Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 116

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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 116
[Crumb, I’m dizzy.]
Only after Raulus spoke while swaying dizzily, shaken like dust from my hands, did I stop shaking him violently. Instead, I grabbed at my own hair.
“But… it’s been over two years and nearly a month and a half now, and seeing how quiet everything has been, what if that unlucky skeleton—someone like me—has already completely forgotten about me?”
[I’m getting nauseous.]
The real problem was that even my previously unwavering resolve had begun to waver lately.
“Give me a proper answer, Raulus. Is it really okay for me to return to Belgot like this?”
[That’s for you to decide. Just finish combing my fur already. It’s all tangled.]
Raulus spoke with complete nonchalance. I suppressed the urge to pluck out those gleaming silver strands one by one and smiled brightly instead.
“You speak as if it’s someone else’s problem. If I suddenly died one day, you wouldn’t feel the impact at all?”
[But I can’t feel anything anyway. What matters is your senses, crumb.]
Raulus shook his head and straightened up properly. Even so, in the form of a small creature no larger than my forearm, he remained well below my eye level. Perhaps because I’d been enjoying Auredhian’s divine essence lately, Raulus too had recovered remarkably well, and he tapped my hand gently with his small front paw.
[Do you feel anything different these days?]
“…It’s just the same. There’s this lingering chill at my back, you know? I’m grateful there’s still no physical sensation yet.”
My advantage over Hades was that I could sense his existence in some form. So even if it was just intuition, I couldn’t ignore it. Thump, thump. My heart raced anxiously as if being squeezed.
[You don’t need to push yourself. You’re allowed to be a little more childish.]
“Not that again.”
[You’re scared, aren’t you? Truthfully.]
Raulus occasionally saw through me in a way that gave me chills. He climbed onto my arm and settled behind my neck and shoulders. The warm, heavy weight pressed down on my neck.
[Don’t try to hide from me, crumb. Reading your heart is nothing for me.]
“…”
Raulus was right. If I’d truly made up my mind, I would have cut things off coldly long ago. The reason I hadn’t was, of course, because I loved him—because we’d met after two years. That was the biggest reason. And…
“I’m… just a crumb that’s barely evolved into a pebble. Maybe I just want to be protected in a safe place.”
If I just hide in a cozy nest, wouldn’t Auredhian handle everything? If I just play and eat happily as he always wanted me to, wouldn’t all the problems suddenly resolve themselves one day?
But if Auredhian were to die in the meantime, if the only person in this world who truly loves ‘me’ were to disappear, I probably wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Even in that worst-case scenario, I felt disgust at myself for worrying about myself first. My mind was a mess. I lowered my head while absently touching the fluffy tail of the young wolf that had slipped below my neck.
I didn’t know.
I couldn’t sleep until late that dawn.
‘I want to go. I want to return. God, I really want to go…’
The silver hair slipped smoothly between my fingers. Our faces were close enough that I could count the lashes on his eyelids. I gazed at his sleeping face for a long time, murmuring softly.
“I should send him back soon.”
Of course, the sleeping figure offered no answer. I fidgeted and nestled deeper into his embrace. The warmth of bare skin transferred to me.
“I wish he would just leave.”
Words I didn’t mean tumbled out. I felt doubt about myself. What did I want to do? This endless worrying wasn’t good—not for me, not for those waiting. I sighed helplessly, and then I felt something strange. The divine essence flowing gently through Auredhian’s body suddenly flickered.
“Huh…?”
I lifted my head blankly. And my eyes met with half-open crimson eyes.
“…!”
The world spun. In an instant, I found myself pinned beneath him.
“Oh, you weren’t asleep…”
The words didn’t finish. His slightly reddened eyes were unmistakably those of someone who’d just woken. Unmistakably… but I asked with an anxious heart.
“Where did you hear that from…?”
“‘I wish you would just leave.'”
Though spoken in a low voice, it was clear and distinct. I swallowed an embarrassed gasp. Of all things to overhear, why that? Auredhian blinked slowly.
“Not exactly pleasant words.”
“That’s… well… it was more of a figure of speech, I suppose.”
It was nonsense. I wanted to tear apart my own careless, rambling mouth. I tugged gently at his arm, but he didn’t budge. Auredhian’s eyes had taken on a sharp edge—whether from anger or something else, I couldn’t tell. It was justified, certainly. My lips, which I’d parted to offer some excuse, were sealed shut.
“-!”
It was nothing like the soft, tender kisses we’d shared before. Raw, unrefined divinity flowed through his lips directly into mine. Like what I’d felt once that afternoon, it was overwhelming stimulation for me.
