Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 115

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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 115
The book that had been snatched away now rested obediently on my lap. The sudden shift in demeanor caught me off guard, and I blinked in confusion.
“Oh… I didn’t upset you, did I?”
“No. Of course not.”
Yet somehow I felt as though I’d done something wrong. Truth be told, I wanted to embrace him just as much, so perhaps I should have simply held him without pretense. This clearly demonstrated my complete lack of aptitude for emotional distance. I placed the book atop the windowsill and murmured softly.
“I’m not upset. It’s just that I worry about you too.”
“I know. But I still prefer seeing you smile.”
I turned my head to examine my reflection in the window. It occurred to me that my deliberately hardened expression might appear somewhat emotionless. Now that I thought about it, people had indeed been watching my face with unusual caution whenever I seemed withdrawn lately. I withdrew my gaze from the window and asked.
“Have I changed somehow?”
“You’ve become more beautiful.”
“That’s not what I meant… couldn’t you just turn on the—”
—the lights when you come in, please! I silently wept and cried out in my heart, though Auredhian seemed unlikely to understand. As it had been several times over the past few days, our conversation ultimately concluded with a deep, lingering kiss.
[The body is influenced by the soul—what else could it be?]
“Hmm…?”
I obtained a precise answer regarding my physical changes through Raulus.
[The foreign aura is still stronger, but given your prolonged exposure to divinity, it’s clear evidence that your unstable soul is gradually merging with your body.]
I rested my arms on the vanity and examined my face from every angle. I hadn’t paid much attention before, so I hadn’t noticed, but now that I looked properly in the mirror, the changes were unmistakable. My features remained the same, yet the atmosphere I emanated had shifted subtly.
It was natural that I hadn’t recognized it myself. This aura bore a striking resemblance to the ‘me’ I had always seen during those twenty-five years before becoming Yerenika—that version of myself with a slightly cold impression, who in those old days would routinely hear “Are you feeling unwell?” or “Is something bothering you?” whenever she remained still.
“…How strange.”
[Now that your soul is beginning to merge with the shell, some changes are inevitable. I suspect you’ll be influenced more rapidly and profoundly when you’re near that boy.]
“I see. So will my soul no longer bounce out of my body like before? Will this stop happening?”
[That depends on how diligently you train. In that regard, why not start practicing again soon? You’ve even acquired an excellent charger.]
“Oh, that’s right.”
I’d completely forgotten. I stopped scrutinizing my face and sprang to my feet. Come to think of it, having the finest teacher appear right beside me was no different from a stroke of fortune. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?
* * *
“Self-healing?”
Auredhian seemed puzzled by my question. His response was entirely unexpected.
“Are you injured somewhere?”
“No, it’s not that I’m hurt… it’s more of a precaution for the future.”
I grasped his arm and drew myself closer. The flow of divinity that circled slowly around his body with appropriate weight became distinctly perceptible. I shook his arm and pressed further.
“Please teach me. I’ve already learned quite well how to deflect magical power or counterattack, but… I find it particularly difficult to manipulate the divinity within me.”
“Well… that’s a matter of sensation, so it’s hard to explain in words.”
Auredhian appeared to be contemplating something for a moment. His large hand interlaced with mine, finger by finger.
“I’ve never experienced difficulty in manipulating the divinity within my body, so you’ll have to feel it directly for yourself.”
“…There really is a genius here.”
“What?”
I reflected on my past error in self-assessment—calling myself a sickly genius. How presumptuous of me, a mere speck of dust. I laughed hollowly and focused on reading the flow I could sense through our intertwined hands.
“…Wow.”
And I genuinely marveled. My mouth fell open involuntarily.
The divinity flowing within Auredhian’s body was far more irregular and intense than the divinity he projected outward. The clear, pristine divinity was nowhere to be found—instead, it was filled with sharply roiling, raw power. Words tumbled out in fragments.
“W-what? Originally, like, this way?”
“If I don’t refine it. Ah, it’s too stimulating for you to perceive.”
The moment those words left his lips, I felt the sacred power standing before me abruptly become blunt.
“Hah….”
Only then did I realize I’d been holding my breath. Auredhian Belgot examined me with worried eyes.
“I’m sorry. I should have been more considerate.”
“Oh, no.”
The sacred power, which had transformed into gentle ripples in an instant, flowed in soothingly. A clear, pristine current. It was exactly the right amount of stimulation for me. Auredhian Belgot caressed my cheek as if to comfort me.
