The Slave Princess Every Night - Chapter 17

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Let’s go inside, then. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

A bright smile bloomed on Lena’s face reflexively. Regnos stared silently at her expression before following her into the tent.

As the tall man entered, the small tent was filled with Regnos’s presence. But Lena deceived him and herself, acting as if she were comfortable, as if she didn’t feel the overwhelming presence that made it hard to even breathe.

“Is there anything uncomfortable or lacking?”

“No. It’s overflowing.”

“There’s not enough charcoal in the brazier. Seeing that it’s not warm, you must have slept cold last night too.”

“That’s…”

She thought everything was overflowing, but this prince managed to find the lacking aspects in the small tent.

“I’ll tell the supply officer to bring new charcoal. Ah, my. There’s a hole in this wall, isn’t there? I’ll send someone to fix it tomorrow.”

“There’s no need…”

“Lenazia.”

At Regnos’s stern voice, Lena obediently shut her mouth. He went to the bed in the corner of the tent, lifted the blanket, and gestured with his eyes.

“Lie down.”

“Your Highness…”

“Hurry.”

There was something in Regnos’s voice that made it impossible to resist. Even if that weren’t the case, there was no way Lena could dare to disobey Regnos’s words.

Hesitantly approaching, Lena lay down in the spot where Regnos had lifted the blanket. She was needlessly nervous about everything with the sudden closeness.

She was ashamed of the strands of hair that were messily falling across her face, and she didn’t know where to look or how to position her arms and legs. Her face flushed at the faint breath she felt on her cheek, and she was beside herself with worry that he would notice.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, and then her heart began to pound uncontrollably. It felt happy, yet all the physical reactions felt paradoxically breathless and painful.

As those pains gradually subsided, and she became somewhat calmer and able to accept the situation, Lena wanted to disappear somewhere.

The prince himself had no such intentions, yet she was getting all excited and ahead of herself with impure thoughts. Unlike herself, whose face had turned red as if it would explode just from imagining touching him, Regnos’s face was composed as he sat upright. Calm and clear, simply worried about Lena, who had hurriedly left the imperial palace.

‘What am I, what kind of person am I…’

An endless sense of self-loathing washed over her. As Lena squirmed and hid under the blanket, Regnos chuckled softly, assuming she was tired and trying to sleep.

“Sleep well, Lena.”

“…You too, Your Highness.”

Hearing the barely audible reply, Regnos smiled contentedly. His large, white hand gently patted the blanket-covered Lena’s stomach.

At first, she kept wriggling as if she wanted to say something, but Lena’s movements under the blanket gradually subsided. After confirming that even her faint breathing had become slow and regular, Regnos left her tent.

Unlike the consistently gentle expression he had worn in front of the lovely Lena, his expression was as cold as ice.

In truth, he was not someone who could simply be kind. Regnos, who had no choice but to live a life that was not his own, in a form that was not his own, had no choice but to become twisted as he grew up.

Throughout his walk back to his barracks, soldiers still working bowed their heads. His face remained coldly hardened, acknowledging their greetings with only a nod. Finally returning to his quarters, he removed his leather cuirass alone and sighed in relief.

As he walked towards the cot, he pulled off the padded shirt he wore beneath the cuirass, revealing the lean muscles etched into his dry frame. More than anything, the thing that sprang out the moment he lowered his undergarments was his erection. Sitting on the edge of the cot, he cupped his rather large member in his hand and let out a longing sigh.

“Haa…”

He slowly rubbed the flesh, engorged and overly sensitive with blood, then opened his dazed eyes.

When he realized that other boys didn’t dress and act like girls, when he realized that he had been hiding his true self to survive, and that he would have to continue to do so. He couldn’t dare reveal it to his mother, the Fourth Queen, but resentment settled in young Regnos’s heart. He felt burdened and hated the fact that he had to abandon himself for the simple purpose of surviving. As a royal who had to learn the logic of power earlier than anyone else, his anger naturally flowed not to his brothers who were constantly fighting for the throne, nor to the cold-blooded Mobi, but to the weakest one.

A pitiful and lowly being who has no choice but to entrust herself to the palace. A naive, foolish, and fragile life who probably doesn’t even know she’s been abandoned by her parents and master.

He thought he should torment her. The only people the child could rely on were the Fourth Queen Motherby and himself, so even if she were treated unfairly under his wing, she would have nowhere to turn.

However, when Regnos stood before Lena with such malice, he was shaken by another shock.

The girl before him was so beautiful that he forgot the malice he had been harboring. When her clear, glacier-like eyes filled with his image, Regnos vowed as if engraving it into his heart:

I will make this child mine.

The two looked like reflections in a mirror, but upon closer inspection, they were different. Delicate eyelashes, drooping eyebrows that evoked a sense of protection, and a small, tightly closed mouth with a cute curve were different from Regnos’s. And those subtle differences sparked a small flame in Regnos’s heart.

It wasn’t until he was older that he realized the name of that flame was desire.

As the child grew, and as the curves of a mature woman were gradually drawn on her body, that desire became darker and more sinister. To hide his repulsive inner thoughts, Regnos treated Lena even more kindly. Not hastily, but gently, like a snake coaxing and appeasing its prey before swallowing it whole.

That was why, when Regnos saw her naked in the stream and heard her spouting nonsense about proving her usefulness, an unbearable impulse surged to the top of his head.

First, he wanted to kill the one who dared to utter such vile words in Lena’s ear. How hurtful must it have been for her tender heart, which even suffered at the sight of the sacrificial victims of the Harvest Festival, to hear such words?

Despite such rage surging within him, his body was faithfully responding to the stimulating sight before him.

