My Three Beautiful Vampire Wives can hear my Inner Thoughts-Chapter 48: Cornelia’s momentum

Everyone stood frozen.

It was not the sharp, alert stillness of soldiers awaiting orders, nor the tense quiet before battle. It was the kind of silence that came when a single sentence shattered every expectation in the air and left nothing standing where certainty once lived.

Even the blood mist drifting through the courtyard seemed to hesitate, as if unsure whether it was still allowed to move.

Cedrick’s lips parted, but no sound came out. His mind raced, trying to grasp what he had just heard, trying to fit it into the image of Cornelia he had carried for years.

Zed’s eyes darted from Cornelia to Cain and back again, his brows drawn together so tightly they nearly touched.

Hall stood rigid, his jaw clenched, while William’s expression was unreadable, his gaze lowered just enough to hide whatever calculation passed through his eyes.

The blood guards, who moments ago had stood firm like statues carved from ancient stone, now looked unsettled.

Their grip on their spears loosened slightly, not out of fear, but out of sheer disbelief. This was not how things were supposed to go.

This was not a line Madam Cornelia was meant to cross so openly, so decisively, and certainly not in front of so many witnesses.

Meanwhile, Cain felt as if the world had tilted.

Before he could gather his thoughts, Cornelia turned toward him. Her steps were unhurried, measured, each one closing the distance between them with terrifying inevitability.

To everyone else, it looked calm.

To Cain, it felt like time itself had slowed to a crawl.

Her hand lifted.

The movement was gentle, almost hesitant, but to Cain it might as well have been thunder. Her fingers brushed his shoulder, then settled there, warm and solid. His breath caught in his throat as her other arm came around his neck, resting there with an intimacy that made his entire body lock up.

His senses screamed.

He could smell her, the faint metallic sweetness of Moonshade blood mixed with something softer, something unmistakably her. He could feel the heat of her skin through the thin layers of fabric. He could hear her breathing, steady but slightly uneven, close enough that every breath felt like it was stolen from his own lungs.

Slow motion.

That was the only way he could describe it. The world beyond her arms blurred into meaninglessness.

"Cain," Cornelia said quietly.

Her voice was lower than usual, not commanding, not sharp. There was a softness there that did not belong to the Cornelia he remembered, and that terrified him more than any blade ever could.

"I know we are unfair," she continued, her words careful, almost practiced. "Since the day we married you, my sisters and I never truly tried to bridge the distance between us. We accepted you as our husband in name, but we never... took the final step."

Her grip tightened slightly, as if she needed the contact to steady herself.

"I am not good at this," she admitted, her tone turning shy in a way that looked utterly wrong on her and yet painfully right. "I do not know how to speak gently like others do. But if this is what is required, then I am willing."

Cain’s mind erupted into chaos.

Disaster. This is a complete disaster.

What the hell is happening? Why is she doing this now? Why does she look like that? Why does she sound like that?

His body refused to listen to his reason. His instincts, honed over countless lifetimes, were screaming at him to retreat, to break free, to end this before it spiraled further out of control. And yet his feet would not move. His hands remained useless at his sides.

What should I do? What should I do? Damn it, move! Say something! Anything!

She leaned closer, her forehead nearly brushing his chest.

"What," she asked softly, almost nervously, "you do not want me?"

Cain swallowed so hard his throat hurt.

Inside his head, he was screaming.

What the fuck! What do you mean I don’t want you? No! That’s not what I meant! This can’t be happening! I thought you weren’t dangerous like Ivira, I really did! But why does everything look so natural on you? Why does it feel like you’re doing this without even trying? Fuck no! Fuck no!

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

I can’t control my body. This is bad. This is really bad. Someone save me. Anyone.

But Cornelia heard it all.

Every frantic thought. Every panicked curse. Every reluctant admission he tried to bury under layers of denial.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"So, what are you staring at me for?"she asked, her voice sharpening just enough to cut, "don’t tell me you came with me tonight expecting nothing? Don’t tell me you are turned off of me?"

The words struck harder than any slap.

For the first time, Cornelia felt something twist painfully in her chest. It was not rage, not jealousy, but something far more personal.

"Fuck! Fuck! You don’t have any idea how beautiful you are to me right now? What do you mean!?"

Cain swallowed.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Cornelia looked satisfied, but she felt like she can do this so he immediately straightened, and the grip on him strengthened. And then, slowly, she took his hand, her fingers firm around his.

"In the past," she said, her voice steady but edged with emotion, "you acted arrogant. You provoked the vanguards. You made yourself hated. I thought you were just foolish, desperate for attention."

Her gaze locked onto his.

"Only now do I realize how much you wanted mine"

Cain’s eyes widened.

"That is why," she continued, her voice dropping, "as your wife, I cannot deny my own fault. I neglected you. I stood against you. And yet you stayed."

She drew closer again, her expression softening in a way that made his chest ache.

"Since you want me that much," she said quietly, "then you may have me."

Cain’s mind went completely blank. He wanted to vomit blood but could not.

This... this isn’t the Cornelia I knew.

The proud, iron-willed woman who never bent, never softened, now stood before him with eyes that had lost their edge and gained something far more dangerous.

Don’t look at me like that, he thought weakly. Please don’t. Those eyes were terrifying before, but now... now they’re killing me.

Am I... am I really going to fall today? Me? An Overgod?

He felt it. A subtle weakening, a dangerous slip in his control.

Before the moment could deepen further, a voice cut through the air.

"Madam!"

Cedrick stepped forward, his expression strained.

"This is an emergency situation. This is not the time."

William joined him immediately. "There are procedures. This cannot be decided here."

Hall added quickly, "Please reconsider. The Blood Hall—"

Zed nodded stiffly. "There are eyes everywhere."

Their words overlapped, urgent, almost desperate, as if trying to pull Cornelia back from a line she had already crossed.

Cornelia turned slowly.

The annoyance in her eyes was unmistakable.

She had never looked at them like this before, and Cedrick felt something sink painfully in his chest. For years, he had believed there was an unspoken understanding between them, a quiet bond formed through shared duty and respect.

But this look right now shattered it completely.

"What?" Cornelia asked coldly. "You do not want me to consummate my marriage?"

They had no answer.

"Then tell me," she continued, her tone hardening, "how exactly am I supposed to enter?"

Silence.

No one dared speak.

Then a new voice rose from the edge of the courtyard.

Clear. Calm. Curious.

"What is going on here?"

Heads turned.

From the shadowed path leading toward the Blood Hall stepped a woman draped in elegant crimson robes, her silver hair catching the moonlight. Her presence alone shifted the atmosphere, the air bending slightly around her as several vampiric nobles followed in her wake.

Sevette Moonshade.

Daughter of a high elder.

Her gaze swept across the gathered soldiers, lingered briefly on Cain, then settled on Cornelia with sharp interest.

"Well?" she asked, one delicate brow lifting. "Why does it look like I arrived in the middle of something... very interesting?"