Princess Shu

Schuden gently bit Valia’s lips, he jokingly tapped her soft skin with the tip of his lips.

“Valia.”

“Yes?”

Schuden asked.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“…Sleep? I think I slept well…”

“Do you have any other plans tomorrow?”

His intention was obvious. Valia’s already reddish cheeks were burning up. She avoided eye contact and did not give any answer. But even that was enough for Schuden. He smiled leisurely.

“Great, then.”

Schuden kissed Valia on the forehead and tilted his chin to her ear. Valia trembled lightly.

Touching her ears with his hands was okay, but because Valia had sensitive ears, kissing or licking her earlobes would send shivers down her spine. She could not stand it. Schuden knew Valia’s weak spots and how she would react to them, so he refrained from touching her ears at first. 

Schuden’s breath touched Valia’s sensitive area. Her fingertips gripped the sheet.    

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Schuden held Valia in a wholesome way. Her breathing was drowsy and her body temperature was higher than usual. She had her head on his forearm and buried her cheek on his chest. 

After everything had finished, being naked was a little less embarrassing than usual. Valia did not know what made this time different, it could have been because the blanket had covered her up over her shoulder and made it so that she couldn’t see anything.

‘Why am I so timid?’

Valia seriously thought to herself. Why did she get so embarrassed in bed? She could never be the first to see nor touch Schuden’s body. And she almost fainted while taking off his silk gown.

‘It must be because of his eyes.’

She easily put the blame on him. As expected, it must be because Schuden’s eyes were so decadent. Having him look at her with those strange eyes made her get embarrassed. In addition, Valia had low immunity to men, and Schuden was a seriously good-looking man at that.

‘Should I have at least dated someone when I was at the palace?’

Valia was a long-term lady-in-waiting in her first life, different from an ordinary lady-in-waiting. As compensation for staying in the Imperial Palace until her death, her salary was about 30% higher. There was also a lump sum of money paid in advance. It was said that commoners would harm the nobility of the Imperial Palace should they work there, so only nobles were elected. Because of this, most of the long-term ladies-in-waiting were young ladies from poor fallen noble families. They were either in a state of financial decline or their parents were dead, the causes for poverty varied.

A long-term lady-in-waiting could not get married. But despite this rule, there had often been long-term ladies-in-waiting who would secretly be dating. Of course, their partners were long-term attendants who were in similar situations. There were also a couple of attendants who had a crush on Valia and sent love letters to her. They said they fell in love at first sight.

‘But I was busy… I need time if I want to date.’

Shortly after she came to the Imperial Palace, Valia was selected as escort lady-in-waiting. Escort ladies-in-waiting served to protect the female Imperial family. Although they were not ordained as an official knight, they were collectively referred to as just an escort knight among the Imperial Palace employees. They would also receive quite generous treatment. During this time, Valia was so busy that she could not even dream of dating. She also got hurt quite often, so it was more comfortable for her to just lie in bed and rest rather than date.

‘Oh, right.’

Thinking about being ‘hurt’ reminded her of something. While Schuden was slowly patting her back as if to put a child to sleep, Valia was worried that he might be hurt. She was thinking about asking him when she entered the bedroom, but had lost track of things.

Valia looked up to ask. But then, she paused. 

She frowned a little.

“Schu.”

“Yes, Valia.”

“Has there…always been a scar here?”

“Hmm?”

There was a cut at the end of his right collarbone, near his shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it was not even a slight wound. Though it was not very deep, it was definitely cut by something sharp. Valia felt like she was wide awake.

‘Why am I only seeing this now?’

Valia went out of Schuden’s embrace and got up. Despite being in a rush, she still covered her breasts with the blanket. Schuden  followed suit and sat up with her. Valia grabbed the blanket with one hand and looked around his wound with the other. Looking closely, there was a similar wound on the other side. It was even a little deeper than the one before.

“Schu, this wound…”

“Valia.”

Having read her clearly worried face, Schuden opened his mouth.

“It will get better soon. This much is nothing.”

It was true. Schuden had a very good self-healing ability. A cut like that would heal quickly for him and would not even leave a scar. That was the reason why the family doctor would spend his time freely.

“You got hurt in the war, didn’t you? When did you get hurt?”

“I just got scratched a bit in the final battle.”

It took some work to hurt Leo here and there without killing him. In any fight, it was quickest and most convenient to take the enemy’s life right away. But as Schuden could not do that, he was stabbed a few times. 

His scar was so shallow to the point where he forgot about it after applying medicine. The medical officers did not take it seriously, either.

“…It must have hurt.”

