Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 9
“I washed before bed, Your Highness.”
I refused quickly, and a soft laugh escaped him. Had I not read the original novel, I would have felt utterly bewildered just now.
Who would believe that a grand duke with eyes cold as winter—a boy said to drink blood on the battlefield—could jest like this?
But Sherkan had more mischief in him than I’d expected. He wasn’t merely an ice-bound creature.
Not warm either, but at least he treated his subordinates with considerable leniency.
‘Come to think of it, where are they now? The physician and knight Sherkan favors most?’
Having endured a harsh childhood, he treated those who’d suffered through his darkest years with particular generosity.
If I could weather the coming financial crisis alongside him, wouldn’t I gain a rather prestigious position among his retinue?
Then, suddenly—
Sherkan crossed his arms and pulled his shirt off. I startled and quickly averted my gaze upward.
I nearly wrenched my neck, but what unsettled me more was how casually he carried himself.
Thud. The sound of cloth falling seemed like the sound of my life draining away.
“Wait for me.”
The command in his voice made me answer promptly.
“Of course.”
Sherkan strode away without hesitation. Not through the door connecting to the corridor, but through the side door on the left.
Water sounded softly afterward. He’d entered the bathing chamber adjoining the bedchamber.
It didn’t seem I waited long.
The door swung open and I reflexively snapped my eyes away again. A rustling of movement followed.
I kept my gaze fixed firmly elsewhere—only on the fireplace across the room.
“Asleep?”
“No, I’m awake.”
“Good.”
Sherkan walked toward the fireplace.
His hair was half-wet. The thick grey strands drank in the water and gleamed a deep blue-grey. It was as if the waters of a dawn lake had settled upon his head.
I thought it would have been quite beautiful under moonlight, but when Sherkan turned his face toward me, another thought came.
This male lead would have shone even beneath lava.
How could a growing boy be blessed with such beauty?
I watched him surreptitiously, as though gazing into flame.
Presently, he returned to bed, carrying heat and moisture in his wake.
He lay down beside me lengthwise. With no hesitation, like a knight at camp—utterly without restraint.
“You’re really not sleeping.”
“You told me to wait.”
Sherkan laughed softly at my words. The corners of his eyes crinkled, and his long lashes fluttered. For a moment, my breath caught.
Countless blessings were heaped upon this boy.
Truly, he seemed carved by divine hands.
“Lorelitiana.”
“Yes?”
“What did you call the Pasa Emperor?”
It was an abrupt question. I blinked for a moment before answering.
“I’ve never addressed him personally. When I was first presented, all I saw was him from afar.”
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why wasn’t a princess as beautiful as you summoned to the emperor’s side?”
The bluntness of his words made me uneasy. When Sherkan disregarded Duke Baetan and carried me about, what had the others whispered?
“But wouldn’t he be worried, with her looks so striking? What if she bore the Pasa Emperor’s child?”
“She’s never been with child!”
They’d gossiped like that to my face—what would they say behind my back?
Surely nothing but insulting speculation.
There was nothing shameful about it. It merely irked me, like water spilled on a pristine carpet.
“If I’d been summoned to the emperor, would you call off the marriage?”
“……?”
Sherkan regarded me with an odd look. The way he stared, as though observing a truly strange creature, left me embarrassed instead.
“What does that have to do with marriage?”
“…….”
“Answer my earlier question, Lorelitiana. Your Highness? Husband? Or did you use his name? You must have called him something, even to yourself.”
Here was someone who undressed casually in front of me, yet he harbored rather sentimental imaginings. The gap between these two made me smile.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Why?”
“Why would you think I’d have one?”
“Wasn’t he your husband?”
“Your Highness.”
I smiled and spoke.
“A concubine isn’t taught to be the emperor’s wife.”
My reflection flickered faintly in Sherkan’s crimson eyes. I found myself curious what he would say next.
“Then I’m your first husband.”
