed her toward the window and filled my eyes with her image. Under the bright moonlight, rather than the dim candlelight, she looked even more beautiful. When I met her gaze and looked at her directly, she turned her head away, whether out of shame or the weight of the moment.
Watching her profile, I opened my mouth. "I didn't have sex with Monica today."
Vera caught her breath.
"I couldn't bring myself to do it because I kept thinking of you, Vera. I deliberately tired her out so she would fall asleep quickly, and then I snuck out."
Taking care of Winnie earlier was just a routine to maintain my composure. "Th-that was supposed to be a promise. And if someone had seen you on the way here..."
"I didn't run into anyone. Monica ordered all the servants to stay off this floor tonight."
It might have been my imagination, but she seemed genuinely pleased to hear that I had been thinking of her. If it was like this, if it was to this extent...
"We had the wedding today, but I liked being with you under the tree much more than that."
I kept thinking of Winnie in the moments between my memories of Vera. No, it wasn't sex I had with her. The only person I’d had sex with right before the wedding was Vera.
"They say the greatest things happen at night, don't they?"
I recited the lines I had prepared and pulled the ring case from my pocket. Standing by the window, she covered her mouth with her hand, wearing a smile that looked troubled. On the ring finger of her left hand, which had been there for a long time, I saw the ring that had held its place for years.
"Are you... are you really serious about this?"
"I’m always serious, Noona."
"From tonight on, this isn't just a fling. Until now, we weren't married, so I told myself to let you do whatever you wanted while you were still a bachelor. But now, you’re married."
"Is this better?"
I pulled the wedding ring I had received earlier that day off my finger. I couldn't just throw it away, so I placed it on a visible spot on the table. I hadn't even worn it for half a day, but I felt as if I had already been liberated.
"...Of course, as I said, I was prepared to help you satisfy your desires even after you were married. Edward, you’re good at night and have plenty of stamina. I thought it would be impossible for the delicate and innocent Monica to handle it all alone. But..."
The ring in my hand trembled. No, was it my hand that was shaking?
"When it comes with such sincerity, it’s a completely different story. It would be fine if you just saw me as a woman to satisfy your lust. Even saying you like me—that can happen once in a while during a relationship. But can you really say, truly and sincerely, that you love me?"
Vera’s eyes, as she said that, looked inexplicably sad. Was the wound from her late husband that deep? Or had my sincerity not reached her enough? Even after we’d been intimate, the fact that she harbored such anxiety made me feel a bit angry.
I remembered her from before the regression. She had cherished me like a son, the only person who took my side when I had no one else to rely on. Had I become too accustomed to the Vera of that time? The Vera of that time, who had long forgotten her husband, and the young Vera of now, who had only recently lost him, were bound to have different personalities. With that wound still fresh, how much could she trust a man she’d known for less than a month, a man who was even her son-in-law?
Thinking from Vera’s perspective calmed me down. I would just have to do better from now on. Being reckless wasn't always the right path. Sometimes, things can only be solved with time. I had to wait until Vera became accustomed not just to my cock, but to me as a person.
"Even so, I love you, Vera."
I held out the ring once more. This time, I knelt on one knee, extending my hand with the ring, and waited for her answer.
"Will you marry me?"
"I... I can't give you an answer right now."
Vera spoke with a face filled with a mix of joy and distress. "It might just be a temporary feeling caused by your desires. So, when you’ve calmed down a bit more, if you still want to propose again, I’ll give you an answer then."
I was already calm enough. Vera, however, pushed me back. I walked backward, unable to resist, until I tripped over the bed and fell onto it. Naturally, Vera ended up straddling me.
"They say a man’s head clears up after he ejaculates, so I’ll help you finish quickly."
"Hngh, hnnngh♥"
Without any foreplay, my cock thrust into Vera’s cunt, parting the already damp folds and tasting the luscious interior. No, it would be more accurate to say that Vera was tasting Edward’s cock. Having already been overflowing with arousal from masturbation, Vera let out a feminine moan at the feeling of something large and hard filling her completely.
Though she had said with her lips that it was difficult and might be a temporary emotion, Vera realized she could no longer refuse Edward. What she was doing was merely shifting the responsibility onto Edward to ease her own guilt toward Monica.
"Ah, haa, yes♥"
"Aren't you enjoying this a bit too much?"
"Hurry... finish..."
Even those thoughts vanished with every thrust of my hips. The woman-on-top position, which she had started to drain Edward of his seed, was stimulating places she had never experienced before, bringing a different kind of pleasure.
"Hurry... finish...!"
If this pleasure continued, it felt like Vera would collapse before Edward could even finish. As she urged me on, I began to thrust back, rewarding her.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh!"
Perhaps overwhelmed by a stimulation she couldn't control, Vera collapsed onto my body. Her cunt, trembling and tightening in the aftermath of her climax, squeezed my cock, and soon after, I, too, erupted, pouring my seed into her. The excess semen, unable to be contained within, flowed down along my shaft.
"Hngh... hnnng... How is it? Do you... feel a bit clearer now?"
"Yes, my head feels completely clear. I feel like I could study for hours right now. And..."
Edward pulled Vera into a tight embrace. In those strong arms that held her as if never to let go, Vera felt a sense of peace.
"Please, marry me."
"You flirt..."