Chapter 09
Unlike him, who was humming a lullaby, she carefully opened her mouth with a bewildered expression.
“When did you wake up?”
“A while ago. I was enjoying you touching my ears, so I kept my eyes closed.”
“It’s just that seeing you as a beast-kin is still new to me. And they’re so soft.”
She had touched beast-kin ears before, as one of the male leads in her previous lives had been one, but they were always so pleasant to touch. She was worried he might tell her to stop.
“You can keep touching them.”
On the other hand, he enjoyed being adored by her and wanted her to touch them more. He felt it would be a shame to stop now.
“Really?”
“But you’ll have to take responsibility. Can you handle that?”
“Ah.”
Her two hands, which had been moving busily, stopped simultaneously.
‘He’s talking about that kind of responsibility, right? About what we did until dawn?’
She flinched, but she didn’t dislike the act itself. It was only the aftermath that was tough. Who could dislike that muscular wolf?
‘Ha, but the aftermath is such a pain.’
She grimaced at the thought of the muscle aches to come. While she was hesitating, he hugged her tightly.
“Let’s just stay in the room all day today.”
“Why?”
She had a good idea what he meant, but she asked anyway. No matter how she thought about it, a whole day was too much, so she wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard. But he noticed she was deliberately playing dumb. Her poker face was excellent, but his observational skills were far superior.
“Are you asking because you don’t know? On the days we become beast-kin, it’s the heat season, so our desires are overflowing.”
Wait, that means… Just then, something flashed through her mind.
‘Continuing until the end of the first day… How long does the first day last anyway?’
She quickly racked her brain. The first day of every month. Fortunately, it didn’t last for several days. It would end today, but after being tormented until dawn, it was by no means an easy prospect for her.
“No way! Absolutely not all day!”
I’ll collapse! Good as it might be, I’ll collapse! She screamed internally.
“Not continuously. We still need to eat to survive.”
Reading her thoughts, he offered his own compromise. He thought she would accept this much.
‘I-Insane. Even if we eat, breakfast has already passed, so we’ll only have two meals. Meal times are at most thirty minutes. That means eleven hours left, and we’ll fill that time with love…’
But that was just his perspective. For her, it became even more reason to fiercely oppose.
“…I just remembered I have something to do.”
She decided she needed to run and hide today. At the very least, she needed to stay hidden until evening.
She resolved to do so and quickly got out of bed—but he grabbed her wrist.
“…Don’t go.”
He tried using a charm offensive, hoping she wouldn’t run away. He gazed at her longingly and pleaded.
‘Ugh…’
This is why handsome men are dangerous. When that handsome face made a look as if it would cry if rejected, her resolve weakened, and she let out a defeated sigh.
“I’ll go slow, okay?”
Sensing an opening with uncanny precision, he hugged her tightly while pleading pitifully and longingly.
He pressed ticklish kisses to her neck. The places he kissed grew hot, and a moan seemed ready to escape at any moment.
“Ugh…”
“Hmm?”
“…Ah, fine. You keep your promise—”
She couldn’t even finish her sentence before his lips devoured hers.
By the time she came to her senses, he was on top of her, and she had been swept away by ecstasy. Even though she knew he wasn’t keeping his promise, she held back her words.
***
‘That was a tough first day…’
Waking up in a small body, aching all over, I covered my face with my hands and let out a deep sigh. Truly, it had been a day far more exhausting than trying to get close to Jason.
Wolf-Evan didn’t keep his promise to go slow and take it easy. Apart from eating to stay alive, there was no rest, and “slow” was only from his perspective. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth.
‘Well, it’s not that I disliked it.’
It was an ecstatic time. I can say with confidence that among all the male leads I’ve met so far, he’s the best. What he’s best at—I don’t need to say it, so I’ll skip it.
“Let’s eat separately.”
The cold time that comes after the ecstatic time is hard to endure. The attitude is so contradictory that it requires a brief adjustment period.
And aside from adjustment and seduction, I want to eat together. Eating alone is lonely and desolate, and the food doesn’t go down well.
“I want to eat with Jason.”
“…Don’t talk nonsense.”
“But it’s true…”
I gazed longingly at Jason’s retreating back. Even if I look at him like this, he won’t look back at me.
“How do I win that kid over?”
No matter how much I approach him, he pulls away—what am I supposed to do with that man?
“Should I just kiss him outright?”
Should I take the lead?
If I make the first move, his heart will waver too.
It’s a method I’ve used often. Every time I use it, he gets embarrassed but becomes intensely fixated on me. Gradually, he starts talking to me, and even if I don’t approach him, he comes to me first.
There’s no reason not to use this skill.
‘He probably hasn’t gone far, right?’
It’s been a while since he disappeared from my sight, but he’ll still be inside the mansion. If I run, I might catch a glimpse of his back soon enough.
Sure enough, I spotted Jason’s back before long. Afraid that he’d run off somewhere else if I made noise, I suppressed my footsteps as much as possible and quickly stood behind him.
I need to step in front of him and give him a quick peck before he ignores me and walks away.
But Jason kept getting farther away. I was moving forward, but the distance wasn’t maintaining—it was growing.
