Chapter 39
All his life, he had lived uprightly. From an early age, he had become the King of the North, always giving clear and decisive answers. Now, hiding behind an ambiguous response made him feel unbearably cowardly.
But he had no choice except to answer like that.
Because even he didn't know what he truly wanted.
'But why do I feel like this...?'
Just then—
"Your Grace, aren't you going to wash?"
She, who had been diligently washing her face with her tiny hands like a rabbit finding a spring, suddenly turned toward him.
Her voice was as calm as ever, yet to his ears, it sounded as alluring as the serpent whispering temptation with the forbidden fruit.
"Your clothes and your hair are all black, so you probably can't tell, but blood must have splattered all over you. Or... you could just stay beside me."
Kalrian awkwardly rubbed his face with one hand before brushing his hair back deeply.
Then he looked at Evelyn once more.
Her clear, almost transparent green eyes were fixed on him.
With a hint of fear in them.
"The truth is... I'm a little afraid of water."
"I didn't know you were afraid of it."
"I almost drowned when I was little."
Feeling sorry for her, he stepped closer, took off his shoes, and sat beside her, dipping his feet into the lake.
Then, while holding her wrist, he gently stroked the injured area.
At once, her already pale face turned as white as if it had been submerged in icy water.
A trauma...
He recalled the burn scar that stained the inside of her fair thigh.
"I've wondered this before. Why can't you heal your own wounds?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know why either."
"Try it now."
Caught off guard by the sudden suggestion, Evelyn widened her eyes.
Even so, she placed her other hand over the scarred wrist and let her healing power flow into it.
After a while, she quietly showed him her wrist.
Nothing had happened.
A crooked smile appeared on his lips.
"What a cruel power."
"I think so too."
Wrinkling her nose slightly, Evelyn answered before meeting his eyes.
Then, almost instinctively, she smiled.
It was a smile of incomparable beauty.
Whenever their eyes met, she would always look at him with gentle warmth and smile softly.
It wasn't just the smile.
Her eyes always held the warmth of someone looking upon the most precious thing in the world.
Love? Does this woman love me?
No.
She had simply been born kind-hearted.
Those eyes, overflowing with goodness, weren't looking only at him.
Hadn't she insisted that no feelings would ever develop between them?
'She was already planning to leave before our married life had even properly begun.'
For some reason, his mood twisted.
Kalrian stared silently at her unconscious smile before swallowing a sigh.
"Then why didn't you ask for them to be punished?"
"For whom?"
"The ones who tormented you."
He had always wondered.
But he had never asked, thinking that past might be something she wanted to hide—like the scar on her thigh.
At his question, Evelyn slowly lifted her head toward the sky.
The countless stars seemed to pour into her eyes.
"If I had asked them to be punished... would anything really have changed?"
Her calm question left Kalrian speechless for a moment.
She must have trusted no one.
Not even enough to ask for what she wanted.
After thinking quietly, Kalrian rubbed the corner of his mouth and nodded.
"Maybe nothing would have changed. But at least you would've felt a little better. That woman wouldn't have walked out of the temple in one piece."
"...What?"
"Her tongue was bound by a forbidden speech spell. And she'd been brainwashed so thoroughly that she didn't even blink through the inquisitor's torture. It's my principle to eliminate useless future threats. Why should I leave her alive?"
"I-It's not that..."
Kalrian quietly watched her hesitant reply.
"You're far too soft."
It wasn't even a threat.
He had merely stated a fact.
Yet she trembled at his words.
What exactly was he supposed to do?
"Surely you're not hoping those people can live peacefully just because of your pitiful compassion."
"Absolutely not!"
"Good."
Satisfied with her answer, he lowered himself toward her full red lips as though drawn by an irresistible force.
Evelyn was about to say something.
But he was faster.
Before she realized it, their lips were already locked together.
As if trying to protest, she leaned back and squirmed slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to reject him as he gripped the back of her neck and deepened the kiss.
His tongue urgently invaded her mouth.
Every brush against her lips sent warmth spreading through her body.
Her heart had already been racing for quite some time.
This wasn't a kiss meant for healing.
As though driven by another longing, his tongue boldly parted her lips and thoroughly explored her mouth.
Meanwhile, his abdomen tightened.
