HFMD - Chapter 73 < The Beast That Eat And Sleep >







"...Ha."

Randall covered his eyes with one hand, tilted his head back, and gasped for breath. Then he pulled his hand away and looked at Sylvia with his blazing eyes.

“You’ve done this to me and now you’re quitting, Ma’am?”

Sylvia's eyes widened as she was caught by both wrists under Randall's body in the blink of an eye. Her wrists were now held above her head by one of Randall's hands. Last time, she had told him that she could do whatever he wanted in bed, but there were rare times when Randall tried to beat her. For example, just now.

“Isn’t it too unfair to just satisfy my wife’s greed and then stop?”

As he spoke, Randall slowly scanned Sylvia's body with his gaze. His gaze was so explicit and explicit that even she felt her body heat up.

"..Hmm."

Sylvia lifted the corners of her mouth leisurely even though both her wrists were held. A strange smile that Randall often referred to as 'wild' appeared on her lips. Instead of her tied hands, Sylvia lifted her feet and skimmed Randall's abdomen with her toes. As soon as she touched him lightly, she could feel the muscles filling his abdomen tense up. She loved the body that reacted so quickly to even the slightest touch.

“So, you don’t like it?”

Sylvia asked with wide eyes. Randall's reason collapsed at that one question. Randall finally let out a groan as if he was in pain and smiled as if he was surrendering.

“...It’s a problem because I like it too much.”

With those words, Randall's lips searched for Sylvia's urgently. Sylvia willingly opened her lips to welcome him. All worries and concerns had long since disappeared, swept away by the pleasant heat.

*** 

A few days later.

“...I feel like an animal that eats, sleeps, eats, sleeps, and does things.”

Sylvia muttered hoarsely and got up from the bed. Turning her head, she felt the bed with her hand and found that the seat next to her was empty. She remembered Randall kissing her forehead in her sleep and whispering, “I’ll be back.” 

Sylvia got up from her seat and walked to the window. As she opened the curtains, the midday sunlight poured in, causing her to squint her eyes reflexively.

“I failed to wake up in the morning again today.”

Sylvia clicked her tongue lightly. After spending the night with Randall, all her energy was gone and it was not surprising that she would pass out and sleep until the afternoon of the next day. She soaked her aching body in the bath, changed her clothes, and fell down on the sofa. 

Although she had clearly been asleep for quite some time, her body was as damp as cotton soaked in water. The servants who knew that Sylvia was always dozing off during the day quietly left the room. That was when Sylvia was peacefully dozing off in the sunlight by the window.

“...Is that so?”

“Stop asking...”

A conversation flowed in from outside the window. Sylvia frowned and opened her eyes slightly to look out the window. She saw Lang annoying Auston and Auston looking disgusted at Lang.

“..."

When she saw Lang's face, the anxiety that she had forgotten thanks to Randall for the past few days came back like bitter water. Sylvia, who had been looking at Lang with complicated eyes, eventually drew the curtains to make him disappear from her sight. Only then did her troubled mind calm down.

"Ha..."

Sylvia still hadn't decided how to treat Lang. Should she treat him as a 'demon' who should be killed, or as a 'same race'? From the time she was 'Alyssa' until now. It was not that she didn't realize that the world had changed over the long years. The world had certainly changed. 

However, Sylvia's time was still half-stopped during the time when she had been betrayed by her comrades and was on the verge of death in Kelvetia. Perhaps because her mind was troubled, a very old memory kept coming back to her. 

'Alyssa' was an orphan without parents during the Great War. She had been alone since the moment she could remember, barely surviving by avoiding the demons and monsters until she was taken in by a couple.

"Honey, do you want to come with us?"

The couple who took in Alyssa were good people. They raised Alyssa as their own daughter, even though they had nothing because they saw her wandering the streets. However, they eventually lost their lives to the claws of a demon. Alyssa wanted to collect her parents' bodies and bury them in a sunny place, but she had to run away helplessly because of the demons that appeared after the demons. That's how she began wandering the streets again. Perhaps it was after that. She instinctively learned how to use magic. She decided to protect those precious to her from the demons and the demons. 

To Alyssa, the demons were always takers. They were destroyers who took away her family, her comrades, and her hopes. That was as obvious to Alyssa as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. 

That's why Sylvia was not happy about Lang's sudden appearance. Because he was someone who overturned the way she had lived and everything she knew. In a way, it was a rejection that was almost instinctive.

'There was going to be a twist anyway. Why should it be quiet now of all times?'

The North was originally a place where many large and small twists occurred, enough to be considered daily life. However, there were times when twists were almost nonexistent, and it just so happened that this was the time when Lang was staying in the castle. 

Sylvia leaned back on the back of the sofa, hoping that twists would occur soon so that Lang could be sent back. At that moment, the door suddenly opened as if it was noisy outside the room. The door opened and Thelma appeared.

"Lady!"

“What's going on?”

Even when Philia came crying, Thelma knocked and asked permission before entering the room. If she had opened the master’s room without warning, it would have been something serious. Sylvia stood up with a stern face. Thelma hurried to Sylvia’s side and bowed deeply. She opened her mouth with a trembling voice full of guilt.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s rude, but... His Highness the Crown Prince is now in front of the castle.”

