The Sand Bride - Side Story 2.13

Spitting out a rough curse, he grumbled with a literally wronged face, as if it were absurd.

“I’m the one who got hit, so why are you making that kind of face?”

“But…….”

At Karzhen’s fierce tone, Esther shrank back even more in fear. She replied with a trembling voice.

“I-I thought you were going to hit me…….”

“What?”

Like someone braced for pain, Esther was watching Karzhen’s every move while cowering. Karzhen was speechless and couldn’t say anything for a long time, his mouth shut tight.

“You think I’m…….”

A long while later, he tried to speak again, but he had no choice but to shut his mouth. It felt as if something hard was stuck deep in his throat.

The moment he saw the terrified Esther—reminiscent of that distant but unforgettable past—Karzhen recalled everything he had done to her, and thus reached the conclusion that her fear was only natural. But now, that wasn’t just a simple ‘fact’ to him; it was something…… that affected him more.

That is to say, it was like…….

“I…….”

Like…… regret. Could it be such a thing?

“You…….”

Karzhen stammered and barely managed another word, but this time he even stopped breathing.

Before pondering the reason, he wanted to tell her that he wouldn’t hit her anymore. No, he felt that he had to. He wanted to say something else too, but when he opened his mouth to let it out, his chest felt tight and his jaw trembled, preventing the words from coming.

Because they were words he had never spoken, words he had never even thought of, he didn’t know what to say in a moment like this, so he couldn’t do it. Thus, in that ignorance, he just gaped his mouth stupidly before finally saying the only thing he knew.

“I won’t hit you.”

But he wanted to say something more.

“I won’t make it hurt.”

No, there were words he wanted to say more than these expressions. But those were words in a realm he did not know. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t say them; he couldn’t. The ‘at most’ was possible, but it wasn’t the ‘best.’

Even so, he kept trying to say something, and Esther stared at him intently. Her turquoise eyes shook slightly but did not pull away from Karzhen. From within the greenhouse where she was trapped—or had trapped herself—she was observing the world outside.

Watching a man desperately trying to cultivate something that only exists in a soft, fragile, greenhouse-like world, she just watched with her green eyes open from within the greenhouse. There was nothing else she could do. Karzhen had made her that way.

In the end, Karzhen could not give her ‘those words,’ and although Esther’s eyes were filled with distrust as she thought of what had happened, she eventually relaxed as his large body enveloped her. This flow of dominance, which continued like a habit, now occurred naturally even without Esther’s intention.

Contrary to Esther’s apprehension, Karzhen’s hands moved slowly and gently. When those hands, calloused and rough, gently rubbed her engorged b*****s, Esther let out pleasant sounds of “mmm~~” at the relief that was undeniable despite the slight pain.

Meanwhile, before she knew it, milk began to flow, pooling on Karzhen’s hands and running down her b*****s to her navel. Esther’s face turned bright red as if on fire at the ticklish sensation, but since his movements truly lacked any s****l intent, she eventually relaxed her body, leaning her cheek against Karzhen’s solid forearm.

As his rough, warm palms gently caressed her b*****s and then massaged them with a bit of pressure, the painfully engorged areas gradually eased. Esther blinked her eyelids slowly and let out a pleasant groan. It felt truly good to have the pain she had suffered alone for so long be released.

“Nngh~!!”

It was then that the atmosphere changed. Karzhen lowered his head and began to slowly lick the line stretching from Esther’s shoulder to her neck.

Startled, Esther tried to lift her relaxed body again, but she was completely embraced in his arms and couldn’t even struggle much. She looked like a mouse in a lion’s mouth.

Even the hands rubbing her b*****s were now filled with blatant s****l desire rather than massage, and Esther cried out in a sharp voice.

“Y-You said you wouldn’t do this!”

“And I didn’t, until the milk came out.”

Karzhen replied, already nibbling on her soft earlobe.

“Now that I see it’s dripping everywhere, it seems like the tension is gone. So what does it matter? And do you have any idea how many days I’ve held back?”