Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 110

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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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Chapter 110
“….”
“Would that be so wrong?”
Two years of unquenched thirst, accumulated and festering, had twisted into anxiety and impatience. He needed her permission—or rather, the certainty it would grant him.
Tell me nothing has changed between us.
“Are you teasing me right now?”
And Yerenika answered with that very face he remembered so well. Her tone remained sharp, yet the curve of her softening eyes and lips transported him instantly back two years.
“I hate this, truly….”
During those two years without him, something had shifted—the woman who now resembled twilight air more than midday sunlight wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation.
The sensation of lips meeting. A dizzying fragrance woven through breath that liquefied his mind—sacred, tinged with soap. Sweetness and vertigo flooded through him as the price of his patience. He felt the sacred energy that had surrounded his body absorbed into Yerenika. In that moment, Auredhian genuinely wished to fill her completely with himself.
In that moment, Auredhian genuinely wished to fill her completely with himself.
* * *
Arthur’s Barrel. The building that served as both a winery and tavern had an inn on its second floor and above, where travelers passing between the Capital and the outer regions could rest. The Knights of House Lebanon used it to recover after training, making it far more spacious and clean than common inns. This was precisely one of the reasons Aiven Count had reserved rooms here—one could not lodge a sovereign of a nation, disguised or not, in some shabby establishment.
Yet considering that Aiven Count had followed in his wake, unable to resist his wife’s relentless pressure, his foresight in securing rooms beforehand must have come from prior orders received from her.
In truth, Auredhian cared little where he slept. During his civilian inspections, he had never been particular about lodging. But Yerenika was different.
“You’re insane. When exactly did you come to Lebovni? How did you even know I was in this area?”
“I simply found out.”
“Does that even make sense? Ah, no wonder Lari kept saying strange things!”
Yerenika, innocent as she was, had allowed herself to be led to the room without sensing anything amiss. As she bombarded him with endless questions—when, how, why—she suddenly remembered something she’d forgotten and her eyes widened.
“Right, Lari. I left Lari behind….”
“That wolf of yours?”
“Yes. Just a moment. I’ll call Lari back.”
She rushed to the window and was about to throw it open when a large, warm hand covered hers on the latch, and she froze. The window that had begun to open was pushed shut again.
“We don’t need any interruptions.”
Sensing the man who had approached from behind, Yerenika’s breathing quickened slightly. She murmured softly.
“Lari isn’t an interruption….”
“You’re right.”
Auredhian answered firmly and drew her slender waist into his embrace. Everything except himself and Yerenika was an intrusion. As he pressed their bodies together, he felt her tension acutely. Normally, he would have approached slowly to avoid startling her, but today he could not afford such restraint. He had waited long, and the kiss moments ago had confirmed that her heart had not changed.
Then surely he could afford a little indulgence today. The thought came after his hands had already moved. The button of her robe came undone with a soft pop. Yerenika drew a small breath and blinked in surprise, but she did not stop him. The robe fell away quickly.
Auredhian lowered his head and pressed his lips to the slender, fragrant curve of her neck. He breathed in her scent deeply, feeling her pulse quicken beneath his touch. Yet it was not enough. The pale ivory dress she wore was simpler than the heavy, ornate garments of Belgot, but far more modest. He was frustrated by the high neckline that concealed even her collarbone. His fingers toyed with it quite openly. Held from behind, Yerenika called to him in a slightly breathless voice.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes.”
He answered dutifully while his fingertips traced her shoulders. Yerenika bit the inside of her lip and lifted her head to look back at him. Before he could read the tremor in her azure eyes, she turned, and a button hidden beneath her hair was revealed.
“What is it?”
“That….”
“Just checking, Yenie.”
As she flushed at the sweet endearment he had only written in letters before, her long hair fell to the side and the first hidden button came undone with a soft pop. Auredhian gazed down at her flushed face and asked tenderly.
“You haven’t forgotten that you gave me permission to kiss you, have you?”
