The Weight of Being Human

Bernessa clenched her teeth tightly and nodded, as if to say she would never let go.

Fren pressed down firmly on her chest.

When the rough fabric brushed against her nipples, Bernessa couldn’t help but shudder.

Fren continued to caress Bernessa’s chest over the cloth.

It felt completely different from when she was wearing nothing.

She couldn’t describe it exactly, but…

It felt frustratingly teasing.

With trembling eyes, Bernessa looked at the hand gripping her chest.

She thought it would be better if he just took the underwear off completely.

At that moment, as if he had read her mind, Fren put more strength into his hand.

After kneading her chest hard enough to leave marks, Fren pulled the fabric upward.

Her nipples, reddened from being rubbed by the cloth, were exposed.

Just as Bernessa felt a small sense of relief, Fren buried his face in her chest.

After licking her smooth skin, Fren began to bite down on her nipple.

Bernessa bit down harder on the clothes so she wouldn’t let go.

While rolling her nipple around in his mouth, Fren reached down and felt between Bernessa’s legs.

Then, after pulling his lips away from her saliva-soaked chest, he glanced downward.

“It’s hard?”

Bernessa couldn’t make a sound.

“It’s fine.

I’m turned on too.”

Fren lowered his clothes, exposing his fully aroused member.

He pulled Bernessa closer and grasped both of their erections at the same time.

It was unbearably embarrassing, yet Bernessa couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Fren ran his hand up and down once, then let go.

Bernessa, who had naturally assumed he would keep touching her until she came like last time, couldn’t help but feel flustered again.

“Bernessa.”

At that moment, Fren spoke with an angelic face.

“Put it in yourself.”

Bernessa almost dropped the clothes she was biting.

Fren urged her on without caring.

“Hurry.”

In the end, Bernessa brought her trembling hand between her hips.

The hole that had been stretched to the limit earlier had already tightened so much that even one finger was hard to insert.

Watching Bernessa struggle and fumble at herself, Fren asked—

“How long are you going to do that?

The night’s going to end at this rate.”

Bernessa flinched just as she was about to add another finger.

Growing anxious at the thought of making Fren wait any longer, she shut her eyes tight and tried to insert it directly.

But it was difficult from the start.

After lifting her body several times, she finally managed to push just the tip inside.

Clenching her teeth, Bernessa tried to move, but soon reached her limit.

As she whimpered helplessly, Fren let out an irritated sigh.

“You really take a lot of work.”

Saying that, he grabbed Bernessa’s waist with both hands.

He lifted her slightly, then slammed her down hard.

With a wet, tearing sensation, the tight interior was forced open in an instant, and Bernessa’s eyes rolled back.

“Ugh…!”

“Bernessa, honestly, hng, you’re no fun to thrust into.

You get this tight again so quickly.”

The clothes she’d been biting slipped down.

Fren kindly placed them back into her mouth and whispered—

“So sloppy.”

The moment he finished speaking, Fren began to move slowly.

As the inside that had been stiff and resistant gradually softened, Fren lightly tapped Bernessa’s cheek.

When she barely came back to her senses from that touch, Fren said—

“Now you really have to move.”

Bernessa squeezed her eyes shut and moved her body up and down.

Once the inside had been pierced, it accepted the weapon-like member without much resistance.

Every time it struck the deepest part, her entire body tingled sharply.

At some point, Bernessa had let go of the clothes and was moaning freely.

But this time, Fren didn’t point it out.

‘What a sight.’

He simply watched her bouncing chest with pleased eyes.

After a long bout of intimacy, Fren and Bernessa moved to the bed.

Fren held Bernessa, who was on the verge of fainting, then quietly lowered his hand.

Whitish fluid he hadn’t pulled out earlier was dripping from her opening.

Rubbing her wet lower body, he whispered—

“It’s soft like this now, but next time it’ll be tight again, right?”

‘Don’t tell me he wants to go again.’

“I wanted to see you loosened up, leaking seed everywhere.

What a shame.”

It was such a vulgar remark that it was hard to believe it came from Fren.

Even in her exhaustion, Bernessa couldn’t help but be shocked.

Fren stroked her stomach.

“Bernessa, what do you think it’d be like if you could get pregnant?”

She had truly never thought about it even once.

Fren pulled Bernessa tightly into his arms.

“If you could, you’d do it for me, right?

What I want is what you want too…

Yeah, of course you would.”

Her heart pounded violently.

Unlike humans, elves could conceive even with the same s*x.

That was why gender was never an issue when choosing a marriage partner.

Fren fiddled with Bernessa’s stomach as he spoke.

“If you got pregnant, your belly would swell like earlier, and milk would come out too, right?”

