If Arnald had truly respected Byletta’s wishes, he wouldn’t have proposed that wager to her at all. He would have just granted her the divorce.
He was the one keeping her in their marriage, and he was the one who had suggested their wager.
“I see. What a fine attitude. Then, Byletta…it’s time for you to be free.”
“Unfortunately for you, she cannot leave me.”
That was only because they had a contract!
But there was no way she could tell her uncle that. If he knew that she’d made such a wager, he’d be furious with her for doing something so stupid. She didn’t want to be accused of being a mediocre businesswoman who entered into unwinnable bets on a whim. But the arrogant look on her husband’s face was infuriating. He didn’t have to word everything in a way that would invite misunderstandings. What was the point in getting under her uncle’s skin like that?
“What is that supposed to mean?” demanded Samus. “Is that your ego speaking? And why does Byletta look so flustered, if that’s the case?”
Samus’s eyes slowly drifted from Arnald to Byletta. His keen stare left her uneasy. When she’d first told him that she was going to get married, he’d spent half the day interrogating her with those eyes. She shuddered at the mere thought of having to go through that again.
Byletta knew instantly that they needed to leave.
“Uncle, could you and I speak about this matter some other time?”
“Very well… How about tomorrow? We could have lunch together at our usual place.”
Byletta knew very well to expect an interrogation as to why her husband was so confident that she wouldn’t leave him. Unless she deferred and came up with a real plan of action, she could only see her future becoming even more complicated.
The place they usually met for lunch was a room on the top floor of her uncle’s luxury restaurant in the capital. It was a dining establishment used for important business meetings and receptions. She knew it well.
“Yes, thank you. Well then, if you’ll excuse us. Let’s go, dear.”
Byletta stood up, took Arnald by the arm, and began to walk away.
Her husband followed as Samus silently watched them leave. Byletta was grateful that he didn’t say anything else to try and provoke Arnald. It didn’t matter how many insults he had lined up in his head, as long as he didn’t say them out loud, there wouldn’t be an issue.
She was grateful that he was being smart about it.
They made it to the middle of the courtyard before Arnald suddenly took over and pulled her away from the venue. She’d believed they were about to go back inside, but instead, it seemed they were heading somewhere more secluded. Now she was the one being dragged along.
As Arnald led her to some nearby bushes, Byletta stopped in her tracks and called out to him.
“Um, where are we…?”
“Would you rather do this right here?”
Arnald turned around and reached out a hand.
“What are you talking abou— Mmph!”
Byletta’s question was drowned out by Arnald’s lips.
As she gasped, Arnald adjusted his angle and deepened the kiss. A large hand snaked its way to the back of her head. Another was supporting her back with a grip so tight it was like he was trying to stop her from running away. Arnald’s strong arms were those of a soldier, but he had nothing to prove here.
“Mm… Aah… No…!”
Byletta’s protests escaped her as flirtatious, nasally moans.
Unlike usual, Arnald’s hands were roaming erratically over her body. That said, the precise, exact way in which the situation was unfolding was very much her husband’s style.
One of Arnald’s hands reached up under Byletta’s skirts without hesitation and began to caress her thigh. Byletta’s body began to quiver in pleasure at her husband’s familiar touch. Anger consumed her at the way her body so easily danced to his tune, but underneath the emotion was an irresistible joy.
But they were outside. In the imperial palace courtyard. This wasn’t somewhere such a shameful act would be easily forgiven.
Of course, Byletta knew that some men and women got a thrill out of that, but she wasn’t one of them.
Perhaps Arnald simply considered her a free whore he could take at his own convenience.
Even though she was wounded by her husband’s betrayal, Byletta’s body gladly accepted his touch. She clenched her teeth at the mismatch of emotions.
“S-stop… Please!”
“Our wager still stands. You cannot refuse me.”
Arnald’s emerald-green eyes were filled with a jealous light that made Byletta’s blood run cold. It was like the man who had looked upon her so sweetly at the party had been nothing but an illusion.
It appeared that he, too, considered Byletta to be the harlot the rumors spoke of.
All of the feelings of understanding and acceptance she’d felt soured in an instant.
“I told you… Aah… Mnn…”
“Does it feel good? You did say you were fine doing this here, didn’t you?”
“No… Aah… Ungh! Not outside!”
“But you seem more than ready…”
Byletta’s thoughts were at the mercy of her shame and ecstasy. She wanted to deny him, but the words that fell from her lips were drenched in honey.
The arm she’d had tucked between their bodies slid around Arnald’s neck as if to pull him in closer, until their bodies slotted perfectly together.
As their tongues entwined between short gasps of air, Byletta could feel herself becoming drunk on all the pleasure. She could feel her body relinquishing control to him, but she didn’t want to nod and lose her last scrap of self-respect.
“Hmph… I’m surprised…at how this just doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Then…let me…go.”
“You must be joking. Why don’t you try being a bit more honest with yourself?”
Arnald smiled, as if mocking Byletta’s body and its sensitivity to his touch.
Even though Byletta didn’t know what Arnald meant when he’d said something didn’t sit right with him, her heart was silently begging her not to disappoint him.