“Anything raw is rough and unstable by nature. Usually I keep it refined. It’s not particularly difficult.”
“I see….”
His words sounded to me like saying a thousand push-ups take only five minutes. I caught my breath and let out an exclamation of admiration.
“I, huff, don’t even have time to figure out what you’re doing. You’re incredible.”
“It’s not my ability. It’s merely power inherited from my ancestors.”
Auredhian Belgot didn’t seem particularly impressed. His hand, which had been holding my wrist, remained there for quite some time, all his attention focused on my breathing returning to normal. Only after I insisted several times that I was fine did he withdraw his hand. His voice that followed was still dismissive.
“In fact, it’s a power that doesn’t register as magical energy, so it’s useless when it actually matters.”
“Come on, of course. That’s something even Raulus can’t do….”
“…?”
Auredhian Belgot looked at me with a strange expression. I smiled brightly and quickly changed the subject.
“…so it would be impossible for you too.”
“Well… I suppose so.”
Good. That was natural. I let out a sigh of relief.
“It seems I’ve really caught myself an exceptional man.”
Now that I could properly perceive sacred power, I understood why Soleia Elad and Hades had coveted Auredhian Belgot. He was someone who refined such vast, densely concentrated raw sacred power and released it outward as naturally as breathing. Yet Auredhian Belgot didn’t seem to agree. He replied slowly.
“I don’t know. For someone like that, you don’t seem to trust me much.”
“Why would you say that?”
“If you’re by my side, you wouldn’t need to learn how to handle sacred power or anything like that. Ah… of course, it’s naturally good for you to learn such things.”
“Mm.”
“Somehow it feels a bit….”
A suspicious glimmer appeared in his reddish eyes. I felt a pang of guilt and blinked. Auredhian Belgot sighed and let his words trail off.
“I wonder if I’m really that untrustworthy….”
Untrustworthy. Perhaps that’s true. I know that Auredhian Belgot is the only one who can protect me most safely, but I couldn’t be certain he could protect himself from Hades. He’s not someone a human can face alone. But if I said that aloud, he’d surely become depressed, so I quickly changed the subject.
“Don’t say such useless things, Your Majesty. Show me something else. For example, purifying flames!”
“It’s not really worth being curious about….”
“Please do!”
As always, he couldn’t refuse me.
That’s how one day passed, then two. More than a week had already gone by since I hid Auredhian Belgot in the Western Palace. Those were days where peace and tension coexisted.
“It’s strange… because nothing’s happening, I feel even more anxious….”
[You’re drowning in worry.]
“It’s probably needless concern, right?”
Raulus clicked his tongue and burrowed into the blankets. Somehow it felt like I was the only one in this palace who knew how to worry. Both Auredhian Belgot and Raulus were far too carefree. Then again, it’s natural if they can’t sense anything, isn’t it? I sighed deeply and pressed my cheeks against the table without restraint.
“Why am I always the one fretting and worrying…?”
No matter how carefully I concealed things, I understood that once rumors began to spread, they would proliferate in an instant—just as news of my stay at the Barisha Imperial Palace had swept through Barishard’s High Society. If it were discovered that I was harboring a man at the Royal Palace, and not just any man, but the very Emperor himself…. I found myself imagining being dragged by my parents and sister to the attic at the very top of the Main Palace, where I’d be locked away, and I let out a hollow laugh.
“Right. I won’t think about it.”
Besides, this wasn’t the time to worry about such things first. Auredhian Belgot seemed genuinely prepared to remain planted at the Secondary Palace for days, weeks—however long it took until I accepted his proposal. And he showed no sign whatsoever of abandoning his stubborn insistence that when he returned, he would hide me away and face Hades alone.
It seemed unlikely he would withdraw his plans under normal circumstances. Should I have resorted to shock therapy? Should I have hurt him so he’d leave?
I asked while combing through Raulus’s fur.
“Would it have been better if I’d simply refused him?”
[As if you could have done that.]
“You’re right….”
There was no way I could have. In truth, if anyone wanted to return to Belgot more desperately than Auredhian Belgot, it was me—if anything, my desire burned even hotter. Overwhelmed by confusion, I shook Raulus up and down wildly.
“But still, I changed things! I suffered so terribly two years ago to save that man’s life, and I can’t simply undo it all now!”

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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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