The first night is not over yet

When her husband, who had offered her an arm pillow, unceremoniously removed the pillows, Katya was stunned and speechless.

“What about the no touching each other clause?”

“That clause. I’m going to have to take a look at it. I mean, you’re my consort, and I’m not sure I’m going to be up all night. It may be a contract marriage, but it’s still the first night, and we’re supposed to be honeymooners.”

“By the way, the Grand Duke and I are the only ones in the room right now, so who else can see us?”

“Human affairs are things we don’t understand, but did we… lock the door?”

They both turned their heads toward the door at the same time, and it swung open from its hinges.

At the same time, Katya’s instincts kicked in and she leaped onto the bed.

She ended up in Nikolai’s arms.

“Oh my, what happened here? I apologize!”

The hotel housekeeper, who had entered the room thinking it was empty, saw the couple tangled up on the bed and rushed out.

Katya let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the closing door, and her eyes met those of Nikolai lying beneath her.

For some reason, the bed was as hard as stone.

“Yo-you said you weren’t going to force me!”

She blurted out, feeling unnecessarily embarrassed.

“Come on. I’m the one being forced with you on top of me.”

Nikolai wrapped one arm around her waist as she squirmed to her feet in surprise.

Their bodies pressed close together again.

“Since I was attacked, I have thoughts of dedicating my entire body to you. The progress is so fast that the heart beats recklessly. Would you like to go all the way?”

Nikolai ran his tongue over his upper lip as if he were savoring the taste of the rabbit that had just walked into the tiger’s den.

“Yesterday has passed. So we haven’t even gotten through the first night yet.”

Katya, who had been staring down at him wordlessly, suddenly leaned over and buried her face in his shoulder.

His eyes narrowed in embarrassment, rather provoked by her sudden behavior.

“Tia……?”

“Gughhh…….”

The sound of snoring reached his ears.

Nikolai’s heart swelled with anticipation and he couldn’t help but giggle with glee.

“That’s good.”

He carefully laid her down next to him. His wife’s body snuggled like a quilt over him.

Sitting down next to her, Nikolai pulled the covers up and looked down at Katya, who was sleeping like a baby, then reached up to her face.

Her body flinched slightly as a shadow fell across her face.

Seeing it, he lifted one corner of his mouth and gently pinched the tip of her nose, which slid smoothly down between her dark eyebrows.

Katya’s eyes widened in surprise, and she sat up.

Nikolai removed his hand from her nose and smirked in a knowing way.

“How did you know I was pretending to sleep?”

“Because you don’t normally snore when you sleep.”

“Oh really, have you ever slept with me?”

“I’ve slept with you.”

He gave her a look like she was asking the obvious.

“That’s…… right.”

This was the second time Nikolai had watched her sleep.

The first time they spent the night together at the inn, and the day they went to sign the prenup.

From what he could tell, she had only one sleeping habit.

“Come to think of it, why do you sleep so dangerously close to the edge of the bed?”

“Do I?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m worried about it. I think I’d feel better if I tied you down or something.”

“What, tie me?”

Is that really what the Grand Duke likes?

If that was the case, Katya was in trouble.

As she rolled her eyes, Nikolai lay down next to her with his right arm outstretched.

“I’ll wrap my arm around you like a chain, so you can sleep in peace.”

“That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The ruffian perched on the bed admitted obediently.

“I’m really too sleepy to argue with the Grand Duke.”

“So, lie down next to me. I won’t do anything. I’ll just give you an arm pillow.”

In her sleepy state, the serpent’s seduction was sweeter than any fruit.

“Especially when a man says that bullshit, like ‘I’ll just hold your hand.’ You should never believe him, because when he says he’ll hold your hand, he means he’ll hold your hand and do all sorts of things. Do you understand, princesses?”

The impassioned Alyona flashed through her mind again.

Katya paused, confused.

‘Just holding hands won’t lead to anything serious, right?’

Alyona overlooked it.

The young woman knew the theory, but not the application.

Drowsy and unable to think straight, Katya eventually gave in to her instincts and simply let her arms be cut and lay down.

Nikolai couldn’t hide his joy at having his wish fulfilled.

Lying side by side, staring at the ceiling, he gently turned his head to the side.

The scent of his sister-in-law Bianca’s soap mingled with Katya’s body scent.

“I find it strangely comforting to smell you.”

The words startled Katya, and she raised a hand to cover the top of her hair.

