Winter Bud - Chapter 47

“There’s a rumor that Lady Thea’s biological father is the Duke’s late older brother.”

When was it? It had been in the kitchen. Merisa had said that. Because the Duke was so young and so handsome for a man of his age, some people couldn’t believe he was the father of Thea, who was already so precocious. And of course, Thea’s mother had originally been engaged to the Duke’s older brother since her girlhood.

Then, not long after their marriage, the Duke’s brother, who’d always been frail, passed away. In other words, the man who was then known as ‘the Young Duke Everhardt’ within the ducal residence had died. Their married life had been so very short that her family had tried to undo the marriage, but the Duke, who was Sermione’s father at the time, had forced his remaining son to remarry her.

So in other words, the Duke had ended up marrying his beloved sister in law. It was a levirate marriage. People widely considered it barbaric, but noble marriages were always barbaric in some way, always strange in ways ordinary people couldn’t understand. Dowries, political stakes. The marriage couldn’t be undone. It was a crucial agreement, a contract between families.

“Really?”

“That’s what they say, but nothing’s confirmed.”

Lyla shrugged. Nanna had thought it might be possible, but Thea denied it. No. The one who denied it most strongly was her father.

He made it clear that, according to the timing, Thea was his own daughter. Not his brother’s. That no suspicion even existed because of when she’d been born. Thea was born three years after Young Duke Everhardt died.

The Duke and his wife had conceived their child after some time had passed since their marriage. So the rumor about Thea’s father was nothing but certain people’s wishful thinking.

“What are you thinking about?”

“…About Lady Thea.”

“Why Thea?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Nanna shook her head. The Duke stared at her quietly, then lowered his gaze. He didn’t pry further. The hand that had been wiping her tears now grabbed her breast. He rolled her nipple slowly. Nanna tried as hard as she could to feel nothing. But pleasure wasn’t something that went away just because she tried to suppress it.

She bit her lips and whimpered softly. Even though she was crying, the Duke didn’t say anything. His red lips, still smelling faintly of smoke, touched her breast. Nanna stiffened as she sucked in her breath. The Duke glanced at her.

Nanna avoided his gaze. What came to mind was earlier. The absentminded look he’d given her while holding Thea’s shoulder…. Why had that flashed through her mind?

She didn’t know either.

“Ugh, ha, aah…!”

The Duke bit her nipple. Nanna endured it as her vagina throbbed. His other hand pressed her trembling hips firmly down. He climbed over her as she writhed. His thick body enveloped her. The man who’d been sucking her like a child now fumbled to bite her lips. Startled, Nanna whipped her head to the side. The Duke asked her, ‘You don’t like it?’

Nanna nodded quickly. He stared at her for a moment, then pulled back with a quiet ‘Fine.’ Her heart pounded again. Like it had been cursed by a witch and turned into a frog…. Childish thoughts. Nanna just watched him blankly.

He pushed between Nanna’s legs. He slowly stroked her sparsely hairy vulva, then parted her legs. He didn’t look at her belly. He really seemed not to care about it at all.

He raised his hand and probed her tight hole. His fingers rummaged through the love juices. Nanna’s damp cheeks trembled and she couldn’t hold back from parting her lips.

“Your Grace, I, I’m pregnant. There’s a baby in my belly….”

“It’s a child you’re going to get rid of anyway.”

“B, but….”

“I didn’t give you permission.”

His cold voice felt like retaliation. As if for the way she hadn’t allowed him her lips just a moment ago.

But she had clearly heard that kissing was something you did with someone you loved. Her mother had said so. Even if that wasn’t the truth, a fact branded into her childhood mind didn’t fade easily. So….

Even if she could accept other things, she hated having her lips taken. She wanted to do that with a man she loved. She didn’t know if she would ever meet a man she loved in her life. If the Duke knew that, he might laugh at her….

“Uhh, ha, ngh, haa….”

A wet tongue tip touched her hole. Nanna trembled all over and, startled by the unfamiliar sensation, lowered her head. Suddenly, her gaze met his green eyes. Nanna stared at him in disbelief, then shook her head.

“Your Grace.”

“You dislike this too?” he asked.

Nanna couldn’t answer. She sobbed and cried. The man who had licked along her inner labia pinched her clitoris with a light bite. A flood broke out from her hole. With wet squelching sounds, he repeatedly thrust his fingers deep inside and pulled them out.

It was a cruel and teasing act. Nanna, flushed red, shook her head. This was the first time for such a perverse act. Perhaps it wasn’t usually to the Duke’s taste either, because he had never done anything like this to her before.

“D-don’t do this.”

“Then what should I do?”

“I, I am carrying a baby.”

“It’s a baby that will be erased anyway.”

It was not even a sharp retort. His tone was flat, as if he were only pointing out a fact. But Nanna went pale with hurt. A child that would be gotten rid of anyway. A child that had not been granted permission. That was Nanna’s baby. So did that mean it didn’t matter if they behaved this obscenely today?

Nanna swallowed down the surge of emotion and tried stealthily to push him away. But the Duke didn’t allow even Nanna’s refusal. He took out his swollen length and rubbed it against her entrance. The feeling of the smooth tip of his head pressing against her opening was vivid. Nanna’s throat went tight with a dizzy feeling.

She was afraid of joining with the Duke, even though it was far from the first time she had spent the night with him. His heavy tip forced its way into her narrow hole and slammed in. Nanna bit down on her lower lip and held back her moan. Suddenly, a large hand stopped her.

“Hh, uhh…. Your Grace.”

Tears fell. The Duke pressed and crushed her plump lower lip. The edge of her front teeth lightly touched his fingernail. Even though her legs were entwined with his, Nanna startled at that tiny contact and looked at him. His gaze, examining her expression and her body, was quiet and chilling. He slowly moved his hips.

Nanna looked at the body densely woven with muscle. He was as large a man as the young emperor. Even so, his movements were delicate and graceful. According to Thea, his mother had been a princess of the former imperial family of the Old Empire. Even so, because of various political issues, relations with his maternal family hadn’t been good, and the Everhardt family had once stood on shaky ground in the old capital. Nanna knew nothing about it, but it seemed to her that there was no man in the world who could put the Duke in danger.

Truly…. could a man with such a solid body, a man whose chest and abs bore cuts and scars like someone who’d earned military merit and medals, really be struck down and broken by anyone? Nanna looked at him with frightened eyes.

“Stop crying.”

“…Yes.”

Nanna forced out an answer. The Duke, who had been staring distantly at her tears, moved his hips a little more. He pushed all the way in, as if he meant to drive his length to the mouth of her womb. Nanna’s small body jerked as she twisted beneath him. No matter how she pushed at his solid chest or shook her head, he didn’t stop.

His long, thick length filled her completely. Without the slightest change in expression, he devoured her entirely, leaving nothing behind. Suddenly, he lowered his head. Thinking he meant to kiss her, Nanna quickly turned away, and he drew his brows together.

“You don’t want it anyway, so there’s no need to avoid it in advance,” he murmured quietly.

He seemed quite displeased. Even so, Nanna curled her lips inward and refused to turn her head back.

The place his lips sought was the nape of Nanna’s neck, hidden beneath her silver hair. He bit into her pale neck. This too was something he had never done before. Startled, Nanna grabbed his shoulder.

His thick tongue slowly stroked her delicate skin. It was clearly warm and soft, yet it felt cold, like a snake’s tongue touching her. A shiver ran down her spine. Then suddenly… she began to squirm at the thought of a mark. What if he left a mark?