“…Yes, it would.”

“Just imagining it is lovely.”

With that, Fren fell asleep holding Bernessa tightly.

Bernessa quietly stared at Fren’s sleeping face.

If Bernessa had been an elf instead of a human, so many things would have been different.

She wouldn’t have been trapped in such a harsh environment, and her back wouldn’t have bent.

But she also wouldn’t have been able to stand as upright as she did now.

Bernessa couldn’t shake the thought that even if she had been born an elf, she would still have caught Fren’s eye and learned many things.

She might have stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

Perhaps she might even have served in the military alongside him.

‘I could have been with him during his hardest times.’

As she stroked Fren’s scar-covered arm, Bernessa imagined—

‘If I really weren’t human….’

Instead of rounded human ears, she would have had long, pointed ears.

Without grueling training, she would have had light steps and a nimble body.

Rather than being saved by Fren, they would have helped each other from equal footing from the start.

‘And maybe….’

They might even have married.

She would have borne his child, just as he wished.

Growing old at a similar pace, she would have stayed by his side until the very end.

All while despising humans who were worked to death as slaves.

At that moment, it was as if cold water had been thrown over her.

Her mind snapped clear.

She didn’t know why that thought had only come to her now.

With the man she loved so dearly right beside her, Bernessa thought—

‘…I’m glad I’m not an elf.’

She wanted to live well, but she didn’t want to live well by exploiting others.

She recalled Genoise, who always smiled despite how hard kitchen work was, Angel, who took their own life as soon as they arrived here, and Niona, who followed her like an older sibling.

Imagining herself as an elf, using them without guilt, sent genuine chills down her spine.

Bernessa clenched her useless fist tightly.

‘Maybe thoughts like this are only possible because I’m human.

I really am contradictory.’

She hated humans more than anyone.

Yet she hated seeing them suffer.

Bernessa felt as though she were trapped in a maze.

The next day, having fully regained his vigor, Fren worked through the newly piled-up tasks as if possessed.

“Sleeping well really helps me focus.”

“…It’d be good if you went to bed early tonight too.”

“I think so too.

There’s plenty to do before sleeping.”

Fren lightly nudged Bernessa’s waist.

Feeling her waist throb again, Bernessa laughed.

If she hadn’t trained for so long, she wouldn’t have been able to move at all on the bed.

Stamina really was better the more you built it.

‘But it still hurts.’

As Bernessa silently endured the pain, Fren spoke.

“Bernessa, you can sit down.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Sit over there and eat some snacks.

You need to replenish your strength.”

On the table were a plate piled high with cookies and a tart topped generously with fresh fruit and whipped cream.

‘It’d be nice if I could bring this to Genoise too.’

Fresh fruit was one of the foods slaves rarely got to eat.

As Bernessa ate mechanically while thinking that, there was a knock at the door.

Knock, knock.

Fren scribbled his name on a document and asked—

“What is it?”

“A visitor has come to see you.”

Someone coming without notice.

It had to be Nepher.

She had only just managed to steady her heart, and now it was bound to get complicated again.

‘No.

Maybe this is actually a good thing.’

Fren and Nepher were close, so they were bound to run into each other often.

It would be ridiculous to get shaken every time.

Just as Bernessa steeled herself to get used to it—

“It’s Nepher, right?

Tell him to go back today.”

“That’s the thing…

It’s not Nepher.”

Fren and Bernessa turned their heads at the same time.

“It’s a messenger from the royal family.”

“What about?”

“I asked, but he insists that no matter what, he must speak to you directly.

I told him several times that you’re busy, but he won’t budge.

He says he won’t leave until he meets you.”

“It can’t be helped.

Send him up.”

“Yes.”

The head butler immediately went down the stairs.

Fren muttered as he set his quill down—

“Are the royals trying to pick a fight with me now?”

Given how much scrutiny he was already under, Bernessa couldn’t help but think the same.

Resolving not to let his guard down, Fren greeted the messenger.

“Welcome.

What brings you here so suddenly?”

“I apologize for visiting without prior notice.

But there is something I must tell you.”

“What is it?

It doesn’t seem like an ordinary urgent matter.”

“Well, um…

First, that s*ave should leave the room.”

Before the messenger could finish, Fren quickly cut in—

“As you know, that s*ave is a work I treasure dearly.

If Bernessa reveals anything said from this point on, I will take responsibility, so don’t worry.”

“If you say so, I’ll trust you and speak.”

The messenger suddenly dropped to his knees and confessed—

“Princess Daphne has kidnapped Lady Silvia.”

“…What?”

Both Fren and Bernessa were left speechless.