MOSC 5

The man’s hand, hot against the collar of her jeogori, urgently caressed the nape of On’s neck with an almost poignant desperation.

‘W-What is this…?’

On was seized with shock.

This was supposed to be the first night between two people who had never met, yet his actions were so intensely intimate and hasty that it felt bizarre, as if they were lovers eloping in the dead of night for a secret tryst.

“Heut, w-wait… that is….”

As he followed her movements, the man’s shoulder brushed against her chest.

She tried to push him away, but the strong frame and weight, the likes of which she had never felt before, instantly drained her will to resist.

At the same time, as if his own thinly held patience had snapped, the man’s breathing began to grow ragged.

Wigyeom had felt it. The soft, pliant flesh of On, pressed against his own broad chest.

In that instant, the self-control within Wigyeom that had maintained a fragile hold on his humanity simply broke.

‘I can’t hold back any longer.’

The beast within Wigyeom growled.

The human inside him closed its eyes, and only the beast opened its own. In the darkness, a savage, blue light flared in Wigyeom’s eyes. For a fleeting moment, strange scales reminiscent of tree bark appeared on his hands, but they vanished so quickly that On did not notice.

Meanwhile, On was just as flustered by the thick heat that had enveloped both her and the man.

‘His body temperature is so high, it’s making me hot too. Is this how it’s normally done…?’

She, too, had received verbal instruction from a senior court lady in preparation for such an event.

But this was different. Drastically different.

Without realizing it, On clutched her lapels and pushed against Wigyeom’s chest, averting her gaze. But her chin was immediately caught and tilted up. The man’s hot breath was right at her lips. She managed to let out a shallow gasp.

Their breaths, inhaling and exhaling, tangled together at close range.

It felt as though their lips were touching, even though they were not.

Even as she was being swept away by this tide of passion, there was something she felt she had to clarify.

Hadn’t the man said he was happy to meet her again?

‘Have I seen him somewhere before…?’

No.

No matter how she wracked her memory, no such recollection came to mind.

But the man’s lips were hot as he pulled On’s waist firmly against his.

Finally, Wigyeom pressed his lips to the soft hair at her temple and whispered.

“Although our wedding fell short of a formal ceremony, we followed the proper rites. You are now my wife. So why do you act this way?”

His tone was gentle, but the words were a threat.

It was in the nature of beasts to know no shame.

Wigyeom had accepted that he was no longer human.

It was the threat of a desperate man who had claimed the shamelessness of a revenant, one returned from the dead. And naturally, it worked.

“Th-That is….”

Pulled into his embrace, On’s body stiffened, becoming as rigid as a root buried in the earth.

Wigyeom pressed his advantage, driving the point home. It was utterly shameless, but he confessed his feelings with the desperate intensity of one biting his own tongue.

At the same time, he was realizing for the first time that this side of him even existed.

Before On, Wigyeom felt he was being reborn as a true man.

“Please do not refuse me. Our meeting may be coincidence, but the bond of husband and wife is destiny. To disrupt that bond is to defy the will of heaven.”

His voice was seething.

As Wigyeom uttered one righteous-sounding phrase after another, On felt her mind grow hazy.

It was as if something was clinging to her, pushing her powerfully toward this man.

There was an irresistible force in the way he pressed his massive frame against her delicate body and slid his hand into the opening of her clothes, seeking the damp skin within.

Wigyeom’s blood was boiling.

This was a desire that transcended worldly cares.

In his current state, Wigyeom’s lifespan, physical abilities, and even his spiritual power were several times greater than that of a normal human.

The problem was, so was his libido.

In fact, for a body that held the essence of a ten-thousand-year-old tree spirit, to have restrained himself this much was a feat of self-control worthy of being recorded in legends.

Finally, the man cast aside the humanity he had barely maintained through the etiquette and morality he had learned from birth.

‘This is… strange. My body….’

Fortunately for him, On was feeling it keenly as well.

Everything was too much.

Far too much.

He was only supposed to be receiving a lady-in-waiting for the wedding night, but everything he did was too earnest, too poignant to be for a mere concubine.

Moreover, while On was a young maiden, the man himself was only a little past his early twenties.

And yet, the hand parting the fabric of her skirt felt delicate and somehow… practiced.

Which, of course, it was.

It was a body Wigyeom had held not dozens, but hundreds of times in his past life.

The man knew better than anyone where to touch On to make her respond, to make her cries of passion flow all the more desperately.

“Hah. You….”

