Heroine Popularity Vote Winner: Benelia

Benelia's golden eyes remained fixed on Theorad. There was something disarming about the way they trembled, despite all the boldness of her words.

Theorad slipped an arm around her waist and bent to kiss her.

Their lips brushed once, twice, then lingered. Soon they were kissing in earnest, drawing closer with each shared breath.

“Mm…”

Benelia loosened her grip on the blanket and wound her arms about his neck. The covers slipped down, leaving her breasts bare, but she no longer cared.

She had already made a soundproof barrier around the bedchamber and instructed Roylen that no one but Theorad was to enter. For this little while, the palace and everything it represented could remain outside.

“Ah…”

Her eyelids lowered. The warmth of his lips and the intimacy she had long imagined were enough to make her forget her carefully rehearsed composure.

A part of Benelia still found it humiliating to take such pleasure in something so shameless. But her affection for him was stronger than the embarrassment.

Sensing her response, Theorad leaned closer, deepening their kiss. Benelia lay back upon the bed without letting go of him.

At length she pushed lightly against his chest. He drew back, finding her face flushed.

“How long…”

Her voice failed. She swallowed, then tried again.

“How long do you intend to keep kissing me?”

Theorad blinked, then understood. For all her impatience, she seemed too embarrassed to say plainly what she wanted. The contradiction was rather adorable.

“Do you want us to go further?”

“After coming all this way, you still have to ask? Take your clothes off.”

Benelia reached for the buckle at his waist. Her fingers fumbled with it, clumsier than either of them expected.

Theorad caught her wrist, not roughly, but firmly enough to make her stop.

“Benelia. This time, let me ask you as your tutor.”

“…Viscount Theorad. You have no permission to address the emperor so casually.”

“I'll answer whatever you ask.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. The presumption was infuriating, and yet her heart was racing.

For once, Benelia looked away first.

“…I want to.”

“I didn't hear you.”

“You damned man. I said I want to.”

Only then did he release her wrist. His mischievous little smile made her want to strike him with a pillow.

Instead, she waited while he undressed. She pulled aside the blanket covering her lower body, and the cooler air raised gooseflesh on her skin.

Her cheeks burned as she glanced at him.

So that's…

She knew his body from their earlier night together, but seeing him unclothed again stirred a fresh embarrassment. The same was true when Theorad's gaze traveled over her.

Ordinarily her fitted uniforms concealed the softness of her figure. Here there was nothing between them. He could see the faint color in her cheeks and the way she waited for him to move closer.

Benelia pressed a hand over her mouth, as though that could conceal her reaction.

Theorad noticed how visibly aroused she was, even before he had touched her intimately. He bent to stroke her cheek.

“Your Majesty. Were you imagining improper things about me while you waited?”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

She went very still. Then, realizing there was little point in denying the obvious, she scowled.

“Yes. I imagined things before you arrived. Are you satisfied, you ungrateful bastard?”

“How many times?”

“What?”

Surely he wasn't going to demand an exact count.

Theorad waited with the same unruffled expression he used when teaching astronomy. Benelia was certain he would not proceed until she answered. Her face grew hotter.

“…Once.”

“Telling lies is a sin.”

She bit her lip.

“…Eight times.”

Theorad laughed before he could help himself and kissed her forehead.

It was impossible not to find her dear: the emperor who could face a kingdom without flinching was so flustered at admitting her secret fantasies.

“Then I'll do my best to live up to your imagination,” he said. “Will you forgive me?”

“…Do as you please.”

With that answer, Theorad drew close. Their bodies met, and he began to enter her, taking care not to move too quickly.

Benelia gave a soft, unsteady sound. Pleasure and an edge of discomfort mingled as she adjusted to him. He paused, watching her face.

“Your Majesty, before we continue… there's the matter of pregnancy.”

“Don't worry. It's a safe day.”

She sounded perfectly certain. Benelia had been meticulous in making her preparations, or so she believed, and Theorad let himself be reassured.

He began moving slowly. She responded by drawing him closer, her breathing deepening.

