Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 169

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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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Side Story 1, Part 7, Episode 1
You don’t have to give up what you want because of me. You don’t have to make me your absolute priority.
My fingertip slid along the firm, sculpted contours of muscle—so different from the soft flesh of my own body. I found myself murmuring anew.
“It seems… I really do love you very much.”
“….”
“That’s right. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t think such things… Sister was correct.”
I murmured as though entranced, lifting my gaze. Only then did I notice his eyes beginning to blaze with an unmistakable fire. With a soft sound, the slip that had been precariously clinging to me was drawn downward.
That was the beginning. The start of an excessively long night. My mind grew hazy. Even as I was shaken roughly, I seemed to whisper something.
“I want to give you more people to love. So many more.”
Whether I truly spoke those words aloud or merely thought them, whether Auredhian heard them or not—I couldn’t be certain.
That night was so utterly senseless that my memories were fragmented. The intoxication kept rising, and with the overwhelming stimulation and pleasure, I think I even ended up crying. Half a glass of spirits combined with something far more intoxicating seemed to produce something beyond mere drunkenness. Was it a dream? Reality? Or something consumed even within dreams? Given how utterly I couldn’t distinguish…
A combination of a glass of whiskey and a man more stimulating than that seems to provoke something beyond mere intoxication. Was it a dream, or was it reality? Or was I consumed even in my dreams? Judging by how I can’t tell at all…
“I love you.”
In truth, from that dawn until morning broke, after being tormented through it all, I arrived at one final conclusion.
“I love you too… but… I really want to sleep now….”
“Yeni….”
“Ugh. Please… don’t look at me like that….”
I must never let Auredhian get intoxicated again. I’d thought he seemed fine on the surface, but I was wrong.
“No, never again….”
I will never utter the first syllable of the word “alcohol” again…!
* * *
“Ah… a mistake….”
The moment Auredhian opened his eyes, he exhaled a low sigh. Aside from the soft feminine form he held in his arms, it was because the memories of last night replayed vividly before him.
“….”
He had never been intoxicated before. Yet now Auredhian felt the need to correct that thought. It wasn’t that he’d never been intoxicated—he’d simply never had the occasion to experience what intoxication truly felt like.
“What did I do…?”
He clearly remembered the moment he’d thought to silence Yerenika’s words by covering her mouth. But the instant he tasted the subtle cherry flavor on his lips, his thoughts stopped with startling clarity.
Perhaps that was when the intoxication surged all at once. The moment instinct completely overtook reason. Of course, there was no doubt that it was the most intense pleasure he’d ever experienced.
“….”
Yet that was… a line he had drawn for himself, one he’d sworn never to cross, no matter how much passion boiled within him….
‘No, no matter what, this doesn’t make sense.’
No matter how intoxicated, he’d never thought himself capable of such a complete loss of control! What on earth had caused his restraint to shatter so utterly?
Auredhian seriously retraced his memories. Now that he thought about it, Yerenika seemed to have said something. That words seemed to be the turning point….
“Mm….”
Yerenika, nestled in his arms, stirred slightly. His thoughts cut off abruptly.
“Yeni?”
He startled and examined her carefully. But immediately his gaze faltered again at the sight of the red marks covering her slender shoulders and down past her collarbone. A soft murmur escaped from between her disheveled pale pink hair.
“Cancel….”
“Hmm?”
Yerenika’s head lifted abruptly. Her sky-blue eyes, tinged with resentment, glared at him.
“I take that back. You’re not cute at all.”
“Oh.”
Auredhian barely suppressed the laughter that threatened to burst forth unbidden. Watching her pale face and those reddened eyes fixed upon me with such reproach stirred both pity and remorse, yet…
“I mean it. Not cute in the slightest. I’m never suggesting we drink together again.”
The urge to kiss her again welled up within me, which I attributed to how utterly beloved my wife had become. I felt a faint thirst and brushed back her rose-tinted hair.
“I’ve always told you—don’t provoke me.”
“Is that really what you should be saying right now?”