Who said a kiss had to be confined to the lips? The man reflected in her azure eyes wore an expression even he had never seen before—tender in his question, yet burning with impatience beneath. She must have read the vivid longing in his gaze.
Her small, hesitant hand settled upon his at her waist, and just as his heart lurched at the thought she might pull away, she turned to face him. When she, with her cooler warmth, pressed her lips to his once more, Auredhian received every answer he needed that night.
* * *
In the pre-dawn hours, tender and languid conversation drifted through the room.
“I missed you.”
“…How much?”
Yerenika’s expression turned skeptical. Her pale, translucent porcelain-like face creased slightly with doubt.
“More than you could imagine.”
“I don’t think so.”
At her immediate denial, Auredhian Belgot let out a soft laugh. He pressed his lips gently against her exposed white forehead and asked.
“Why do you think that?”
“You didn’t even read the letters I sent you, did you?”
The moment those words reached him, he froze. Yerenika, nestled in his embrace, rustled against him. The white sheet wound around her slender frame crackled softly.
“Two and a half months. Nearly eighty days. Do you know how many letters came back unopened and unread?”
“….”
“If something came up, you could have at least written to tell me!”
So that’s what she thought—that I’d ignored all her letters and sent them back? Auredhian Belgot exhaled a breathless sigh of exasperation.
“It was four months for me.”
“What?”
Confusion flickered in her clear sky-blue eyes. He pressed his lips firmly against the tip of her small, upturned nose. A muffled murmur tumbled out.
“That I didn’t receive your letters.”
“You’re lying.”
Her response came sharp and quick. Ah, so that part of her hasn’t changed. A strange satisfaction bloomed within him. His mood shifted like turning over a palm—one moment walking on clouds, unreal and weightless, the next plummeting down with a sudden jolt, then rising again in a wave of contentment that left him drowsy. Lip met lip once more. A soft, sweet sound escaped—brief and delicate.
“Is suspicion a new habit of yours?”
“Four months? That’s impossible. You’re saying my letters never reached you at all?”
“That would be the case, if you’d only written them on time.”
“I did write them! Of course I did!”
Yerenika cried out with an aggrieved expression.
“How hard I worked to write….”
Her protesting voice was swallowed into his mouth. This kiss lasted a little longer.
“…Wait, mm. Your Majesty.”
Yerenika scrunched her face and turned her head away from lips that refused to part.
“The letters didn’t arrive. That can’t be right, really.”
“The letters don’t matter anymore.”
“They matter to me. Because of that, I….”
“I know. It wasn’t a pleasant time for me either.”
“I swore that when I finally saw you, I wouldn’t let it slide….”
“So you grabbed me by the collar first?”
“That wasn’t grabbing you by the collar!”
When he poked at her blind spots, she responded with quick retorts—nothing had changed in that regard. Auredhian Belgot found it delightful. Only the atmosphere she projected had shifted slightly; her essence remained tightly bound in the same lovable nature as before.
Yerenika seemed to hesitate over something for a moment, then murmured softly.
“I’m sorry for being angry earlier.”
“Hm?”
Auredhian Belgot was only half-listening to her voice. His thoughts melted like warm wax at the scent emanating from the curve between her ear and neck. He found it satisfying that she carried the same fragrance as him.
“I never thought my letters wouldn’t reach you. They kept getting returned, so many of them… I never imagined you wouldn’t receive them at all. Not for four whole months.”
“Mm.”
“…Are you listening to me?”
Her apologetic murmur finally sharpened into something pointed.
“Look at me. Let’s have a proper conversation, face to face.”
“We’ve talked plenty.”
Soft, sweet hair. A neck as transparent as glass yet warm to the touch. Straight collarbones and delicate shoulders. After two years, holding her body again—he didn’t want to let go so soon. He knew it was a childish possessiveness, but Auredhian Belgot found he couldn’t help himself.
“You have no idea how much restraint I’ve exercised all this time.”
“Ah…”
Letters never arrived. The proposal he’d sent to Lebovni received no proper response. He couldn’t use communication magic, so he couldn’t see her face. Everyone around him, ignorant of his torment, kept urging the marriage forward. It had been a time of pure endurance. Through it all, he’d managed to restrain himself for one final month, hurrying through urgent matters so he could come here. He was almost proud of himself for it.
