The Contract Marriage for Attilenta's Revenge - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Atilenta’s Contract Marriage for Revenge — Episode 9
That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m perfectly suited to Your Highness’s taste, does it? I could have sworn I read it that way— I was about to answer when—
Henrik, sitting beside me, seized my wrist and drew me back against him with a fluid motion.
“Your… Your Highness.”
He buried his lips against my nape without hesitation.
“Mmm…”
Strange, quickened breathing and heat began to fill the quiet room.
This was what I wanted, after all—I simply meant to endure this mortifying moment.
It couldn’t possibly be what Henrik wanted; he’d get it over with quickly, I thought.
……
I was wrong. Henrik, wordless and relentless, tormented and licked at one spot only—like a boy tasting something sweet for the first time.
Strange heat bloomed from my wrist in his grip and from my back pressed to him.
A fleeting thought crossed my mind: something felt off. He couldn’t be inexperienced—back when he’d installed me in the annex in Francia Kingdom, hadn’t he made no show of turning away male visitors, or anything of that sort?
Any word from me in this moment felt like it would only complicate things further.
I raised my free hand to cover my own mouth, and turned my gaze away from him, pressed so close against me.
That was the moment.
“You. Focus.”
Henrik’s voice was soft, almost gentle, yet it was a warning.
He seized both my hands and began in earnest—his lips against my nape were warm and damp, kneading deliberately.
Rather stimulating, in fact.
Was it because this was my first time with Henrik?
My heart hammered fiercely.
When Henrik lowered his head further, licking and biting even at my collarbone, the vertigo overcame me and I let out an involuntary cry.
“Ah…”
I felt as though I might be pinned beneath him entirely.
“Hah…”
His breathing at my ear sounded calm, yet his actions were anything but. He had transformed into a passionate bridegroom. The composed, measured demeanor he’d displayed earlier had vanished without trace.
Caught in confusion, I could do nothing.
Henrik, who had been relentlessly stimulating me, swept his smooth hand across my shoulder and touched the tie of my Negligee with a soft flick.
“Your Highness, just for appearance—just as we agreed—”
In that instant, a surge of panic made me finally break my silence. Simultaneously, a long breath I’d been holding burst free.
“Ah, haven’t you? At this rate, the servants will—”
It was obvious my neck and collarbone would be covered with his marks. The sensation had been so intense, so stimulating.
I’d only asked for appearances’ sake—just enough that the maids wouldn’t suspect when they bathed me tomorrow.
“Did I do that?”
I couldn’t finish my own words or thoughts. Henrik looked down at me with a strange smile, his amethyst eyes and flushed cheeks suffused with color.
For an instant, my breath caught.
His smooth lips, worked so relentlessly against me, had grown quite damp.
I was certain I had never seen him like this before. In fact, no one would easily witness such a side of him.
In a heartbeat, tangled, dangerous feelings wrapped around me. I gasped for breath.
“Hah… Your Highness… this is…”
Atilenta, this is a contract. Henrik is simply fulfilling his part.
After all, I had asked him to take me away—strangers who barely knew each other.
Henrik surely had experience, and I’d done such things before; I couldn’t afford to seem guileless now.
“It seems the marks still aren’t enough.”
Henrik lowered the tie of my Negligee with easy grace. I felt his breathing grow progressively rougher beneath my collarbone—vivid and real.
At this rate, I’d become flustered too. That might cost me my purpose, so I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth.
Likely Henrik’s approach tonight was completely different from what I’d experienced before, which was why I’d grown tense without meaning to. As for Antonio—
“You.”
Henrik called me again. I opened my lips slightly, exhaling ragged breath.
“Yes, Your Highness…”
“You’re not concentrating.”
This time his voice held no gentleness. I opened my eyes immediately.
Henrik was already sitting upright, studying me intently. The moments just before seemed never to have happened at all. The unfamiliar skin and heat that had enveloped my body, the quickened breath—all had scattered like wind.
In that moment, I came to a conclusion.
