Everything Is As It Should Be [1]

On the day of the King's royal birthday feast, the Queen showed up at an official occasion after a very long interval. Using the excuse of maternal stability, the Queen stayed indoors after the death of her brother, and rumors spread that perhaps the Queen had lost her child due to shock and was lying down at home in heartbreak.

However, the rumors were negated when the Queen appeared, calmly holding her bulging stomach that almost seemed mountainous. The noblewomen scrambled to approach Beth and gave her their greetings.

Lucia also approached Beth. The two of them had not met for a few months as well.

Lucia inwardly felt sorry towards the Queen. Her husband said that the Queen would not know that Roy had disguised himself as a dead man and escaped. She was much better off not knowing that, but seeing as the Queen was unaware of the exact details and suddenly lost her brother, she would be in pain because of the loss.

Lucia was even more sorry that she couldn't comfort the grieving heart of the Queen, who had to undergo this while she was pregnant.

"Have you been well, Your Royal Highness?"[1]

"Duchess, how have you been as well? It has been a long time."

Beth's voice was soft, unlike Lucia's fear that the Queen would confront her sharply. Seeing the Duchess cautiously revealing an apologetic look, Beth smiled.

'What has this person done wrong?'

After losing her brother, Beth resented the Duchess for a while. It wasn't because she thought that the Duchess had done something wrong, but because it was just a time when she resented everyone involved.

Her father had come to see her as she was confined to bed in despair and he looked like he had aged ten years.[2] Seeing him, Beth thought that her father was also suffering from the pain of losing his son, but her father told her a slightly different story from what she had guessed.

"You should forget about it now, Your Royal Highness. That boy…he did something, that's why he ended up like that."

"What…Father. What in the world are you talking about?"

"I cannot tell you the exact details. Just know that that boy, David, did not die without blame. You are carrying a precious royal body within you. Don't be too distressed and pull yourself together.'

"Father."

After giving a long sigh, her father said:

"It seems your foolish father did not do well in acting as a father."

Beth saw the years from the dropped shoulders of her father as he turned around. In that moment, he was not her always strong and reassured father. As she continued to dwell on the words that her father left for her, Beth felt a little resentful of her late brother.

'How is it that until you die, you drive a nail into the hearts of the people left behind?'

Beth thought of her baby and tried to shake off her brother's death, little by little. Katherine, whom she thought she wasn't in a very fond relationship with, came to see her everyday and offered her a lot of comfort.

When she felt the first movements in the womb after refraining from external activities and focusing on her child, Beth shook off all the remaining negative sediments in her heart. Her heart as a mother, wished to convey only beautiful thoughts to her yet to be born child.

"I've gained quite some weight, haven't I? When you carry a child, your body changes like this." (Beth)

"Rather, you look more at ease." (Lucia)

"Indeed. These days, I feel at ease. My child is also having fun inside."

"When are you expecting?"

"There is about a month left. Now that I think about it, it's around time to hear the news from you, Duchess. I believe it's been two years since you've been married?"[3]

"…Yes."

Lucia smiled faintly and glanced at Beth's swollen belly.

'How does it feel to have another life growing inside of you?'

Lucia was curious about the feeling that she had never experienced in her dream and would probably never experience in reality. She had heard that as a baby grew, they would move and kick inside. How did that feel, too?

She heard that the pain of childbirth was terrible enough to die. There was also no small amount of women who had things go wrong after giving birth to a child. It was a life-risking experience for a woman to give birth to a child.

'Even then, it's fine. I think I can bear any pain.'

Lucia looked at her husband, who was standing some distance away, talking with the king and a few nobles. He had never once brought up the topic of a child.

'Does he still not want a child?'

Maybe it was because it was peak spring and the weather had gotten distinctly warmer. The rustling spring breeze wove into Lucia's heart, shaking it up.

She wanted to have a child. She wanted to lovingly carry his child and become their mother after giving birth. 'Should I take the infertility cure without telling him?' she had thought about this a few times. She knew that the two of them were still young and had a lot of time left. But Lucia felt that the days passing by were a pity.

"I heard that His Majesty is pushing for the marriage of the princesses remaining in the palace."

"I heard that too. Exactly how many princesses are still remaining in the palace?"

From being occupied with the thought of a child, Lucia's interest was instantly shifted as she concentrated on the topic of the clamoring noblewomen.

Hugo acted like he was listening to the person chattering at his side while he searched for his wife with his eyes. He didn't like the customary practice of men and women gathering separately to discuss.