Did he notice?
Looking at Jason’s feet, they were moving quickly. He definitely noticed—one hundred percent!
Now that he’s noticed, there’s only one way.
“Jason, wait, just look at me! Please? Ah, just once!”
Begging and pleading on the spot!
If I beg like this, at least turn around. What’s the point of being a married couple if not this?
I chased after him, pleading and begging. Whether my persistence paid off or not, Jason stopped, frowned, and turned his head.
“Ah, what—”
Smack.
Without missing that split-second opportunity, I quickly pecked him. I even made it loud to heighten the embarrassment. Jason’s cheeks flushed red in real time. He was so shocked he couldn’t speak, his mouth opening and closing as he touched the spot I’d kissed with his hand.
“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you think? It’s what you do to me every night. We’re married—why are you acting so surprised now?”
“…Do-don’t ever do that again.”
“You get to devour me whenever you want.”
“That’s…”
“So selfish.”
“……”
Jason clenched his fists and trembled. His red face and adorable reactions made me want to burst out laughing. If I laughed now, he might get sulky, so I held it in.
“Anyway, no!”
With a face like a tomato about to burst, Jason shouted and ran off somewhere, leaving me behind. Even from behind, I could clearly see how red his neck was.
‘Hehe, now he’ll be thinking about me, right?’
Looking forward to the effect of that successful peck, I obediently returned to my room. Starting tomorrow—or rather, starting today—Jason would act differently than before.
***
After the pecking incident, I thought we’d grow closer, but instead we grew more distant. Jason avoided me even more. It seemed like he was avoiding me out of embarrassment, but anyway, he was avoiding me. It became harder to meet Jason. When I woke up in the morning, he was already gone from my side more often than not.
‘It would have been better if I hadn’t done it.’
His flushed cheeks were cute, but not being able to see him made me regret doing it. If I’d known this would happen, I would have taken it slower.
Feeling wronged by my foolish past self, I was about to throw the doll my husband had bought me—but instead, I hugged it tightly and jumped into bed. Ugh, even when I’m angry, I can’t throw anything because everything in this room was bought by my sweet, loving husband with only me in mind.
‘But I want to kiss him again.’
That feeling when I kissed Jason was an indescribable pleasure. When he’s Evan, we share intense kisses to the point of being overwhelmed, yet I felt an indescribable pleasure from just a peck—how strange.
Maybe it’s because his cheeks were soft and he kept trying to push me away?
I fidgeted with my own soft cheeks and pinched them.
Just then, the door to my private room swung open. And the person I’d been thinking about appeared. It was Jason’s first time opening my door. His expression wasn’t his usual poker face nor a smile—he looked troubled. What’s going on?
“What brings you here? Did you miss me? I missed you too.”
“Strategy meeting.”
“Strategy meeting?”
What strategy meeting?
Are we having a strategy meeting on how to improve our marriage? If so, I’d approve.
“There’s a palace party in a week that we have to attend.”
Ah, it’s not about our marriage.
“Then we just go. Why a strategy meeting?”
“The party requires us to appear as adults. And that includes our younger selves too.”
“So two impossible things have to happen at once. We can’t refuse, can we?”
We can’t go as both a child and an adult at the same time. Since we can only go as either a child or an adult, attending is difficult. If we go and accidentally reveal the curse, we’d be in trouble. But since it’s a palace party, refusing is also difficult. In short, we’re in a very awkward position.
“It’s a palace party with a royal decree, so it’ll be problematic if we don’t go. They specifically asked us to bring our younger selves because they want to see them too.”
“Let’s say we have a cold. The adult us might be fine, but if the children are sick, we can’t go.”
“They said if we’re sick, they’ll postpone the party.”
“No, why does His Majesty like us so much that he’s so eager?”
They’re willing to postpone a party just to invite us.
From what I’d heard in passing, the Emperor supposedly dislikes the ducal family, but at this level, it’s not hate—it’s affection. They say what’s scarier than hate is love-hate. Sigh.
“It’s not affection. His Majesty disapproves of me not marrying his daughter. So he’s trying to find ways to undermine us while also giving his daughter more chances to meet me.”
Good heavens, he’s thinking of having his daughter meet me when I’m clearly his wife. Does he want his daughter to be a concubine or something? And my Evan is a fool who only knows me.
“So we have to go after all. To a place where His Majesty won’t welcome us.”
“Yes. Fortunately, that day isn’t the first day of the month, nor is it a full moon.”
At least that’s a relief—we’re free from the threat of being beast-kin, permanently children, or permanently adults. It would have been truly problematic otherwise. There’s no way to hide ears and tails, and we’d have to show both child and adult forms at least once.
Now that we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario, we need to know the timing. Our bodies change according to time, so time is more important than anything.
“When does it start?”
“From lunchtime until evening.”
That’s about six hours in child form. If we arrive at 6 PM, the event will have been going on for a while, giving them plenty to nitpick about, and other nobles will badmouth us too. Worst case, my husband might end up on a date with the princess. I absolutely can’t tolerate that.
I will definitely come up with a good plan!
