Emmelyn stared at the man sleeping beside her with rounded eyes. She didn't expect Mars would just sleep like that.

Was he that tired from training with his troops today?

Or was he sick?

Hmm ... but this bastard looked okay during dinner, Emmelyn thought. After thinking for a while, she then put her hand on Mars' forehead to check his temperature.

[Ahh .. he doesn't have a fever.]

[Alright, then he must be drained. I'll let him rest.]

Emmelyn then got up from the bed, put away her book, changed into a thin nightgown, then climbed back into bed and put out the candles. After pulling the blanket up to her chest, she closed her eyes.

Ten minutes later, Emmelyn was fast asleep.

Meanwhile, lying down next to her with his eyes closed, Mars, who had been pretending to be asleep, finally opened his eyes after feeling the sound of Emmelyn's breathing become regular.

He turned to the side and watched Emmelyn's side profile. This girl was very beautiful, and she had an attractive personality.

Somehow, all the exhaustion he felt after doing his strenuous activities all day was gone when he lay down next to this girl and see her before he slept.

Ahh .. Mars realized he had not taken the sleeping potion from Doctor Vitas for several days already, and yet he had managed to sleep well.

This had never happened before.

He suspected that it was due to Emmelyn's presence in his life.

Uhm .. during those nights, his body indeed became drained after making love to her, and he had no energy left to open his eyes. So, it might be one of the reasons why he slept so well now.

However, he actually thought that even without sex, he felt much calmer and relaxed with her around.

It was evidenced by the fact that they didn't have sex tonight, and both of them were not even naked, but Mars still felt the same comfort as he had the night before.

Emmelyn's distinctive scent on his nostrils seemed to have a calming effect he had never experienced anywhere else. Why was her scent so addictive?

Ahhh .. Mars raised his head and supported it with his right hand so he could look at Emmelyn more clearly. The light in this chamber was very dim but he could see every curve of her face very well.

Ah... she was so beautiful.

Mars thought if this beautiful face could be the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes every night, and the first thing he saw after he opened them every morning, Mars would be delighted.

Suddenly he felt a pang of headache when his mind went back to their conversation at the dinner table earlier.

Emmelyn clearly showed the attitude that she didn't care about Mars. After one week together, the girl still insisted that she did not want to marry him.

The girl only considered herself a womb owner who was renting it out to Mars to grow his children, and she would be compensated according to their agreement, that was all. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Would Emmelyn really have the heart to leave her children with Mars and just walk away once she fulfilled her end of the deal? Was there such a coldhearted woman in this world?

Mars couldn't help compare Emmelyn with his own mother. Queen Elara was a warm and very affectionate woman.

She was truly a wonderful mother. Unfortunately, most of her children died stillborn or in infancy. Mars was the only one who survived to adulthood.

The prince could not imagine if his mother was like Emmelyn and left him when he was a baby. Of course, his life would suffer terribly without his mother's love.

What will happen to our children when Emmelyn leaves? Mars thought sadly. He might be forced to inconvenience his mother to help him raise the children.

He shook his head and looked at Emmelyn with clenched jaws.

[I'll make you stay. No matter what it takes.]

[You will not leave me.]

Mars knew he couldn't lock Emmelyn up and force his will on her. Mars didn't want Emmelyn to hate him for life.

The girl had also threatened him that she would commit suicide and take the baby with her if Mars would force her.

That would be Mars' biggest nightmare because it would mean that he would lose his only chance to have children.

Dammit. Tonight, he felt so mad at Emmelyn that he didn't even have sex with her before going to sleep.

[You shouldn't put your personal feelings above your duty.]

Mars chided himself. The royal physician had said that he and Emmelyn should have sexual intercourse as often as possible to make sure the girl would get pregnant.

So, even though he was upset and angry, Mars must not forget his duty to his country. He must produce heirs to be his successors.

With that thought in mind, Mars finally got up and took off his shirt and pants. Once he was naked, the man slipped his hand under Emmelyn's nightgown and peeled it off of her.

Emmelyn, who was fast asleep, was not aware that she was being stripped naked.

The prince then took a blanket and covered him and Emmelyn, then he positioned his body on top of the girl and pressed on her.

It was his duty to procreate. He shouldn't let his personal feelings got in the way.

To make sure her body was ready to receive him, Mars kissed Emmelyn's neck and then went down to her collarbone and slowly made his way down to her breasts.

