Vol 2 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Jus Primae Noctis Volume 2, Chapter 10

It was already the second time that he was standing within the opulent ballroom of the Bulanmu Palace, but Walker still felt unaccustomed to the extravagance of this place and its ambience of being detached from reality. From the start, he stood awkwardly in an inconspicuous corner, and the whiskey he had in his hand remained virtually untouched.

Wilts.h.i.+re, who had remained at his side to keep him company, still remained as relaxed in high society as a fish taking to water. With a refined demeanour, he chatted with the aristocrats who came up to him to say h.e.l.lo from time to time and he also steadily fetched Walker a stream of wine and snacks, worried that he would feel lonely because he felt so out-of-place.

The Marquess's attentive att.i.tude made the young aristocratic ladies present pay all the more attention to Walker. In their reckoning, if the Marquess of Wilts.h.i.+re, who hailed from such an ill.u.s.trious family himself, was waiting on somebody with such devotion, then that person must surely be of an elevated status. Also, Walker's rugged facial features, so rarely seen in high society, and his strong physique, made his mysterious allure all the more attractive, to such an extent that the un.o.btrusive corner of the room where the Scotsman and the Marquess were standing had already become one of the places that the eyes of the ladies present were most drawn to.

Tonight's ball was ostensibly given to celebrate Princess Caroline's nineteenth birthday, but in actual fact it had been organised by the Prince Regent in an effort to allay his beloved daughter's fears. At the same time, it also served to achieve his objective of quietening down the rumours that had sprang up everywhere as a result of the Princess suddenly disappearing from public view for so many months --- for precisely this reason, the Prince Regent had invited just about every single well-known and respectable public figure in London. As a result, the scene was one bustling with noise and excitement, filled with the beautifully dressed beau monde.

The ball reached its climax when the Princess arrived, attired magnificently --- she was dressed in a sumptuous lavender gown encrusted with diamonds and pearls and it required two maids to support its train as she slowly made her way down the long spiral stairs. The diamond tiara she was wearing nestled in her piled-up hair sparkled with light, and Walker almost could not recognize her as the frail young lady who had wept while leaning against his own shoulder.

“Marquess Wilts.h.i.+re, Mr. Robinson, welcome to my party.” Looked on by the entire a.s.semblage, Princess Caroline elegantly glided towards Wilts.h.i.+re and Walker, and expressed her welcome in a voice with a plummy cadence and perfect enunciation.

Suddenly, the sounds of whispered discussions among the observers reached their ears incessantly --- it was no big deal that she should greet Wilts.h.i.+re, who was of n.o.ble birth, but for the honourable Princess to take the initiative to acknowledge an unfamiliar man like Walker, this led everybody in the crowd to speculate even more about Walker's true ident.i.ty.

Walker was so nervous that his hand was shaking slightly, but fortunately, the Marquess took the gla.s.s from his hand in time to prevent him from spilling the wine onto his body. When the Princess gracefully extended her hand to him, Walker busied himself with imitating Wilts.h.i.+re, bending slightly and planting a light kiss on her slender, white hand that was covered with a lace glove. By the time he was straightening up, he was blus.h.i.+ng furiously and he did not even notice when Wilts.h.i.+re gave him a fierce roll of his eyes.

“It is all thanks to Marquess Wilts.h.i.+re and this Mr. Walker Robinson that my daughter could recover from her serious illness. As a mark of my grat.i.tude, I shall present the Great Oak Manor [1] as a gift to the Marquess of Wilts.h.i.+re and in the name of His Majesty, I shall confer upon Mr. Walker Robinson a knighthood.” The Prince Regent loudly proclaimed, leaving Walker so shocked that he was dumbfounded.

He looked on as people began to crowd around them to offer their congratulations, professing their admiration and envy --- Great Oak Manor was one of the largest estates held in the Prince Regent's name, the lands were rich in resources and employed numerous farm labourers, and would serve as the icing on the cake when added to the already ample a.s.sets held by the Wilts.h.i.+re family; as for Walker, although the rank of Knight [2] was not particularly elevated, but with the Prince Regent personally endorsing him, it was clear enough that he need not be worried about his future prospects.

