🚨 Warning: This chapter includes depictions of coerced sex under unequal power dynamics. Please remain mindful of this as you read. If you feel uncomfortable, do not hesitate to stop reading. 🚨
I felt uncomfortable. It was a bit hard to breathe.
Maybe drinking was too much after all?
I had fallen into a deep sleep, but something kept making me uneasy, so I tossed and turned. Then, as if caught in sleep paralysis, I found myself unable to move.
Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, I slowly opened my eyes.
At first, everything was pitch black, and I couldn’t see a thing.
If this were my usual room, even just turning on the bedside lamp or my phone would have made me squint at the bright light. But here, all I could hear was the persistent cries of some unfamiliar bird.
“Gasp!”
I closed my eyes again as if turning away from the sound of birds, but suddenly, overcome by a chilling feeling that made sleep impossible, I opened them, and in the dim darkness before me, I saw something that made me gasp.
I wriggled, but the grip on my shoulder tightened so much that I couldn’t move at all.
“Why... are you... here at this hour…?”
The king revealed his presence in the pitch-black darkness.
Having him appear before my eyes in waking reality, instead of a dream while I was meant to be asleep, shocked me so deeply that I could have fainted if my heart were any weaker.
How was it possible that the man who had rushed out because Lord Beomil was gravely ill was now pressing down on me in the dead of night?
I had no idea when he had come in, and a chill ran down my spine. As I tried to move again, the king’s hand on my shoulder tightened its grip.
“Ow!”
“Why is it that everywhere I turn, everyone complains to me?”
The king, speaking so close that his nose almost touched mine, smelled of alcohol. He was muttering again, the same words he had mumbled to himself when he first heard about Lord Beomil’s critical condition.
Usually, the person in the highest position bore the most stress, but since I also endured a fair amount of stress because of that, I remained silent.
“Will you also complain to me?”
“...”
If he kept making me drink, I too would have no choice but to do the same. So, once again, I remained silent.
Then the king’s hand, which had been on my shoulder, moved to gently cup my face, covering both cheeks.
“I asked if even you, the only one not among the people inside this filthy palace, would complain to me.”
The king's voice was full of contempt as he called them ‘the people inside this filthy palace.’ Seeing emotion in someone who usually seemed devoid of it should have been a welcome sight, but because it was he, who was so cold and cynical, I couldn’t fully accept it. Still, I forced my tightly sealed lips to part.
“You seem... drunk… It’s late, so… please go back… and rest.”
"You're avoiding the question."
“I want to answer, but… if I were to suddenly be in pain, I would end up lying to the king… So, yes. That’s how it is.”
Faint chuckle.
“You’re as wise as that stranger who came here long ago. Well, I suppose the one hurting you the most right now must be me.”
At least he, himself, was aware of that.
“Still, haven’t I let you rest these past few days by taking my drinks?”
“You’re quite drunk… please, that’s enough…”
“Why? Does something always happen when someone’s drunk?”
“...”
“What is it that you’re afraid of?”
Everything about the king scared me.
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about, but...”
Swish.
Jolt.
“Even if I’m drunk, I’m still clear-headed enough to hold you.”
At the king’s words that he was clear-headed enough to hold me, I shifted slightly. Wanting to avoid speaking as much as possible, I expressed my reluctance that way.
Though I had shared a bed with the king twice before, both times had been nothing but painful, and I had been drinking until just before sleeping, so I truly wanted to avoid it. But even as I showed my refusal, the king’s hand brushed against my lower lip.
In the dimness, my eyes adjusted enough to clearly see his face, which was a torment to me. Though not completely drunk, the king appeared quite intoxicated, and as usual, but even more so now, he would do whatever he pleased.
The finger that had been touching my lower lip slowly traced down my neck and stopped at the knot of my jeogori. But his eyes remained fixed on me, and before the knot was undone, my expression fully revealed my strong unwillingness. If not now, there would be no way to stop it.
“Are you afraid of being in my arms?”
“...”
“Answer me.”
“...The pain... is severe.”
When a person was drunk, even things they would normally tolerate became irritating, so this time I plainly expressed my pain.
At that, he nodded a couple of times, but in the end, the king’s hand slid over and loosened my jeogori. As it slipped off, revealing the chest wrap beneath, I gently bit down on the lower lip his hand had touched.
