T/N: I did not realize comments were turned off 🙁 They’re back on!
Was this clothing, underwear, or just a scrap of fabric? Was it covering her chest, or was it not?
Zester’s world spun as he took in the sight of Cassia, who was blatantly displaying her pale, full breasts, her slender collarbone, and the soft slope of her shoulders.
Aside from her jewel-like eyes and rose-red lips, everything about Cassia was pale. Her mysterious silver hair, her flawless face, and her pristine, unblemished skin.
Zester knew well enough that her pale figure, reminiscent of the feathers of a pure angel’s wings, could be unexpectedly erotic. But this time, the severity of it was too much. Wrapped in blood-red silk that clung provocatively to her skin, the contrast was unbearable.
It might have been less torment if she had simply been naked.
“You, you should’ve waited for me to say come in! You’re the one who barged in without warning!”
Her flustered voice barely reached his ears. Zester barely managed to take a deep breath and gather his wits.
“S-sorry. I’m sorry. I’m trash.”
“What? Why are you trash all of a sudden?”
“B-because, what’s with this, this indecent getup in broad daylight?! Put something on! Quickly!”
“Whatever I wear in my room is my business!”
“Th-that’s true, but… still, clothes! Q-quickly…”
Zester hurriedly moved his feet, struggling to tear his gaze away from her perky breasts and fully exposed thighs.
His destination was Cassia’s indoor dress, which was lying on the floor. If he didn’t pick that up and dress her in it immediately, he felt he might transform into a beast right here in the bright light of day.
His vision and mind reeled helplessly, following his pupils that were shaking without direction. Naturally, his steps faltered as well.
Just a bit further… just a bit…
“Ahh!”
Eventually, Zester, whose steps had become tangled, tripped right in front of his destination. Cassia, startled by the loud thud as he fell, approached him.
“Honey! Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine. I’m fine so just stay away.”
As Cassia bent down to help him up, a familiar scent wafted from her, as it always did. Zester, who had been instinctively sniffing like a pervert, tried to turn his head over her shoulder to avert his eyes from her chest, which was hovering right in front of him.
“Ah.”
And in that moment, a gasp burst from Zester’s lips.
It was like meeting a tiger while trying to avoid a fox.
The gaze he had thrown specifically to look elsewhere happened to land on the mirror. And trapped vividly inside that mirror was the rear view of Cassia kneeling.
The moment her fully exposed rear entered his vision, Zester simply gave up thinking. He just stared blankly and prayed inwardly to God. Please, take away the lust blooming in this one impure beast.
“Honey… are you bleeding?!”
“Huh, huh?”
Feeling Cassia’s worried gaze land somewhere around his mouth, Zester raised a hand and touched his nose.
Ah, he really was bleeding. A nosebleed.
“I must have hit it when I fell…”
“But you didn’t hit your face?!”
“Just, well. Cassia. Please. It can happen. Even if I didn’t hit my face, a nosebleed can happen. Just accept that.”
Wiping away the trickle of blood with the back of his hand, Zester simply sprawled out on his back. Even though he fixed his vacant gaze on the empty air and tried to scatter his thoughts, the image of Cassia, now out of sight, remained vivid. It was torture.
“Haaaa…”
Zester, who had gone limp in an instant and even spurred a nosebleed, looked as if he was utterly defeated. A laugh burst from Casaia’s lips as she looked down at him lying there.
Honestly, she had secretly hoped for a reaction, but it was even better than imagined, It made the effort of wearing such scandalous underwear thoroughly worth it.
Cassia narrowed her blue eyes in a smile and slid over, occupying the vision of Zester, who was lying on the floor. Zester gasped as she climbed on top of his body.
“Ah, what are you doing! After just barely! Ah, seriously!”
“Hmm, what’s wrong? Is there a problem? It’s not like we’re strangers.”
“…What?”
What did she mean by that? And the way her thumb brushed his nose, wiping the blood away with deliberate slowness, there was no mistaking her intent.
Zester felt his blood, which had gone cold, suddenly heat up, and he gulped dryly.
“I-it’s the middle of the day.”
Even as he replied with feigned difficulty, he quickly grabbed Cassia’s hand as it caressed his lips, unwilling to let it go.
From her long silver hair spilling down to tickle his cheek as she lay down on top of him, there wasn’t a single thing about her that wasn’t stimulating. Zester suddenly sat up, staring intently at Cassia as she rose with him.
Cassia’s red lips curled up gently, drawing a smooth arc. That languid smile was so tempting.
He retracted the thought that she was like an angel. If he had to be precise, his wife was closer to a devil than an angel.
“So, what is the problem?”
Really, she is a devil. This woman.
***
“By the way, why did you come in so urgently earlier?”
Cassia, now neatly dressed and even wearing a coat to go down to the dining hall, looked demure, as if the dynamic (?) time just moments ago had never happened.
“Aren’t you asking that too quickly?”
“Pfft. Sorry. I didn’t have time to ask before.”
Zester, still lying naked in bed, blankly watched Cassia’s back as she fixed her hair while looking out the darkened window. The lingering effects of charging endlessly until it got dark outside hadn’t quite faded, leaving him stretched out languidly.
As Cassia walked lightly back toward the bed, Zester snatched her like a snake snatching prey and hugged her small body tightly.
“We have to go eat dinner.”
