Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 123

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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 123
A faint bluish-silver shimmer cut through the darkness, and though the light was small and weak, it was enough to discern the features of the person before me.
The moment I traced the outline of Auredhian’s jaw and lips, I pulled him toward me. But just as our lips were about to brush, he tilted his head back slightly.
“We shouldn’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“Your sister seems to suspect you might have smuggled a man into the palace.”
…
Auredhian had a talent for poking at my conscience with surgical precision. I looked up at him with resentment.
“You have no right to say that.”
“Don’t I? You’re the one who locked me away here.”
This man had clearly developed a taste for teasing me. I glared at him sharply, then sighed and surrendered without resistance.
“…Kiss me, please.”
My body, long accustomed to his touch and drowning in it, knew exactly what it wanted. And I was certain he felt no differently. I knew him as well as he knew me. A helpless smile spread across my face, my eyes crinkling naturally at the corners.
“If you kiss me, I’ll go with you.”
His reddish eyes widened immediately. I traced his lips with my fingertips and whispered with delight.
“Let’s go back. Together.”
“…Really?”
“Only if you kiss me.”
Here I was, already decided and merely waiting for the right moment, yet acting like a fox. I must have a talent for training. With that strange satisfaction, our lips finally met, and an overwhelming, distant sensation flooded through me. It was a slow, quiet kiss—one that squeezed my chest unbearably tight.
Fortunately, reason reasserted itself before long.
After receiving that clear, pristine, warm and humid yet refreshing sensation that rippled all the way to the crown of my head, I managed—with some difficulty—to separate myself from Auredhian. Thanks to Merry’s brilliant maneuvering, Tezebia had just left the Western Palace.
I opened the wardrobe door wide. The sacred presence and heat that had filled the narrow space spilled out into the room. Auredhian, his eyes full of longing, caught me as I tried to slip away.
“Yerenika, you weren’t joking, were you?”
“Of course not.”
“It’s strange that you suddenly changed your mind.”
Disbelief was written all over his handsome face. Somehow, I felt like the boy who cried wolf again. I embraced him tightly, pouring apology and affection into the gesture.
“Kidnap me whenever you wish. I won’t resist.”
…
“But you’ll give me time to say goodbye to my family, won’t you? My love.”
“…Of course.”
His voice sounded strangely tight. As if there were still affection left unshed, kisses rained down continuously on my forehead and hair. I gently stroked his hair to soothe him, speaking softly to reassure him.
“A proper kidnapping should happen in broad daylight, but that seems impossible this time. Shall we meet again at dawn instead?”
I winked playfully, and finally a laugh that resembled a sigh of relief escaped him. Only after comforting Auredhian several more times was I able to leave the room.
* * *
“Yerenika? I went to the Secondary Palace earlier, but you weren’t there.”
After visiting my parents at the Main Palace, I headed straight to the Duke’s Residence. As I arrived, Tezebia greeted me with a surprised expression. The moment I saw her, I pulled her into a tight embrace.
“My? Why so suddenly?”
“Just because.”
My sister seemed momentarily flustered, but soon returned my embrace warmly.
“You’ll understand me, won’t you, sister?”
“What are you talking about?”
Tezebia must have sensed something amiss in my voice, for she pulled me away from her embrace. I offered her a bright smile as she examined my face carefully.
“Yerenika, I don’t know what you’re doing in the Western Palace, but… wait, could you possibly…?”
Tezebia looked at me with an expression of disbelief. I naturally averted my gaze and bowed toward Brizni, who was gazing up at me with wide, curious eyes.
“My lovely niece, shall we have dinner together this evening?”
“Yes!”
Brizni nodded brightly, then her eyes widened as something occurred to her. My precious niece whispered into my ear.
“Isn’t the handsome uncle coming?”
“Well… um.”
I answered with an awkward laugh. Disappointment flickered across Brizni’s face. Despite having met Auredhian only four days ago, she had already grown fond of him. I whispered softly to Brizni so that my sister couldn’t hear.
“You’ll see him again. Once you’ve grown just a little bit more than you are now.”
“How much bigger?”
“Hmm… about this tall?”
I held my hand up about a span above the child’s head. Brizni pouted her lips. When she eventually grew old enough to properly understand the concepts of Belgot, the Empire, and the Emperor, how would she remember these childhood days?