But the moment I bit my lower lip, his lips met mine, preventing any teeth marks from forming. Meanwhile, his hands slipped off my chest wrap and sokchima, leaving me naked before him. He was skilled at undressing a woman.
The king’s hands stroked my slender, trembling shoulders and hunched body, while his tongue, digging deeper as time passed, kissed me more intensely. His tongue moved continuously, softly intertwining like lovers’, producing thick, sticky saliva as his hands kept touching my body.
“Ha…”
The king parted his lips to caress my chest. As I finally released the breath I had been holding and turned my head aside, he gently took my still-retracted nipple into his mouth, coaxing it to stand erect.
Slurp.
Suck.
“Ugh…”
In the end, I couldn’t avoid sleeping with him tonight.
Just like when kissing, his tongue gently licked around my areola, continuing to suck on my hardened nipple. Meanwhile, his hand slid down to the area beneath my pelvis, where the thought of the pain was already making me tense.
Surely he must have noticed how my body had stiffened by then, but with his fingers raised, the king gently traced from my clitoris down along my labia minora, softly caressing the dry, sensitive skin.
But perhaps sensing I wouldn’t get wet easily, his lips that had been on my chest soon moved down below my pelvis.
No matter how dark my vision was, I could still see the king’s head buried between my legs. I lifted my upper body slightly and grabbed his shoulders, but he lay me back down and, without hesitation, took my clitoris into his mouth.
“Gasp!”
Compared to when he caressed my chest, the king now extended his tongue further, sucking both my clitoris and labia minora at the same time. He bent my knees, held my thighs with both hands, and buried his face deeper. With his head lowered so that my pubic hair touched his face, he licked and sucked my clitoris with such care that, even without words, I could feel his sincere effort.
Slurp.
“Huah.”
I didn’t know how long I had slept, but maybe I was still a little drunk? At first, the sensation was simply of skin being sucked, but gradually it changed into a feeling that made my body twitch, which left me feeling bewildered.
“Ahng!”
Then, as his tongue, slick with sticky saliva, swept over and sucked my labia minora, a soft moan escaped me before I even realised it, and I quickly clamped my hand tightly over my mouth. The king didn’t seem to care, but the moan was so unexpected that even I couldn’t believe it myself.
Slurp.
I didn’t know how many women he had embraced, but as if determined to pleasure me today, he didn’t lift his head from between my legs for a long time. He persistently and relentlessly sucked my flesh to the point I wondered if his mouth would hurt.
Eventually, I didn’t even have time to feel bewildered by the changing sensations. My breath grew hot and slightly rough as he caressed my clitoris and labia minora, and my face flushed more and more, burning with heat.
Shlick
“Ahng!”
“Shhh.”
Suddenly, a finger was inserted slightly into my vaginal opening. At that moment, my body instinctively tensed, but the king, as if to soothe me, spoke in a soft voice.
What could be the reason he was taking so much time to hold me like this, unlike usual?
But I could feel it too. Although I wasn’t fully wet yet, compared to the first time, and even the second time when he suddenly embraced me, my body was preparing itself with natural lubrication.
He gently pushed the index finger, which had been lightly inserted at the entrance, a little deeper. Then, very slowly, he moved it inside my tightly closed vagina. Occasionally checking my facial expression, he gradually widened the range of motion. When he noticed me frown, he seemed to realise it wasn’t from pain but from the unfamiliar sensation. Soon after, he resumed sucking my clitoris while moving his finger in a piston-like motion.
When he had thrust his penis in forcefully, my body was overwhelmed with pain and remained completely dry. But now he was slowly easing me with his finger while gently caressing my clitoris, and my tense muscles gradually relaxed. Despite my mind, my body responded to his touch.
Lick.
“Ahuu... ha…”
I shouldn’t be reacting to his touch like this… I didn’t want to get wet at all.
“!”
I forced my heavy, tired eyes open. As the king’s finger, which had been teasing me for a while, slipped out, I instinctively looked down while drawing my legs together. His withdrawn finger glistening with my own arousal.
I was so shocked that my body had reacted to the king, the very man I feared and wanted to avoid, that I couldn’t take my eyes off his hand. Then he undressed and pressed his hardened penis directly against my labia, rubbing it there.