His jaw muscles bulged as he struggled to steady his ragged breathing.
What was making him feel so impatient...
So uneasy...
Kalrian couldn't understand.
All he could do was surrender completely to the presence before him, soaking himself in it like a man caught in a sudden downpour.
Their tongues intertwined.
Their breaths tangled together.
Their joined lips grew slick with sweet saliva, and the space once filled with the refreshing sound of the waterfall now echoed only with wet, intimate sounds.
Running out of breath, she pushed weakly against his shoulder and gasped.
"Ha... wait..."
Only then did Kalrian slowly pull away.
Unrestrained desire flickered darkly in his eyes.
Why?
This wasn't any different from before.
Yet today, every touch seemed to stir his nerves far more than usual.
The breath escaping her parted lips.
Her warm body.
Her hesitant hands gently touching him.
Even the way she looked at him seemed brighter today.
Whether she understood his feelings or not, Evelyn trembled slightly and avoided his gaze.
"This isn't... washing..."
She couldn't finish.
His lips claimed hers once again.
Wrapping an arm around her stiff waist and pulling her against him, Kalrian buried his lips against her long white neck.
Their lower bodies pressed together as he gently bit her collarbone, making her delicate shoulders tremble.
"At least water won't seem so frightening anymore. From now on, whenever you see water, you'll think of something else."
The moment he finished speaking, his tongue slipped into her mouth again.
Evelyn accepted his kiss with ragged breaths.
"Ha... ah..."
Their tongues tangled once more, seeking each other, sucking and rubbing together hungrily.
The wet sound of mingling saliva echoed obscenely in her ears.
Every stray thought vanished from her mind.
Still kissing her, Kalrian lifted her into his arms and walked forward.
The calm surface of the lake rippled as if a sudden wave had swept across it.
Stepping onto the shore, he spread out the cloak he had taken off earlier and gently laid her down upon it.
Looking completely flustered, Evelyn spoke.
"W-Wait... Even so, this is..."
"You thought it would end with just a kiss?"
"...Yes."
After all, they were standing beside an open lakeshore.
But he wasn't in any state to care about that.
Reading the hesitation in her trembling eyes, Kalrian gently cupped her cheek.
"Don't worry. No one will come."
"But... that doesn't change the fact that we're outside."
Her flushed face reddened even more.
The glimpse of her crimson tongue between her slightly parted lips blurred his reason.
He captured the breath escaping her lips in another kiss while his hands busily moved around her waist.
"For someone who's so embarrassed, your face is awfully red."
The truth was...
He didn't even want to acknowledge that they were doing this outdoors.
The more forbidden something felt,
the hotter the body burned.
Only a few days ago, hadn't he cursed the evil god for tempting him into such base desires?
Yet now...
He could hardly believe he had chosen this himself.
"...Did something happen?"
Evelyn asked worriedly.
The man who had been urging her to leave in the carriage was suddenly clinging to her so desperately that she feared he had been hurt.
"It did."
"Something very strange."
Though he couldn't quite explain it.
"I almost failed to find you."
Lowering his head, he slipped his lips beneath the hem of her lifted tunic.
"B-But... you found me just now..."
As if restraint meant nothing to him.
"I found you by sensing the monster's presence."
Smiling faintly, he began teasing her even more boldly.
"Is... ah... is that such a problem?"
Pushing lightly against the ground with her toes, Evelyn bit her lower lip.
Completely unaware that she had already cornered herself.
"A problem?"
His jaw tightened so hard that the muscles stood out.
Instead of answering, Kalrian calmly slid the ring from her finger.
Crack...
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he released his power.
The ring in his hand crumbled into fine powder.
"Ah! Th-That was!"
Her eyes widened in shock.
Ignoring her reaction, he firmly grasped her wrist and quickly engraved a tracking spell onto it.
<διωγμός>
As the shadow seeped into her pale skin, he couldn't understand why it reassured him.
Then again...
She had been the one who had willingly placed the leash in his hands.
"If you're the one who calms my rampages, then you always have to stay by my side. If I can't sense my healer's presence, wouldn't that be a serious problem?"
In other words...
Now that she had stepped into his territory, disappearing whenever she pleased would no longer be tolerated.
"But... why the ring...?
