Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 170

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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 Part 1, Episode 8
“Knock knock. Are you listening?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“What do you think about what I just said?”
“I was wrong. Truly.”
The words tumbled out reflexively. Her crystalline sky-blue eyes were filled with dozens of question marks. Yerenika grumbled softly.
“Honestly, I can’t even joke around. I’m really suffocating here, so let me go already.”
Only then did Auredhian realize he’d been gripping her far too tightly with his arms. He released Yerenika, whom he’d practically bound in blankets, and sank into profound self-reproach.
What kind of man am I? How many mistakes have I made in this short span of time? Yet dwelling on it served no purpose. He murmured like a sigh.
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“Mm-hmm. And I won’t suggest drinking together again.”
“Yes. That would be best.”
What good was regret when the water had already spilled? Auredhian was seized by the urge to strike his yesterday-self, and he pulled her close once more.
“I truly love you, Yeni. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes. I love you too.”
Hearing those words and feeling her nestle into his embrace brought him slight reassurance. Only slight. And from that day forward, Auredhian began following his wife with five times his usual persistence.
* * *
“…?”
Yerenika turned around as she prepared to depart for the Temple. She tilted her head upon seeing her husband standing like a shadow directly in the doorway.
“Edi, why are you standing there?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Where to?”
“Wherever you’re going.”
“….”
Yerenika’s eyes widened and she tilted her head. He looked so endearing she could barely resist embracing him at once. In truth, this man—who still had five hundred years before his infatuation would fade—found his wife adorable simply for breathing.
“But Felix over there….”
Felix stood where Yerenika’s fingertip pointed, cradling a towering stack of documents that looked heavy just to behold. He was desperately sending pleading glances toward the Empress when his master caught him red-handed. A faint irritation flickered in those crimson eyes.
“That’s not important right now….”
“Work. Now.”
Auredhian’s words cut off mid-sentence. A delicate hand pushed him firmly toward Felix.
“The summer festival is coming up soon. I know there’s a mountain of things to do?”
“No. I finished everything yesterday.”
“You followed me around all day yesterday too. Now you’re even lying—.”
“No. Fine. I’ll go.”
Yet his feet refused to budge easily. Auredhian asked with eyes full of reluctance.
“You’re not feeling unwell anywhere, are you?”
“You asked me that last night, this morning, and five minutes ago.”
Yerenika mimicked his habit of zeroing in on blind spots with perfect accuracy and smiled brightly.
“You realize this is overprotective, right? Don’t even think about entering the bedroom until you finish your work.”
“That’s not—. Fine. I’ll finish quickly.”
I need to finish this quickly. Urgency crept into my every step. Yerenika appeared perfectly normal—her complexion was fine, she spent almost no time confined to her room except when sleeping, and she wielded her divine power without the slightest strain. She moved through the world with her usual reckless abandon, vaulting through windows in ways that made my heart shrivel to the size of a bean.
Though I suppose that’s a relief.
I’d pursued her so relentlessly that I could now map out her entire day’s movements in my mind. And through tracing those tangled paths, I’d come to understand that my wife genuinely loved wandering everywhere.
“If I added up all the distances she travels, I could probably cross Capital Barishard in a straight line.”
“Pardon? Your Majesty, what did you just—?”
“Never mind. Continue.”
The most decisive factor was that the Old Physician’s weekly examinations had revealed nothing unusual. So I knew I was being oversensitive about all this.
But why did he appear in my dream?
I was reviewing the Belgot Eastern Coastal Region disaster relief list when I finally pressed my temples. Raulus had appeared in yesterday’s dream—that small wolf cub Yerenika always cradled in her arms. Why had Raulus, who hadn’t manifested in dreams or on the surface world for nearly two years, suddenly appeared? No amount of deliberation could answer that question.
It was strange.
My mood kept floating up and sinking down in turns. Eight parts of me screamed absolutely not, but I was all too aware that the remaining two parts harbored secret hope.
