Erna looked around the room tremblingly. While she was struggling, her thin clothes were tugged here and there. With so many hands on her body, her clothes were crumpled and even torn. She recalled the looks of the maids and knights on her way. She had walked like this in front of them.
Her hands were shaking and her mind had become blank. She staggered and tried to find something in the room that she could use to cover herself. Her eyes darted to the bed in the middle of the room. Fortunately, a thin blanket was lying on the mattress. Erna frantically ran towards it, wrapped it around her body, and crouched in the corner of the room.
“Mom…” Erna called her mother, whose face she had never seen. This place was very scary. The only person Erna could call for help was her mother, who had already passed away. She knew no one else would take her side.
Fearing that someone would see her like this, she tried to tightly wrap the blanket around her body.
Just then, the door swung open. At the sound of the creak, Erna looked up in surprise. Only then did she realize that there was a door on the wall opposite from where she came in. They said that this was the Grand Ducal couple’s bedroom, she thought.
Located at the center of the Grand Duke’s castle, it was said to be the most extravagant room in the castle. The couple was supposed to sleep here together. In this large room, there were additionally two more rooms on the left and right, which were supposed to be used by the Ducal couple for their individual purposes. Erna had been assigned the room on the left. And if it was the door on the other side of her room, that meant…
The moment she saw a person entering the room, Erna almost screamed. Just as she expected, it was Kalion who had come in. It was no wonder that he would be here. After all, this was the bedroom of the Grand Ducal couple, and she had married him today.
But what really surprised Erna was not his arrival — it was his appearance.
Even though she was wearing a dress that was too thin, at least she was wearing something. But Kalion on the other hand was wearing nothing. His body, as he entered the room, staggered as if he had been pushed inside. Straightening his posture, he then turned around and shouted at the closed door.
“I’ll keep what happened today in my mind! And each and every one of you who was in that room!”
Kalion’s voice sounded so loud and furious that Erna wondered where in that skinny body of his was such power coming from. Erna hid beside the bed and held her breath while cowering. She didn’t want to see the state he was in now. But she couldn’t believe she was in the same room with him at the moment.
In the face of his naked figure, Erna understood the purpose of those people for bringing them into the room: to produce an heir.
Before coming, the maids had given her a brief explanation of how to make a child. While Erna was washing herself, she was embarrassed by the graphic names of the parts she had never seen before, but the process to make a child confused her even more. As she turned red with embarrassment, the maids laughed as if they were having fun and explained everything without holding back.
I’m supposed to do that with him? she questioned in disgust and disbelief. She felt as if she was being strangled by the blanket wrapped around her body. No way! It’s never going to happen. It was already terrible to see someone like this now, but she thought she would rather die than take off her dress in front of Kalion.
As Erna shuddered and cringed, Kalion, who felt her presence, turned his head. When he noticed Erna, he screamed and tried to hide himself desperately. Just as he yelled at Erna– asking her why she was here– he immediately shut his mouth. Come to think of it, it would have been more strange if it had been someone else other than Erna.
Kalion approached the other side of the bed and slumped down. He pulled the sheet that was left on the bed, from where Erna had taken the blanket. However, his slim arms were not strong enough to take off the sheets that were firmly pressed under the mattress. After several attempts, he gave a wry smile and eventually gave up. Compared to him, Erna was way more on the edge of madness.
She was still rattled by what happened before she came here, and now that she was with a naked man in a room, she was so surprised that she unknowingly stopped crying. Instead, all her attention was focused on Kalion. Even if he moved a little, Erna couldn’t help but be startled and jump in fright.
Figuring she couldn’t stay still like this, Erna reached across the bed and yanked the sheet that Kalion couldn’t take off. She then threw the sheet at Kalion, who was looking at her as if asking what the hell she was doing.
“Cover it up! I don’t want to see it!”
When Erna shouted, Kalion let out a raspy sound and wrapped the sheet she threw around his body.