Circumstances of Switching Bodies

Last night, I kept provoking him.

It was necessary if I wanted the plan to work. But as time went by, the pleasure I got from his untamed movements, eventually began making me feel good.

He wasn’t at all easily fatigued. Sure, those muscles weren’t just there for decoration. As time went by, my body couldn’t endure any longer and lurched uncontrollably in delight.

The first few times, he looked at me with a cold gaze, but as time went by, he clenched his teeth and his body turned sweaty. His fine body then collapsed like a cave on top of me.

“… Irene.”

Deric murmured lowly, breathing raggedly. It came out as if he was uttering the sexiest word he knew. His voice echoed lowly just like the sound in a cave. Overall, it wasn’t a bad feeling. Despite him being still inside me and staring at me intently, it somehow felt good to feel him inside of me.

If he had been considerate even once during the act, the heat might’ve probably consumed me, making me end up having feelings for him.

Fortunately, Deric was consistently inconsiderate, rude, and arrogant. If I was as good-natured as the original female lead, I probably would have overlooked his flaws, and only looked at his immense stamina and sturdy body.

But I had approached him deliberately, only to save the Chandler family, and I was not exactly very ‘good-natured’. So the only things left between us were wiles and carnal desires.

He would soon notice that his body had changed. I was already anticipating the look on his ashen face in the morning, tomorrow.

’Sadly, it would be my face.’

The thought of him being embarrassed and stumped in shock raised the corners of my mouth in a sneer.

“Why are you smiling all of a sudden?”

Deric looked down at me with an indifferent look on his face, just like the time he was trying to even out his breathing. His thick fingers combed through my scattered, sweat-drenched hair.

He still didn’t seem tired at all. I wondered whether he would call it a day and let me go.

Now that I had spent the night with him, there was no need for me to act all coquettish anymore. All I had to do now was to think about my future and behave accordingly so that he wouldn’t have any residual ill-feeling towards me.

‘I don’t need to become the object of his hatred until the curse is lifted. It would serve me no good.’

I shook my head gently instead of answering. Deric still stared at my side profile and red hair—which were spread on the white pillow like a fan.

Then his gaze shifted to my swollen lips and mottled skin.

After a brief silence, he reached under the bed and pulled something out of his pant’s pocket.

There was a crumpling sound, like a candy wrapper when torn open. In his large hands, he held a small candy that exhibited a certain contraceptive effect if ingested either before or after an amorous act.

Deric rolled the candy a few times in his mouth before he quickly narrowed the distance between us. Passing the candy mouth-to-mouth was something that lovers would do. So for a moment, I was stunned.

Then Deric said as if it were no big a deal:

“I’m not going to let you conceive.”

“….”

I felt suffocated at this unfairness. Did he think I’d try to steal the seeds of the next emperor and run away?

I don’t know which woman might end up as his lover, but I really pitied that woman. She would obviously get hurt because of his infuriating way of speaking.

‘Since you’ll be the emperor, you must’ve no intention of letting a meaningless tryst bear your child.’

I never wanted his child to begin with and it was really insensitive of him to say something like this.

Contraception was a good thing for me as well, so I did not reject it and gently took in the candy. Meanwhile, I loathed him for drawing a line like this.  He still stuck close to me as if enjoying the sexual afterglow.

After finishing the candy, I was in a bad mood and I pulled his waist closer.

His face contorted all of a sudden. His muscles twitched, showing off their magnificent contours. Anyway, it would be him who’d suffer if this body was broken. I licked my lips wet and then met his gaze again.

“…”

Understanding my intention, Deric rushed in without any delay. The wild movements repeated all night.

* * *

‘I can’t believe I kept provoking him. I went a little crazy yesterday.’

After reminiscing last night’s events, I bit my lips and stared at myself in the mirror. Now that I had changed bodies, I didn’t feel any aftereffects from the night before. Last night with Deric was quite satisfactory except for his lack of consideration for me, of course.

‘If the equipment1 is good, it will produce excellent results even if the process lacks sincerity.’

Indeed, otherwise, I wouldn’t even remember my first night with a man who wouldn’t even kiss me sincerely or whisper sweet nothings about his love for me. There were many things to reflect over, but now I had to go back to reality. I was still groggy due to my lack of sleep.

Last night, I couldn’t sleep due to the tearing pain, which made me feel like my body was being torn apart. I repeatedly fell asleep, only to wake up soon in pain.

Meantime, Deric had fallen asleep like a person refreshed after a hard workout. His low, even breathing irked me to no end.

‘Now that you’ve taken over my body, you will open your eyes to pain.’

I pulled myself out of my complex thoughts and focused on my duty. Now that he was asleep, it was a great opportunity to get out of bed.

Deric was a very light sleeper because he had lived in an enemy country for a long time and had been constantly threatened with assassination attempts. His senses were so sensitive that ordinary people couldn’t compare to them.

I wasn’t sure if he was still capable of utilizing those characteristics even after switching bodies, but having lived as a hostage for more than a decade, his soul was sure to be more vigilant than others.

