“Comfort me.”
I felt goosebumps on my arms.
When he approached me like this, Kaian was always neat and tidy.
Now, having been living outside with soldiers for nearly a month, he looked expressionless and somewhat rough and sharp. In addition, I could sense a strange scent from him that was different from what I usually smelled.
‘He feels different.’
Maybe that’s why I felt a momentary sense of rejection as if a strange man, not a husband I could allow, had suddenly hugged me.
Kaian didn’t back down even though I instinctively tense my body and hunched my shoulders.
“...Kaian?”
It seemed that it wasn’t a request I could refuse, since he was asking for comfort.
Kaian roughly took the space between my lips, where his name had barely escaped my lips.
Thump, thump.
My heart trembled slightly from the tension.
The man who held my face with one hand, with the other, carefully untied the remnants of the leather armor that ran from my shoulders to my waist and over my hips. The white tunic shirt that went down to my mid-thigh and the pants that men would wear when putting on their armor were disheveled and undone when the thick belt that had held my waist disappeared.
As if he had been waiting for that moment of defenselessness, he put his hand under my shirt.
“Ah.”
When I opened her eyes wide in surprise, Kaian shamelessly picked me up and laid me down on the bed.
“Wait a minute. Isn’t this not the time?”
“Not the time?”
I blushed.
“It’s important. To end the war.”
“No way.”
Kaian pressed his lips to my cheek and said casually.
“It was always like that. Not now.”
“What do you mean not? Heh.”
“Someone tied up the enemy leader I should have caught with rope.”
“...”
His hands caressing my skin felt a little rougher than when we were in the castle.
Nevertheless, I was very used to him moving cautiously with desire. Only then did I relax the tension that had been firmly hanging on my shoulders.
When I raised my arm and gently caressed the back of Kaian’s neck with my hand, he lowered his body to me, leaning down.
I wrapped both arms around his neck.
Then Kaian hugged me tightly as if he had been waiting.
It was a reasonable choice not to take off his clothes completely.
We didn’t have enough time to slowly remove everything that covered our bodies, and the air was so cold that it felt different even in the same Rowen estate.
However, the act of putting our hands inside each other’s clothes and feeling each other’s familiar bodies was strangely more stimulating.
I stroked Kaian’s black hair and traced his round earlobes with my fingertips.
“Whew.”
I felt goosebumps on my arms.
When he approached me like this, Kaian was always neat and tidy.
Now, having been living outside with soldiers for nearly a month, he looked expressionless and somewhat rough and sharp. In addition, I could sense a strange scent from him that was different from what I usually smelled.
‘He feels different.’
Maybe that’s why I felt a momentary sense of rejection as if a strange man, not a husband I could allow, had suddenly hugged me.
Kaian didn’t back down even though I instinctively tense my body and hunched my shoulders.
“...Kaian?”
It seemed that it wasn’t a request I could refuse, since he was asking for comfort.
Kaian roughly took the space between my lips, where his name had barely escaped my lips.
Thump, thump.
My heart trembled slightly from the tension.
The man who held my face with one hand, with the other, carefully untied the remnants of the leather armor that ran from my shoulders to my waist and over my hips. The white tunic shirt that went down to my mid-thigh and the pants that men would wear when putting on their armor were disheveled and undone when the thick belt that had held my waist disappeared.
As if he had been waiting for that moment of defenselessness, he put his hand under my shirt.
“Ah.”
When I opened her eyes wide in surprise, Kaian shamelessly picked me up and laid me down on the bed.
“Wait a minute. Isn’t this not the time?”
“Not the time?”
I blushed.
“It’s important. To end the war.”
“No way.”
Kaian pressed his lips to my cheek and said casually.
“It was always like that. Not now.”
“What do you mean not? Heh.”
“Someone tied up the enemy leader I should have caught with rope.”
“...”
His hands caressing my skin felt a little rougher than when we were in the castle.
Nevertheless, I was very used to him moving cautiously with desire. Only then did I relax the tension that had been firmly hanging on my shoulders.
When I raised my arm and gently caressed the back of Kaian’s neck with my hand, he lowered his body to me, leaning down.
I wrapped both arms around his neck.
Then Kaian hugged me tightly as if he had been waiting.
It was a reasonable choice not to take off his clothes completely.
We didn’t have enough time to slowly remove everything that covered our bodies, and the air was so cold that it felt different even in the same Rowen estate.
However, the act of putting our hands inside each other’s clothes and feeling each other’s familiar bodies was strangely more stimulating.
I stroked Kaian’s black hair and traced his round earlobes with my fingertips.
“Whew.”
When I sighed in relief, Kaian, who had been enjoying my soft and smooth skin for a long time, raised his head.
“Why are you sighing?”
“Just...”
If he had been injured even once, I would have had a hard time bearing it.
How heartbreaking it had been to send Kaian to the battlefield.
He said that the most heartbreaking and shocking thing in his life was her disappearance.
