The Wedding Rite (11)
With the Empress gathered up in my arms like a princess, I moved with care, wary of misstepping on the wet floor and slipping.
Her body felt remarkably light by my standards. I was, after all, a man who personally took the field in wartime, so my physical abilities were well above those of an ordinary male. The problem was that in a world where people like Seo Yeo or Lü Bu performed feats straight out of a wuxia novel, it hardly showed.
"Mmmh..."
Her Majesty lay limp and naked in my embrace, exactly as before. For someone who had come on so boldly, it was a deflating sight—but I no longer had any questions about it. A coincidence has to happen once or twice before you can even call it a coincidence, doesn't it? Having seen with my own eyes how every woman who had shared my bed came undone, only one conclusion remained: that I was, to an almost suspicious degree, strong in bed.
Back in the bridal chamber, I slowly laid the Empress down on the red bedding, then used another towel from the washroom to dab away the most conspicuous traces of moisture. Towels existed in absurd abundance—more than enough even if I wasted them freely. That was thanks to certain members of the imperial family who indul in pointless luxury while being inexplicably fastidious. Those bastards of the past used to burn through dozens of towels in a single bath. It was absurd, the way they'd order the servants washing their bodies to hold their breath, insisting that the breath of the lowborn must never touch their noble skin. By that logic, shouldn't they have forgone being served at all?
I tossed the towel I'd had tied at my waist carelessly onto a handy spot.
"Your Majesty."
"...What is it?"
On the bedding lay a pitiable woman, glancing about warily, the initiative entirely lost. Both of us were completely bare, not a stitch of clothing between us. I leaned my head close and whispered into the Empress's ear.
"Are you ready?"
"That is..."
At my question, the Empress fell into brief deliberation. How much time passed like that? Her Majesty, who had been unable to meet my eyes since we returned to the bridal chamber, finally looked me squarely in the face.
"I shall leave it to the General-in-Chief."
"..."
"Hwahyeon. Move as you wish."
Like my other brides on their wedding nights, the Empress surrendered her body to me completely. Had she judged, from the preliminary skirmish(?) just now, that she could not beat me? At the sight of the Empress abandoning the contest for dominance entirely, I let out a short laugh.
"If that is your will, then I shall obey."
"Y-yes."
Gazing at the Empress's taut, tense expression, I thought: usually, when someone worked themselves up this much, their whole body went stiff as a statue.
"Hah?!"
Yep. Exactly like that. Those supple curves I could never tire of beholding, no matter how many times I saw them. I ran a hand along the Empress's side, then tilted my head. Had that single climax earlier not been enough for her? Or had giving her time to catch her breath afterward been the mistake?
I addressed the Empress, who had gone board-stiff again, like a maiden who knew nothing of the world.
"It seems you'll be needing a little more preparation."
"W-wait just a moment. You can't mean to do that again...? Kyah!"
The instant my hand found her most hidden place, the Empress let out another distinctly feminine cry.
"Why have you done nothing but torment me this whole time...?"
"Torment you? That is a misunderstanding."
If I had truly meant to torment Her Majesty, I would have buried myself inside her long ago and simply rocked my hips without mercy. It was a technique I occasionally used on Seo Yeo or Lü Bu—they would glaze their eyes with moisture and come apart beautifully. It never ceased to astonish me how easily I was granted tears that no one else in the world would ever see. I answered with more pride than I had ever mustered.
"If you keep tensing every muscle like that, it will only be painful for both of us, Your Majesty."
"So you do mean to make me float again?"
the Empress asked, a trace of tension in her face. Float, of all things. Her choice of words was adorable. I replied with a smile.
"Yes. I am not tormenting you, so please don't worry."
"Mmmh..."
At my answer, the Empress stared at me with eyes that plainly said she couldn't bring herself to believe it. Good heavens. This was the first time Her Majesty the Empress had ever doubted me. In moments like these, the correct answer was to show rather than tell. I took her adorably shy yet insistently pouting nipple into my mouth and rolled it gently against my tongue.
"Hah?!"
Jolting at the sudden stimulation, the Empress flinched and spoke.
"You're—you're suckling at my breast like an infant again...!"
It is only natural for a man to be drawn to a woman's breasts. With a perfectly shaped one right there before me, would it not be sheer discourtesy not to taste it at least once? Watching the Empress's face flare scarlet with embarrassment, I set my hand in motion once more.
"──?!"
Just as before, her nipple and her clit were teased at the same instant, and the Empress clamped her mouth shut, spilling an unintelligible moan. The way her body kept shuddering looked, from any angle, like a woman in the throes of climax. As I wiped my right hand—drenched and sticky with her—on a towel, the Empress fixed me with eyes brimming with moisture.