A spark. She urged me with her eyes alone. Auredhian pressed his lips firmly against her pale, rounded forehead and spoke obediently.
“I was too rough. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not sleeping in the same bedroom anymore.”
“No. That won’t do.”
“Why not!”
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. You must have suffered terribly, didn’t you?”
“I thought I was going to die!”
It should be fine. It should be fine, shouldn’t it? Would it be fine? Auredhian half-listened to Yerenika’s whimpering while sinking into serious contemplation. This was the first time he had neglected contraception. The first time since before and after their marriage.
For him, Yerenika had always come first. Her safety. Her health. Her happiness. The Old Physician had said regarding pregnancy that he “couldn’t guarantee it would be fine, but there shouldn’t be major problems if we’re careful.” To Auredhian, those words automatically transformed into “it might not be fine.”
Thus, contraception was the first commandment for her health—an absolute taboo never to be broken. And yet he had trampled upon it…
‘Worse still…’
Auredhian recalled words he should have forgotten instead of what he ought to remember.
“I don’t think I’m ready yet. I’ve never even considered it.”
She had said she wasn’t prepared.
“…”
It wasn’t that he failed to understand. Yerenika was considerably younger than him, after all. Of course her acceptance would differ. The notion that at twenty-three one could already have three children without issue simply didn’t exist in Auredhian’s mind.
“I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
Her pouty face, nestled against his chest, bore traces of tears. He could no longer hear Yerenika’s murmuring complaints.
“I’m truly sorry. You know how weak I am to that expression of yours.”
“Ah… I’m going mad.”
“Huh? What is it!”
Even as Yerenika grumbled, her eyes widened when he furrowed his brow, and she asked.
“What? Why? Does your head hurt?”
“…”
“A hangover? Is it a hangover?”
Her slender frame slipped from his arms and she sat up abruptly, cupping both his cheeks in her hands.
“You really did drink too much, didn’t you? Oh no, I’m sorry. Since you never get drunk…”
“No… it’s not that. It doesn’t hurt.”
“I knew it would be fine!”
As Yerenika rose and climbed over him, her pale upper body was fully exposed. The marks blooming across her shoulders, collarbone, and chest were far too provocative. Auredhian released a deep sigh and wrapped his wife back up in the sheets.
‘If I’m thinking like this even now, I’m truly inhuman.’
He swaddled Yerenika as though the sheets were the last bastion defending his humanity.
“…? Edi?”
“Tell me right away if you’re not feeling well. Understood?”
“I think I’m feeling quite unwell right now. I can’t breathe.”
It should be fine. But if it’s not fine… If a child were to come of it, Yerenika would surely resent him.
Seeing how casually she responded made it clear she had no idea he hadn’t been careful about contraception. Then again, even he himself couldn’t quite pinpoint when or how much he’d lost his composure, so it was understandable that she wouldn’t know.
“….”
The more I thought about it, the more absurd my own negligence seemed. I’d already caused her distress by getting caught scheming to pass the throne to a distant branch of the family.
My wife had gone to great lengths to arrange a conversation, and I’d let it fizzle to nothing. As if that weren’t enough, I’d completely ignored her when she seriously said she didn’t want this. This was truly….
“The worst.”
“Pardon? No, I was only joking… Ah, but if you’d loosen your grip a bit, I think I could breathe easier.”
Of course, I knew well enough that conceiving wasn’t an easy matter. So I tried to convince myself that once wouldn’t be a problem. There was no need to bring it up and make her anxious….
‘But what if it’s not fine…?’
What if she grew angry and disappointed in me? If Yerenika did that, it would be truly unbearable. My thoughts spiraled toward the worst possibilities. I had no intention of letting her go now. What if she became so deeply disappointed that she declared she was returning to Lebovni….
“Hey there.”
No. My wife was far too kind to say such things to me. That much was certain.
“….”
Yet somehow, that made it worse.
“Excuse me. Edi. Your Majesty.”
A puzzled voice pulled me from my thoughts.

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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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