Chapter 6

 “My lord.”

 “Didn’t I say I would beat you if you disappeared from my sight again?”

 “My lord.”

 Ella shrank back. She had never been beaten. Since becoming pregnant with and giving birth to Eselmund, he had always been generous. Ella knew he wouldn’t harm her. She believed this even while knowing how futile trust between a servant girl and her master could be.

 “Marie was doused with dirty water. By the women from the village. Because they hate us.”

 Ella lowered her gaze. She couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. Instead of raging, the man gripped her like shackles and pressed her neck. Blood might be drawn. On days when he was this angry, someone always got hurt. Though no objects were broken and no servants were beaten, there was good reason why those around him feared his anger.

 “Did they harm you too?”

 Suddenly, the man’s hands grabbed Ella. He unwrapped the cloak and examined his woman’s body. His eyes were fierce as if looking for even the smallest flaw in glass. Ella shook her head.

 “No, no. I wasn’t doused with dirty water.”

 At the mention of dirty water, Larque’s expression twisted. She swallowed several times before watching the man wrap the cloak around her again.

 “So?”

 “After washing her, I smelled. I wanted to wash, but there was no water left in the temporary bathroom, so I went to the river. I wasn’t running away.”

 He threw the sword from his waist beside the fireplace. Ella pressed her lips together, flinching at his every movement.

 “It’s night.”

 “I’m sorry.”

 “You are a woman.”

 “I’m sorry, my lord.”

 “You are beautiful.”

 Ella couldn’t continue speaking. She could guess what he was trying to say. What if someone desired you while I was away, or if someone tried to harm you? It was night, and it was a river, so it was entirely possible. His concerns were hypothetical situations that could become reality.

 “I’m sorry. I, I just thought I’d wash quickly and return.”

 Ella stammered. And she sat on the bed, crossing and uncrossing her legs.

 “Eselmund almost lost his mother.”

 The man brushed back his black hair. The disheveled hair covered his forehead. Ella stared at the hair that fell below his eyebrows. The baby babbling in San Parvale had fair, clear skin. Unlike this man. However, the child’s father too had originally been pale-skinned. Perfect white like white wax, bloodless.

 “I have nothing to say.”

 Ella trembled slightly. Whenever Larque mentioned the child, it felt as though he was holding the child hostage. It was a ridiculous thought. Larque was Eselmund’s father. He was his birth father and legal guardian. While Larque might be indifferent to Eselmund, he wasn’t an unkind father. He simply always tried to control the distance between her and the child.

 “Don’t think I will care for that child.”

 He cupped Ella’s cheek. He slowly bent one knee. Like kneeling before a noble queen, he showed no hesitation. Ella tensed her neatly folded hands. Finally, the man’s gaze fell below hers. One of his legs completely touched the ground. She pressed her lower lip tightly.

 “Answer me.”

 “What answer do you want from me?”

 She was curious. Eselmund was Larque’s child. He knew that well too. A servant girl couldn’t lie with a man who wasn’t her master. Servant girls who served men other than their masters lost their lives by their master’s hand. Ella had never slept with another man. The same was true for Larque. They were each other’s first and only. Eselmund was their first child together. Ella thought that alone would make her valuable to him. First child. Even if born from a servant girl, still the first child.

 Though now the child had been declared heir, being not the eldest legitimate son, the future remained uncertain. But isn’t the child lovely? Doesn’t he resemble only him?

 “Swear you won’t leave my side. That you won’t leave my side.”

 “……”

 “Swear on Eselmund.”

 She tasted blood from her bitten lip. Ella’s eyes widened. The man’s touch was gentle. He was positioned below his servant girl. Both his gaze and body were lower than Ella’s. The texture of the fabric wrapping her body was as smooth as his skin. The man’s heady scent enveloped her.

 “I am my master’s possession. I won’t go anywhere, not with the child at stake.”

After much deliberation, she opened her mouth. Larque ran his tongue across his lips ferociously. Startled, she pushed his shoulder. Then, she spoke with trembling fingers.

 “I am yours, Master.”

