The Sand Bride - Chapter 61

Esther hesitated, trying to put on the bracelet, but the clasp wouldn’t catch. From the start, the item was designed for an owner with maids to fasten their ornaments, making it incredibly difficult to put on alone. Karzhen, unable to watch any longer, snatched Esther’s wrist. Her slender wrist was so thin it spun freely in his hand.

However, despite his large, thick hand, Karzhen didn’t fumble much and managed to fasten the bracelet’s clasp surprisingly quickly. Esther blinked in surprise, staring at the bracelet now on her wrist.

“Can’t even put this on. What did you do when I wasn’t around?”

“…….”

Instead of answering, Esther blushed. She was remembering how she had always grumbled and struggled dozens of times to fasten the clasp herself.

Even after putting on the bracelet, Karzhen didn’t remove his hand for a while. He kneaded and rubbed her small hand like clay, then slowly stroked the back of it. The stiffness that traveled up her wrist told him Esther was uncomfortable, frozen. Of course, Karzhen didn’t care.

He quietly observed her fair, soft skin, the ten faint pink fingernails, and the blue veins visible beneath her thin skin. He hadn’t made her do anything difficult, yet her flesh refused to thicken.

Her fingers were so thin they looked like they would snap if he just flicked them. Indeed, when he rubbed her index finger, Esther became scared and awkwardly tried to pull her hand away. Karzhen released her hand.

“Are you full?”

“No…….”

“Then we can eat together.”

Karzhen released Esther’s wrist and summoned the servants, ordering them to prepare a meal. He seemed to be in a good mood again.

As five or six servants moved the long dining table and chairs, spread a clean cloth, and busily carried dishes and utensils, a stream of words poured from Karzhen, who was embracing Esther. Esther rarely initiated conversation, making Karzhen seem unusually talkative.

The servants, who could hear all his words, wore peculiar expressions as they worked. Esther and Karzhen themselves seemed oblivious, but Karzhen looked exactly like a man trying desperately to impress a woman he was interested in. Half of his words were expressions of his own excellence.

It wasn’t overtly direct, and the content always varied, but Karzhen’s words ultimately revolved around how skilled he was with a sword and riding a horse, and how he was the most victorious man in Gharyam. However, his experiences only intimidated Esther and failed to elicit any particular positive response.

Karzhen’s words might have been a proud courtship if she were a woman of Gharyam, but Esther only knew the courtship methods of the southeastern regions, which involved playing instruments, reciting poetry, and inviting dances. So, she thought Karzhen was trying to scare her.

While the two were engaged in their mismatched conversation, the servants finished preparing the meal. The long table was filled with serving dishes, utensils, and bowls of food.

On the left were roasted, steamed, or stir-fried dishes of duck, chicken, turkey, and quail, while on the right were vegetable dishes made from thin sprouts and edible plants. Closest to Esther were crustaceans like shrimp, crabs, and lobsters, and shellfish like oysters and scallops.

All of them were Esther’s favorite foods. The quick-witted servants had already noticed that Karzhen preferred them to bring food that catered to Esther’s tastes when they ate together.

“Eat.”

Karzhen personally seated Esther in a dining chair and commanded her. But throughout the meal, he diligently served food onto Esther’s plate, like a parent animal feeding its young.

While serving, his words were all rough and crude, telling her to gain more weight or to quickly empty her plate, yet his eyes, watching Esther eat the food he had given her, were filled with delight.

The servants belonging to the inner palace exchanged awkward glances as they witnessed the scene. Of course, Karzhen didn’t care, and once Esther seemed somewhat full, he began to eat himself and asked,

“How was it? Was it edible?”

“Yes…… It was delicious.”

Esther, who had genuinely enjoyed the meal, carefully nodded, and the ornament on the pin in her hair jingled.

Her hair, often intricately braided into several strands and elegantly coiled, was adorned with a long golden hairpin. The thin, long golden ornaments dangling from the end of the hairpin trembled delicately whenever Esther moved her head.

This exquisite balance between the multi-layered coiled braids and the hairpin held her hair up without pulling it too tightly or letting it hang too loosely. Such an elaborate hairstyle was the result of the immense effort poured in by the servants when they bathed and dressed Esther each morning, as soon as Karzhen left.

Like this, at some point, the servants gradually began to attend to Esther. Traditionally, servants working in the inner palace were divided into two categories: those who attended the owner of the inner palace, Sayar, or the king’s consort or concubine, and those who performed other duties.

It went without saying that the first category of servants received more privileges. Therefore, the servants strove fiercely to become part of the first group, trying their utmost to please the inner palace’s owner.

So, at first, they only provided very simple and less intrusive services, like preparing baths, but soon they began assisting with clothes, drying or combing her hair, and now even followed her into the bathroom, attempting to bathe her directly, which embarrassed Esther.

Combing or braiding her hair was tolerable, but Esther was reluctant to expose her naked body, even to other women. Not just her waist, but sometimes her slender ankles bore mottled handprints, and her neck and chest were covered in bite marks.

For Esther, there were more than a few parts of her naked body that she was ashamed to show to others. Most shameful of all was the area between her legs, where white fluid had dried. However, after their s*x sessions, Esther hardly dared to wipe it away herself with a blanket or cloth before it dried.

This was because once before, when Karzhen saw Esther secretly wiping the c*m flowing between her legs with a cloth, he had become aroused, thinking something, and had pounced on her again.

Even as she ate well-ripened figs for dessert after the meal, Esther keenly observed Karzhen. Despite the comfortable, even luxurious, life she was leading, she couldn’t understand why he was giving her gifts and feeding her like this.

She had never understood it, nor had she ever wanted to, but even as she pondered it in her anxiety, no truly convincing answer came to mind.

All she could give Karzhen was physical pleasure, and Esther herself, though she reluctantly had to admit she now found pleasure in the act, felt that alone wouldn’t elicit such benevolence.

Is that act really so good to this man?