The strangeness of their circumstances faded for a while. Neither the empire nor the dignity of the throne seemed important beside the person in front of them.

Benelia felt her embarrassment give way to the closeness she had wanted for so long. The emperor who commanded armies was, for this moment, simply a woman with the man she loved.

Theorad was absorbed in her as well. He wanted to make her happy, and he watched carefully for any sign that he was hurting her.

“Benelia. Tell me whenever it hurts.”

“It doesn't… A little more…”

He answered her request by moving a little faster.

Benelia closed her eyes, gripping the bedding. Her breath caught in a succession of involuntary sounds. She tried to restrain them and failed.

Then Theorad moved more deeply. The sudden sensation made her cry out, and she trembled as pleasure overwhelmed her.

“Theo… Theorad?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him, startled by her own response.

He smiled faintly and continued. Soon he, too, was close to losing control.

At last Theorad reached his climax, ejaculating inside Benelia.

“Ah…!”

She caught her breath and lay still until he had finished. He withdrew and settled on the bed beside her, both of them spent.

For a while Benelia simply rested, eyes half-closed. Then she placed a hand on her stomach.

“Now we'll have a child.”

Theorad sat up.

“Your Majesty? You said today was safe—”

Benelia turned to study his alarm. She tried to maintain her solemn expression, but laughter escaped.

“Pfft. Of course I'm joking. I'm not a fool.”

He stared at her.

“Do you think I don't understand how much trouble it would cause the empire if its ruler had a child without marrying?”

“That wasn't exactly what I meant…”

She had simply enjoyed seeing him flustered.

Benelia rose onto one elbow, her dark hair falling over her shoulders.

“Someday, though, I'd like to bear a child. And marry…”

“…Your Majesty.”

“I know. That isn't possible now.”

She shifted closer, then moved over him, making him fall silent with surprise.

“But who's to say it will always be impossible? Suppose the empire one day ceases to be an empire, and the emperor is no longer an emperor.”

If the country she dreamed of could finally be realized, perhaps she would no longer be bound by rank and all its obligations. It was a distant hope, nothing more, yet she could not resist imagining it.

“Then perhaps we ought to practice for that day.”

Her smile unsettled him.

“Your Majesty… what exactly are you suggesting?”

“You had your way with me. Now it's my turn to have my way with you.”

She caught his cheek between her fingers.

“You scoundrel. Don't think you've finished teasing me.”

She leaned down and kissed him, moving against him again. Bewildered, Theorad could not find the words to say no, and she took obvious delight in having reversed their positions.

“Now you're the one who must surrender.”

Benelia pressed her advantage, and Theorad eventually yielded under her insistence, feeling he had little choice.

---

An hour later.

“Not bad. You moved your hips quite well, too.”

Benelia was sitting on the bed in a gown, looking entirely pleased with herself. Theorad sat beside her with a cup of tea.

“Your Majesty, your own hips were rather—”

“Silence.”

She would rather die than admit how she had behaved when she lost her composure. Theorad knew better than to argue. He lifted his cup and breathed in the scent of black tea.

Benelia watched his profile for a time.

“…Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything. For being you.”

She meant it.

Without Theorad, her life might have remained a miserable struggle for survival and the throne, with nothing beyond those goals.

She remembered a voice from long ago, raised in her defense when others condemned her.

“Your Majesty! Why demand that the princess answer for something she did not do? Why trample the precepts of the God of Light?”

In a world she had once believed entirely hostile, Theorad had approached her with kindness. He had taught her to see something other than enemies—and had revived feelings she thought long dead.

This hopelessly insensitive man probably doesn't know that…

It hardly mattered. Having him beside her, and knowing she could see him again, was happiness enough.

Benelia slipped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. His warmth and the fragrance of tea made the quiet room seem more welcoming than any throne room.

“Theorad.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“I suspect I'll be catching colds rather often from now on.”

Theorad smiled at the transparent excuse.

“If that happens, I'll come and see you every time.”

She liked that answer.

Benelia remained beside him, gazing through the window and savoring the stillness. The lonely girl who had once stared longingly at the stars was lonely no longer.