He wanted to keep his wife by his side, but the problem was that nobody else was doing that. And his wife didn't like standing out.

Sometimes, he checked on her. It was something like a habit. If he couldn't spot her for a long time, he got needlessly nervous. He saw her gaze shift somewhere momentarily as she talked with the noblewomen.

At first, he didn't care, but after seeing her do it a few times, he wondered what she was looking at and followed her gaze. The queen stood where his wife was looking at.

'Is she still bothered about the things from a few months ago?'

He was worried that his wife had still not forgotten about the incident behind David's death.

But after looking more closely, he realized that she was not looking at the Queen but slightly lower, at the noticeably prominent stomach of the Queen.

Suddenly, it felt like a bang resounded through his ears.

****

After finishing his bath, Hugo headed to his wife's bedroom while continuing to contemplate on the thing that had been on his mind since the party.

'Does she want a child…'

He could give her anything she wanted, even if he had to comb through the entire world, but there was one thing alone he couldn't give. A child. She could not have his child. No matter how many seeds he planted, it would never sprout in her womb.

His cursed blood could never grow without taking cursed measures.

He once thought that it was a fortunate thing. Because no matter how much he womanized, there wouldn't be any incident of a woman that he didn't remember, coming to find him with a pregnant, bulging stomach. The thought of a woman he only slept with a few times, giving birth to a trace of his disgusting blood and raising it, made him feel very dirty and full of dread.

If there were no constraints or specific conditions that had to be satisfied for impregnation, he would have probably killed every woman that appeared with his child.

When he became Duke after the death of his brother, and saw the things in his family's secret room, his hate for the blood flowing within him reached an extreme. He thought about cutting his arteries and pouring out all of his blood several times a day.

Hugo abrupted stopped in front of his wife's bedroom door.

'What about now?'

He felt a strange sense of incongruity. He looked down at both of his hands and clenched his fists.

The feeling of being alive. The sensation of breathing. These were sensations that he usually tried not to be conscious about, but there were times when he felt that his existence in the world was too revolting, and he couldn't bear it. And when that happened, he ran on his horse until he was dead tired and couldn't run any faster, or he spent a few days burning the midnight oil and throwing himself into work like crazy.

[You have changed.][4]

Upon remembering the words of the unpleasant old man, Hugo knit his brows.

'Have I changed?'

He wasn't conscious of it, so he didn't realize. But something had definitely changed. Hugo moved his gaze and quickly scanned the familiar sight of his wife's receiving room.

It was warm. It wasn't really because the room inside was heated up, but because of the feeling it gave. Every time Hugo passed by this receiving room to get to his wife's bedroom, he felt good. His heart throbbed at the thought of holding his wife's soft body and kissing her moist lips.

Her body temperature felt hot to the touch and his former self who could only distinguish between coldness, was doing childish things that filled him with emotions.[5]

Hugo looked at his hands again. The feeling of being alive was not as terrible as before. Rather he felt that it was fortunate that he was able to touch and feel her, because he was alive. In his life that had always been lonely, she was now with him.

He didn't know when it started but, he now thought about the future, and in the future he envisioned, she was always there.

In his mind, he drew a picture of his wife holding a child and smiling brightly at him, after a few years. A wholesome feeling floated to the surface of his mind, but it soon sank down heavily.

'I cannot give her a child.'

Should he tell her that she could not have a baby? Should he tell her about his dirty birth, or should he confide in her about his family's secret that he wanted to seal forever?

He hated the mere idea of that. It felt like he was being swarmed with an offensive smell. That part of him was a darkness that he never wanted to reveal to the woman he loved. He was afraid that she would look at him a little differently after hearing everything.

He didn't know what to do if she said that she wanted to have a child. Hugo opened the door to his wife's room, feeling gloomy unlike how he usually felt.

Almost at the same time Hugo entered the room, Lucia was also entering the bedroom after finishing her bath. Lucia held the towel wrapped around her wet hair and warned her husband who was standing some distance away.

"I have to dry my hair. Don't come here."

When she slept with her hair wet sometimes, she had to toil in the morning to arrange her disheveled hair. She was also embarrassed to look at the maid, who had to spray water on her hair in an attempt to tidy it up. When she had to go out, she couldn't manage it at all, so there were times when she had to wrap her hair up again in the morning.

She didn't have to completely dry it. It was enough to apply lotion that would make it settle down neatly after drying it moderately. But her husband did not even wait for that amount of time to pass.