“Though she probably won’t remember at all.”
“…?”
“Well, that makes sense. Our Brizni is still just a baby, after all.”
I lifted the bewildered Brizni into my arms. I began to slip away from Tezebia, but she quickly caught me by the scruff of my neck.
“Yerenika. What exactly are you thinking? You’re not planning to do something strange, are you?”
“Something strange? No, I’m not.”
“Then what? You’re not planning to run away, are you…?”
A pang of guilt. I escaped the crisis with laughter.
“Run away? I’m not some moody teenager. What would I run away for?”
And so, having suddenly become a moody teenager, I offered my sister an apology she could never hear. I’m sorry, sister. But if I told you the truth, you’d be shocked and try to stop me anyway…
Tezebia spoke with a stern expression.
“I trust you, Yerenika.”
“Yes. Do you love me? I love you too, sister.”
[Your conscience is quite hairy, little one.]
Raulus, who had been padding along behind me, snorted at my feet. I secretly kicked him away so my sister wouldn’t notice and blurted out something random.
“By the way, the mansion feels a bit cold for some reason. The sun was shining brightly outside.”
“Cold?”
“Well… no, actually. It’s quite hot. Phew, I’m sweating so much…”
I could clearly see how Tezebia’s thoughts shifted from the possibility of me running away to the worsening of my illness. I pretended to wipe away sweat that wasn’t there and gradually moved away. Within less than half an hour, I understood the true nature of the chill that had mysteriously enveloped the Lebanon Mansion.
This was not my first time dining with the House of Lebanon. I visited the residence three or four times a week, so roughly one-tenth of my meals in Lebovni were eaten there. However, this was the first time in recent years that someone without the Lebanon surname was seated at the dinner table.
“Are you alright, Yerenika? I’m sorry. If I had known you were coming, I wouldn’t have invited Lisard to dinner…”
Tezebia continued speaking with a troubled expression. Yet I found myself unable to open my mouth and respond.
“…Is this a dream?”
Instead, I murmured softly and pinched my cheek hard. Of course, doing so didn’t make the sharp sensation disappear from my skin or change the scenery before my eyes. I remained frozen with the bright expression I had been showing Brizni.
“Aunt?”
Brizni’s cute head tilt didn’t even register with me. The chill I had felt in the Reception Room of the Lebanon Duke’s Residence was not actually a chill at all. It was a sensation like dozens, hundreds of needles piercing sharply into each cell of my skin. Fingertips tingling with intermittent electric shocks.
“…Yeah. Eating together doesn’t seem feasible.”
I loosened my grip around Brizni and let the words escape slowly.
“Still, I’d like to talk with you for a while since it’s been so long. I’ll wait upstairs.”
“What about eating, Yerenika?”
“No. Actually, I wasn’t hungry anyway.”
I set Brizni down on the floor and straightened up again. I enunciated each word with deliberate clarity.
“I’ll wait upstairs.”
* * *
“Have I lost my mind?”
I entered Tezebia’s bedroom and closed the door behind me. The moment I was alone in the room, my legs gave out beneath me. My body crumpled to the floor. I bit my lip, barely holding back the terror that threatened to overwhelm me.
“What…. How is this….”
Raulus passed through the closed door effortlessly and bounded onto my lap.
[Your timing is impeccable.]
“….”
Without a word, I grabbed Raulus by the scruff of the neck. I hoisted him high into the air and shook him mercilessly.
“Lari, what did you say yesterday? Didn’t you ask if I was going to keep waiting for that man when I don’t even know when he’ll come? Huh?”
[Yeah. Sorry. I made a mistake. I should have believed you when you said you were anxious.]
“…Let’s just die together, you and I.”
Was this Murphy’s Law? Was that it? Just one day after deciding I had to leave, everything spirals like this—surely this is all a dream? I dropped Raulus onto the floor and buried my face in my hands.
“This can’t be happening….”
Life is truly cruel. Why didn’t he show his face once in the past two years, only to appear today of all days—the day I promised to return to Belgot? Why did he have to ask me to meet him at dawn, right after I made that promise?
“…Sigh.”
A small, bitter laugh escaped me. The world was clearly not on my side.

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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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