So it was wise to get out of the room as quickly as possible. I opened the door carefully and sneaked outside without letting out a single sound. It was time for me to implement the tricks that I had carefully prepared to protect my life and my family.

“Your Highness, at this hour…”

Deric’s escort, who was standing guard quite a distance from the door, was the first person to notice me. His entourage was usually led by his personal train of knights, called the “Black Wolves”, but today, since he was out with everyone, an ordinary imperial knight was put in charge.

‘I don’t think he’s as good as the knights from the Black Wolves unit.’

The Black Wolves were a contingent of knights who were held hostage along with Deric. Because of their great skills and sharp senses, they were also the most difficult people to deal with in the empire.

However, looking at the drooping eyes and poor pronunciation, it seemed that the knight in front of me had been dozing off. In this state, he would not be able to deduce that his master’s body contained a woman’s soul in it.

“I can’t sleep.”

When I said it, the escort easily accepted it. Anyone who had anything to do with the crown prince’s palace knew that Deric had insomnia. Fortunately, the escort knight also thought that was the case.

‘He doesn’t seem to notice it at all.’

I could feel the reward of my thorough preparations. There was no awkwardness in my behavior because I had been following and observing Deric persistently from the moment I laid my eyes on him. So, I was confident that I could completely imitate Deric’s tone, habits, gait, and even his breathing patterns. I would be able to perfectly pretend to be him for the next 15 days.

I came down to the first floor with my hands clasped behind my back. It was dawn but the sun hadn’t risen yet. The dozing escorts who were lying here and there, quickly got up and followed me. There were some nobles who were also awake. The most striking person among them was Marquis Cherville, Deric’s chief secretary. This Marquis, who was unmarried and over fifty years old, was a man whom the Emperor had placed beside Deric to help him prepare for the throne.

Marquis  Cherville had been loyal to the Emperor for generations, so with his status as the marquis, it was too excessive to appoint him as the Crown Prince’s chief secretary.

Appointing the marquis as the prince’s chief secretary was tantamount to declaring that the Emperor would abdicate the throne to Deric as soon as possible. His Majesty was very guilty for sending his 10-year-old son to the enemy country, so he wanted to make amends.

The marquis was a rare man among Deric’s entourage who possessed humor. He did a pretty good job and had a lot of experience in life.

“Your Highness, the rainstorm has stopped.”

Additionally, he was affable.

Just as the marquis said, the scenery outside of the window was calm with light clouds and clear blue skies.

It was a moment of relief for everyone who was worried about what they would do if the ship didn’t sail today.

Something came flying towards us from afar. The escort knight shaded his eyes, placing a hand on his forehead, and squinted to find out its identity.

“Your Highness, it’s the royal family’s messenger bird.”

As he said, a shiny black-haired bird was hovering about the window with a long dark red ribbon fluttering on its leg.

‘It’s finally here.’

The faces of people who didn’t know it was a fake messenger bird prepared by me and my helper paled at the news. The dark red ribbon meant someone in the imperial family was in critical condition.

And there was only one person in the current royal family who could be in critical condition.

Empress Elise, Deric’s mother and the Mother of the Empire.

Knowing that, I spoke in the low, cold voice of Deric.

“I’m going back first.”

If I did this, Deric would obviously be trapped in my body and not be able to figure out what was going on.

Everything went according to my plan. Some of the servants and the nobles who were still sleeping gathered and started preparing to leave the island by mid-day. Everything was going just as I had wanted.

Wearing a coat, Marquis Cherville approached me with an expressionless face and said to me, “Your Highness, Lady Chandler is still asleep.”

When I looked at him with the expression of “So?”, the marquis conceded as if he knew this would be the expected reaction.

“Then, I’ll leave the items you asked to deliver to the maids.”

‘I see, Deric had told him to deliver something to me.’

I was curious as to what those items might be, but then again I didn’t give much of a response because Deric wouldn’t do so. The marquis bowed his head and then went ahead to wake the captain and the others.

I could guess what the gift would be without even taking a look at it. Besides, I didn’t like his gifts very much. I still remember how he once handed me a gift that he had given to another young lady like he was throwing away the rejected gift.

‘Definitely, it must be a gift that was chosen by his attendants. Hehe, how ridiculous it must be for him to receive the gift back.’

I decided to stop thinking about him. The people quickly gathered in the lobby to return to the palace. When I was about to leave the villa with the captain in the lead, an unexpected voice came from behind my back.

“Ugh … wait, what is happening …!”

The voice was hoarse and a little cracked. It was the voice of Deric who had taken over my body. He woke up quite earlier than I had expected, maybe because his soul was still very sensitive.

I didn’t panic about the plan going awry, because I had anticipated this possibility. I didn’t turn around to face him. If I see him complaining of the intimate pain—a reward of his reckless actions last night—I wasn’t sure I could hide the gloating smile that was sure to appear on my face. I spoke in a cold voice that he’d used with me.

“Princess, don’t bother me.”

Just like he had once told me. Deric’s frowning and dazed face reflected in the metal decorations on the wall, but I left the villa without giving him a second look.

There is an old piece of folk wisdom that advises, “you reap what you sow.”

Footnotes
she’s calling his thing ‘equipment’ lol