Hugo calmly gazed at his wife, who was vigilantly fluffing her feathers like a small animal, then he took a step forward.

She had slowly moved to the dressing table and upon seeing him move, she was startled and raised her voice to say, 'I said, don't come'.

Seeing her expression as she repeated for him not to come and stepped backwards, Hugo gave a perverse grin.

'This is fun.'

The feeling that had sank down rose to the surface again. He was also excited.

Lucia felt spooked when she saw him look at her with his arms folded, grin, and then suddenly approach her faster. It was a feeling like she had suddenly become a feeble prey being pursued. So she turned around on the spot and ran away.

Lucia tried to get over the bed and was about to run to the other side, but she was caught by a strong hand just before reaching the bed. In that short moment, she felt the fear of being bitten on the neck by a wild beast.[ * ]

"Kyaa!"

His arms were firmly wrapped around her waist and his chest stuck to her back. He bit her earlobe and chuckled.

"Why are you screaming? Do you like this kind of thing?"

"No!"

He kissed her flushed neck and cupped her breast with his hand that had dug into her bathrobe. His other hand went between her legs, rubbing the area that had begun to get wet. Her body shuddered at the stimulation and he hugged her even tighter and whispered into her ear.

"My wife. Shall we play a little wildly today?"

"Hugh!"

Because she was already caught and lifted in his arms, Lucia's body was thrown onto the bed. Before Lucia could lift her body, he quickly climbed over her. Because she was trapped beneath his arms, Lucia couldn't look straight at his eyes, which were staring down at her. Her face burned like it was on fire.

Hugo grabbed the front of her bathrobe and spread it aside, revealing her breasts underneath. Her naked body was dyed red, looking as appetizing as a peach.[**]

"Your whole body is red. What is making you excited?"

"…Will you keep teasing me?"

Seeing her with reddened eyes that were as if she would cry, Hugo felt a certain stiffness at his waist. Half of it was a desire to put it in immediately, and the other half, a desire to taste her extremely sweet body. This time, the latter won.

Hugo squeezed his leg between her closed knees and pried them open. Her amber eyes which were shaking in confusion stimulated him like a drug. He grabbed her thighs with both hands, spread them apart and buried his head in the wetness between her legs. He kissed it and pressed his tongue in the open gap.

"Ah!"

The delicate stimulation on her private part was electrifying. His wet tongue licked and explored while his lips rubbed against her skin as if kissing her there, as he sucked and bit it slightly.

"Mmmh!"

Lucia moaned and covered her face with both hands. Even if she twisted her body, he held her firmly from below the waist, so she couldn't even move. The sound of him lapping up the liquid flowing from her body was embarrassing.

It wasn't as hard as a finger, but the tip of a rather wet, soft flesh shallowly entered her vagina, withdrew and re-entered a little deeper.

Her body trembled intensely. The moment he sucked and suckled strongly, Lucia uttered a cry of pleasure and moved her waist restlessly.

Hugo licked her twitching entrance at length with his tongue, then he lifted his head. Her blurred eyes which were dropping from her climax were steamy and erotic.

Hugo caught the face of his wife, who was turning her rosy face away and covering her lips with the back of her hand. He tried to meet her eyes, but she kept looking away.

"Vivian. Why do you keep avoiding my eyes?"

"…I'm embarrassed."

"Of what?"

When Hugo asked a few times, Lucia hesitantly said in a small voice:

"…it's obscene…"

Hugo carefully thought about the meaning of her words then he grinned.

"Are you embarrassed because it feels good when I do it with my mouth?"

The sight of her giving him a reproachful look with her reddened face looked so cute that he couldn't help but laugh. He gently caught her face by the chin and kneaded her slightly parted lips with his thumb.

Lucia wrapped her tongue around the finger entering her mouth. Every time she licked his finger, her red tongue poked out a little.

She glanced up slightly at him and there was already no more laughter on his face. His eyes were filled with the desire of a hungry beast before its prey.

He removed his hand from her mouth and raised his upper body. He spread her legs that she kept closing and took a position. He grabbed both her calves with his hands and pulled her body downwards with his strength.

The moment Lucia shut her eyes, expecting what would follow, a hot rod instantly plunged into her.

"Aah!"

The sharp tingles disappeared after a very short moment, and a orgasmic sensation flitted across her spine. Just with him entering her, Lucia's body shook with an electrifying sense of pleasure. He grabbed her hips and pinned their lower abdomens tightly close to each other.

