Duke of the Beast and the Vicarious Bride - Chapter 55 - XIII.

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

`VIII.`

The summons from Jayden came exactly one week later, the very day after blood no longer stained her undergarments.

Like one who had been awaiting the end of Fiona’s monthly course, Jayden summoned her with sickening precision and, like a usurious moneylender, urged her to fulfil her duty.

But there was something different this time.

“From today, you need not go down to the cellar.”

At first, she did not understand what he meant. To Fiona, brows furrowed in confusion, Jayden added an explanation in his usual condescending tone.

“No need to struggle down there to meet your precious husband. From now on, he will come to your chamber.”

“What do you mean? Caligo will come to my room?”

“As a rule, he is not brought out except for battles, but somehow—perhaps because he enjoys coupling with you so much—we have decided to send him up to your room. Cannot have the bride always visiting the groom, after all.”

As always, his choice of words grated on her nerves, but the content mattered more. Caligo coming to her room—if this were possible, why had they not done so sooner?

Given Jayden’s inherently unpredictable nature, asking the reason would likely yield no useful answer.

In any case, it was fortunate she need no longer enter that abysmal tunnel. As he said, the journey had been terribly inconvenient.

Yet the sudden change was also disconcerting. Though barely a fortnight, a routine had formed, and being told she need not follow it felt strange.

Of course, Fiona had wished for Caligo to escape that stone chamber more than anyone, but now that it was becoming reality, she could scarcely believe it.

“If he is coming to my room, does that mean you will release him from his bonds?”

A note of hope crept into her voice, but Jayden, sharply reading the fear beneath it, sneered at her.

“What, worried now? When you crawled down there without fear to couple with him?”

Ignoring his mockery, Fiona felt a twinge of guilt in her heart. Though she had accepted Caligo as her husband, she did not yet know him completely. Perhaps her ability to face the nights without fear had come from the reassurance that he was bound.

“Not worried, merely surprised. In any case, this is good. I found the journey inconvenient myself. But if this was always possible, why not do it sooner? Do you have some ulterior motive for changing things now?”

To cover the vulnerability she had inadvertently revealed, she turned the accusation on Jayden. He merely laughed at her and spouted nonsense as usual.

“Ulterior motive? How hurtful. Instead of thanking your devoted brother for teaching the beast bedroom manners, this is what I receive.”

Did it not occur to him that teaching such things to one’s sister’s husband was abnormal in the first place?

As Fiona stared at him with cold eyes, Jayden smiled back with a benign expression.

Not understanding the meaning of that smile, Fiona awaited Caligo’s imminent visit.

* * *

Night soon arrived.

More anxious than usual, Fiona waited in her chamber for her husband, for the first time receiving him here.

It had been nearly ten days since their last meeting. The long absence contributed to her unease, but meeting Caligo in unfamiliar surroundings made her feel awkward as never before.

Perhaps the unfamiliar chamber added to this feeling.

Unlike usual nights when she kept a lamp burning, tonight Fiona’s room was completely dark, all lights extinguished and curtains tightly drawn. The maids had sealed even the smallest crack lest any faint light seep through, making the space nearly as black as the stone chamber.

Her secret hope that tonight she might finally see Caligo’s face quickly gave way to disappointment. If this was to be the arrangement, why bother moving to a room at all? She could not fathom Jayden’s thinking. Yet because total darkness like the stone chamber was impossible here, she might at least discern some silhouette.

Clad in a thin nightgown, she lay on the bed waiting for Caligo for what seemed an age. After some time, she heard the door open and close, and someone entered the night’s curtain.

The large silhouette approaching the bed without a single footstep made Fiona swallow involuntarily.

Unlike the cellar’s darkness where she could not even distinguish her own hand, this was different. The faint outline of his form allowed her to perceive his presence with her eyes. Perhaps because she sat upon the bed, but the man’s frame was far larger than her vague imaginings.

“You… you came?”