He murmured in a hoarse voice.
“So just for today, indulge me, Yerenika.”
A faint blush bloomed across her pale cheeks. His beloved princess was still weak to the sound of her own name spoken in his voice. Or perhaps something melancholic in his tone had pierced her defenses.
He pressed his lips densely along the delicate line of her jaw. No amount of kisses felt like enough. It seemed he had to kiss every exposed inch at least once. And just as he had hours before, Auredhian Belgot found no reason not to act on the thought.
“Oh, really…”
Yerenika, suddenly showered with kisses, shifted her gaze awkwardly. When he gently bit the tip of her ear where a silver cross dangled, her slender frame responded immediately. She let out a small complaint.
“You didn’t come here to torment me, did you?”
“I’m not sure…”
His overflowing affection could never be fully expressed. He couldn’t fathom how he’d endured all this time without her.
“Oh. Stop now…”
As the ticklish sensation continued, a faint resentment flickered across her sky-blue eyes. Could he not go further than this? He supposed not. He sighed and released her slightly. The moment he loosened his grip, Yerenika quickly pulled herself back. Distance opened between them—barely a hand’s breadth, yet it drew an involuntary sound of regret from him.
“Even this distance is hard to bear right now.”
“I don’t like it. I want to see your face. It’s your turn to exercise restraint now, Your Majesty.”
Her voice was firm and resolute. Yet her hands reached out immediately, cradling both his cheeks. Just as they had two years ago, her hands were slightly cool. Yerenika held his face and examined it from every angle.
“Your hair is shorter.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve become more handsome.”
“Have I?”
“Yes. Almost distressingly so.”
“Mm… what kind of spite is this?”
“Just… your face doesn’t look like you’ve suffered.”
It was an affectionate pout. In the moonlight streaming through the window, her slightly sullen face was laid bare. And only then did Auredhian Belgot remember there was something he should have asked the moment he saw her. His heart plummeted again. He opened his mouth carefully.
“Nothing happened while I was gone, did it?”
The expression he’d seen when he first spotted her in the middle of the street flashed through his mind again. Downcast lashes. A face sunken in apathy.
“Mm…”
Her vague, drawn-out answer amplified his anxiety. But Yerenika soon answered with an unbothered expression.
“Nothing in particular happened.”
“…That answer doesn’t satisfy me. Your health?”
“Isn’t it a bit late to be worrying about my health?”
Auredhian Belgot fell silent. Yerenika giggled and ran her fingers through his hair, her pale hands tenderly brushing through the lustrous silver strands.
“Well, now that the human tonic has arrived, I’ll be right as rain. Besides, I’m already brimming with vitality.”
“Not now—but all this time….”
“I was fine. I wrote about it in my letters until spring. I was researching ways to survive on my own, in my fashion. The results weren’t entirely without merit.”
Yerenika seemed determined not to let him dwell on the subject any longer. A brief, ticklish kiss settled upon his forehead.
“It’s good to see you again.”
Whether it was the soft moonlight filtering through or the way her presence now carried a nocturnal quality, the subtle curve of her eyes stirred something within him.
“I thought perhaps you’d forgotten someone like me entirely.”
“That’s impossible.”
“So I resolved that when we met again, I would truly be angry with you, that this time I wouldn’t simply cling to you. I thought that through carefully. But it turned out to be rather useless thinking.”
“….”
“I never imagined it would all become right again so instantly. I suppose I’m rather easy after all.”
“…If you’re easy twice over, you’ll be the death of me.”
It was absurd. Auredhian Belgot exhaled helplessly. If one were to judge who had been more anxious and impatient, he suspected the advantage lay with himself.
But that hardly mattered now. He had confirmed that the promise made two years ago still held true. For tonight, that alone was enough. Yet Yerenika seemed to have something more to give him.
“There was something you couldn’t say back then, wasn’t there?”
“…?”

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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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