The Lena before him was much clearer and more seductive than the alluring vision of Lenazia that often appeared in his boyhood dreams. The moonlight caressed Lena’s wet shoulders, adding a transparent luster, and her snow-white breasts were swollen as if about to burst.

He wanted to grab her fragile body and embrace her tightly, push his tongue between her small lips and taste her. He wanted to crush the bewitching breasts that seduced men with both hands and thrust his hard, erect member deep inside her.

But if he did that, wouldn’t he be no different from that barbaric usurper Godfrey?

That thought barely brought Regnos’s reason back to its place. He still wore a gentle smile and led Lena back to the barracks with false propriety. And, suppressing the countless lewd fantasies unfolding in his mind, he barely waited until she fell asleep. That was the end of his patience.

“Ha… Lenazia.”

Thinking of the wavering look in her eyes, recalling the shy nipples that were faintly visible beneath the stream, Regnos fondled his own member. The movement of rubbing his sensitive skin quickened, and the messy friction sounds caused by the sticky liquid flowing from the climax filled the barracks.

“Ha, uh…”

His blurred, lowered eyes searched for the image of the woman who was not before him. His hand movements grew faster, and he squeezed his brow with difficulty as he ejaculated, imagining himself spilling inside Lena. Regnos gasped as he looked at the brackish, whitish liquid that stained the blanket. His eyes, which had been filled with a strange heat, cooled down, revealing a faint sense of disgust.

In fact, if he wanted to, he could go back and take her right away. Perhaps Lena might even want that. But it wasn’t the right time yet.

Because he was different from that barbaric man. After formally betrothing himself to Lenazia and placing the queen’s crown of this country on her head.

After that, it would not be too late to unleash his desires as much as he wanted.

* * *

“Hng, uh…”

Lenagea was having a wet dream. Lying on the bed, she panted as she embraced the man’s upper body pressing down on her. The male body invading between her wide-open legs repeatedly thrust a thick phallus inside her.

“Haa, ungh!”

With familiar pleasure, Lena’s body completely relaxed. She felt so good that she wanted to stay like this forever. She wrapped her legs around the man’s waist, making them intertwine even deeper.

Hot, rough breaths poured over her face and neck, but she couldn’t see the man’s face. Faintly guessing that it was a dream, Lena suddenly felt the need to confirm his face. Amidst the creeping, terrible anxiety, she raised her head.

‘Ah.’

The next moment, Lenagea woke up with a start. Sweat-soaked bedding clung to her skin.

“What was that just now…”

Whether it was the chill rising from the ground or the ominous dream, her body trembled. Lena, who was hugging her upper body with both arms, realized that the area between her legs was soaked.

“…I must have seen it wrong.”

The eyes looking down at her from between her disheveled hair held a remarkably clear golden hue. That alone gave her enough goosebumps, but Lena shook her head violently to stop the rising thoughts.

“Excuse me…”

Just then, someone opened the tent flap and entered. It was a woman Lena had never seen before.

“W-Who are you?”

“I have come under orders from the higher-ups. The instructions are to escort Lady Lenagea to the rear of the formation for the march.”

Lena felt disappointed that Regnos hadn’t come himself to deliver the news, and then surprised at herself for even thinking that. She wasn’t in a position where Regnos had to inform her of everything personally. She had been treated kindly by a mere servant, and now she was trying to be on par with the master.

Lena obediently nodded and followed the woman out of the tent. Just as the soldiers were dismantling her tent, the sound of drums announcing the march began to beat.

Prince Regnos, the generals he had barely gathered, and Duke Maido rode out of the camp at the head of the formation. Soldiers of each branch and carts carrying military supplies passed by, followed by women and workers who had organized the remaining items in the camp.

Thanks to the rumor that the prince valued her highly spreading among them, Lena received special treatment and was able to ride on a food cart pulled by an old horse. Even when she sat on it and cast her gaze far away, the head of the procession was too distant to be seen.

Not being able to directly confirm that Lord Regnos was well was hard to bear. Just as she had wished for his survival in Godfrey’s carriage, Lena anxiously looked ahead and prayed for Regnos’s victory again.

As they descended the rising mountain path, the road became bumpy, and the unfamiliar ride on the uncomfortable cart made her stomach churn. Lenagea barely endured the urge to vomit several times and finally reached the plain, and soon after, the shouts of battle were heard.

Lena’s heart pounded.

What was Regnos thinking as he crossed the already collapsed walls of Aine? What did it feel like to defile the city where she had grown up and would rule with the sounds of swords and spears and blood?

Amidst anticipation and anxiety, the battle continued, and the sun rose to midday. Flames soared from somewhere in the city, and smoke billowed. A pungent smell rode the wind and reached the rear ranks.

The women and workers sat around in groups, chatting, and Lena unconsciously listened. They were all refugees from Aitalos, and Regnos’s victory was the only chance to change their lives, which had fallen into a pit.

Knowing that they were desperately hoping for victory just like her, Lena felt a slight sense of comfort and camaraderie even in the extreme tension. And how long had she waited?

The sound of clashing swords no longer rang out. After a moment of strange silence, cheers that seemed to shake the mountains echoed.

“What’s going on?”

“Which side won?”

They knew the battle was over, but they were confused because they couldn’t know the details, and before they knew it, shouts in Aitalosian were being passed from mouth to mouth from the front.

“Our victory!”

“Aine has been recaptured! Long live Aitalos!”

“Long live Lord Regnos!”

Only then did people jump for joy and embrace each other. Although there was no one to embrace, Lena was just as happy.

Slowly, the victory procession flowed into the recaptured capital, Aine. When Lena, who was in the rear, entered the city gate, Regnos and the command staff had already entered the royal palace. Not knowing where to go, Lena looked up at the balcony on the second floor of the main palace, where the king and his family would appear during national events.