HPV 105

Extra 2 – Episode 1

When I brought up marriage in front of everyone, their reactions were quite something.

“What, marriage without even dating? You just barely started going out!”

Paronai’s eyes widened like lanterns. At that moment, Penzey muttered quietly behind me, “They did date. For three whole months.” I heard it but ignored him.

But when I said what came next, even Penzey was a little thrown off.

“No guests at all?”

“No flowers? No cake? No wedding aisle? You’re skipping all of it? Then what’s the point?”

“Skipping everything. It only means something if it’s just the two of us.”

Paronai insisted he had to come as a guest, but there was no changing my mind.

Two people were enough. I didn’t want to be anyone’s spectacle.

“Then so be it. But—”

Yurichen took my hand. He placed his hand on top of my right hand resting on my lap, then layered his other hand over it.

“I wish you peace and happiness in every day to come.”

Leaning slightly toward me, Yurichen brought his closed eyes and forehead close to mine.

“You must live well. Truly live well.”

For no reason, my heart swelled.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“If Banwes ever makes you sad, come to the temple. I promise, he’ll never be able to get in.”

I let that remark slide with an awkward chuckle. Paronai, sulking for a moment, quickly moved on to someone else.

“Watch out for Bzhan. He might sneak off to spy on you.”

“Banwes will sense it, so it’s fine.”

The boy flinched.

Sorry, but not even our closest comrades were allowed. We didn’t even have an officiant.

Some might argue that without one, the ceremony isn’t legitimate, but I didn’t want anyone interfering.

I just wanted a promise, made face-to-face. This wasn’t a wedding meant to be declared before others. It had to be ours, and ours alone.

We prepared exactly two things: a pretty cake I wanted to eat, and the kingdom’s most commonly used formal vow script.

Banwes was fine with any form of pledge, as long as it meant we were getting married. The only thing he wasn’t fond of was the vow wording.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you wrote the lines yourself?”

“Mm… This time, I want to try doing it the way everyone else does.”

He nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t fully convinced.

If I’d asked, he would have worn even the tight ceremonial clothes that felt like a straitjacket to him. But this wasn’t about discomfort, it was a deeper question.

“What meaning is there in reciting the same vow as every other human?”

Even as he arranged the platform in the garden of our new home and marked the place for us to stand face-to-face, that question lingered in his mind.

“I’ll begin.”

With a heart pounding hard, I stood in front of him. In my hands were the words I had written down from the vow script.

Banwes once refused to eat anything made by humans. But anything I tasted, he would follow and eat without hesitation.

He had never once found anything like poison.

So I was confident, if I was the one reciting these vows, he would accept them differently.

***

To be honest, when Riarun read the first sentence, the man didn’t think much of it. It was just that Riarun’s voice sounded so pleasant, it tickled his eardrums.

But then, with every passing phrase, his heart began to ache a little more, and before he knew it, he was completely absorbed in the simple words used by ordinary humans.

The vows, words he’d thought were common to the point of being cliché.

And yet, those vows were the magical words that had united countless couples across the world.

Relying on the laws of the world, and yet carrying a love unlike any other, Riarun was asking him:

Were they truly ready to become each other’s destiny?

“In joy and in sorrow, will you always be honest with each other, never let your heart waver, and remain by each other’s side until the day you die?”

The beautiful words rang out in a clear, resonant voice. Words that drenched his head in warmth and lit his heart like fire.

And all of it, was his.

Even a monster like him was forming a family, just like any other person.

Banwes couldn’t take his eyes off the radiant person before him. In a daze, he parted his lips.

“Yes. I swear.”

The deep, low voice startled Riarun into looking up. His eyes wavered, this was the first time he’d ever heard Banwes speak so formally.

There was a separate phrase prepared for asking the bride to take his vows, but Banwes couldn’t read the text even if it were handed to him.

“In joy and in sorrow, will you always be honest with each other, never let your heart waver, and remain by each other’s side until the day you die?”

