IHMEB - Chapter 258 < The Secret They Share >




“Ugh!”

The moment my body flinched in surprise and was about to scream.

“Claudel.”

A familiar voice whispered my name softly in my ear.

Thump.

My heart froze as I heard my name called just now.

When I didn’t scream, the hand covering my mouth moved away.

When I turned around, I saw Kaian sitting with his knees up.

He wasn’t wearing armor, but he was wearing a surcoat.

On his long, knee-length shirt in black and dark gray, the lion emblem of Temnes was embroidered with vivid red and gold threads.

Over it, he was sitting with a black cloak wrapped around his body, looking like a large black eagle that had come flying in without a trace and landed with its wings down.

“Kaian!”

“Shhh.”

When I raised my voice in surprise and joy without realizing it, he stopped me.

“Be quiet.”

“Why...”

“... I came secretly.”

My golden eyes widened as if blooming.

“What on earth do you mean?”

The lord who should have been leading half of the Rowen army that had suffered in the capital and returned with a proud victory ceremony was acting like a thieving cat who had come to rob a fish shop.

“That.”

Kaian hesitated uncharacteristically.

However, even in that brief moment, I felt like I was going crazy with impatience.

“Actually, two days later...”

When Kaian was about to explain something, I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him, kissing his lips.

“...”

All I was curious about was his safety.

Would Kaian be okay today?

Nothing bad would happen, right?

Could it be that something happened in the capital and that it would be dangerous?

With the reputation of the invincible Temnes, there shouldn’t be anyone in the capital who would lose their cowardice and challenge him.

Who knows? There might be one or two more people who are slightly crazy and blind like Valquiterre or Antjone.

Kaian. Do you have many enemies? Indeed. Even just the years of fighting with Vermont must have been quite a burden. Just look at how my uncle was so excited.

For Temnes.

Kaian would have tried to get the best, but there must have been many times when someone got hurt.

Thinking about it, I couldn’t help but feel anxious and couldn’t focus on anything, so I had a hard time controlling my mind. 

As we breathed into each other’s mouths and connected, the anxiety I had felt while being apart from him was instantly forgotten.

‘Kaian is back.’

I sighed involuntarily at the relief that filled my chest to the point of swelling.

“Ha.”

I let out my worries through my barely separated lips and gave Kaian a half-running kiss.

Kaian, who had accepted the momentum and collapsed backward, laughed in disbelief.

“I didn’t know you would be so welcoming."

Regardless, I was busy stamping my lips on his forehead, the bridge of his nose, and his cheeks.

It was a half-animal instinct as if I wanted to leave a mark of territory that said this was all mine.

Kaian smiled and enjoyed his wife’s fierce welcome. However, as soon as my breath reached his ear, his composure evaporated from his face.

Whoosh.

He raised his body and laid me down on the flower bed.

Then, the black cloak that flowed down from Kaian’s back instantly enveloped me in a dark curtain.

As if an eclipse had occurred where the sun was temporarily obscured.

O was completely laid down under Kaian’s shadow in the darkness.

Thump. Thump.

My heart pounded wildly as if it were going to escape my body.

The difference in our natural physiques, the superiority in the power we could exert on each other.

The secrecy we shared always changed drastically when Kaian took the initiative.

Just like now.

The man who had been kissing me deeply as if he was going to bite deep into my mouth, hugged me urgently and groped my body.

As he rolled to the side, his body was wrapped around the cloak, and I felt a chill and goosebumps as if I had become prey being dragged into a spider’s web.

But even that was a moment I had longed for and waited for.

“Quickly.”

I untied the apron wrapped around the waist of my Rowan-style dress with my own hands and hugged him, urging him.

Then Kaian lowered his head toward me, his eyes slightly unfocused with excitement.

Like a predator hunting a small, fragile animal, Kaian opened his mouth and bit my slender neck.

He searched for a soft spot along the edge of the summer dress that exposed my shoulders.

Kaian said, his lips brushing my collarbone.

“I just wanted to take a quick look and leave.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”

Kaian gasped as I gently stroked his black hair.

“Then I thought you’d be waiting too long.”

“What do you mean, you came secretly?”

“The army is in Fromhunt.”