Sending Kaian to his death came back to me like karma for my past actions.
It was true that I wanted to ask Valquiterre about what he had done to Julien and myself.
I wanted to make sure that he was doing well.
When I resented him for being a terrible person who could not get along with others, I didn’t mind not seeing him for months.
When I sent my husband, who I had barely gotten along with, to a dangerous place, I felt anxious and had a hard time bearing it.
Despite that, I didn’t want to tell him something like, “There’s nothing injured.”
That was because I felt that if I did, a misfortune that would replace the good fortune I had had so far would sneak up on me somewhere. It was when I tried to change the subject as if it was nothing.
“You’re getting better,”
He said happily, having been gently rubbing and caressing my body the whole time.
“I was worried that you might skip a meal.”
“Everyone is anxious because they can’t feed me.”
The butler and the doctor were serious about checking my food intake, wondering what Kaian had asked them to do.
I hugged Kaian tightly and said quickly,
“You know, that’s the wild buffalo calf you caught and raised.”
“Yes.”
“I ate it.”
I became sullen in real time as I said those words.
“Ha. You made such a fuss about not wanting to.”
“When I told the doctor that I wanted to visit you for a while, he jumped up and down and opposed me.”
“But you came anyway.”
“He said I had to take the medicine twice more.”
“Good job.”
Kaian answered blandly.
“Who do you think I brought it here for?”
“I said I wouldn’t take it, so I thought maybe.”
Kaian hugged me and kissed me deeply.
Her presence was like a flower blooming in a desolate and dangerous battlefield.
A flower that would be run over and trampled by the soldiers running at full speed, disappearing without a trace.
The woman standing tall with her red hair fluttering in the wind to kill Valquiterre was so beautiful.
And yet, the woman who came to him in danger seemed even more precious and strong because of that.
‘If I say that as a compliment, it’ll be a headache, right?’
There was a possibility that someone who was watching him would become arrogant and refuse to return to the territory.
Claudel and Kaien hid their feelings little by little.
Contrary to their dishonest feelings, their bodies pressed close together and their lips pressed together were even more sorrowful. As if to convey their unspoken sincerity. Their short reunion, accompanied by a natural separation, was regrettable, so their breaths, once entangled, did not let up easily.
“Why are you sighing?”
“Just...”
If he had been injured even once, I would have had a hard time bearing it.
How heartbreaking it had been to send Kaian to the battlefield.
He said that the most heartbreaking and shocking thing in his life was her disappearance.
Sending Kaian to his death came back to me like karma for my past actions.
It was true that I wanted to ask Valquiterre about what he had done to Julien and myself.
I wanted to make sure that he was doing well.
When I resented him for being a terrible person who could not get along with others, I didn’t mind not seeing him for months.
When I sent my husband, who I had barely gotten along with, to a dangerous place, I felt anxious and had a hard time bearing it.
Despite that, I didn’t want to tell him something like, “There’s nothing injured.”
That was because I felt that if I did, a misfortune that would replace the good fortune I had had so far would sneak up on me somewhere. It was when I tried to change the subject as if it was nothing.
“You’re getting better,”
He said happily, having been gently rubbing and caressing my body the whole time.
“I was worried that you might skip a meal.”
“Everyone is anxious because they can’t feed me.”
The butler and the doctor were serious about checking my food intake, wondering what Kaian had asked them to do.
I hugged Kaian tightly and said quickly,
“You know, that’s the wild buffalo calf you caught and raised.”
“Yes.”
“I ate it.”
I became sullen in real time as I said those words.
“Ha. You made such a fuss about not wanting to.”
“When I told the doctor that I wanted to visit you for a while, he jumped up and down and opposed me.”
“But you came anyway.”
“He said I had to take the medicine twice more.”
“Good job.”
Kaian answered blandly.
“Who do you think I brought it here for?”
“I said I wouldn’t take it, so I thought maybe.”
Kaian hugged me and kissed me deeply.
Her presence was like a flower blooming in a desolate and dangerous battlefield.
A flower that would be run over and trampled by the soldiers running at full speed, disappearing without a trace.
The woman standing tall with her red hair fluttering in the wind to kill Valquiterre was so beautiful.
And yet, the woman who came to him in danger seemed even more precious and strong because of that.
‘If I say that as a compliment, it’ll be a headache, right?’
There was a possibility that someone who was watching him would become arrogant and refuse to return to the territory.
Claudel and Kaien hid their feelings little by little.
Contrary to their dishonest feelings, their bodies pressed close together and their lips pressed together were even more sorrowful. As if to convey their unspoken sincerity. Their short reunion, accompanied by a natural separation, was regrettable, so their breaths, once entangled, did not let up easily.
'I don't want to send you away.'
'I don't want to go.'
That was the only sincerity that had become one. Kaian barely managed to catch his ragged breath and said,
"Go back to Rowen right now."
"I will."
