Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 187

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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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Special Side Story Episode 4
Yet Yerenika was naturally beautiful, and even if she had dressed entirely differently rather than in her current attire, she would have carried it off with equal grace.
‘…Then why does she keep crossing my mind?’
Auredhian had never possessed any particular aesthetic sensibility, nor had he ever found himself admiring or taking interest in anyone’s appearance.
So perhaps the reason Yerenika’s image from yesterday kept surfacing in his thoughts, along with glimpses of her past, was….
He had suddenly come to realize that he had provided her with everything she needed—the clothes she wore, the food she ate, the places where she lived.
“This ribbon is truly beautiful. And the dress I wore today as well.”
And it was also because he knew that she cherished the things he gave her.
A rising tide of satisfaction loosened the corners of his mouth into a smile.
A laugh escaped him, almost like a sigh.
As he turned through several pages of the budget proposal, a thin booklet wedged between the pages tumbled out.
It was a collection of dress designs that the Imperial tailor, thrilled to receive a female dress order after so long, had sketched with unbridled enthusiasm.
The booklet alone contained easily dozens of designs.
To slip something like this behind the official budget proposal…. It seemed that Marienne, the maidservant, was growing increasingly bold, taking after her mistress.
‘Is she asking me to choose directly…?’
Auredhian let out an incredulous chuckle as he began to flip through the designs.
He had discovered a way to amplify the pleasant satisfaction he had felt moments ago when thinking of the Princess.
Rather than merely affixing his seal to the budget, he would personally select the designs and give them to her.
“Your Majesty? Shall I process the approval….”
“Wait.”
Auredhian set aside the stack of documents his aide had piled up and began rapidly scanning through the designs.
Given her bright, spirited nature, delicate and light dresses or accessories would suit her better than anything heavy or dull.
Yet it didn’t seem as though elaborate designs would be unflattering either.
‘In truth, whatever I dress her in, however I arrange her hair….’
He first marked one dress that had caught his eye, then closed the booklet.
He affixed his seal to the bottom of the budget proposal and handed the documents to Felix.
“Have all of them made.”
“Y-yes…?”
“The designs in that booklet. Every single one. Oh, and tell them to avoid white as much as possible.”
“Yes, understood!”
Even after Felix hurried out with the budget and booklet, Auredhian found himself unable to focus on the remaining documents.
The maidservant he had personally selected to attend to the Princess was quite perceptive, so she would surely understand what the dress he had specially marked signified.
Yesterday’s conversation at their tenth tea time came to mind.
“Is there anything inconvenient about your life here?”
“Not at all. Well, there is one thing, actually.”
“What is it? If there’s something you want, tell me anytime, anything. Don’t hesitate.”
“Ah? You shouldn’t say such things carelessly. How would you know what I want?”
“Your caution does frighten me somewhat. At least tell me. I’ll give it thought.”
“Hmm. What I want is….”
Yerenika merely smiled enigmatically and ultimately did not answer his question.
Yet she closed the distance between them slightly, poking his arm with her index finger.
It would have been harder not to discern her true intentions.
Because she laughed so brightly that he couldn’t utter a single word in response, he found himself laughing along with her in the end.
“Am I being too lenient…?”
But the very act of letting such thoughts spill outward was already proof that his heart had begun to lean toward her.
Tap, tap—bricks that had formed a towering wall crumbled away one by one, sending a tremendous tremor through his chest.
This is troublesome.
Yet it was not unpleasant. Emotions he thought could never coexist mingled indiscriminately, scattering in an entirely different direction.
It was not merely unpleasant—rather, quite the opposite….
From the window that had begun opening wide at some point, spring breezes drifted through.
As the wind rushed into his turbulent heart, it churned violently before any calm could settle.
The corners of Auredhian’s mouth eventually drooped languidly. Perhaps there was no need to overthink this.
“Is good simply good…?”
This was the first time he found himself unable to define his emotions clearly, merely glossing over them.
He set down his pen and sank into his chair, lowering his gaze.
Everything he had come to understand today was a change that had begun happening to him for the first time in some while—unfamiliar, yet not unwelcome.
* * *
Four days later, Auredhian took tea once more in the Garden with Yerenika, who wore a pale green, flowing dress he had not seen before.
“The Dressing Room is truly, Your Majesty, like a magic box. Different clothes and jewels appear every single day. I may be a princess, but I shouldn’t be so startled by such things—it reflects poorly on our kingdom—and yet every morning I’m genuinely so astonished….”