"I knew it—you are tormenting me...!"
And I keep telling you I'm not. At this rate, there was nothing for it but to play my final card.
"If you doubt me that thoroughly, then I have no choice."
I set the towel down neatly within reach and said to the Empress:
"I shall show you what it truly means to be tormented."
"What did you...?"
At my words, her eyes went wide with alarm. She was sensitive, granted, but she was no Seo Yeo or Lü Bu, who came apart at a single touch—she would manage. I stretched my arm slowly toward her. Not that wiping my hand on the towel had accomplished anything now... but well, I could always wipe it again.
"W-wait, just wait a moment. It seems We have misspoken, so... Hyaah?!"
Once I set my mind to it and set my fingers working in earnest, the Empress peaked again and again without pause.
"...Hah."
It was only when the tally of her climaxes reached double digits that I belatedly came to my senses. This was supposed to be a wedding night overflowing with tenderness—a wedding day, rather—yet somehow it had taken on the shape of outright training. Because I so often took the route of indulging my conqueror's pride with the other women, I seemed to have drifted in that direction without even noticing. So that was why Lü Bu had grown meeker and meeker as the days went by. I was hardly a husband drilling discipline into his wife between the sheets—what on earth was this?
"Nngh..."
Gazing at Her Majesty, still unable to climb out of pleasure's afterglow, I let out a sigh. ...At least penetration would be no trouble. I spoke up, if only to check that she was all right.
"Are you well, Your Majesty?"
"Not at all... I am not well..."
The Empress replied between one ragged breath and the next. At least there was no trace of anger in her, which was a mercy. Since tormenting her any further would have been downright cruel, I resolved to finish quickly and pressed myself against her slick cleft.
"Mmm... so it comes at last..."
At that sensation, the Empress looked up at me, her eyes a shade clearer.
"We told you plainly before, did We not?"
"..."
"To hold on tight, just like this... and never let go."
Having said her piece, she stretched both arms around me and clasped my back tightly. Then she whispered into my ear, honey-sweet.
"Make Us yours."
At those words, I pushed my hips forward without a single moment's hesitation.
Squelch!
"Hah, nngh?!"
With the sensation of something giving way, the Empress shuddered from head to toe. I arranged my face into an expression of concern.
"Your Majesty, are you all right?"
"I-I am fine. It hurts less than I expected."
And it was no lie: within her, nothing felt amiss—she wrapped me in a warm, welcoming heat. Perhaps her muscles had gone slack from climax upon climax. Like her mistress, it clung to me for dear life, showing not the slightest intention of ever letting go. Savoring the pleasure welling up ceaselessly from my hips, I spoke.
"Then I shall begin to move."
"Aah?!"
Every roll of my hips sent lewd sounds echoing through the chamber. The slap of flesh against flesh, the wet squelch of her arousal. The Empress was already so drenched that no one would ever have guessed this was her first time.
"Khh, hah, nngh──?!"
She peaked far, far faster than she had under my fingers alone. Watching her, I could soon tell that the Empress was on the verge of losing consciousness. It seemed I had best bring things to a close as quickly as I could. Every time I drove back and forth, her walls—already clinging tight—clung harder still, as though determined never to be peeled away, and the pleasure was staggering.
"S-slow down, just a little...!"
"That... may prove difficult."
"Nnh—?!"
The Empress kept pleading with me as though her vision were going white at the edges, but I paid her no heed and moved faster still. And before long, I felt the moment arrive.
"You're... nnh... about to finish, aren't you...?"
Having felt me throbbing hard inside her, the Empress looked up at me. Winding her legs around my waist, she declared:
"This is... an imperial command...!"
"Your Majesty?"
"You must... get Us with child...!"
"..."
At those words, I felt something surge up in me in a single instant—and I came deep inside her. Trembling together, the Empress and I shared a long kiss.
"M-mmh... mmwah..."
Lips still joined with mine, the Empress wore a dazed, unfocused expression. I smiled down at her and said:
"Baekryeon."
"Wh-what do you mean, saying something like that all of a sudden at a time like—"
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Her Majesty flushed scarlet to the very ears—and toppled over right where she lay.
"Ah—!"
"...Baekryeon?"
Calling the Empress by her courtesy name, I heard my own voice come out bewildered. Don't tell me she's fainted. Really? I turned my head to check where the sun hung in the sky. It had tipped only slightly westward; it was still blazing bright over the land.
"..."
Looking down at her, I felt my dilemma deepen. What do I do now?