“Does it smell? I washed my hair yesterday.”

“No. It’s a pleasant scent. It’s the fragrance of my life that I want to turn into a perfume. I think I’ll keep thinking of it even after we get divorced.”

Nikolai said the word divorce as if it were nothing, but the truth was that he dreaded the end of this contract.

He thought that if he could talk about it as casually and easily as he talked about the breakfast menu, he would be more prepared when the day came.

Lately, he’s been feeling that way.

Time seems to be moving so fast.

Before he met her, time had been so boring and slow for him that he wondered if he was stuck in one place.

The harsh and arduous present, enduring it repeatedly, is the only way for time to take a step further away from it, vanishing into the past.

But when he met this woman, time began to rush past him like never before, frantically, frenetically, and impatiently.

“Is that it? You seem to like strawberries.”

“Did I? I didn’t know it before I met you.”

“I asked that way, but who doesn’t like strawberries? Things made with strawberries are delicious. Strawberries crushed and candied are sweet and delicious, and plain old strawberries are delicious.”

“I don’t have a favorite food.”

“What? Then what’s the point of living?”

Katya asked in disbelief, as eating delicious food is one of her greatest pleasures in life.

Nikolai could tell by the tone of her voice that she was bunny-eyed, so he smirked.

“So I guess my life wasn’t fun before.”

“And now?”

“I think I’ve found fun since I met you.”

“What did I do…….”

“Just because. Just looking at you makes the world fun.”

He shouldn’t be doing this, but being around Katya makes him wish he wasn’t in this hellhole.

“I think it was a good thing I went to buy a shamshir that day.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s how we met. It’s how you found the fun in life.”

“…….”

His nose twitched a little at the cheerful answer.

How could I not love this woman?

Now, even if I wanted to stop it, I couldn’t figure out how.

“Do you usually sleep with Laika?”

Nikolai asked, casually changing the subject.

He remembered her hugging him at the inn and rubbing his cheek.

“I do. But Laika goes to each room in turn, and after she’s put me and Bianca to bed, she goes to her father’s room to sleep as if she’s done with her mission. So when I wake up, my arms are empty.”

“I’ll stay with you until you wake up. So pretend I’m Laika and sleep with me as long as you want. Your arms won’t be empty in the morning.”

“Wow, is this what people get married for?”

“You’re glad you married me, aren’t you?”

“I think so!”

It was a playful reply, but Nikolai was quite pleased with himself.

Katya’s eyes began to close.

The sun was high in the sky, streaming in through the window, and her body was so tired that sleep was pouring out of her.

Nikolai’s arms were as warm as the sun.

She was trying to drift off into a pleasant sleep when he whispered above her head.

“No drooling this time.”

At the mention of black history, Katya sulked and turned away from him.

She turned her body back to Nikolai.

“I mean, you don’t have to go through the trouble of putting spit on it.”

“What?”

“Because I’m already your man, even without that mark.”

As their eyes met, Katya couldn’t tear her gaze away from his deep, lake-like eyes.

It was a strange contract marriage.

How could there be so much physical contact in a loveless contract?

“How can a person own another?”

Katya muttered low.

Being part of a family was not about total ownership.

Unlike objects, people had feelings, free will, and most importantly, a finite amount of time.

One moment you might think of your loved one as ‘the one forever,’ and the next, they might change their mind.

Love doesn’t have the same expiration date for everyone.

Even if, miraculously, your feelings for each other flow at the same speed and time, there are things outside of your heart that can separate you.

Like, for example, Katya’s mother, who passed away from an illness.

As a child, Katya thought that her close-knit family of four would always be with her, forever and ever.

They were ‘my’ family, and she was ‘my’ mother.

But after her mother died, she learned too young that you can’t own people.

She was terrified that if her father or Bianca caught a cold, they too would leave her side.

To use the possessive ‘my’ was to desire a more special relationship with the other person, to give them your heart.

So Katya vowed that one day she would grow up and marry someone, but not give him her heart.

I shouldn’t think that my husband is really ‘mine’.

I should think of him as a complete stranger, even if we are bound by family ties.

Only then would she be able to live with the possibility of him betraying her, changing his mind, or passing away someday.

‘But why…….’

But why does this man continue to feel so special?

‘I must never think of the Duke as my husband or my family.’

I have decided not to be greedy for you.

Because once you give your heart away, there’s no turning back.