Once he found her nipples, he kissed and sucked them alternately while his left hand touched Emmelyn's core and played with her clit.

Slowly, he felt his fingers getting wet with her love juice. Once he thought her body was ready, Mars positioned his penis to enter her secret entrance... and pushed all the way in.

Emmelyn suddenly opened her eyes when she felt a big, rock hard, warm object entered her.

.

.

>>>>>

From the author:

Okay, I didn't know that I have to elaborate here that there is NO R-A-P-E in my books. Two people so far had called that the scene in this chapter where Mars initiated sex when Emmelyn was asleep as r-a-p-e.

I thought it was obvious that IT WASN'T, but apparently not to a few people.

So, please allow me to explain here what actually happened.

Mars came to Emmelyn's bedroom to do his duty to procreate with her. It's part of their agreement.

She knew it, he knew it.

She was looking forward to it, and (in the next chapter) was even disappointed that he didn't do it passionately as he always did.

Emmelyn was upset that he 'gave her the silent treatment' and took her sweet time with the wine. The man fell asleep while she was drinking.

He, too, was upset because she was harsh to him earlier, and he was dead tired after training so hard with his soldiers to vent his frustration.

He woke up in the middle of the night and remembered he had to do his duty to procreate. He was not in the mood for sex since he was still upset.

However, he still did his job.

She woke up during sex (and you can read in the succeeding chapter) she had a good time.

I NEVER have overbearing/scummy/rapey male leads in my novels and I feel weird that people even have to write warnings in their books that they don't contain r-a-p-e.

WEBNOVEL DOESN'T ALLOW R.A.P.E SCENES in the books published on this platform. NOT ALLOWED. There, you have it.

If you saw such scenes published in Webnovel, they were mostly in translation books (Chinese novels from Qidian, Webnovel's mother company). I will not comment on them.

Webnovel staff was clear to contracted original authors that there should be NO explicit sex scenes in the first 10 chapters and there should be no r.a.p.e, no in-cest, no sex with minors, etc. All are pretty much COMMON SENSE, right?

So, I thought it was a given and there is no need for me to make such a warning just to let people know I don't write r-a-p-e.

Now, I cannot force you to see this scene from my perspective if you have made up your mind that something is what it wasn't.

I respect that people with different backgrounds and exposure will see things differently. It's okay. I cannot please everyone.

If certain scenes are triggering for you, I advise you to find other books to read. I hope you will find books that will make you happy when you read them.

I only want to make people happy and warm when they read my stories. If this book doesn't do it for you, then it's simply not for you. Thank you for stopping by. xx.

.

PS: I've got an elaborate comment written by a reader @Saiurie, which was sadly deleted by Webnovel app accidentally. I agree with her and I will post it here for you to read. Please, please... don't throw around the word 'r a pe' so easily because it can literally ruin people's lives.

From Saiurie:

To:

.... the young people that's never been in real actual "living together" sleeping IN THE SAME BED with the person YOUR SE-X-UALLY ACTIVE WITH 🤦‍♀️ 🫂

the "overly offended at everything" crowd. 🚔🚨

and the "technicality" Crowd ‐ 🤓🧐👩‍💻

- this is NOT R A P E.

SHE WANTED TO DO IT

SHE WAS ANNOYED THEY DIDNT DO IT

apparently... She's EVEN ANNOYED IT WASNT AS GOOD AS IT NORMALLY IS...

also she made an agreement to do it. to have his kids. AND agreed to do it every day. she's sleeping in his bed with the sole purpose for them to conceive a child.

... you guys REALLY need to actually realize not everything is so black and white. "Read the room" or rather ... "the situation" yes... technically in the definition of "r a p e," it says "Unconscious" ... but .... waking someone up to s-e-x that's WILLING and WANTING it IS NOT the same as R A P E.

yelling R-a-p-e is nothing to be taken lightly. in a real situation, stuff like that can literally ruin people's lives. not just ruin but take people's lives. now if there was no agreement beforehand. and she wasn't wanting it nor was she in his bed expecting it. had she said STOP the moment she realized what was going on. or something along those lines. then yeah ok. but in this situation, this is NOT r-a-p-e.

I say again. with all seriousness READ THE SITUATION. NOT EVERYTHING IS SO BLACK AND WHITE.

seriously couples wake each other up to s-e-x all the time. and while technically they may not be a couple per se... they basically are.