It was too quiet in the carriage to her new home. The boy did not take away from the girl his interested and surprised look. He had a lot of thoughts in his head.
"Will you just watch? I know I'm different from the others by my exceptional beauty, but I feel uncomfortable with the excessive attention."
"You're pretty cocky. I mean, we used to talk on the phone with your maid, but I still heard rumors about the Rosenblatt daughter."
"Very different from what you imagined?" She smiled playfully, her eyes slightly squinting like a fox. "The rumours are not very pleasant, if you look at me as a pathetic piece of shit." With extraordinary ease, her puffy red lips would fly such cruel words.
The guy frowned.
"You're being too rude for a lady from one of the six great families."
"Now I'm the lady of Kir-Erdey." She extended her hand and smiled, looking out the window.
***
Coming out of the bath in a silk robe, she did not find her newly-wept husband in their bedroom.
"Deya!" She called her maid out of the bath.
"Yes, milady?" Girl a little older than Veronica appeared in the room.
"Where is he?"
"Milord Kyr-Erdey? He said he had some business to finish in his office."
Veronica clicked her tongue in displeasure, looking around the huge bedroom. She crossed her arms and knocked at her elbow.
"This is not gonna work! Escort me to his office. "
In the middle of the night, a knock sounded in the small room. Sitting in a simple white shirt and with slightly streaked hair after the bath, Leon frowned. He was not expecting guests. He raised his head from the papers.
"Come in. "
The door opened slowly. A thin figure appeared in the room. She slammed the door and came slowly. The clapping of her little slipper heel was muffled.
"Shouldn't you have been told I'm working? "
"Do you take me for a fool?" Completely ignoring him, the girl said displeased, sitting on the corner of his table.
He rubbed his nose and sighed wearily. Leaning on the back of the chair, he looked at her. Thin robe through which every bend of her body is seen. She sat close, that felt an unusual sweet-spicy aroma emanating from her skin.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not gonna spend the night with me. "
"Is that a question or an affirmation?"
The girl kept looking at him in silence. Leon sighed again. He ran his hand over his hair.
"Is that necessary? I don't remember anything like this in our deal."
The smile of a sneaky face appeared on her face. She moved slowly towards him, and holding his shoulders sat up on his hips.
"Since we are formally married, do you want me to share with you one of the dirty secrets of the great families of the empire?"
Veronica leaned in his ear.
"When the daughter of a great family enters into marriage, then in the morning after the first wedding night, the doctors from the temple in which the marriage was concluded appear in the newlywed rooms. You wonder why?" She looked into his eyes. "Great families are legally prohibited from having sexual relations with anyone other than their own. Bullshit, right?"
It's not known what was most amused by Veronica. The fact itself or the reaction of the boy. Whether he tried to keep his expression so calm, or whether it was really all the same to him.
She slowly began to massage his neck, putting her fingers in his hair. Again no reaction. Her expression suddenly cooled. Having lost her playful mood, she click her tongue in displeasure. Girl lowered her hands to his belt on her pants.
"Relax, I'll do it."
She began to unstrap the belt nervously, without a single emotion on her face. The guy grabbed her in the hand.
"What are you doing? Stop. It's ridiculous. " Still the same distant face, he said coolly.
"Ridiculous?" She scoffed. "Do you think it's funny?" She took a deep breath, holding back angry outbursts, and began to whisper.
"If I don't confirm this marriage, I may be killed for treason. Can't you get it? And why are you acting like an innocent lady? Don't men perceive sex as harmless entertainment? Beautiful girl in front of you! And she's offering to sleep with her! So what the fuck are you doing? Don't be a coward. It's disgusting, you know."
The room was rarely cold. The hands of the boy were frozen and his grip was slightly weakened. A storm of contradictory emotions she caught in his blue eyes.
On one side he was insulted, and on the other - Leon felt sorry for her. All these rules seemed to him completely insane, but how much fear of punishment do you have to have to offer to share a bed with a stranger?
The second and the belt are unfastened. Leon leapt from his seat, putting the girl on the table. Her robe was slightly pulled back, showing her slim hips. The big hands were on the table at her small head.
"Let's say I'll share a bed with you, but what happens next?"
"I'll be extremely grateful for the preservation of my life, and further as agreed. You can not consider our marriage something big. Mind your own business, and I'll do mine." She stroked his cheek gently. "I'll give you information, you give me freedom. I'll give you all that I have, so that you may be the head of the Kir-Erdey. That's all I ask. "
Veronica put another hand on the hem of his pants. Leon looked down, sighed heavily. It seemed to be a hard decision.
"You say it so easily. Do you find it funny? Even that smell and look. Isn't that aphrodisiac, right? You did everything to make me want you. But what would you do if I refused? Would you have drugged me and taken me by force? Would you have done such a low thing? "
"Ah... Don't act like a righteous man, Kir-Erdey. " And her mood was spoiled again. She pushed him away by throwing off the table and fixing his robe. "You talk like I'm forcing you. If you don't want to, I'll go to some bar and find a guy who's happy to sleep with a hot girl without any commitment. If anyone asks, I'll spend the night with you."
Girl sounded annoyed and tired of these temptations. Veronica had already reached the door and opened it, as she was lifted up above the ground. Taking Veronica in his hands, the boy took her out and headed toward their room quite quickly. Lowering the girl to bed., the guy started to take off his shirt.
"That's it." Happy with her victory, smile of bloom on her face.
"Understand me right, Veronica. Despite our agreement, I'll not allow someone else to touch my wife. Do you understand that? Don't you ever say that again, even as a joke."
"As you wish, dear. After this night I'll belong to you."
Veronica drew the boy to herself and plunged into his lips. Leon immediately deepened the kiss, penetrating her mouth with a hot tongue. His cool hand slowly moved up her thighs, his coat tied. He still doubted. The girl turned away from his lips. She took the ties and tightened them again.
"Can I ask for something else?" She said with an innocent smile, without waiting for a reply. "Don't look at my body, please. You can touch me, but through the fabric."
"Argh!" He groaned in hopelessness, combing his hair back. "Okay, can I continue?"
Instead of answering, the girl opened her legs slightly wider, and her robe flopped.
"Be gentle." She smiled playfully, placing her hands on his shoulders. "It's my first time."
Interesting fact, unrelated to the story: s soon as Leon turned 10, his father sent him to the military academy at the Imperial Palace.