But his wife had different thoughts about it. Valia could not even bring herself to touch the wound. Schuden stood still. Though her silvery-gray eyes were serious, Schuden did not think he was in a bad situation at all. 

His worried wife carefully moved her eyes as if she were trying to find more wounds. On the other hand, Schuden moved his eyes just to chase her gaze.

Valia did not realize that Schuden was chasing her gaze. She only looked at his body carefully, wondering if there were any more wounds.

She looked at his long collarbone and stayed on his angular shoulder for a while. And she looked at his strong-looking forearm and moved her eyes to his muscular chest. Valia would normally be too embarrassed to look at that place, but now, she was too concerned for her feelings to get in the way.

Her mind slowly went blank as her gaze went down below his chest.

She could see his waist drawing a smooth line. Needless to say about his firm abs, there was no place that was not firm. In addition, the long bone below his waist and in the part connecting with the pelvis was covered with the blanket but still gave an intimate feeling.

Valia’s honest intentions were being diluted by dark thoughts, like ink spreading in water. She gulped looking at his erotic figure. It was a flawless male body. She almost reached out and touched him without realizing it.

Then, Schuden’s voice dropped.

“Have you seen it all?”

‘Erk.’

Valia took a breath. As she raised her head in surprise, her eyes immediately met with Schuden. His red eyes were looking at her.

It was crazy. She was completely bewitched by Schuden’s body. Valia panicked and made excuses.

“Well, I want to see if there’s a wound…”

“Checking the wound?”

Schuden said leisurely.

“You look like you can’t take your eyes off me.”

“Well…”

“You didn’t even blink, it felt like you were piercing my body with your eyes.”

“No, I…”

Valia could not answer back. Her face was already very red. After worriedly rolling her silvery-gray eyes, she ended up lying down. After fluttering in the air, her long black hair gently fell on the pillow. Valia buried her face in the fluffy pillow.

‘This is crazy. I’m crazy.’

 She was so embarrassed. Schuden was clearly awake, this was not like the time when she sneaked a look at him while he was asleep. And since her mind had gone blank for a moment, her feelings must have clearly been visible on her face.

‘I’m sure he saw it all, right?’

Judging by his attitude, Schuden must have been looking at her face from beginning to end. The blush that occupied her cheeks began to spread to the nape of her neck. Valia’s white skin quickly turned red. If Schuden had not been by her side, she would have hit the pillow.

Schuden chuckled. Valia was a very shy person in many ways. They have had intercourse so many times, he did not know why she was always so embarrassed.

Valia did not see a random person’s body. So what’s the big deal about not being able to take her eyes off her own husband’s body?

In any case, Valia buried her face in the pillow and could not get up. Schuden laid down at an angle next to her. He put one cheek on the back of his hand and said in a relaxed voice.

“My dear.”

“Yes…”

Valia still had her face buried in her pillow. Schuden’s red eyes flashed with playfulness. He thought that she looked cute with her back curled up like a cat. Schuden fiddled with Valia’s earlobe. Her ears were hot with heat, and were actually turning red.

“Are you going to keep doing that? If you’re not going to sleep, then I’m going to stay awake too.”

“No, no.”

Valia got up right away. She could not disturb the sleep of someone who had just arrived at the castle that day. With a red and hot face, Valia quickly laid down straight and put the blanket up to her neck. Schuden held back his laughter and spoke in passing.

“You can look more if you want.”

“No!”

Feeling embarrassed, Valia screamed in spite of herself. Then, she shut her mouth in astonishment. She murmured in a low voice.

“Well, it’s all right… Go to sleep.”

“I will.”

Schuden laid beside Valia without further teasing her, hugging her while she was still crouching down. In the midst of her blushing, Valia did not push him away. She hesitated, but still came into his embrace. She looked down, not confident to make eye contact.

Schuden kissed Valia’s round forehead. And without saying much, he patted her back. Valia slept well like that.

The bedroom went quiet. A slow but regular patting relaxed Valia’s body little by little. When consumed by her emotions, Valia would also be subtly consuming her stamina. In addition, Valia had just been released by Schuden after a few hours of lovemaking. Her eyelids soon became heavy. There was something she wanted to say in spite of her embarrassment.

“…Sweet dreams.”

“You too, dear.”

Schuden did not give a long answer, but it was enough. A smile as soft as water appeared on Valia’s lips. Her silvery-gray eyes slowly closed. Before long, she was completely asleep.

Schuden lightly grabbed Valia’s wrist and put it on his exposed chest. It was not much of a contact. But why was Valia’s face so red? Were other women like this too? He could not know, for Valia was Schuden’s first and last woman.