For a moment, Sylvia doubted her ears.

“...What? Who’s with him?”

“Except for the knights and wizards who were assigned to escort...”

“Please will guide me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Thelma immediately led Sylvia to the first floor. As they crossed the garden, they saw David and his escort standing at the main gate in the distance, and the knights of Belfort blocking him with an embarrassed look on their faces.

“Ah, Duchess. You’re out.”

As soon as David saw Sylvia, he smiled brightly and nodded to the knights. When Sylvia appeared, the knights of Belfort hesitated and then stepped back from David and stood next to her.

“...Your Highness, you are not a one-year-old child who does not even know the basic courtesy of contacting the landlord before visiting. Even if you were just out on a mission, you should not have come here.”

Sylvia showed her displeasure without hesitation. But David paid no attention and grabbed the back of Sylvia's hand without permission and kissed her again earnestly.

“...!”

The servants' eyes turned fierce at the explicit kiss. Sylvia, who was unable to stop David in time, got goosebumps and immediately pulled her hand away. Regardless, David raised his upper body with a satisfied expression.

“I came to hear your response to my previous proposal, Ma’am.”

“...”

When David used the word 'proposal' so openly, Sylvia instinctively looked at the employees' expressions.

'It's clear that he didn't lower his voice on purpose.'

Sylvia gritted her teeth and glared at David.

“...Please come in first. I will guide you to the reception room.”

"Gladly."

Sylvia turned around and walked away, ignoring David's outstretched hand. The laughter and footsteps following behind her were maddeningly annoying. However, she couldn't kick him out because he was the Crown Prince, so Sylvia guided him to the reception room. She let David into the reception room first, then turned to Thelma and whispered softly.

“Request the Duke’s return, and when he returns, guide him straight here. Dismiss the servants nearby.”

“I contacted him a long time ago. However, the employees....”

“It’s okay. With so many witnesses, he can’t touch me. That would be a disgrace to the royal family.”

Thelma, who had been showing signs of worry, eventually obeyed the order, bowed, and disappeared. In fact, the order to dismiss the servants was because she was worried that the conversation between David and herself would leak to out. Auston was in the castle, and Randall had gone out with the knights to inspect, so even if he returned quickly, it would take more than 30 minutes. It would be fine if she finished talking to David in the meantime. 

Sylvia gathered her thoughts and went into the reception room.

“It’s definitely a different atmosphere from the South or the capital. I’ve never been here before.”

While Sylvia sat on the sofa, David walked around the living room, admiring the porcelain and decorations on display.

“Since you did not contact me in advance, I cannot speak to you for long, so please take your seat now, Your Highness.”

David finally sat down across from Sylvia after checking the doorknob of the reception room and listening to her request. There was a table hastily set with refreshments prepared by the servants. Sylvia had no intention of seeing David for a long time, so she got straight to the point.

“What’s going on? I wish you’d just keep it brief and leave.”

At those words, David, who was about to pick up his teacup, stopped. He smiled slyly and shrugged his shoulders.

“Aren’t you even going to give me time to have a cup of tea?”

“Tea is something you serve to guests, not something you would serve to an uninvited guest who suddenly shows up.”

“How spicy.”

David shook his head. Regardless, Sylvia just asked the question expressionlessly.

“Does His Majesty know that you are here?”

In short, it was a warning that the King would be furious if he found out that the Crown Prince had set foot in the North in such a state that he was practically alone. However, David was strangely relaxed.

“Yeah. He’ll probably be pretty pissed off when I get back. Anyway.”

David let go of the handle of his untouched teacup. He leaned his elbows on his knees, resting his chin on them, and smiled captivatingly.

“I came to hear the answer, my dear.”

“...”

“That’s what I suggested to you on Diabolos Street earlier.”

Was that the reason? 

Sylvia took a deep breath. The answer to that proposal had already been decided. She didn’t want to incur God’s wrath again by helping David, and above all, she didn’t want to harm Randall, who always stood at the forefront to protect the kingdom. 

Sylvia took a deep breath and slowly moved her lips. However, just as she was about to say no, David tilted his head and asked abruptly.

“Is it because of God that you hesitate to answer?”

The moment Sylvia heard those words, she instinctively stopped moving. Only her golden eyes, filled with fear, habitually looked up at the ceiling of the living room. Sylvia realized that series of actions a moment too late.

'Oops.'

She bit her lip with a look of defeat on her face. She should have said no and rejected him the very moment David asked her the question. That was the only way she could tell him what she was afraid of.

"Also."

David nodded as if he was asking himself a question. Sylvia glared at him silently. The next moment, David coaxed her with a gentle tone.

“You don’t have to worry about that. My plans would have remained the same whether I met you or not, and all I ask of you is... to act as a lubricant.”

Sylvia came to her senses at those words. She took a deep breath and retorted coldly.

“No one knows whether that lubricant will be the spark that sets everything on fire.”

And God was a being who could easily trample on her just for being a spark. Sylvia did not want that.

“There is only one thing I wish for. I...”

A lump formed in her throat as she thought of Randall's face. She was about to pull herself together and say that she hoped for a peaceful remainder of her life with Randall.

“You mean ‘death’?”

The moment he heard those words, Sylvia's breathing stopped, and David's eyes glanced toward the reception room door.


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