However, Claudel, who answered, seemed impatient because she couldn't act childish even for a moment, hugged him and pressed her cheek against his chest. Kaian felt a fire burning in his chest. He wanted to hide her somewhere. If only he could, he could go back. He might not send her back.
'If only I could hide her in a place that only I know.'
Realizing that he was having such absurd thoughts, he barely got up and straightened Claudel's clothes.
"Hurry. You must never leave the castle empty.”
“I know. That’s why I borrowed the name from Irena.”
“Did you?”
Claudel nodded.
“I’ll tell you more later.”
“Yes.”
Kaian sat her down and carefully wrapped a fur cloak around her. His hands were full of concern that she might catch a cold.
“It’s not cold inside the cabin.”
“It’s chilly when you go to the dock. It’s much colder here than Rowen Castle.”
“So that’s why you went fox hunting.”
Kaian’s eyebrows moved at the unexpected comment.
“If there’s no use for the fur, you wouldn’t bother to catch it, right?”
“That’s what I meant. But the people here don’t suffer from the cold enough to bother catching foxes and wearing them.”
Kaian quickly explained because he found Claudel cute for asking such a question.
“It’s a local specialty. Since many people in the capital want fur, they catch foxes and export them all because it’s profitable.”
“That’s what it is.”
Claudel said carefully.
“Please let me go fox hunting later.”
“You? Were you interested in hunting?”
“You told me that you often hunted at Promhunt.”
When they were young, this was where Valquiterre and Kaian made their debuts in hunting, and where they first succeeded in hunting.
“I was worried that you might feel lonely, so I told you.”
“Yes. When everything is completely settled, let’s come back to hunt together.”
A gentle ripple ran through Kaian’s mind.
“Bring Julien too.”
When Claudel opened her eyes wide, her pupils bloomed golden like flowers in the dim darkness illuminated by a single small lamp.
“Yes.”
She had grown tired of him repeatedly making requests that seemed like they would never return. When he readily promised his future plans and told her about Julien, Claudel felt very happy. As soon as the battlefield here was settled, Kaian planned to personally escort Valquiterre to the capital.
The aftermath of the battlefield was also quite a headache. It would be impossible to starve all the defeated enemy soldiers to death. The number of defeated soldiers was greater than that of Rowen's soldiers. It would be difficult to send them back the way they came. After that, the Rowen army would be divided, with some returning to the capital with Kaian and some returning to Rowen Castle.
'If he goes to the capital and comes back, it will be another month before I can see him again.'
Kaian quickly took her to the dock, not knowing that Claudel was feeling sorry.
Evan, who had come to see her off, ruffled Claudel's hair.
"I'll go to the capital with him. Don't worry and go quickly."
"Please take care of him, Dad."
Thanks to the fact that Evan was the leader of the Sol Continent mercenary group, it was easy to lead the war in the direction he wanted.
Claudel was glad that Evan would be with him even if she couldn't go with him in person.
"Madam. Hurry up. We have to leave now so we can get back to the castle before dawn."
"Go quickly."
Even as Rohan and Evan were nagging, Claudel couldn't let go of Kaian's hand, groaning.
"Take care."
"Yes."
"And this. Give it to my sister when you see her."
Kaian readily accepted the envelope Claudel handed him.
“Let’s do that.”
Even after saying that, Claudel couldn’t move.
She wanted to give Kaian one more goodbye kiss, but there were too many eyes around her.
As she hesitated, her heart burned inside.
'If he goes to the capital and comes back, it will be another month before I can see him again.'
Kaian quickly took her to the dock, not knowing that Claudel was feeling sorry.
Evan, who had come to see her off, ruffled Claudel's hair.
"I'll go to the capital with him. Don't worry and go quickly."
"Please take care of him, Dad."
Thanks to the fact that Evan was the leader of the Sol Continent mercenary group, it was easy to lead the war in the direction he wanted.
Claudel was glad that Evan would be with him even if she couldn't go with him in person.
"Madam. Hurry up. We have to leave now so we can get back to the castle before dawn."
"Go quickly."
Even as Rohan and Evan were nagging, Claudel couldn't let go of Kaian's hand, groaning.
"Take care."
"Yes."
"And this. Give it to my sister when you see her."
Kaian readily accepted the envelope Claudel handed him.
“Let’s do that.”
Even after saying that, Claudel couldn’t move.
She wanted to give Kaian one more goodbye kiss, but there were too many eyes around her.
As she hesitated, her heart burned inside.
Whoosh.
An unfamiliar sound of the wind cutting through the air flew towards them from somewhere.
“Be careful!”
Before Claudel could even come to her senses what it was.
Bang.
The arrow flew and pierced Kaian’s left chest.
“Kaian!”
An unfamiliar sound of the wind cutting through the air flew towards them from somewhere.
“Be careful!”
Before Claudel could even come to her senses what it was.
Bang.
The arrow flew and pierced Kaian’s left chest.
“Kaian!”
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment