Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 158

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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 158
Then, amid a sweet fragrance that muddled my thoughts, an unbidden distraction slipped in.
‘Truth be told, I’ve held back for quite some time….’
This wasn’t right.
“….”
In the end, he released the body he’d been holding so tightly. In that moment, she’d fallen asleep—Yerenika slipped away without resistance. Even after carefully laying her back on the bed, Auredhian couldn’t tear his gaze from her pale face for a long while.
In truth, restraint wasn’t impossible. He’d endured two years already, after all. Auredhian deliberately cast aside his wandering thoughts and lowered his eyes. His left hand, still not released, came into view.
“….”
Something he’d momentarily forgotten resurfaced in his mind. Auredhian gazed down at the slender fingers entwined with his own, lost in contemplation.
About ‘what should I do’.
* * *
“You dislike crowds, don’t you? You hate drawing attention.”
This was what Diego had said.
“Anything ostentatious or grandiose… you don’t seem to enjoy much. Perhaps because you’re from Lebovni.”
This was what Clarisse Aiven said, dredging up memories from two years past.
“Not even a single step! You mustn’t leave, not yet! You cannot set foot outside the Imperial Palace!”
This was what the Royal Physician cried out with desperate urgency, breathless.
Synthesizing it all: within the Imperial Palace, without crowds, nothing ostentatious or grandiose. Something quiet….
Auredhian was the master of the Imperial Palace. Satisfying such conditions was hardly difficult. Truth be told, he didn’t particularly enjoy ostentation and grandeur either. He knew Yerenika wouldn’t care for it either. After all, she was someone always surrounded by a warm, harmless presence.
‘Though that said….’
Clarisse Aiven’s final words, practically shrieked against his back, kept catching in his ears.
“Your Majesty, even so, there’s no woman alive who dislikes something grand, glittering, and magnificent!”
Was that so? Auredhian gazed intently at the woman seated across from him, imagining in his mind. Yerenika surrounded by the most radiant and splendid things.
‘Imagining it, it doesn’t seem so bad….’
“Why are you staring so intently?”
His reverie was cut short by a discontented voice. Auredhian quickly composed his expression and offered an excuse.
“Just. You’re beautiful.”
“That’s not it. Your eyes right now are the eyes of someone pondering something.”
Yerenika struck at the heart of the matter with precision. Auredhian, offering no reply, lifted the corners of his mouth and let his gaze slip—to the slender fingers gripping the teacup.
“Who exactly are you talking to? Hmm?”
Bang. Yerenika set her teacup down on the table with rather forceful movements. The table trembled slightly. Auredhian caught the table and reflexively blurted out.
“Ah, Yeni. Be careful.”
What if she broke her fingers handling them so recklessly? Even as that thought crossed his mind, he found both his cheeks seized by her hands.
“Did you really mean just tea when you suggested we have tea?”
“Ah.”
“I took it to mean you wanted to have a lot of the conversations we’ve missed.”
Her sky-blue eyes cast a slight glare at him. Only then did Auredhian tear his gaze from Yerenika’s hands. And with a troubled expression, he murmured.
“You’re right. You are right, but….”
“Then why do you keep letting your attention wander elsewhere?”
“That’s….”
Auredhian Belgot was terribly bad at lying—at least when it came to Yerenika. He barely managed to swallow the reflexive answer that threatened to spill out. To prevent her gaze from lingering further, he grasped her small left hand and interlaced their fingers.
“It’s not a lie. You really are beautiful, so I was looking.”
“…Tch.”
An expression of “I’ll let it slide just this once” crossed her pale, delicate face. Auredhian chuckled softly and brought her finger to his lips in a gentle kiss—that slender, cool fourth finger.
“How does it feel to be back in Belgot?”
“How does it feel? Hmm.”
Yerenika brushed at the hem of her dress with her free hand and rose from her seat. She circled the table and settled beside him on the sofa, which swayed gently under her weight.
“Well, it feels like coming home, I suppose.”
“Home.”
Home. A pleasant word. Auredhian listened to her voice with a drowsy contentment.
“Lebovni is nice too, of course. But still, I prefer Belgot.”
“Why? You struggled there the entire time.”
“Why, you ask?”
Yerenika smiled mischievously and shook his hand playfully.
“Because you’re here.”
“….”
“Where else could I possibly be, except beside someone who knows all my most intimate secrets? Don’t you think?”
The way she winked while saying “intimate” was so endearing it made his eyes ache.
“You’re the only one who would tell me it doesn’t matter what form I take.”
“….”
That doesn’t seem right, Auredhian thought to himself. The memory of intercepting that bundle of love letters addressed to her in Lebovni crept back into his mind. He spoke slowly.
“You are someone who deserves to be loved no matter what form you take. I was simply fortunate.”
He was merely a man who had seized an extraordinary stroke of luck in catching her eye. His gaze drifted down to her hand once more.
“Finding you in Lebovni was a fortune I’ll never have again in my lifetime.”
That was precisely why he needed certainty now. Auredhian had to restrain himself from carelessly uttering the words that had been circling endlessly in his mind. Properly. This time, it had to be done properly. Yerenika leaned toward him with a beautiful smile.
“I’ve certainly wrapped one man around my finger. You’re adorable. Should I kiss you?”
There seemed to be no need to answer in words. Auredhian drew her waist toward him and lowered his head toward her reddened lips.
“Wait, stop.”
Had her hand not suddenly gripped his shoulder, their lips would have met. In the brief moment Auredhian hesitated, Yerenika pushed him away.
“This….”
Her voice was strange. Her sky-blue gaze was fixed directly on something below his face.
“What is this?”
“What?”
Auredhian asked in confusion, bringing his hand to where her eyes were directed. It seemed to be somewhere around his neck and jaw.
“Which part?”
“….”
Yerenika didn’t answer.
Her hand, which had been holding his shoulder, moved down without hesitation. She swept open the collar of his partially unbuttoned shirt.
“Ah….”
A short gasp escaped her. Only then did Auredhian realize what she had seen. Her cool fingers brushed against a crescent-shaped scar just below where his jaw met his ear—a mark that was usually hidden from view. Yerenika’s eyes widened for a moment, then her face went deathly pale in an instant.
“Wait, surely not—!”
* * *
“I really should have cut it off.”
“Cut what off? Don’t say such strange things.”
I’d lost my mind, truly. Overwhelmed by shock and doubt, I spoke whatever came to mind.
“You strangled your own neck….”
A tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop it.
“This hand should really be severed….”
“Yeni.”
Auredhian let out a hollow laugh and pulled me into an embrace.
“It’s been healed for ages now. Why are you still upset?”
“But it left a scar….”
The thin crescent-shaped scar on the back of Auredhian’s jaw was unmistakably obvious. It was from my fingernails. The wound I’d inflicted when I strangled his neck before the altar at Barishard Temple—there was no doubt about it. The scar matched my nail marks so perfectly it was almost accusatory.
I exhaled in exasperation. How mercilessly must I have strangled him for the nail marks to have left such deep impressions? The anger I’d forgotten came rushing back.
“Hades. That wretched creature. I strangled your neck with these hands!”
“It’s fine. It’s barely visible anyway.”
Auredhian spoke in a carefree tone while patting my shoulder. It seemed he’d only remembered the scar existed long after my expression had completely hardened.
“I should have cursed him more at the end. Or at least landed a blow.”
“I think it was sufficient….”
“It wasn’t enough. If he ever shows his face again, I won’t let him off easy…. Ah, but he shouldn’t come back at all.”
Words have power. I closed my mouth in frustration. Auredhian began comforting me step by step.
“He won’t come back. As long as Raulus remains strong, and as long as that woman obeys and completes her duties.”
That woman. He was clearly referring to Soleia. My ears perked up. I searched my memory and asked carefully.
“Speaking of which… what happened to Soleia?”

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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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