The child remembered everything about the mother because she was the beginning of life. The love of the mother, sweet whispers, and a beautiful smile, the child could live without those.

“…Oh…”

But this man’s first light was…

Ashtie buried her face in his shoulder.

Lu Harve covered his eyes with his hand. It was a strange feeling. She breathed out the warm breath on his skin. It was moisty breath. It was strange. He never cried since then, and he wondered why he felt like this. He didn’t feel anything while he was talking about the past. It was strange, indeed.

But in fact, he maybe was not okay.

Already, to him, the mother was somebody who just reminded him about negative things. He just tried to consider it as nothing and tried to bury it down somewhere deep in his mind. He only cared about the throne. When he became the king, the past was really nothing. Moreover, after he met her, he denied his mother’s will and recognized love by himself. The thought had been, and the fact had been: “To me who thinks the past is nothing like this, this lady, now…”

“Ashi.”

She, only she, recognized the child who had to bear all the curses alone.

“Lu Harve…”

And she patted the child with warm breaths.

Why is this woman so lovely?

He was filled with warmness. “She always led me in a new way every time,” he thought, “She let me know that emotions were not luxury things. She made me know the feeling of desire and love. Now, I can think about my past, and she is refreshing it.”

Lu Harve raised his hand and patted her delicate back. He swept down. He stroked. He didn’t need any talking. He just wanted to feel this warmth quietly.

“The hand that is touching my back,” Ashtie slowly got her breath back and naturally thought like this: “I think I can tell him the truth. No, I want to tell him the truth. I want to show the bottom of my heart fully. The reason that the king is not my father. The reason why I was in a nightmare.”

“Lu Harve. I… have more things to tell you.”

Ashtie took a deep breath on Lu Havre’s shoulder. Her voice trembled a little.

“Ok.”

Lu Harve continued to pat Ashtie on the back. It was a calm knock.

“Please tell me.”

Ashtie closed her eyes. She collected the old pieces of past memories.

“There’s a reason I don’t think of him as my father. Lu Havre. ”

Ashtie didn’t cry, but her voice was still trembling. She was not sure the reason; it could be the tremble from when she got to know his deep mind or her old memories made her stomach sick. But she continued talking.

“That king… In front of me…”

But talking got blurred. Ashtie bit her lips for a while. She could manage not to cry. She could not tremble too much. She thought, and remembered, and opened her mouth again.

“My mother…For a long time…”

But she could not spit out the next word.

Ashtie groped down from his shoulder and held his hand. She felt like she would feel better if she would hold his hand. As closing her eyes, she gently swept his hand.

“Ashi.”

Ashtie still didn’t open her eyes. Lu Harve patted her back, lowered his head, and whispered in her ear.

“I see.

“So, you can stop saying.”

She was such a sweet and delicate woman. Lu Harve continued to talk like a sigh.

“So…I…”

It was a cloudy voice, but he heard it. Lu Havre paused. Estie continued her talking.

“Could… not…trust…”

Anybody. It was a faint voice, but he heard. And he realized something.

She also could not love anybody easily.

She wanted to pass down her dance. He could imagine how much she loved dancing. That dance was something she got from her mother. But she saw her mother get raped by the king over, over, and over and the ending was suicide. To this delicate and tender lady who could feel satisfied with simply a peach, how could that happen?

“How did I think about the previous king and my mother? I decided not to be like him, following my mother’s will. Although I considered everything trivial, there was something obvious. Parents are very influential beings. At least, my father only held ladies in his bed. So, I didn’t experience those things. What did I say to this lady?

“You must have suffered a lot. Did I say like that?” Lu Harve swallowed a sigh.

Ashtie slowly looked up. The yellow eyes were clearly moist. But she didn’t shed tears.

Lu Harve knew that was not something from which she got over everything.

It was a gaze that even could not raise resentment because there was only sorrow left from the grief. But with some reason or without reason, she could manage herself, soothe, control, and finally could cover the despair and stood up strongly and calmly. She told him that he reached his hand to her, but actually, she did by herself. That was why the tears didn’t shed easily.

“…Ashtie…”

It was the first time that he felt his lips tremble. It was already wet with some waves. He was caught in something as intense as when he first called her name. The vivid realization was amazing.

“I truly understand the deep bottom of her heart. The reason why she acted like that, why she said something like that to the king, or why she had to do that. The reason for the act, the intention, and the feeling.

“She and I had a very different way of life, but at least we both know what is ‘unpleasant’ and ‘negative’ from the experiences.” There was no need for long words. This short word was enough.

“I can hug her completely. I can have her totally.” It became more and more certain that he had aroused his love exactly. And of course, this woman who patted the child with a hot breath.

The warmth that sat down on the waist as a reed trembled.

They felt each other’s heart beating with warm touches. The understanding was never done alone. Pure warmth was telling it.

She buried her face again on his shoulder with closed eyes. She buried her eyelashes, nose, cheeks, lips, and everything. She didn’t want to think anything.