“So you dislike it?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Every morning when I open the Dressing Room door, dresses and jewels have quietly multiplied, but Marienne insists they were all there originally. It’s completely unbelievable. Soon I think my room might be taken over by an army of dresses and jewels….”
“Your Maidservant does her work well.”
“How does that even happen…? Though Marienne is incredibly kind and capable. Anyway, I’ve gotten off track—but this dress today really does seem lovely.”
Listening to her chatter with genuine wonder, Auredhian concealed the satisfied smile at the corners of his mouth behind his teacup.
It was a pleasant afternoon.
3. Raulus
If one were to climb endlessly upward through the vast, boundless expanse of sky, one would eventually reach Udeta, the boundary between the surface and the heavens.
Beyond that boundary, counted alongside Remordi—the border between surface and underground—as an absolutely inviolable realm, the world of stars shining higher than the clouds reveals itself.
Where thick mist and clouds serve as earth, and dozens of sheer cliffs pierce through the clouds, towering upward.
The Divine Realm.
Upon each cliff stands a Temple, the dwelling place of the gods, and at the very center, encircled by these Temples, upon the most towering massive stone sits a magnificent palace.
The master of that palace—vast, ornate, and majestic enough to cover the entire rounded hilltop—is Raulus.
The chief deity of the Divine Realm and the eldest among his siblings, the god of peace and prosperity.
At the entrance of the palace lay a single bridge stretching in a straight line.
That bridge connected to another stone floating in a spinning-top shape.
That place, uniquely flat among the Divine Realm in the form of a verdant plain, was both the palace’s forecourt and the Garden of Gods—the first ground those who crossed the boundary of Udeta would tread upon.
In the center of the Garden stood a single broad golden basin.
It was the medium through which the gods could glimpse the human realm below Udeta, hear their prayers, or send down the voice of divinity.
Yet most gods took little interest in humanity, so the Garden rarely bustled with activity.
Only one god appeared here whenever prayer time came to the human realm, wandering in leisurely—the chief deity Raulus alone.
Silver threads longer than an adult man’s height tangled strand by strand among the grasses that reached up to his waist.
As Raulus rolled his body, soft hair whispered through the grass blades, fluttering gently into the air.
He propped his chin on his hand and peered into the golden basin.
It appeared like a basin on the surface, so he referred to it as such, but the interior was not sealed.
Clear, transparent water filled it, but what shimmered beneath was not a golden bottom—it was the mortal realm as the god wished to see it.
“Let me see, what’s been entertaining lately…?”
Raulus was the god among his siblings who loved humans the most.
Long ago, there had been another sibling equally fascinated by mortals, but he had been banished ages past, making Raulus the only god who answered prayers with such fervent dedication.
Today too, Raulus gazed into the basin brimming with anticipation.
“It never grows tiresome, no matter how many times I look.”
How could they all think and act so differently from one another?
With their tiny minds, they schemed and plotted, and whenever I witnessed the stratagems humans devised and the achievements they wrought, even I could not help but marvel more than once.
But above all else, humans were most endearing when they loved. It was also the greatest difference between gods and mortals.
Gods do not reproduce.
They do not leave offspring in the manner of humans.
It was only natural.
Gods are asexual and immortal beings. There was neither need nor reason to possess the instinct for procreation.
For Raulus, who so dearly loved observing human life through the entrance of Udeta, the fact that gods could not experience erotic love brought profound regret.
“Without love, there’s no amusement. Look at them—they wage wars over love, topple kingdoms for it. If only we could do something like that, fighting over a single person like territorial disputes in temples.”
“Is eros the only love? Agape and platonic love are also love, brother.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Fervent, passionate love.
I wish to experience it, but I cannot. There is no distinction of opposite or same gender among us to begin with.
The Belgot Imperial Family, known on the surface as Raulus’s bloodline, were not biologically the god’s descendants.
They were the offspring descended from a pair of man and woman conceived from Raulus’s blood, concentrated with divinity, as their nourishment.
I wished to love and to bear children, yet could not, so instead I arranged for my blood to continue flowing on the surface.
Had it been about a thousand years ago?
Watching my ‘children’ was a small source of amusement for Raulus.
They all loved, bore heirs, and inherited the empire.
Occasionally, couples without love caught my eye, but at least the children I particularly favored were all beautifully steeped in sweet love, or had become so.
Such transformations were always fascinating and heartwarming.
In that sense, this generation’s child was particularly entertaining to watch.

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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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