Lucas, who was staring at him scrutinizingly, added.
"Isn't that right? You didn't marry my sister-in-law because you couldn't overcome His Majesty's coercion. Didn't you want to do it, so you abandoned your long-time fiancé and coldly accepted His Majesty's offer?"
Barcas, who had been looking over his shoulder with a cold look, continued his journey again without any response.
Lucas, who was looking to be ignored, immediately chased after him.
"I stabbed the nail on the head, didn't I?"
"..."
"Don't you think it's too unfair to take a woman who is not of any help to the family as your spouse and force her to sacrifice only Raina and me?"
"Sacrifice?"
Barcas, who was silently crossing the training ground, cast an eerie look.
Lucas reflexively took a step back.
It seemed that a gentle breeze was blowing from somewhere. The Grand Duke, who was close to him, curled his mouth softly, holding the air so cold that it pushed away the heat of early summer.
"It's amazing. How carefree have you lived all this time? Why are you just sacrificing yourself with an arranged marriage?"
Lucas stiffened his spine at the eerily soft voice. Barcas tilted his inhumanly sophisticated face towards him and continued slowly
"I just ask you one thing. If you refuse to even take on what you should take as a nobleman... What on earth are you going to pay for the privileges you've enjoyed?"
Lucas bit his lower lip without saying anything.
Barcas, who had been quietly looking down at his brother's red face, let out a long breath and added conciliatively.
"You don't have to oppose it so much already. I'm going to offer the best option for all of you... You and Raina just have to choose the one you like the most from a myriad of candidates."
"What if I don't have a single person I like?"
"Then choose the one that is least obtrusive."
Barcas's tone became harsh again.
"The time to be foolish has long passed. You both must contribute something to this family now."
Lucas, who was clenching his fists tightly, let out a heavy and sinking voice.
"I understand what you mean."
"I'm glad you did."
Barcas scolded him dryly, grabbed his brother's shoulder hard, let go, and started walking again. Lucas, who looked at his back with a gloomy look, immediately turned in the opposite direction.
After leaving the castle, Barcas attended a meeting at the Kalmor meeting house to review the proposed amendments to the law that had been discussed.
After completing all the tedious administrative procedures, he stopped at the garrison headquarters on the outskirts of the city to check the frequency of the looters and the detailed records of the affected areas.
When he returned to the castle after finishing all his official duties, the sunset was engulfing the whole world.
Looking up at the purple sky, Barcas handed the reins as if he were throwing them to the stable keeper who was rushing towards him, and headed straight for the main castle.
"Have you been there?"
As he entered the spacious hall, the servants who had lit the chandeliers all bowed their heads in unison.
Barcas responded to their greeting with a light tilt of his head and immediately went up the stairs.
As he was about to head to the bedroom next to the study on the third floor, he heard a cautious voice behind him.
“Uh, my lord."
He turned his head and saw the tense butler during the day.
Barcas asked, raising one eyebrow.
"what?"
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess is now in the bedroom on the second floor. He asked me to tell Your Excellency when he returns."
Barcas, who had been frowning, immediately turned around.
As he went down the stairs again, he saw soldiers standing guard in front of his bedroom door.
He signaled them to leave, then knocked on the door. After a while, a slightly muffled voice came through.
“Come in.”
Opening the door and stepping inside, Barcas frowned at the pungent, herbal scent. The air was hazy, as if the incense had been burning for too long.
He strode across the room, opened the window, extinguished the still-smoking incense stick, and cast a disapproving glance toward the bed.
"Are you going to suffocate yourself? How long are you going to do this...?"
Barcas, who had been speaking rather harshly, suddenly closed his mouth. His eyes caught sight of his wife's exhausted face, lying sprawled on the bed.
She wrapped one arm around the nape of the wolf's neck, which took up most of the wide bed, and muttered in a hushed voice.
"I couldn't help it. Today, Khan is a little... It's weird.