 She repeated the same words. He seemed to slowly rise from his seat and began to undress. Heavy armor, like lumps of lead, began to fall to the floor one by one. She averted her gaze. Suddenly, a large hand lifted her chin. Their lips touched. They overlapped and then parted. The force that sucked at her skin was strong and rough. His touch wasn’t as gentle as before. He threw off his cloak and grabbed her br*asts. As always, Ella crumbled. Larque gazed at her naked body, which contrasted with his red cloak. Her warm, flesh-colored body was as unfamiliar as it was contrasting. He roughly kneaded her br*asts.

 “……Nn……”

 The woman let out a suppressed moan. He lifted her legs and put them around his waist. She wasn’t surprised even though he hadn’t signaled his intentions. They were both used to each other. Like people who had known each other since birth, they were as familiar with each other’s naked bodies as they were with their relationship. But the pleasure she gave him was always new and surprising. Larque bit her neck just like that. He licked her collarbone and bit her shoulder, where her silver hair was disheveled. He bit, sucked, and rubbed as much as he wanted, engraving himself on her.

 The servant girls each had their master’s mark. His Ella was no exception. His Ella also had his marks here and there. Larque carefully carved his mark on her as he ruffled her long hair. He loved her scent. He even loved the milky scent that had started to emanate from her after she gave birth to his child. He didn’t like the child. He didn’t hate it, but he couldn’t feel any love for the newborn. Even though it was his child.

 He liked it when Eselmund was in her belly. Because there was no more perfect mark of his than the fact that Ella was carrying his seed. For example, the child was like his mark.

 “Do you want to see me go crazy?”

 He gritted his teeth. The woman’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. He laughed. His grin was twisted, broken, and ugly. The frightened woman clutched the blanket tightly. Larque let out a low, distorted laugh. He gently stroked her thighs and then kneaded her buttocks. Her plump buttocks, as plump as her br*asts, were seductive.

 “Master……”

 His name escaped from the woman’s lips in a small voice. He roughly spread her legs and began to fiddle with her p*ssy. As he began to knead it like dough, her pink eyes began to cloud with lust.

 “Nn, ah……Nn! Ah……”

 He pinched and twisted her cl*t. Ella whimpered and cried. They knew each other well. What parts, when, and in what position felt the best. Ella always went wild when he stimulated her cl*t while kneading her buttocks. But Larque loved toying with her n*pples the most. It was when he stimulated her p*ssy that she would go wild and cry out, but it was her n*pples that made her blush and shed tears while she was still sane. He liked to make her sit on his thighs and insert his c*ck. He liked the feel of her thin back against his chest and stomach, and the sweat that came from their contact. The slippery ejaculatory fluid that bloomed at their juncture was also an element of s*x that excited him. But best of all, he loved to pull her slender waist close and torment her n*pples.

 Ella was most beautiful then. As if there was nothing she could take from him. She drew a line and pushed him away. She was a quiet woman. Unlike her beauty, which could not be ignored, she was as calm and serene as the moonlit surface of water. Larque knew. He knew that the woman wanted nothing from him. It was the opposite of him. In many ways, she was different from him. He was so in love with her that he was going crazy, but she was just scared. Give me your seed, make me conceive, guarantee the future of the conceived child. The other servant girls always cried like skylarks. They chirped and flattered their masters. His Ella was different. It was as if she felt there was no future for her to be guaranteed. As if she felt it wouldn’t be so bad to live like this and die.

 Therefore, the conception was planned. Because he wasn’t going to let Ella live like that. He wouldn’t let her live with eyes that didn’t expect a shred of kindness or love from him. He had to make her beg and cling to him, so that she couldn’t live without him. He could do it. This woman would go crazy whenever he brought up the child.

 “Nn! Ha……Nn, ah……Nn……”

 She was afraid he would abandon the child. Larque took her br*ast in his mouth and mumbled. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his head and moaned.

 “Ah, ah! Ah……Nn! Haa! Master, Master, ah……Nn…… No. There, there……”

 His eyes narrowed slightly. Even in the midst of it all, the woman wouldn’t let go of his head, even as she told him no. Her thighs tightened around his waist. At her tight grip, Larque inserted his erect c*ck into her v*gina. The woman let out a shriek of ecstasy as he thrust himself into her in one go. He licked her mounds and sucked on her n*pples. Every time her n*pples entered his mouth, her milky br*asts shook.

 “Aahh! Haa……Nn!”