And she could do it in fact. She took a piece of her mind she kept alone, but she didn’t burst into tears or wander in the maze. She rubbed her cheeks on the warmth, without thinking anything. That was enough.

The time like a rest passed for a time.

“Lu Harve.”

The voice that called his name rang clearly.

Her voice spread from his shoulder. She called him without reason. The only thing she could take out in this warm time was only his name. He answered.

“Ashtie.”

And he smiled softly. There was no water in her voice. So he thought he could say this.

“That king also doesn’t have any meaning to me.”

Ashtie suddenly looked up and blinked her eyes quickly. Those bright yellow eyes were so vivid.

Lu Harve’s smile naturally got bigger.

“You are my queen, not Skara.”

“Latrice Treaty…”

Even though he, the king, married, the good reason that Skara had nothing to it, Ashtie immediately thought of the treaty. But there would be no reason to mention that obvious thing right at the moment or…it was time to point out other possibilities.

Lu Harve stroked her cheek with the back of his hand as if she were a child.

“That is just pretext.”

Ashtie pointed out something at the moment.

Lu Havre now whispered on her cheek. No one could hear him, but he whispered in a small voice that she only could hear.

“I know you.”

And he kissed a somehow blushed cheek.

“And you know me as well.”

“Oh, this sweet man,” she thought.

“How soft he is. Now he conveys the meaning with words.” Something warm, vivid, and clear rose up in her heart. Ashtie grabbed that mind. Otherwise, it felt like she would spill. She nodded.

“Yes.”

She also wanted to say. She nodded again.

“I know, Lu Harve.”

And now. Ashtie grabbed his cheek gently. There was no reason to hesitate. She lightly kissed his lips and smiled.

Lu Harve closed his eyes and opened again. He held her long hair and put his lips softly on her.

“Ashtie.”

The voice quickly sank low.

“Are you okay?”

The reason why he was asking this right at the moment, she knew it well. Her heart was thumping again. The trembling of the previous time was felt as it was. It was like a spell, but Ashtie still kept a smile and answered.

“Yes. I am okay.”

It was true. Ashtie closed her eyes, opened widely after his kiss. He gently smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for this innocent night. I don’t have to wait anymore,” he thought.

The man patted his bride’s back softly as if to soothe her.

He did for a few minutes, Ashte wondered if she had misunderstood what he meant.

But as his hand went down a bit further, Ashtie felt a strangeness.

The touch that swept down the thin back was strange as if a raindrop were sliding through a transparent window, or a soft touch that was playing on the piano keyboard. What was certain was that it was far odder than the hand that stroked her hair. A large, warm hand patted the woman’s back for a long time.

At one point, Ashtie realized that his breathing was somewhat hot and that there were already blushed cheeks. As soon as she realized the heat, her toes gradually became itchy, and she could not stand it. Soon, something climbed up her legs and knocked on her waist and back. It was an unfamiliar feeling.

It was the time when the woman started to wince with this unfamiliar heat. The man lowered his head and buried his lips on the milky white neck. But it was more like breathing than kissing. Because she totally could feel all the heat he had in his body.

“Lu Harve.”

Ashtie rather closed her eyes. Her lips naturally opened, and she rolled the tongue unconsciously. The familiar name came out with unfamiliar and warm breath. Lu Harve swept her neck with his lips as if he was answering.

And he swept more on her back. Her body was like a reed or something harder but softer than that. The sound of the clothes, the warm breath of the lady, fell like the pieces of the light. He naturally wanted something more. He put her neck in his mouth. And at the same time, he found the sunken part of her back. He swept it with his thumb. She flinched. He liked it. This time he pressed it harder.

Ashtie finally released her voice, the voice that was meaningless and delicate but still clear. Lu Harve smiled deeply. He liked that, too. Then, she opened her eyes wide with surprise. These bright yellow eyes. Now, he wanted to bite her neck. So he did, from the round part of the end of the shoulder to the clavicle. The clavicle was also hard but soft. He bit it again. Ashtie made noise more and closed her eyes.

She felt too dizzy. Ashtie was about to block her mouth with her hand. Lu Harve held that hand. Then, he kissed on the back of the hand. Ashtie opened her eyes again with that vivid touch. The small hand shrank. Then, he kissed on the protuberant part of the hand and kissed on her thumb, middle finger, ring finger, and the little finger. There was no reason to stop the kiss. He turned her trembling hand. He kissed on the thumb. It was not tight fist as if she felt weak. Lu Harve opened her finger one by one with the other hand. Her palm was small too. He felt enough just to look at it. He kissed it. The fragrant came out.

“How this every single thing can satisfy me?” He believed he would get sweeter fruit after long waiting, as usual. And when he actually met it, it was so true. Rather, Lu Harve realized his imagination was not enough. The flesh of the lady was not just sweet. It was not just soft like a reed. The inside would truly be abundant. It was really juicy.