So he had no choice but to repeat what Riarun had said. And yet, after hearing it only once, he remembered the words perfectly. That simple fact made him seem impossibly lovely, as if touched by a miracle, and incomparably noble, as if eternal.

Riarun swallowed the lump rising in his throat and answered brightly,

“I swear.”

He no longer hid the affection that drew him in, and now even Banwes’s blunt words sounded sweet.

Their eyes locked in a deep gaze. Riarun, his face flushed, looked down and stammered slightly.

“N-Next is when the bride and groom kiss in front of everyone…”

Thud. The platform Banwes had pushed fell to the floor. But Riarun didn’t hear the noise, his senses were overwhelmed by the searing heat that burst from their joined lips.

Their tongues tangled instantly, roaming wildly in the depths of each other’s mouths, filling the space with a slick sound. A sweet, aching taste spread from his tongue to his throat and down to his lower belly, sending a thrilling pulse through him.

Riarun’s arms wrapped around Banwes’s neck. Their bodies clung to each other like vines. Struggling to hold back, Riarun whispered breathlessly,

“Let’s go inside.”

No sooner had he spoken than Banwes lifted him up, one arm under his back and the other under his thighs. Riarun’s legs wrapped instinctively around his waist.

The cake, topped with cream, was sure to dry out in the outdoor air, but neither of them gave it a second thought.

As they kissed, stepping into the still unfamiliar house, Banwes’s heavy frame bumped against the doorway, knocking small objects from the shelves. He could hardly walk straight, preoccupied with brushing and pressing his lips against Riarun’s soft mouth.

Thump. Riarun’s body landed on the bed. Banwes followed, closing the distance between them.

“Can I…?”

Banwes murmured softly at Riarun’s ear. His body was already warm against his, the heat sparking through to his core.

“You don’t need permission… I’m your mate, aren’t I?”

Riarun’s heart thudded hard, and then his eyes turned red. Overcome with emotion and desire, Banwes felt his reason slipping.

He kissed Riarun’s skin tenderly, like a bird pecking gently. First his fingers. Then his palms. The hollow beneath them. His wrist.

As though performing a sacred rite, his eyes dazed with devotion, he planted soft kisses one by one. The lips pressed to skin felt as if they might melt, and the large man shuddered.

His hands wandered lower as he placed a firm kiss on Riarun’s slender, pale neck. He sucked lightly, his breath hot, leaving a faint sheen of warmth behind.

When had it started? Perhaps even before they were ever joined, long before.

Whenever they were left alone, Riarun’s heartbeat would race, his whole body thrumming as if he’d been walking a great distance.

To think it was simply because he liked being with him, his joy was unspeakable. And that wasn’t all. They had made a vow of eternity, said “I love you” with those delicate lips, and shared their hearts.

‘He’s completely mine.’

A bottomless, overwhelming fullness pressed down on Banwes. Riarun looked up at him, dazed with tension and anticipation.

“Mmh.”

As Riarun shifted, Banwes’s hands slipped under his clothes, making him flinch slightly in surprise.

“Me too…”

Riarun twisted slightly, freeing one of Banwes’s arms, and reached up to tug at his collar. Breathing warmly, he pressed a kiss to the nape of Banwes’s neck.

The jolt of sensation made Banwes freeze for a moment, as if ambushed.

Riarun licked gently at the firm skin, as though savoring something sweet, then nibbled, though he barely left a mark. Faint red spots dotted the darker-toned skin.

His slender but soft hands slipped inside Banwes’s shirt. The moment they touched, Banwes felt the muscles of his abdomen tighten.

He was at his limit. The self-control he had barely held onto was on the verge of slipping away like a wild beast in heat.

Banwes gently pushed Riarun back onto the bed. Caught off guard, Riarun gasped softly, the corners of his lips still damp.

When Banwes carefully tugged down Riarun’s trousers, pale skin was revealed, enough to send his mind spinning.