“……I suppose that’s one way to put it?”
Sherkan turned his body around. Then he rested his chin on his hand and gazed at me.
“So what should I have you call me?”
“What would you like me to call you?”
“My name, I think. And……you spoke formally to him, didn’t you? Drop the formality with me.”
“I beg your pardon?”
I opened and closed my mouth hesitantly. When I tilted my head in confusion, Sherkan asked.
“Don’t you know my age?”
“I do. You’re the famous young Grand Duke, after all…….”
“I’m famous? Where?”
“I’ve often heard your name mentioned in royal social circles and at tea parties. The concubines of the Pasa Empire spoke of you quite frequently as well.”
“Why were they mentioning me?”
“……?”
Sherkan’s face as he spoke was almost excessively beautiful. It seemed as though the gods had taken pearls and moonlight and spread them generously across his features.
Such luminous clarity flowed from him that I couldn’t easily look away.
“……Wouldn’t you know, Your Highness, if you looked in a mirror?”
“You could tell me yourself.”
I studied Sherkan’s face. It was an answer without words, yet he continued to demand one.
There was a faint glimmer of mischief in his eyes that I found oddly unsettling.
I felt a flicker of exasperation. So a somewhat sharp reply tumbled out.
“Do you really want to hear that you’re handsome?”
Sherkan suddenly burst into laughter. His broad shoulders heaved deeply with each breath.
He laughed for quite some time before finally speaking.
“Yes. I’ve been waiting for something like this for a very long time.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Lorelitiana.”
Sherkan reached out and touched my hair.
“What shall I call you? Something the emperor wouldn’t have used…….”
Silver-white strands wound and unwound between his fingers like thread.
You, my lady. You, madam. Duchess Consort…….
Sherkan, rolling a few words over in his mouth, lifted his eyes.
“Wife.”
“…….”
“I like this.”
Sherkan called himself wife several more times, tasting the word. That low voice seemed to draw steadily closer.
His hand came first.
Before I could even react, buried deep in the heavy blankets as I was, Sherkan wrapped his hand around the back of my neck.
Then his face drew near.
Without time to refuse, his tongue pressed into my mouth. His soft flesh burrowed deep between my frozen lips.
I don’t know how I was breathing. It was as though I had gills, as though I were breathing by some entirely different method.
Sherkan kissed me for quite a long time. Only after my mouth had grown numb and hazy did he finally lift his head.
“So this is what my wife tastes like.”
“…….”
“Wife.”
Sherkan lay back on the bed and smiled.
“Damn, that’s good.”
“…….”
Sherkan caressed my cheek. A strange heat shimmered in his eyes. Somehow my ears felt warm.
When I reflexively closed my eyes, suddenly laughter pierced my ears.
Sherkan was laughing like a madman.
Indignation welled up in me, and I yanked the blanket he was barely holding around himself.
Sherkan’s eyes went wide.
“So the young lady knows how to throw a tantrum too.”
I was embarrassed and furious all at once, so I bit down hard and spoke through gritted teeth.
“Don’t tease me.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll stop.”
Sherkan laughed a few more times at whatever he found so amusing, then stretched languidly.
In the next instant, I froze. Warmth enveloped my entire body—Sherkan had pulled me into his arms, trapping me against his chest.
“Sleep now. I’ve been riding hard just to see my wife…….”
His voice carried a genuine note of drowsiness. He closed his eyes with me still cradled in his embrace.
Despite the turmoil in my mind, his steady breathing gradually lulled me into drowsiness.
The next morning.
When I woke, Sherkan had already left the castle.
As I absently brushed my hair back, I suddenly realized my finger felt heavy and blinked my hazy eyes.
“What is this?”
A ring I’d never seen before was slipped onto my left ring finger.
Had Sherkan put it on before he left?
I frowned and examined the weighty ring, then rolled off the bed in belated alarm.
“This—this is insane.”
Why is this on my hand?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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