“Ugh… ah, wait. Your M-…”
It surged and swirled violently, scraping through the depths of my body. Tears welled up in my eyes in an instant. Our lips parted only after what felt like an eternity. I gasped for breath. His hand brushing through my hair was tender as always, the complete opposite of the intense sensation that had assaulted me. But his voice that followed was far less gentle.
“I don’t understand why you don’t trust me.”
“That’s… hah, ugh. That’s…”
“I know you can’t be happy trapped anywhere. That’s why I let you go two years ago. But all I’ve done for nearly two years is regret that decision.”
His voice, rough with emotion, seemed to waver slightly. The darkness must have prevented him from seeing my expression.
“This time, can’t you think of me?”
“That’s… hah…”
My breath caught in my throat, leaving me unable to speak. My nape, lower back, and the backs of my knees trembled. It was so hot it felt cold, raising goosebumps across my skin.
A short gasp—not mine—escaped. I was still struggling to adapt to the raw divinity clawing through my insides. Only then did Auredhian seem to sense something wrong in my reaction, drawing in a sharp breath.
“Ah, damn it.”
My body lifted lightly into the air. I found myself back on top of him. Tears that had pooled in my eyes spilled down onto his jawline. Auredhian looked startled at the sight of my disheveled face.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful again, was I, Yerenika?”
He fussed over me anxiously, his voice full of regret.
“I’m sorry. Don’t cry.”
“No… hah, I’m the one who’s sorry…”
The tears that had broken through came pouring out uncontrollably. These were tears I hadn’t shed even when we reunited after two years. Once the floodgates opened, all the sorrow I’d been suppressing came rushing out at once. This was the first time I’d cried like this in front of him since that night two years ago at Bellirook Palace, right after Soleia’s nightmare.
Back then, they had been purely physiological tears from beginning to end. This time, emotion had mixed in somewhere along the way.
“I really do want to be with you too…”
“I know. Yes. It’s my fault.”
His voice and touch, soothing me without understanding what was wrong, only made me sadder somehow.
“Did it hurt a lot? This is driving me mad. Don’t cry, Yeni.”
His tight embrace was solid and reassuring. The divinity, now eerily calm again, flowed through me unchanged. He soothed me with a hoarse voice.
“Show me your face. Will you?”
Ah. I really didn’t want to let go. Even after my condition had mysteriously returned to normal, I continued to cry in his arms for a long time. I was the one who’d made the mistake, yet somehow Auredhian had become the guilty one. Even as I thought this isn’t right, the tears kept coming. Eventually, after crying for so long, I seemed to have fallen asleep as if losing consciousness.
And from the very next day, I had one more thing to worry about. Just like the past few days, we faced each other, talked, held hands, embraced, and kissed… but this vague sense of guilt I felt. How was I supposed to resolve this?
In truth, Auredhian’s attitude only became more cautious—it never turned reckless or forceful. He wasn’t the type of man who could be like that anyway, and making me cry had apparently been quite a shock to him. He treated me like a delicate glass doll, gently and carefully. Whenever I tried to practice and use even a tiny bit of divinity, he’d gasp and scoop me into his arms. To exaggerate slightly, I barely had to walk on my own feet all day. The effect of those tears was tremendous.
“Um, it doesn’t hurt or anything… I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. Is saying you’re okay still just a habit?”
But it’s true… I watched his expression carefully while settling obediently into his embrace. I could feel my divinity, suppressed to the point of being nearly weightless as air, being gently absorbed.
“Mm…”
The man who had been burning hot for days suddenly became overly cautious, which was strange in its own way. In any case, Auredhian didn’t seem particularly upset or angry. So the guilt I felt was purely a matter of my own conscience.
“Your Majesty, if I may…”
“What is it?”
“It’s been a week already, and Count Aiven must be waiting desperately for your return…”
“Who?”
His crimson eyes, which had taken on a distinctly sharp edge, narrowed to slits. I flinched instinctively, waving my hands in frantic denial.
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant…”
The moment Auredhian turned away with a look of utter indifference, I yanked at my own hair in frustration. I couldn’t even speak freely—I was reduced to nothing but nervous observation! Meanwhile, I had to remain vigilant for any trace of magical energy, while simultaneously keeping the servants’ mouths shut. I felt as though I needed three heads, each wrestling with its own worry.
And approximately two days after that incident, the first person to discover the presence of the Mysterious Foreigner staying in the Western Palace was none other than my beloved nephew.

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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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