“There’s no way it won’t hurt at all. But I’ve loosened you up enough.”
“…I…”
“But today, it won’t be just pain, so try to feel it fully.”
Swish.
“Gasp!”
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not trying to hurt you right now.”
As the tip of his penis, which had been touching my labia, moved down to my vaginal opening, my body instinctively tensed up.
It was truly remarkable how nothing etched itself into a person's memory as vividly as their own experiences. Despite how wet I was, my body tensed up again, bracing for the pain I knew was coming.
Instead of entering immediately, the king rubbed the tip of his glans against my vaginal opening. He then leaned over me, lowering his body, and continued to gently rub the entrance for a while, not forcing penetration but letting things unfold naturally over time.
Only after my body relaxed somewhat from the repeated rubbing did he slowly begin to insert, starting with the glans.
“Ugh!”
I bit my lower lip, but the pain was definitely less than before.
The king never took his eyes off my face as he entered me, adjusting his pace by watching the subtle movements of my facial muscles.
He was definitely being much gentler than his usual self.
“Ugh! Wa... wait a moment! Gasp!”
"I will go slowly. Huu."
Unable to push his fully erect penis in all at once, he took his time easing inside, and with that, he let out a sigh. It was a sigh that carried a different kind of meaning than mine.
However, he never forced his penis in hastily, taking plenty of time and verbally reassuring me that he would go slowly, showing a noticeably different attitude than usual.
While I did let out the occasional moan from the pain, my body didn’t thrash violently even as his penis was fully inserted.
Tuk!
“Hnng!”
"It’s all the way in."
"Hrk! ...Huu."
"You’re the first woman I, the king, have ever held with such care."
His sudden words made me want to ask:
Why?
I hadn’t even known him long, so why was someone as merciless as he treating me, someone from a strange world, like this?
He forced me to drink, sentenced General Hunmu to the sahal punishment right before my eyes, and now we were entwined without a single thread of clothing.
My gaze was filled with confusion as I looked at him.
Fwop.
"Ha-ngh"
As the piston-like motion began, my brief confusion faded, but his movements were never fast; they were slow. In that moment, I could feel, even more vividly, his penis pressing into me. The pain had eased, and instead, we became one.
Swish.
Fwop
"Hng! Haa."
“Does it hurt?”
"...Ha..."
There was pain, but it wasn’t enough to bring tears to my eyes. Frowning as I felt a sharp, tingling pain, the king soon pulled me into an embrace and pushed his penis in deeper.
"Hng!"
Whenever my moans grew rougher, he would gently pull back his penis to adjust the pace and pressure, which made even more arousal seep from my body. I had thought he was only focused on satisfying his own desire, but he was a man who truly understood a woman’s body.
"Aaah... Ung."
Fwop.
"!.....”
What was this? It was my own body, but it felt strange.
It was then. At first, I didn’t notice, but as the king’s penis moved rhythmically inside me, I felt my vaginal walls tightening and trembling in a precise, intense way. Unlike the previous two times, when the pain had been so overwhelming that I went completely limp, trying only to accept him, this time I could feel myself clenching around him as he moved, and I clutched the blanket with all my strength.
To make matters worse, my body moved involuntarily, accompanied by a strange, shivering sensation.
Seeing the king’s unexpectedly soft expression, it dawned on me that by the third time, my body was already responding with pleasure.
How was this possible? Could just the king’s decision to be gentle really make such a difference? Was that why some women never experienced an orgasm their whole lives, yet could when they met a skilled man?
Though it was my own body, I was so shocked at that moment that I felt something close to contempt. Biting my lips as I released a moan, I finally spoke to the king.
Fwop
Thwack!
“Hng! Why… are you embracing me like this now?”
“...”
"The one who used to scare me so much, why are you like this now...?"
“So, did you dislike it because of that?"
"...Uh..."
Overwhelmed by emotion, I spoke up briefly, but when the king actually asked if I disliked it because of that, I couldn’t answer.
In a situation where I didn’t know when I would leave, wouldn’t it be better to be with someone kind like this rather than a terrifying king?
But as these moments repeated, it gradually became very natural to be with the king like this, yet the realistic worry about what would happen if I became pregnant never left me.