The armed soldiers walked slowly and heavily.

If they rode fast, they could have come in a day, but since they included infantry, it would take at least a week to reach the castle. Fortunately, since they hadn’t been fighting anywhere, none of them had serious health problems.

Most of the wounded had recovered after being treated during the two months they had been stationed in the capital, and most of them had been sent back to Rowen by carriage.

Even so, the captain who was responsible for leading those who had gone out to fight as if he had seen everything could not just come back and tell them to come first.

“Are the preparations for the ceremony going well?”

“It was finished two months ago.”

Kaian raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“You’re capable.”

“Kaian.”

I urgently covered his cheek with her hand.

“You’re not really going to just watch, are you?”

O had no intention of letting Kaian go like this.

***

Most of those who took up arms to protect Rowen were ordinary people who were farming.

Indeed, the elite unit that Kaian had trained and trained every day took the lead, but there was no way that he could just maintain that many soldiers as an army.

Therefore, after continuing the momentum like a firework and annihilating the enemy, he had a duty to accompany them through thick and thin so that they could return to their territory with worn-out weapons.

However, Kaian gave in to the temptation.

'Can't we just go and see each other's faces for a moment?' 

He was in big trouble because his face, which he had been tracing with his fingertips without being able to see properly in the dark barracks, was vivid in his mind.

If he rode fast, it wouldn't be a place he could visit and come back in a day alone.

'Everyone is also happy that we have finally arrived at Rowen.'

Kaian opened up alcohol and meat as soon as he arrived at Fromhunt, where the decisive battle had taken place. The men, who had been feeling like they were home when they entered Rowen territory, simply threw off their heavy weapons and armor and jumped into the stream without exception to wash themselves and dry their clothes that were dripping with sweat.

'I have to wash my face before I go to see my wife's face.'

He happened to hear them laughing and giggling, and the words 'wife's face' were so piercing in his ears.

Kaian opened all the remaining barrels.

'You've worked hard. After we finish drinking this, we will each return to our seats.'

It was extremely petty to pretend to be a kind and generous lord and then ride a horse all by himself.

Claudel hugged him tightly and whispered softly in his arms.

“Kaian. I missed you.”

But it was a petty thing to do.

When doing something, there was someone else who judged whether it was right or wrong by looking at the results.

Kaian received an indulgence from Claudel.

If she said that he did well and came well, that was enough.

Kaian took off his cumbersome cloak and threw it behind his back.

Then Claudel, who had escaped from the shadows cast by his body, sparkled in the sunlight.

He could see the peach-like cheeks and soft, white skin like wheat dough that he had been savoring like a possessed person just a moment ago.

The color of her body matched the lakeside of Rowan Castle. Her glossy and luscious red hair, which flowed like a large flower blooming on the green grass, was so beautiful that she looked like a fairy who had been caught while trying to visit the human world for a while.

At that moment, he briefly lost consciousness as to why he had come to Rowen.

He carried Claudel as if he were kidnapping her and headed to his secret study, which was full of other memories.

“...I was going to order the preparation of the triumphal ceremony.” 

He thought that that would be a good excuse since he had come all this way without making a sound of retreat. 

“Lies.” 

“Yes. Lies.” 

He buried his face in Claudel’s arms. 

“Because I can’t breathe if I don’t see you right now.” 

How could he change Rowen’s triumphal ceremony into one where the lord’s wife runs halfway out to greet him? He had such absurd thoughts.

But then, even the capacity to think that much disappeared.

The tension that seemed to have permeated his soul melted away as she trembled under his broad chest.

The war was over.

As he went into this war, Kaian thought of his deceased father.

He had already fought two wars, which the previous Duke of Temnes had never experienced while ruling the territory.

What was the problem?

The important thing was the undefeated Temnes, but Kaian had no desire to fight anymore.

He couldn't drag his wife and children to the battle.

How could those who had not originally been in his hands become so important?

However, they had become something he had to protect at all costs.

"Don't leave me alone anymore."

Claudel sobbed.

He couldn't tell if she was trembling with joy or sad because the territory had been so hard.

Kaian fell into the sea of ​​Claudel.

He gave himself to her, rocking back and forth on the waves he didn't want to escape from.

"I will."


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