The honour and glory that was suddenly conferred upon him almost caused Walker to have a spell of dizziness. After Wilts.h.i.+re was obliged to leave his side because he had to dance with the Princess, the Scotsman decided to leave the ballroom that was thronged with people, in an effort to circ.u.mvent all those people who constantly came up to him to make small talk, so as to suck up to the Marquess.

In contrast with the noisy ballroom, the garden of the Bulanmu Palace was much more sedate. The flowering shrubs surrounding the lawn swayed gently under the moonlight, and Walker chose a spot below the terrace of the ballroom to have a seat and stared at the snow-white marble bal.u.s.trade of the balcony as he got lost in his thoughts.

“… What terrific good luck for Wilts.h.i.+re this time…”

After about ten minutes, two young n.o.blemen stepped onto the terrace together, holding gla.s.ses of wine in their hands. They had evidently not noticed Walker, who was sitting below, and as they enjoyed their wine, they discussed the man of the hour.

“That goes without saying… having ingratiated himself with the Prince Regent, Wilts.h.i.+re’s family is set for life.” Jealousy was strongly woven into his words.

“I’ve heard that the Prince Regent even wants to marry his daughter off to him… he's pretty calculating; giving Great Oak Manor to Wilts.h.i.+re can be considered his daughter's dowry.”

“Wilts.h.i.+re's looks are so beautiful, whenever the Prince Regent gets tired of Thuram, he can even borrow his son-in-law from his daughter!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” The two men began laughing maliciously at the same time --- they had probably had too much to drink, to be so bold as to dare to say such blasphemous things in public.

However, Walker had heard enough. He thought back to the Prince Regent's extremely courteous att.i.tude towards Wilts.h.i.+re and also the Princess's exceptionally bashful expression when she was facing Wilts.h.i.+re, and abruptly, he felt as though he had tipped over all five bottles of flavours [3] in his heart, bitterness and sourness came surging up at the same time, leaving him nearly unable to even move his body.

“Walker, where are you?” That familiar call made Walker's body stiffen up at once, and also made the two aristocrats seal their lips in the nick of time. After the two of them looked at each other for a while, they quickly left the terrace, just in time to fleetingly come face to face with Wilts.h.i.+re, who was opening the door and stepping onto the terrace.

“Walker?”

The Marquess's demeanour betrayed some anxiety, but Walker only dared to step out from the shadows after the two people had gone into the house.

“Why did you run off? I’ve been looking for you for so long…” Seeing that he was safe and sound, Wilts.h.i.+re's relief was evident, and he came over to embrace him lightly.

“It’s too stuffy inside…” Walker gave a vague explanation as his heart was mulling over how to ask him about his marriage to the Princess. However, he could not find the words no matter how he tried, and could only remain awkwardly silent.

“I’ll go and take my leave of the Prince Regent at once, let’s go home… tonight I want to…” The Marquess leaned over and whispered something into his ear, causing Walker's face to flush red immediately and he fiercely broke free from Wilts.h.i.+re.

Wilts.h.i.+re really did as he said, not paying any heed to the status of his host, he took his leave ahead of time, and returned to his home in Leicester Square with Walker.

“I had better stay in that little building…” Seeing that Wilts.h.i.+re again intended to bring him back to his bedroom, Walker hurriedly broke away from his hand --- tonight, he really did not wish to be intimate with the Marquess, he needed to give careful thought about his relations.h.i.+p with the Marquess and what course he should take.

When he saw that the butler, Franklin, was looking on intently, Wilts.h.i.+re knew that it was a really inopportune time for him to get into a public dispute with Walker and he could only look on as Walker packed up a few simple pieces of clothing and left for the back garden, accompanied by the butler.

“Mr. Robinson, somebody comes by to tidy up this place every day, it is very clean, so please rest easy here.” The butler’s att.i.tude was much improved from the previous time, and there was an overtone of sincere respect colouring his words.

“Then I really must thank you.” Standing in this familiar place, all sorts of feelings welled up in Walker's heart.

After seeing the Butler off, he sat down by the bed. Even after thinking for a long time, he was still confused, unable to come to a conclusion about anything, and he could only give up, getting undressed and snuggling into the quilt.