Of course, even so, Wigyeom was being far too hasty.

As if he had endured an eternity of suffering just for this very moment.

The knot was untied in an instant, and the light jade-colored dangui was slipped off.

“Heut…!”

Having found and swiftly removed her inner garments in the darkness, Wigyeom pulled On’s small body onto the bedding.

As she fell back helplessly, the man who loomed over her like a dark shadow felt like a brute who had nothing to do with the virtuous gentleman from moments before. She desperately wanted to run away in fear, but her status as a court lady, unable to defy her superior’s command, held her back.

…Of course, if that were all, On would not have been so conflicted.

It was strange.

Her whole body was hot, as if covered in a heat rash, and she felt not the slightest desire to refuse the man’s advances.

“Hup, heu-eut….”

On squeezed her eyes shut. At the same time, the cloth covering her chest was loosened. Her milky-white breasts, at once modest and full, were revealed.

On hastily tried to cover her flesh from the man’s sight.

A guttural groan escaped Wigyeom’s lips.

“A husband and wife are the Great Way of the union of yin and yang. Do you intend to refuse this?”

Now he was even quoting lessons from the Book of Rites, a guide to proper conduct.

“Th-That is… that is….”

Her face turning scarlet, On shook her head, avoiding Wigyeom’s eyes.

Gazing down at her with eyes that seemed to be on fire, a flash of anger crossed Wigyeom’s face.

His hand swiftly cupped On’s chin.

“Do not look away. Look at me. We are husband and wife.”

The man stressed one word.

Husband and wife.

“Ye-Yes…?”

At the low warning, On’s breath hitched. On the verge of tears, she looked up into the man’s fiery eyes.

“It is only natural that we spend this night together.”

“Th-That is….”

On was bewildered.

Husband and wife? It was absurd.

She couldn’t understand why Wigyeom was discussing the duties of a husband and wife, quoting ancient texts.

‘The roles of a concubine and a wife are clearly different, so why is he saying this to someone like me…?’

This man’s legal wife was to be Princess Bonghwa, whom she served. She was just a concubine he would take on the side after all the ceremonies were done—an extra.

And yet, from the wedding rites he performed earlier to this very moment, Wigyeom was acting as if he expected On to fulfill the duties of a first wife.

It was only natural.

For Wigyeom, On was his one and only first wife.

‘To hell with Princess Bonghwa, to hell with the Queen, who cares.’

These were words the old Wigyeom could never have imagined.

He had been a loyal subject to the bone, a man whose entire creed consisted of the loyalty between a king and his subject and a heart that served the nation.

But having endured the harsh shackles of life and political turmoil in his past life, he had changed.

The tragic end of his previous life had taught a great lesson to the Wigyeom who believed that upholding loyalty and righteousness was the only duty of a subject.

‘In the end, all that remains is your wife and children.’

Wigyeom thought with eyes that held a soul enlightened to the ways of the world after two lifetimes.

…The one person who, after everything, had remained by his side until the very end.

For Wigyeom, protecting On was the sole reason and purpose of his regressed life.

Of course, the unknowing On was merely confused.

Separate from her life-risking loyalty to the princess, an unexplainable fear and anxiety for the man before her seized On’s body.

Wigyeom had no intention of giving such an On time to think.

“…If you do not answer, I will take it as your consent.”

As he forcibly moved her arms from her chest, a sobbing moan escaped her lips.

Her two breasts, white as curd and both modest and heavy, were revealed under the silver light of the moon.

Positioning himself over her, Wigyeom paused for a moment. But then, without hesitation, he lowered his head.

“I will be sure to make you feel good.”

“Heeut….”

Wigyeom was confident.

Even during his time sent abroad as part of a delegation, he had spent a lifetime pleasuring himself whenever he had a spare moment, thinking of his relations with On.

And now, the object of that obsession was right before him.

The battle was already over.

At this moment, there was nothing that could stop this man.

His tongue moved without restraint across her skin, white as powder. The tip of his tongue soon tapped at the peak of a pointed red bud before his entire mouth covered it, sucking so hard his cheeks hollowed. In a continuous series of shocks, On’s eyes flew open and her hips thrashed.

“Ah…!”

By the time the man’s tongue, having embroidered red flowers upon a field as clear as snow, pulled back in satisfaction, On realized that the unearthly moans she was hearing were coming from her own mouth.

He wasn’t just sucking. He was gently biting and leaving red marks only on the spots where she liked it most, where her moans would erupt even louder.

On’s eyes glazed over.