The Reason for Marriage

An heir…

Somehow, even though she knew what the finer details of marriage to a royal included, the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind until his asking a few moments before. The words swam around her ears, building a fire underneath the one true worry she had about this whole situation – she really didn’t know anything about him, did she? Everyone said he was an innocent, friendly, kind… and everything she could remember of him matched up with that assessment. But she had never known him then, either. And now this man she didn’t know was asking these questions, smiling all the while. Strange didn’t seem to cover it.

He knew that she could not refuse if she wanted to maintain the things she wanted. After all, the promise that she would keep her job at the Judicial Affair Bureau was one thing; a marriage to a royal meaning that she had a duty to produce an heir was entirely another. Iveca had never felt more like a chess piece, in a game played by figures far too large and mysterious for her to understand.

“So you agree to my proposal, Iveca?”

She nodded, and Daniel smiled larger than she had ever seen him smile before.

His smile unfading, Iveca bowed her head slightly. She could hear him take a few sips of tea, see the image in her peripheral, before he put down the teacup and took her hand.

“Shall we?” he said.

“Now?”

“There’s no time like the present, Iveca.” He continued to smile and pulled her to her feet. She did not resist the movement, allowing him to command her along through the door of the room, down a grand hallway with statues lining either side, before coming to another door. He opened it with a swift motion and led her inside. He must have known this room was here already, as the center of it was all but taken up by a huge bed, all white sheets and what seemed like a thousand pillows.

“Iveca.”

She looked up and met his gaze. The smile on his face was so beautiful that she opened her mouth slightly without even realizing.

“There is no need to have such a… determined expression, my dear.”

She began to blush. “I’m sorry, I…”

“If you don’t like something, you can say no,” said Daniel. She believed this – whatever was going to happen would not be forced upon her.

“It’s not like that. I’m just a little…”

As she spoke, he pulled her arm gently and brought her over to the bed. Iveca sat gently, trying to make sense of something that didn’t seem could ever make sense. They had to produce an heir, she reasoned, and this part made some sense. She wondered what expression she was expected to actually have.

“You can just do what your instincts tell you to do. Follow what feels natural…”

Daniel’s tone was more like reminiscing than instructing. Her instincts? She had no knowledge of this, nothing to guide her and make it feel natural. Daniel smiled at her again, and she presumed she must have had that serious expression on her face again.

Iveca recalled the ‘How to Have a Child’ book, a well-thumbed instructional guide to reproduction that the Bureau library held. She had only read it once, shortly after her arrival at the Bureau, and she tried to remember exactly what the protocol she was expected to follow was. As it happened, she moved onto her back on the bed, raising the hem of her dressing gown and positioning her legs slightly apart. Daniel looked at her blankly for a moment, taken back by how quickly she had assumed the position.

“You can do it… if you want…”

Ivecca stared up at him. Daniel blinked in confusion.

“What?”

“I said you can put it in… if you want.”

“Pardon?”

She was confused now. Did Daniel not know how this worked either? Surely, it was not the case that the King didn’t know how to have children, but his expression and general bewilderment at her actions was troubling her. She spoke almost verbatim from the book she remembered, explaining the actions and reactions in muted, scientific detail. It would have to do if they were both figuring out how this worked, she reasoned.

“You put your manhood into my vagina.”

Daniel blinked again, but no words left his mouth. She continued explaining with an unconfident voice.

“When the semen is released, the sperm and egg meet and the egg is fertilized. The fertilized egg implants safely in the womb…”

“Wait, wait, Iveca.”

Daniel continued to look down to her, still laying with her legs slightly apart. He was blushing, and Iveca realized that he was embarrassed. Suddenly, she didn’t feel quite so inexperienced.

“Did you say your last memory was when you were eighteen?”

Iveca nodded. Daniel swept his blond hair back from his face, which was contorted with the signs of thought and more awkward questions.

“So you never received a formal… education, on sexual matters? Or if you did, you don’t remember it.”

She thought for a moment, trying to recall something she knew would never return to her, and nodded again. At this, Daniel looked a little more relieved and managed a smile.

“That would explain a lot about how you’re reacting to this.”

