Albrecht’s Pearl 53

 Chapter 53

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The captain of the guard seemed to gather his thoughts once more at the question, but when he spoke again, his voice was unwavering.

"The lady seemed uncomfortable. If I may be so bold as to offer an opinion, it is unlikely that they are on special terms, Your Excellency."

Caius looked up at the captain with newfound interest.

"Now you're treating me like a pariah."

The captain dropped to one knee in one swift motion and bowed his head.

"......Forgive me. I was presumptuous."

"If you're done, leave."

With that, the captain turned and left.

It had been years since he'd been serving him, and yet he'd never seen the captain express his opinion.

As usual, Caius thought the woman was annoying. She's mso easy to make a fool of herself, and so easy to bewilder everyone around her.

He knew it would help him, but somehow he didn't like it.

*** 

"I can't say good night to you, madam, because you pretend to sleep again."

That same night, the man complained when she went to bed first because it was hard to see his face.

Louise rolled over.

"I'm tired.”

"I want to, so you're going to reject me? You've been rejecting me all last week."

"No.................., no."

Louise sat up, stunned.

"I don't know when last week I rejected you, Your Highness. I did everything.................. you wanted me to, given the circumstances."

"It wasn't good enough."

Caius cut her off sharply. Louise parted her lips in disbelief.

She hadn't even been able to stand those few days when she was menstruating, and she'd had to pamper him nightly.

"I didn't realize it, but this is why other people want to marry. I've been an insomniac for half my life, but when I hold you, I can sleep easily."

Louise beat herself up inwardly for wanting to give the man's words a different meaning.

She was just physically exhausted from fighting him until she collapsed from exhaustion. Not that he added any special meaning to it.

He untied the kravat and asked.

"You got up to let me sleep, didn't you?"

Louise pushed herself out of bed in frustration.

As she reached down and began to unbutton her shirt, he tilted his head in satisfaction.

It was only the low light that made his withered golden eyes look kinder than usual. There couldn't be any other reason.

Louise continued to brainwash herself.

"By the way, I'm going to take a trip to the hot springs next week."

Louise’s emerald eyes blinked lazily. He hadn't announced where he was going beforehand.

Finally, there was a clue in his words.

"You go too."

"The hot springs..................?"

Louise's fingers slowed as she unbuttoned her shirt.

"You know the hot springs are famous, though you've never been."

Nas was in the northernmost province of the Empire. From Burg, it would have been a full day's carriage ride. February was also the season for noblemen's vacations, with fewer social events.

Her heart was pounding.

Louise had never felt relaxed enough to travel. She had only read about hot springs in books.

Caius smiled faintly.

"I know what you're expecting, but it's not a vacation. I'm going to show my face to Nas’s margrave for the first time."

Louise's eyes flushed as if she'd read his mind.

"I'm sorry, I've never actually seen a hot spring."

"You could spend a day at the hot springs."

He replied dryly, then continued.

"Did you see the paper I put together for you? Count Nas  resigned from the council about ten years ago and chipped away, citing a sick child."

Louise nodded as she began to unbutton her shirt once more.

"I remember reading that health problems were the excuse, and that he was supposedly unhappy with the Emperor's pension policy."

The man's smile widened a little, but Louise was too focused on unbuttoning to notice.

"You may have been young and off the grid, but there are few among the older nobility who wouldn't guess who I am by sight. I've done the groundwork, but I'm telling you, this is a dangerous position."

His eyes were serious.

Half-serious. It was, after all, a job that could cost him his life.

"I understand."

"The Countess is also from House Cherringen, which has a wide footing among the centrist nobility. This is probably not in the archives, but Cherringen had a connection to Ermoli in the past. If you came to them with the pearl, with both your parents dead, they would take pity on you."

Louise knew as little as the man about Ermoli's past.

She wondered why her parents had kept so much from her, the loyalty they had spoken of puzzling and resentful.

"By the way, Count Nas and the Countess are known for their fine gold thread. How many children do they have? Eight or nine, I think, more than my own hounds."

The last words sounded more like mockery.

For a man who said he couldn't sleep, he tended to talk about other people's business. While Louise was mulling over that, the man added.

"So let's pretend we're a good couple, which actually isn't so bad, because I can't sleep without you."

The man had unbuttoned his shirt and thrown it away. He'd been talking about hound pups, but for some reason his pants were tight.

He lowered his lips to Louise's ear as he loosened his belt.

"If you fall asleep in the middle of the ride because you're tired, I'll wake you."

His breath tickled the nape of her neck, and her heart raced at the familiar scent.

Louise closed her eyes, dismissing the irregular heartbeat as the usual physiological phenomenon.

It's new to her, it's normal between men and women. She repeated it to herself, as if brainwashing herself.

Her chemise slipped down her shoulders, and he lowered her to the bed, lightly. A large shadow fell over her, and he burrowed between her legs.

"Ah, Your Highness, if you come in all at once like this..................."

Louise bit back a gasp of horror. Her white legs were spread wide open beneath her new, soon-to-be-tattered chemise.

He grabbed Louise's shoulder to stop her from running away.

“Stop joking around and just hold on for a bit. I’m getting tired of talking for so long.”

***

The night dragged on inexorably.

Hot breath hung thick under the half-drawn canopy.

Louise crawled naked onto the bed. Her luscious blonde hair hung to one side, wet and tangled.

"Caius, haha, this is so hard..................."

He didn't stop even when she cried out with reddened eyes.

"Don't lie to me. Your body seems to have other ideas."

"Yeah, no, it doesn't.................."

Caius bit her lower lip as Louise continued to moan in agony. She was a very pleasant sounding woman to listen to.

Blue tendons sprouted up the backs of the man's hands as he gripped the head of the bed.

He burrowed deeper into her white body and caressed her bare shoulder with his hot tongue. He nibbled lightly with his lips, and she winced as if stung by a needle.

"No, no. No, don't bite..............., okay?"

Her blood-curdling breath cooled the saliva-soaked flesh. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead as he moved with Louise trapped under his arm.

Her breasts heaved under his vicious touch. Then his large body pressed down quickly on the squirming woman.

 "Ah...............!"

Gasps echoed overlapping, and her thin waist curved into a bow.

Louise propped herself up on her elbows on the bed and jerked her chin up to look back at him. The more violently  he moved, the stranger the thirst. Their lips parted as if in anticipation. Willing lips pressed together, the rest of her body throbbed with instinct.

"Mmmm...............!"

A terrifying wave of pleasure swept through her body. Something hot burned inside Louise as she shuddered all over.

Her mind instinctively remembered her stash of pills.

The man mistook her tears for the aftermath of pleasure. His lips traced a pleasurable arc and brushed the corners of Louise's wet eyes. 

"What treats did you buy at the market during the day?" 

Louise held her breath in surprise. She didn't know where he'd been briefed.

 "Just, candies. Something sweet..................."

****

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