He frowned and approached the side of the bed.
Unlike yesterday, the wolf was not completely asleep. He was breathing a little roughly, with his body limp as if he was weak, but his eyes were relentlessly fixed on his master.
Barcas found something strange in it, and his face stiffened.
His wife noticed him and added it as if it were an excuse.
"I think he got nervous because I left him alone last night. And suddenly I can't go outside... It seems like he's dissatisfied with this."
"Did this monster have any accidents today?"
A rather cold question reminded him of a defensive look on her face.
"Khan didn't have any accidents. He just looked a little anxious."
If she has to burn such a strong medicine to calm it down, he must have shown a very unstable appearance.
Barcas looked down at the beast with cold eyes, which was gasping for breath but struggling not to fall asleep.
Why was he so nervous about something that seemed stable in the morning?
He let out a tired sigh and sat down on the end of the bed. Then, the beast, which had wrinkled the bridge of its nose as if it were baring its teeth, thrust its head into its master's arms.
Barcas frowned at the unspoken warning sign not to approach, but the woman carefully opened her mouth.
"I think I should stay with Khan tonight."
Barcas, who stared at her face, which looked as hard as a wolf's, nodded slowly.
"Don't worry about me, just sleep."
"...Can't you stay here too?"
Just as he was about to get up again, she reached out and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
After hesitating for a moment, he immediately took off his boots and climbed onto the bed.
As he sat next to her and leaned against the head of the bed, the wolf's eyes came to him.
He didn't seem to like the situation very much, but he didn't seem to have any intention of driving him away.
He ignored the wolf and lightly stroked her sweaty forehead with one hand. It was also a slight fever.
"I'll watch Khan. So please rest assured."
Her eyelids dropped as if relieved by that. He looked down at his wife's face, which quickly began to exhale evenly.
It was a disappointing situation for him, who had expected to fall asleep after sharing a deep and dense kiss and hugging her soft and warm body.
However, on the other hand, it was also reassuring. He had made a firm promise never to impregnate her again, so her temptation seemed a bit overwhelming.
He carefully caressed her silky smooth hair, resting his head on the backrest.
As the fresh air permeating through the window drove away the bitter smoke, her body odor began to fill the room little by little.
Smelling the dense fragrance, he looked into her calm face, soaked in the sunset.
Suddenly, his brother's voice brushed against his ears.
"You married the woman you wanted, didn't you?"
He knew that was true.
But what is it? He deserved to be able to have at least one thing he wanted in this empty life.
Barcas lowered his gaze to her legs, folded to one side. A slender calf tangled in the hem of a skirt was sticking out of the thin summer quilt.
He reached over it and felt the red marks on the hem of her clothes.
He thought she might wake up and start a fight, but he couldn't take his hand off the long scar that ran from her knee to her thigh.
Almost every night, he searched through his past memories, but when this wound arose, he never dreamed of it, even the moment he saw it. The sight of her bleeding on the bed was no exception.
In reality, memories as vivid as burn marks fade like fog in the deep night. This woman could never be his nightmare.
He could no longer suppress the urge to hold her, so he lay his head on the pillow and put one arm under her head.
As he carefully hugged her slender waist towards him, the body facing the wolf, he pressed his chin against the sheet, and the wolf lifted its head.
A strange light flickered for a moment in the beast's characteristically expressionless eyes.
As he stared intently at Barcas's face, as if observing, the beast reared its massive body and clung to her back. It then placed its face, covered in short, dense gray fur, against the side of her head.
He looked at the beast with a somewhat bewildered expression, then sighed and released his arms from her back.
Warm breath tickled his chest. Perhaps tonight, too, he would sink into a river of blood.
The dream becomes cold and dark, as if he senses that he is breaking his oath from the bottom of his heart.
Still, it didn't matter.
Even as he felt his body gradually heating up, he did not loosen his grip around her.
Comments
Post a Comment