“Your… Your Majesty.”
“What?”
“That’s not where you’re supposed to stamp the seal.”
…
In any case, they said I should wait and observe for over a month.
…Sigh.
I swallowed my sigh and set down the seal I’d nearly stamped directly onto the middle of the text. A week remained before that month would pass. Once another week went by, I could put my mind at ease either way.
But Yerenika, as always, was not the sort of person I could keep bound. The moment I thought I had her, she’d slip away somewhere. So it was always I who suffered the anxiety. This time was no exception.
“Where… has she gone?”
Rarely did I experience the shock of being too stunned to speak. Marienne reported with an awkward smile.
“To the… Belgot Eastern Coastal Region.”
My chair crashed backward as I shot to my feet. Regardless, I immediately traced the direction of Yerenika’s divine power.
The traces within the Imperial Palace were already faint. She’d left with her belongings long ago. I exhaled deeply. Even if it was excessive, I should have confined her to her room!
* * *
“If you’d known beforehand, you wouldn’t have let me go anyway.”
I sat perched on a rock and replied with perfect composure. I was outside the Castle Walls of Capital Barishard, at the location where the magical gate to the Eastern Region opened. From within the magic sphere came a voice dripping with worry, pouring out endlessly. I listened to it with amusement before responding.
“You always say I can do whatever I want.”
[Yeni. No matter what, you have to tell me. Where are you going? That place hasn’t even fully recovered yet.]
“That’s exactly why I’m going—to help with the recovery. Really, you worry far too much.”
A massive tidal wave had swept through the Belgot Eastern Coastal Region, leaving the shoreline in chaos. It happened to coincide perfectly with the summer festival preparations, a time when Auredhian couldn’t leave the Imperial Palace.
[Where is Schmart going?]
“Diego went north several days ago.”
[…Yeni. I’m genuinely worried about this. Can’t you just come back up this time?]
I blinked in confusion. Was this really something to react so seriously about? I’d been carrying out priestly duties one by one for over a year now. Besides, staying confined to the Imperial Palace felt suffocating, and it suited my nature to wander about.
Moreover, there were no shortage of places that needed Raulus’s divine power. After I was caught secretly visiting the Capital Slums early last year to distribute divine power, I made a formal declaration: once every quarter, I would venture out to fulfill my duties as a priestess of Raulus.
Of course, Auredhian, who wished I would simply idle away my life, always worried himself sick whenever I left the Imperial Palace. But he always gave in eventually. Days when he remained anxious until the very end were rare.
“Is something wrong?”
[You’ll come back right away if something happens?]
“Don’t ask me to lie.”
And Auredhian Belgot was not a man to cling to such pointless stubbornness. I glanced back over my shoulder. The teleportation circle was already fully materialized, hovering in the empty air.
“Hmm….”
If I didn’t leave now, there would be no high-ranking priestess available to dispatch to the flood-stricken region in my stead. Yet it was equally difficult to ignore my anxious husband’s heightened concern.
“Then, Edi.”
In the end, I found compromise at the exact midpoint.
“I’ll restore only the critical areas and return immediately. Just wait four days.”
[Four days….]
Considering that my last mission had taken nearly a fortnight, this was a remarkably compressed timeframe. Auredhian seemed to recognize this, his words trailing off uncertainly.
[…Nothing will go wrong, will it?]
“…Did I somehow contract a fatal illness without realizing it?”
The moment those words left my lips, his reaction was nothing short of vehement. That’s impossible. Don’t say such strange things. And so forth. I stifled a laugh and cut him off.
“Right? So stop worrying and let me work diligently for four nights. I’ll be back before you know it.”
With that, I severed the communication crystal. If I’d kept it connected any longer, his lectures would have continued until sunset.
“Shall we depart then?”
To restore the critical areas within four days and return, I needed to hurry. I brushed myself off and rose to my feet. It was time to depart for the Belgot Eastern Coastal Region.

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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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