Put Out the Lights
Her pupils dilated wide. The woman who had been staring blankly up at him swallowed hard, her throat dry, and asked,
"What kind of way do you want, then?"
"……Well."
He drew the word out long, brushing his mouth with a leather-gloved hand. Perhaps finding her unwavering gaze uncomfortable, a faint flush spread across skin so white it seemed almost translucent.
Suddenly he felt a strange thirst rising from deep in his throat, and he roughly yanked at the collar that was choking him.
"At the very least, it won't be a matter of simply hiking up your skirts and getting it over with roughly."
The reddish flush coloring her face was already spreading to her earlobes and the nape of her neck.
He absently chewed the flesh inside his cheek, then yielded to the impulse to touch her and bent over the bed.
She tensed her shoulders and gathered her skirts to cover her knees. Ignoring the wary glare she fixed on him, he cupped her flushed cheek and pressed for an answer.
"What will you do?"
"Y-you have to tell me specifically what you want……"
"I intend to take enough time preparing you so that you can receive my body without strain."
When he brushed his thumb across lips that looked as if they had been forged from coagulated blood, her deep blue eyes, glistening with moisture, trembled violently.
The woman who had been looking up at him in terror turned her head aside to escape his hand.
"Do you really need to do all that? Wouldn't it be better for both of us if we just finished quickly?"
He withdrew his arm and shot her a look as cold as ice.
"If you have no intention of accepting my demands, leave this room. You may be fine with playing the role of a broodmare, but I have no intention of accepting that kind of treatment."
The soft pink that had tinged her face drained away in an instant, leaving her deathly pale.
Barcas steeled his weakening resolve. If he backed down here, he would have to repeat that wretched night all over again.
He crossed his arms over his chest and jerked his chin as if to ask why she wasn't getting up already. Still clutching her skirts, still chewing her lower lip, the woman finally forced out a trembling voice.
"Then…… just one thing. Do as I say for this one thing."
He waited in silence for the rest.
After hesitating a long while, she continued with a resolute face.
"At least put out the lights. Then I'll endure whatever you do."
He twisted his mouth.
He knew she hadn't said it with any intention of insulting him. But that attitude—like a martyr facing penance—made his insides twist of their own accord. If he hadn't known she was genuinely terrified, he would have turned and walked out right then.
Barcas, who had been staring fixedly at her, soon walked over to the window. He extinguished the candles on the candelabra one by one, then lowered the cover over the fireplace. But the light of a sun that had not yet set was still pouring into the room through the windows.
He gazed out at the pale violet rain clouds and the golden sunset beyond the glass, then turned his eyes back to her. His wife was still clutching the hem of her dress, sending him a wary look.
He felt a slight dissatisfaction, but if darkness would put her at ease, there was no reason not to yield a step.
He drew the curtains over the windows as well. At last, deep darkness settled over the room.
"Is this enough?"
Thalia gave a small nod. Then, perhaps thinking he couldn't see her, she answered in a tightly locked voice.
"It's…… fine."
He waited until his vision had fully adjusted to the dark, then slowly approached the bed.
Sensing his presence, the woman immediately reached out a hand. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned so that his wife could touch him.
Soon, fingers cold as ice brushed the nape of his neck. When he wrapped them in his hand and drew them to his face, the woman who had flinched and drawn her neck in soon began to caress his cheek.
At that touch—as if confirming his existence—his lower abdomen tightened with a dull ache, and a fierce heat surged up through him.
He contorted his eyes at the violent reaction his body was showing.
Even before, he had felt his body heat up when he was near this woman, but he had dismissed it as nothing more than the ordinary response of a man in his prime.
It had been somewhat surprising that such desire still remained in him, but he had never thought seriously about it. He had merely concluded that leaving behind an heir would not be impossible.
He ignored the fact that his body had never reacted to anyone else. If necessary, he could always use an aphrodisiac.
He had been thoroughly trained to control every desire, and separating body from mind was nothing to him. Sexual desire was merely an instinct for the propagation of the species. There was no reason to attach any special meaning to such a thing.
But those firm convictions crumbled simply beneath her touch.
Barcas exhaled a long breath and wrapped his arm around her waist. When he undid the dress knot at her back, the fabric parted to reveal a delicate frame and elegant curves. As he carefully swept his hand down as if savoring them, a tense voice escaped her lips.
"Y-you really can't see anything, right?"
Instead of answering, he laid her down on the bed and pulled the dress down past her hips. Thalia sharply drew in a breath and clutched at the fabric. In the darkness, he could see her shoulders stiffen with tension.
"Answer me. You really can't see anything, right?"
Barcas looked quietly down at the face disordered by anxiety, then whispered soothingly against her ear.
"Yes. I can't see a thing. So relax."
Only then did the woman finally release the clothes.
He drew the dress hem all the way down to her feet. In the bluish darkness, a body so exquisitely refined it seemed unreal was revealed.
Delicate shoulders as if carved from ivory, breasts tracing perfect curves, a waist so slender it seemed it would fit in one hand, and a flat abdomen drawn tight…… As Barcas slowly let his gaze slide along lines as precise as a craftwork meant for an altar, his eyes suddenly stopped.
The moment he saw the bandages wrapped tightly from just above her slightly twisted knee all the way down her calf, it felt as if a knife had been driven into his throat.
As if shaking off that sensation, he urgently climbed over her and brought his tongue to her swollen lips.
The woman flinched at the sudden contact, then soon parted her mouth.
He explored the slick mucous membrane while winding silk-like hair around his fingers. The more he moved his tongue, the hotter her skin grew.
He felt a slight regret at having granted her request to put out the lights.
If the surroundings had been bright, he could have clearly seen the sight of her pale skin flushing red. He would have been able to see those lapis lazuli eyes growing hazy, the reddened corners of her eyes growing moist.
Feeling the thirst that seemed to scorch his throat grow ever more extreme, he scraped up the saliva pooled in her mouth with his tongue. He greedily sucked it in and swallowed it down his own throat, but the drought was not eased in the slightest.
Seized by a strange restlessness, he pushed his tongue even deeper into her damp mouth. Her small tongue flinched and fled. Unconsciously, he pursued it. When he persistently entangled the soft thing, the woman let out a moan and threw her head back.
He instinctively held her tight as she tried to escape.
The heat that had been scorching his throat was now burning through his belly. It felt as if he were drinking the juice of belladonna.
"Y-you take yours off too. The sword hilt is pressing into my stomach and it hurts."
While he was hanging half out of his mind on her lips, the woman pushed at his chest and whined.
He lifted his head, exhaling ragged breaths. When he raised his upper body, he could see his lower body, hard as stone, pressing down on her abdomen.
What reaction would she show if I told her it wasn't a sword hilt?
She would probably go deathly pale and shrink away.
He both didn't want to see that, and wanted to see it.
He wiped his saliva-wet mouth with one hand while unbuttoning his top with the other.
After stripping off his clothes in an instant, he undid his belt and pulled down his trousers as well.
Cool air touched skin that held heat. But his body, flushed with excitement, did not cool in the slightest.