Perhaps this was all? Yes, of course—I wasn’t to his taste after all.
It was a situation I knew far too well.
Even Antonio, who’d proclaimed his love endlessly, had abandoned me. A man with no interest in me would naturally react this way.
So it made sense that I’d been thrown off by his fervent touch.
I had gotten what I wanted—the mark of having spent the night with him. Enough that my neck and collarbone still ached faintly.
Now, at last, the night was unfolding as I had anticipated it would.
Henrik exhaled a long breath, brushing back his disheveled hair.
“If this were truly the night you desired, you wouldn’t have made such a request.”
My eyes widened. A moment ago I had been flustered by the strangeness of my own feelings, but his words struck me as an unexpected kindness—which somehow flustered me even more.
Kindness? A stiffness crept up the back of my neck. It couldn’t be.
This was a contract, and in the end I would take to the battlefield and aid his war. It was an odd thing for a common prince’s wife, but I would do it. To use him as I wished, I had to prove my worth to him as well.
Don’t trust this, Atilenta. Everything he does serves my purpose. What he said wasn’t kindness toward a nervous bride—just the ease of a prince who has everything.
Better to appear foolish and innocent than to offer my heart to another only to be cast aside like refuse.
I took a sip of Wine, feigning composure, and answered as if mirroring his own ease.
“Thank you for granting my request, Your Highness. I shall attend to the matter you mentioned by tomorrow.”

* * *
The following morning, the maids attending my bath carried themselves quite differently than the night before.
“Your Highness. Would you use this Fragrant Oil? It’s a specialty from the provinces below—quite lovely, they say.”
The maid who had handed me the Negligee with such indifference yesterday, regarding me as some common woman, now approached differently. She offered the gleaming bottle of Fragrant Oil with respectful bearing, and I merely waved my hand in acknowledgment.
Henrik’s marks certainly seemed to be serving a purpose. I sank into the bath, breathing in the soft scent of the oil mingled with rich floral notes. A pleasant drowsiness washed over me.
“Is the water temperature to your liking, Your Highness?”
“Perfect.”
In the maids’ attentive care, I indulged in a deep ease I hadn’t known in some time.
Yesterday had been unpredictable, and I had been flustered—Henrik had noticed it clearly enough.
But I didn’t believe I needed to be swayed by such feelings. I had gained something concrete. For one thing, the maids who had despised me would treat me more kindly now, making my days ahead easier. I wouldn’t waste emotion on trifles.
More importantly, I had come to understand vividly that Henrik was a man who honored his contracts faithfully. He had done such a thing for a woman who had moved him not at all.
Of course it made sense. Henrik must have had his own pressing reasons for accepting the Deal.
With ambitions as vast as his, Henrik seemed the type to bring capable people into his circle without hesitation.
Either way, it was good for us both. I didn’t know how much more earnestly he might compensate me going forward, but I resolved that henceforth I would not hesitate to ask for what I needed.
“Your Highness, if you would come this way.”
Following the servant’s guidance, I entered the dining room dressed in the manner of Bwendovska. I wore a great lace collar about my neck, adorned with gold ornaments, and a dress with voluminous skirts.
The prince’s palace where I now dwelt had an atmosphere every bit as grand and solemn as the gown itself. Gold ornaments and black marble were particularly striking throughout.
“That gown suits you well,” Henrik remarked in his characteristically measured tone.
His praise came across as rather unadorned, and I sensed he was mindful of the servants and knights standing nearby.
Had he presented himself as a satisfied bridegroom with excessive displays, it would have seemed contrived. I offered a fitting response of my own.
“It is thanks to your care, Your Highness.”
The table held an orderly spread of food—fresh bread like bagels for a morning meal, warm stew, fresh fruit and vegetable salad all arranged in abundance, making everything look appetizing.
As we dined together, Henrik spoke the words I had hoped to hear.
“After the ceremony concludes, an embassy from your homeland will arrive, or so I’m told. It’s tradition, apparently.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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