“Yes, we should.”
“So… what do you think of the underwear?”
“Huh?!”
Zester glanced down at the embarrassing underwear discarded on the floor beside the bed and let out a long sigh.
“Was it bad?”
“…No.”
How could it be bad?
“It’s good, but I don’t think you should wear it often.”
“Why not?”
“Look at this. We both wasted the entire day today.”
“I only meant to do a little, but you—.”
“Right, right. So, I’m saying it’s no good because of me.”
Zester tightened the arms holding Cassia. It was tight enough to be slightly uncomfortable, but Cassia decided to let it be. She knew well that he was putting strength into it because he couldn’t contain his affection and didn’t know what to do with himself. Wasn’t she the same when she hugged Rael and Lucy?
Cassia burst into laughter again, recalling Rael whining, ‘Mom, I’m suffocating,’ and Lucy, who would burst into tears if it was too much.
“What is it?”
“No, it’s just…”
…My son, my daughter. I want to see them soon. Cassia swallowed the words she couldn’t say in front of Zester and pouted her lips.
“Haaaa…”
Zester exhaled a sigh into the air, rubbing his chin against the top of Cassia’s head as he held her, and kissed her hair.
“Why the sigh?”
“Because I’m worried.”
“About what?”
“You said you wanted to go to the capital.”
“Ah, yes! Honey, we should look into a merchant guild in the capital first and…”
“Haaaa…”
“What is it?! Do you not want to go?”
“No, no. It’s not that.”
Perhaps bothered by his ambiguous reaction, she frowned slightly and lifted her head sharply. When Cassia’s face came into view, Zester felt even more complicated and anxious.
He recalled Bertol, who had blatantly shown interest in his wife, Cassia. It would be a lie to say his heart wasn’t anxious seeing that man’s confident demeanor and gaze. Even if he was a powerful figure in the North—to openly express to a husband that ‘I like your wife’ was too much, wasn’t it?
But if asked whether he couldn’t understand Bertol at all, it was a bit confusing. A dangerous thought crossed his mind that perhaps even he would have fallen for Cassia, regardless of whether she had a husband, given her overflowing charm.
Because of that, he couldn’t help but worry about meeting more people and showing Cassia to a wider world. But to keep her hidden away only in Greze… he wondered how that would be different from that madman Matthew Holton who had abused his wife.
The only thing he could put forward was that he and Cassia were married; that was the only thing, so he felt anxious and concerned. Even though he was the ‘husband’ who could loudly claim to be the closest person to her.
“Anyway, I can’t express how relieved I am that you are my wife.”
“You’re saying random things again. I don’t know why you say such things without context sometimes.”
“I mean, if you had already become another man’s wife when I met you… I’m not confident I could resist the urge to covet you.”
“…What?”
Cassia frowned. She had a good guess as to who he was thinking of while saying that.
“Wake up. That is also a crime.”
“I know. I know, but I’m just saying that’s how lovable a woman you are.”
“Mm, enough with the embarrassing talk. And stop thinking useless thoughts. People who flirt with someone else’s woman or man are all humans not worth associating with.”
“…Right.”
Even though she spoke clearly, he still seemed worried, but there was nothing more she could do to help him with that. Cassia just sighed.
“Ah, so why did you come in so hurriedly earlier?”
“Oh, right. That. We are able to go to the Imperial Palace to celebrate Her Highness the Princess’s birthday.”
“What?!”
Cassia shot up from where she was lying. Her eyes looking down at him were filled with excitement.
Right, as long as my wife is happy. Zester decided to fold away the worries he had secretly harbored about taking her to the capital.
Seeing her delight, Zester’s worries folded away.
“Did the imperial palace invite us? That can’t be.”
“No, not that. I asked Count Axios for a favor. Since the Count would likely receive an imperial invitation. He’s close with His Majesty, too…”
“What? A favor?”
“Yes. Because it seemed like you really wanted to go to the Imperial Palace.”
Seeing Zester smile sheepishly, Cassia stared, momentarily speechless.
Why would she be curious about the Imperial Palace?
Places where people live are all the same. The reason Cassia really wanted to go to the Imperial Palace was because the gathering of nobles from every region would be a perfect stage to promote her wigs.
However, since it wasn’t a place just anyone was invited to, she hadn’t even expected it. She had simply intended to aim for the festival period when many people gathered, to promote wigs in the capital and find a merchant guild to partner with.
“You didn’t have to go that far.”
Either way, being able to go to the Imperial Palace was a good thing but thinking that Zester had gone out of his way to ask Bertol for a favor made her feel secretly concerned.
“A letter came from Axios today, so I think we can start preparing to leave slowly from now on.”
Grinning, Zester held Cassia’s wrist and shook it gently, looking happy. It was because seeing Cassia’s delighted face made him feel good too, and his worry from earlier could be found nowhere on his face.
She really hadn’t imagined they would be able to go to the Imperial Palace. In any case, since a good opportunity had arisen, Cassia resolved not to let Zester’s effort go to waste.
She would go to the capital and properly showcase the wigs, and it would be good to make the unknown territory of Greze known as well, and also…
“Pfft.”
Her husband, lying sprawled out with his mountain-like frame, his eyes shining as if hoping for praise.
“Thank you. I really wanted to go.”
It would be good to give him some praise, too.
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