"We"re okay now."
We finally arrived inside Mommy Elizabeth"s room. I had to stop a few stop a few times on the way here, because the feeling of Mom rubbing against me was far too sensual. If I didn"t stop, Mom would probably have died from awkwardness. I think Mom"s nervousness partly contributed, while I was turned on…
You all understand the feeling of your mom suddenly coming in at a crucial moment, right? That was how I felt, and I felt that way at least twice on the way to the room.
I tried distracting myself by thinking about those around me. Lucia and Nier were pregnant. Luna was no longer here. No way was I going to do anything to Freya a second time besides that time at the hot springs.
What? Wa I supposed to go seek out Mommy Vyvyan again? There was no doubt she wouldn"t mind, but my conscience would eat me. What would that mean I treated my mom as? I couldn"t go to her to placate my l.u.s.t. Mom was Mom, not my wife and not my slave. What was I supposed to do, then…?
Mommy Elizabeth was panting, as well. After finally getting off me, she grabbed the front and back of her dress. Blus.h.i.+ng, she said, "This wouldn"t have happened if I changed to another dress… Son, I"ve caused you trouble."
"No, it"s fine, Mom. It was my fault, too. After all, I was the one who had people prepare your dress for you."
Elizabeth smiled and replied, "Mommy will get changed now, then. Mommy will head back with you right away. Don"t worry, son…"
"All right. Mom, I"ll go outside."
I did indeed need to calm down, or else I"d look at mom not how I was supposed to. She was my biological mother, so looking at her with that sort of gaze made me feel sinful. Honestly, I didn"t even feel so uncomfortable with Mommy Vyvyan. However, just as I went to turn around, Mom grabbed my wrist all of a sudden.
I froze stiff in place, because if Mom grabbed me with one hand then she wasn"t holding her dress together. The familiar sound of the clothing sliding coming from behind me told me exactly what her appearance was.
I said to myself, "I can"t turn around. All my blood is in my head right now! Don"t let me see a female!"
"You don"t need to leave, Son. It"s hard for Mommy to get dressed alone. You need to help Mommy."
"I don"t think that"s a very good idea… Mom, if we"re, like this… I"ll go call a lady-in-waiting to help you change."
"If you go and call a lady-in-waiting now, she"ll arrive to see me nude, not to mention the fact that my dress is ripped in unusual areas. Wouldn"t you conjure up ideas if you were the lady-in-waiting? Son, these sorts of rumours spread in the palace extremely quickly. If I wasn"t your mom, but a lady-in-waiting or a Queen of some place then it wouldn"t matter. The people like a womaniser for a King, but I"m your mom, and your wives are about to give birth. If these sorts of rumours spread, people will call you a creep!
Son, if people have a poor evaluation of you, it"ll easily ruin the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace. It"ll also arm the sly va.s.sals with something to attack you with. In fact, the people will lose faith in you. They"ll believe you"re a creep and an indecent bully. Moreover, how would you explain yourself to Lucia and Nier?"
"But we didn"t do anything!"
Mommy Elizabeth"s clothes ripped merely due to them being too tight. I didn"t do anything indecent with my hands when I hugged mom, either! Why would I be worried about rumours about me?!
"The point isn"t whether you did something or not. The point is whether they think you did something or not. When people view things unrelated to them, they"ll make up stories that are exaggerated as stage plays. How will you deal with that? If you argue against the claims or even threaten to kill those who mention it, it"ll only make it worse. Son, whether or not we did something isn"t important. What"s important is not giving them a chance to see what they would beg to see.
That"s why Mommy forbids any man from approaching the Inner Court except for Castell. Castell is my personal attendant, and there won"t be any rumours, as everybody has confirmed that I wouldn"t fall for a brat."
I nodded, and then sighed. I walked over to the door to lock it as a means of ensuring n.o.body would come in. I then turned around to see Mom"s back facing me. She took out a new dress from the cupboard. It wasn"t a dress worn to b.a.l.l.s and similar occasions, but an unadorned and ordinary dress.
The moonlight shone through the light material as if it was warm seawater. The cold moonlight moved along Mom"s body. She appeared as beautiful as a mermaid emerging from water. Her perfect curves were alluring, and my deep thinking nearly took my breath away. Her long black hair resembled seaweed that was dripping water from them after being pulled out. I had an overwhelming urge to give her a back hug.
My body reacted in the same way. It was a human reaction. My rationality was the same as it is on full-moon nights. In other words, close to non-existent. Instinct led me to Mom. I reached my hands out, intending to grab her shapely and smooth white shoulders.
Mom then suddenly pulled her dress up and pulled her long hair out from her dress. She hadn"t noticed I had approached her, since she had her back to me. Perhaps she actually already noticed but didn"t think I approached her for this particular reason.
"Son, help me do up the back."
In this era where zips weren"t yet a thing, they used strings to tie up the back. I looked at the two short strings below Mom"s hair. My hands trembled as I swept her hair aside and then tied them up.
"Hmm…" Mom let out a m.u.f.fled moan.
I almost jolted and let go. I hurriedly asked, "Did I put too much strength into it? It feels a bit tight… Mom…"
Mom gasped for air as she replied, "It"s all right… Son, it"s fine for you to tighten it a little."
The reality was that the sort of dress that was tight around the chest region felt suffocating to Mom, particularly with her body contours. I gently pulled the strings, trying to make a rough guess as to how tight to pull before I tied them up.
Mom grabbed the necklace by the side again and wore it on. She opened the collar of her dress and placed the gem inside. She then let out a sigh of relief: "That was a frightening false alarm. Fortunately, we didn"t waste too much time, and n.o.body saw us. This dress doesn"t actually suit tonight"s banquet, but I don"t have a choice, Son. I wouldn"t have brought a dress for a ball over when I came intending to look after Nier, after all. Let"s hurry on back now, before people start talking."
I nodded: "All right."
I then walked up to the door and pulled it open.
No, the door didn"t coincidentally get stuck and not open as you see in Manhua or novels.
Mom and I checked left and right after I opened the door. There was n.o.body around. I looked at Mom"s look of relief and that caused me to remember what I was thinking about moments ago…
My gaze stopped for a moment on Mom"s collarbone…
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