Fwop!
“Augh! Mmph.”
Fwop
Fwop
“Haah! Hngh.”
The king’s thrusts became faster and stronger than before. I knew that if I wanted to live here peacefully, it was best not to provoke the man in front of me. Still, the undeniable fact remained that we were having sex without contraception, so I finally spoke up.
“I don’t... dislike it... but suddenly... acting like this... it’s confusing.”
Fwop
"Hng! Haa."
“You honestly said you were in pain, so I did everything to make sure you wouldn’t feel it. Didn’t you not resist my touch the last time you were in my arms? That’s why I held you right away.”
Back then, it was because the eunuch mentioned Buyeon Yuhwa was in pain. Was the reason I grabbed this man’s shoulder while he was caressing me what led to such painful sex?
Every time the king moved his hips, the well-defined muscles shifted clearly as he leaned toward me. His firm body was so different from my soft flesh that just the contact made me feel the hardness of his bamboo-like manhood.
“…So from now on… should I just say it like this… If it hurts, say it hurts… if it’s difficult, say it’s difficult…”
“That depends on what exactly troubles you.”
“...”
"Either way, the mere fact that you’re not someone from this palace is more than enough to draw my attention. As for how these feelings might change, even I can’t say for sure."
Fwop
"Aheuug!"
"Doesn't that make it all the more interesting? In this stiff and dull palace, at least there's you."
"Nng!"
The king’s lips devoured mine, more lasciviously and clinging than before. His kiss pressed so fiercely I couldn’t even breathe, and in the end, I had to pull my head away.
"Haah... haah... I still don’t know what kind of person the king is."
Soft chuckle.
"I don’t even know myself, so how could you possibly know me?"
Fwop
"Haangh!”
“But try to get to know me. That’s the only way the image of me as the mad king won’t be all you see.”
Fwop!
"Hng!"
In an instant, my head was thrown back by the sudden, forceful thrust. The king, who had been kissing the exposed curve of my neck, soon used his hand to lift my face and make me look at him again.
"I will give you a chance to get to know me. Do you still want to go back to where you used to live?"
“...”
"Ah. Let me say it another way. Now that you’re in my arms, do you still want to go home?"
"...Haa...."
“If not, then hold me tight.”
If I were to say I wanted to leave, I could easily imagine how the king, embracing me, would react.
Even as our bodies were intertwined, the king looked at me without pushing for any answer.
I never expected him to ask a question like that, but the more I got to know him, the more I realised he was truly frightening, and yet at the same time, I saw so many other sides to him.
I soon felt the king’s fully buried penis begin to move again and slowly reached out my hand that had been clutching the blanket.
It wasn’t how I truly felt. But in this situation, I had no choice but to do this.
Meeting the gaze of the king, who was watching me closely, I gently wrapped my arms around his neck.
Then, as if he had been waiting for it, the king’s firm body also pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Cry through the night in my arms.”
Fwop
Fwop
“Hnngh!”
The king, who had been whispering in my ear, now moved faster and deeper inside me than before. But even his movements didn’t cause pain; instead, they intensified the contractions I felt inside.
As I unknowingly tightened my arms that had lightly embraced him and clung to him, the king willingly slid his hand along my back, pulled me in closely, and moved his hips more forcefully.
The cries bursting from my mouth soaked the air thoroughly, drowning out the call of the nameless bird that used to echo through the night from time to time.
Just like the king’s voice, heavy and soaked as if drenched in rain.
Translator's Corner:
Hi all, hope you're enjoying my translations so far! I've tried to split the chapters based on the necessary trigger warnings, so that's why some chapters are like 8 mins long vs 17 mins long (oops, that particular chapter was a tad too long). Anyway, please stay tuned for next week; I'll try to finish off Vol. 1 and start translating Vol. 2 as well! FYI, there are 3 more chapters for Vol. 1 left.
Like always, hope you all stay happy, healthy and safe~ until next week!
⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡ ⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆
If you notice any errors or broken links, please let me know and I will get that fixed~ Additionally, if you would like to support me, I have a Ko-fi ~ Thank you! 💖
More pls!!! Enjoying this story so far!! Love your translations and thanks for all the hard work you put into them!!