Leave the decision up to him… if the Marquess wanted to marry the Princess, then he shall leave, find some job in London and continue to reside here, and if he really couldn’t, then he would return to Stonehaven.

His heart throbbed faintly with pain, although he had long had a premonition that such a relations.h.i.+p would not last long. No matter how moving the Marquess's sweet speeches and honeyed words were, in the end, he was still an aristocrat, and he needed an heir --- and that was what Walker could never give him. Moreover, there were also the great political and economic benefits that a marriage to the Princess would bring.

With these thoughts running through his mind, he tossed around in bed. Walker was ultimately unable to fall asleep, and anxiety was gradually rising in his heart.

Tok tok tok --- even at such an unseemly hour, there were knocks ringing out from the door. Acting without taking time to think, Walker draped his s.h.i.+rt over his shoulders, got out of bed and opened the door. The Marquess, who was only dressed in his nightclothes, quickly ducked inside.

“That Franklin, he bothered me endlessly with his long-windedness, making me unable to come over until now.” The Marquess complained, as though for him to visit somebody else's room in the middle of the night was something that was proper and to be expected as a matter of course.

“Hey, what are you standing there for? Quickly take your clothes off and get inside.” With lightning speed, the Marquess tossed his nights.h.i.+rt onto the carpet, and thus naked as the day he was born, he got under the sheets, and called out to Walker.

He really found the Marquess's utter lack of shame to be a bit intolerable sometimes; it would not do for Walker to get onto the bed, but neither was it appropriate for him to remain standing, so he could only look at Wilts.h.i.+re in a daze.

“Aiya, what is it now? Did Franklin say something?” Maybe because he found that Walker was a bit different from usual, the Marquess's expression changed slightly.

“No, how is that possible. No matter what, I am to be considered your guest, no?” Walker certainly did not wish to bring any trouble to that rather amusing butler, and quickly came to his defence.

“Then why do you not quickly come over here, the wait is making me impatient!” With an utter lack of shame, the Marquess brazenly pointed to that part of his lower body, which was already fully erect. Pulling at Walker, he jerked him over, making him topple on top of Wilts.h.i.+re's own body and with a hand, he undid the ties of his nightclothes.

“Darling, I missed you so much!” In the instant when their bare flesh met, the Marquess gave a cheer. To the Scotsman's backyard, he applied lubricant that he had managed to fish out from somewhere before he held him and rolled him over. In a position where he was pressing down upon Walker, he began to slowly enter him.

Feeling a foreign object invading his body slowly, the Scotsman could not help but to give a stifled groan. The question he had found impossible to ask while his mind had been clear suddenly came tumbling out.

“… I’ve heard that you will be getting engaged to the Princess, is that true?”

The Marquess suddenly stilled on top of the Scotsman's body, but he quickly recovered his wits, and while he continued to work at getting deeper into his body, he said with a careless tone of voice: “Who did you hear that from? Don’t tell me it’s because of this reason that you didn't want to share a bed with me today?”

Walker bit on his lower lip, he also did not wish to ask Wilts.h.i.+re this kind of question at such a time as this, but he could not act as though nothing had happened and pretend to be a sweet lover while he was being kept in the dark about everything --- he did not have such ability.

To be a man who willingly let himself be embraced by another man, he felt that this had already made him slatternly enough. If Wilts.h.i.+re would not even show him some basic respect on top of that, he was afraid that he would lose the courage to face anyone.

“That’s what everyone says, is there such a thing? If it’s true, please get out of my body.” Walker believed that his own expression to be severe enough, but the result of his firing from the hip was that he had blurted out some strange words.

In an instant, the Marquess began to give big hearty laughs; not only did he not pull out from his body, but he began to penetrate even more deeply and insistently.

“Walker baby [4], do you know how adorable you look right now? Aiya, I am going to laugh to death… who was it who was wagging his tongue carelessly? That old man did bring up such a thing, but his daughter…” Wilts.h.i.+re clicked his tongue, while he continued to energetically perform his pistoning movements, “how could she compare to my beloved Walker’s s.e.xiness, strength… and… tightness… aiya!”

Walker fiercely tread on the Marquess's lower abdomen with a foot, and with a pained cry, the Marquess lost control and spilled all of his desire into the Scotsman's body.