As her thighs went on top of his thighs, her butt naturally lifted in the air, and his member entered all the way to the hilt, filling her up. Lucia gasped for breath at the sense of pressure that took her breath away, while he stayed still for a moment, also taking in rough breaths.

"Your insides…are pulling me in."

As he watched her red face get even redder, Hugo moved his waist slightly.

"Hn…"

"Hah… so tight, seriously."

Her tender flesh was clinging to his phallus, moving along with his movements and squeezing him tightly as he moved.

Hugo held his wife almost everyday, but it was a marvel how her insides always moved unpredictably, bringing him infinite pleasure whenever he held her.

The more he held her, the more addicted he became and, lately, when it was the night corresponding to the one-in-five-days rule, he had to spend the whole night fighting off his desperate desire.

The satisfaction of sharing his love with the woman he loved, gave him more emotional pleasure than physical pleasure. The extreme orgasm resulting from the two pleasures coming together and overflowing could not be expressed in any words. Once you tasted it, it was an amazing experience that you couldn't forget until you crossed the Styx. It was a feeling of satisfaction from sharing an emotional connection, not a vulgar, impulsive pleasure.

He grabbed her bottom and began to thrust inside slowly. As he advanced along the smooth path made by the fluids of her body, he explored her insides deeply and plunged in and out of her repeatedly.

Her inner folds became bumpy, stroking his member and stimulating him as he moved. A pleasured cry escaped from her parted lips and a stiffening, but exhilarating sensation crawled up his spine.

The most sensitive nerves in his body were all focused on the hot, slippery, pressuring, and squeezing sensations that his penis was currently feeling. The pleasure it was bringing was no less than the pleasure at the moment he came. He moved as slowly as possible, and tried to maintain his sense of the present.

Lucia looked up at him as her body shook slowly, in accordance with his unhurried movements and desire for her. His red eyes were clouded as if he was intoxicated and his brows were slightly furrowed. Upon seeing this sight, Lucia's body grew even hotter.

She abruptly had the thought of trying out what Katherine had taught her.

'What did she say again? When it's coming in, relax, when it's leaving, clench…'[6]

When she diligently manipulated her body according to what she had learned, the effect was immediate. He knit his brows and his hands on her butt gripped it tighter.

As she repeatedly relaxed and clenched a few times while watching his expression, he swallowed a moan and growled.

"Don't do that."

Lucia feigned ignorance as she gasped for breath.

"What do you mean…?"

"You're doing something you didn't do before."

Lucia was perplexed because his reaction was different from what she expected.

"…But they said a man would like it."

Hugo stopped moving and frowned.

"Who?"

"…"

"It's obvious. Those tea party women must have gathered together and said stuff like that."

Watching him as he clicked his tongue, Lucia felt kind of bad towards the innocent noblewomen.

"You don't like it? When I do this?"

She clenched her lower abdomen tightly again. He huffed, swallowing his breath and his red eyes that were looking at her sprang into a blaze.

"Don't excite me when you can't even handle it."

Hugo moved his hands from her butt to her ankles, lifted her ankles to his shoulders and then heavily rammed into her. Lucia's eyes smarted at the stimulation of his rigid crown piercing her deepest insides.

"Hk!"

"You can cry a little harder. Do you know how much I was holding back?"

He sped up and began to powerfully thrust into her. His desire-filled member filled up her insides and ravaged her.

"Ah! Anng!"

She could feel his excitement as he ruthlessly pounded into her, piercing, prodding and just scraping her down. Lucia's body shuddered as her sensitive insides were stimulated countless times.

She felt a slight ache when he reached deep inside and she shivered at the frictional pleasure from being roughly rubbed against inside. As he ravaged through her inner walls, he pulled back and quickly reentered, drilling into her.

As she listened to the sound of flesh slapping against flesh, her eyes heated up and the forming tears slid down her face.

"Ah! Hugh! Uuhk…"

Lucia screamed as she reached an intense climax. Her vision flickered repeatedly with the sensation of falling endlessly and at the same time, her entire body trembled as she was dazed with pleasure.

Her insides achingly squeezed his member and began to twitch and spasm. He slammed into her a few more times before spraying his semen into her womb.

The pressure of him holding her tightly, and the sound of him moaning in her ear gave her chills from head to toe. She wrapped herself around him with her arms and legs.

As the sound of two people gasping for breath mixed together, the time of the long and short climax flew by. As she fought for breath amidst sobs, Lucia thought that she should just bury what she had learnt from Katherine.