Iveca frowned. She was more than clever enough to know what was happening right now, that was why she explained the exact procedure with the information written in the book from the Bureau library. It was Daniel who seemed to be sweating and struggling to understand what was happening.

“I read a book,” she said calmly, “so I have a good idea how this works.”

Daniel took his turn to frown slightly. “There are other factors….”

“I was told that the blood vessels of a man’s manhood swell up before sexual intercourse. Has that already happened?” she asked.

“Iveca…”

Without changing her expression, Iveca carried on.

“… I heard that it feels good.”

“Did you? From a book, or…”

She didn’t answer. Instead, the voices of the maids in the Esselburn estate came flooding back to her, salacious and snidey.

‘The Countess loves to play around with men, you know. The Count has been away for three months already, how can she stand it?’

‘That stable man is quite handsome, isn’t he? And that body… I might try it while my husband is away in the countryside. It must feel so good…’

Iveca tried to stop her thoughts, her trembling breath running wild from her mouth. For an ordinary marital obligation, this was all more complicated than she would have imagined when she read that book.

Daniel’s expression had changed. It was softer – the confusion had gone out of it, and been replaced by something Iveca didn’t quite recognize.

“Iveca.”

“Yes?”

He sat on the bed next to her, his hand reaching out. When it met her he moved it to the nape of her neck, caressing the skin softly. He used his other hand to move himself across the bed towards her.

“Don’t be nervous.”

He lay down beside her, his breath ragged as her own now. Turning to face her, he whispered affectionately, reassuring her with his blue eyes. Iveca began to feel very warm.

“If something happens that you don’t like, or it hurts, please tell me, okay?”

Iveca realized that now was the first time he had truly shown a side of himself that could be called vulnerable. Combined with him asking her preferences, telling her he would adjust if she needed it… her heart suddenly felt fuller than it had before. His lips approached hers and she made no attempt to avoid it. It was strange and soft and made her feel breathless, but all she knew was how right it felt. His hand moved from her neck to her waist, touching as much as it could on the way. As they kissed she could feel restraint behind his movements, as he was holding back the urgency.

Before she knew it, the dressing gown was being loosened under his fingers. For a moment she felt a pang of shame at her nakedness, feeling her position was far too awkward for the King to enjoy. But while she shuddered in shame, he slowly removed his own clothes, and the temperature between them rose even further. Two naked bodies overlapped without any barriers. As the movement of his tongue that filled her mouth gradually got rougher, she pulled away. He smiled at her.

“I think you were right. This will feel very good.”

It was a relaxed tone, but the smile on his face was already vanishing. One of his hands met hers, pressing it down into the bedsheets, and his other hand moved to her mounds. Taking a firmer grip on her, his mouth moved to her neck and the kissing continued there.

“Ah, wait…” she whispered in a low voice, while his fingers circled lightly near her hardened peaks.

“I’ll do it slower…”

Read latest Chapters at WuxiaWorld.Site Only

She groaned, not only out of lust but out of a slight embarrassment as his lips moved from her neck to her collarbone. Every bit of pressure was gentle, but just enough to be felt all the way through her. Eventually, his mouth made it to her mounds, his hot breath on her n*pple enough to make her tremble all the way down to her waist. His tongue, which slightly released and then sucked back the peaks, was soft and slow, tantalizing, her tightly entangled body could not retreat.

It was a distant feeling that was difficult to explain. Her whole mind was focusing on the tip of his tongue, which was licking her slowly and pressing hard on her n*pple again. As she gasped, she realized that no book could have taught her this pleasure. She couldn’t help but let the groan come out even after she tried to roll up the sheet tightly under her fingers.

“Ahh…”

Iveca put her hand into the small of Daniel’s back, feeling his tightly woven back muscles, which tensed with the exertion of his restraint. As she did, the hand that was playing with her mounds moved down to the heat that was radiating from her thighs. She noted that she had pressed her legs together at some point without even realizing.

“Open your legs for me, Iveca…” Daniel murmured, and she needed no more invitation. His tongue began to journey down her body, licking and kissing along her ribs. Buried in sheets, she had nowhere to escape. Her senses reacted to each of his slow movements in a way that made her dizzy, and the heat from between her legs seemed to be spreading throughout her whole body with every touch from him.