Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 93

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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 93
For someone uttering the sweet word “kiss,” his tone was decidedly threatening. The contradiction drew a laugh from me.
“Your body’s in that state and you’re laughing?”
Auredhian pressed his lips to mine once more before asking in resignation.
“Your neck, your limbs, even inside your body—there’s not a single part of you that’s unharmed.”
Truth be told, nothing had been unharmed since I arrived in Belgot. It wasn’t particularly surprising anymore. In fact, if I thought of myself as walking the path of suffering that should have been Tezebia’s, the exchange seemed quite fair…
But if I rattled off such things, I couldn’t begin to predict how this man would react. I smiled brightly and traced letters across his palm again.
[They say happiness comes to those who smile]
[!]
After a moment’s thought, I even added an exclamation mark to make it look charming. Yes, happiness comes to those who smile. If I were in pain, I probably would’ve wept miserably, but lying still like this, I didn’t feel any particular ache. Besides, how could I whine when the man before me had clearly gone without sleep for ten whole days, visibly restless and anxious?
“…Sigh.”
Auredhian exhaled deeply.
“I can’t even fathom what I’ve summoned.”
What? I looked up at him in confusion. I barely stopped his face from moving in for another kiss and opened my mouth.
“Summoned? What do you mean by that…?”
It was a question I didn’t really need to ask. Something stirred beneath the blanket covering my chest.
“…?”
Something small, incredibly warm and soft was crawling up across my body. Starting from my left leg, that ticklish sensation climbed higher and higher, until—
[Puff.]
An adorably cute sound burst forth as something poked its head out from beneath the blanket near my chest. I stared blankly down at a silver-furred bundle shaking its head. It had boldly wedged itself between Auredhian and me and claimed its spot.
[Honestly, even opening your eyes takes forever.]
“Wha…?”
[Your pathetic body is why I’m in this mess, crumb.]
A flippant voice echoed through my mind. I gaped as a haughty little wolf cub rested its head on my chin.
Rau… Raulus…? Before I could say anything, Auredhian swiftly brushed Raulus aside with his hand. I gasped in shock, and Raulus cried out indignantly.
[Look here, crumb! This fool doesn’t recognize me and dares such insolence!]
Of course, Auredhian couldn’t hear that voice.
“That night too, and now strange things keep appearing from nowhere…”
Auredhian pressed close to me, muttering while keeping his gaze fixed on the wolf cub pushed to the edge of the bed. The tiny wolf, no larger than my forearm, lifted its head sharply. I noticed its eyes were the same sky blue as mine. The cub declared with dignity.
[Strange things?!]
“Did you summon that?”
[That?!]
Th-that’s strange… “that”…?
I found myself at a loss for words.
[Raising a child is all for nothing…]
Raulus burrowed dejectedly into my arms. I quickly hugged the soft cub and patted it. Well, you didn’t raise Auredhian, but I suppose you have reason to feel hurt…
[It’s as good as if I did! Where else would all that strength come from?!]
And it seemed Raulus could now read my innermost thoughts as well. The way it sharply lifted its head in response made me quickly stop my musings. Goodness, how sensitive.
[Sensitive?!]
“He’s… he’s my pet.”
I ignored whatever objection Raulus was about to raise and offered a bright smile instead. Auredhian Belgot still wore a suspicious expression.
“A pet, all of a sudden.”
“Yes, well. It was wandering lost in the Imperial Palace, so I picked it up.”
“Someone dared to let a beast loose in the Imperial Palace? The security is abysmal.”
“No, that is… ahem, I found it outside the Imperial Palace…”
“You went outside the Imperial Palace that night?”
His gaze sharpened instantly. I laughed awkwardly and shoved Raulus back under the blankets. How could I possibly explain this? The truth is, Your Majesty, that night I flew through the air as a spirit and visited the Temple. There I summoned Raulus God…
“….”
I would never tell him that, not even if it killed me. So how was I supposed to explain?
With no other choice, I opted to smile broadly again. I pointed at my throat with my index finger and shook my head. My voice won’t come out. Auredhian Belgot laughed in disbelief.
“You only smile like that when things are disadvantageous for you.”
My voice won’t come out. I can’t answer… I steeled myself with self-hypnosis and wrapped my arms around Auredhian Belgot’s neck again. Though I applied no pressure, he yielded willingly to my pull.
A soft kiss. Our lips met gently. Just let this slide, please. Auredhian Belgot, sharp as he was, seemed to read the meaning in my eyes immediately. He spoke firmly.
“No. How can I trust you to keep something of unknown nature by your side…”
Another kiss.
“…That night as well. You keep trying to evade like this. There won’t be a third time…”
This time I didn’t pull away quickly, instead gently biting his lip. Just let this go, please. Sparkling. Gleaming. I poured all my effort into making my eyes shine brilliantly. If I got caught now, there would be so many truths I’d have to confess. I needed to organize my thoughts first before saying anything—not yet…! The violet eyes gazing down at me flickered with resignation. He murmured softly.
“I can’t resist this.”
In the end, I was the victor. I grinned widely.
“Hehe, as expected…”
“Stop talking.”
But was I truly the victor? I truly could say nothing more. Not from the moment our lips met again.
“…!”
A gentle touch at first, then rough and urgent, pressing deeper. Yet soon his movements grew tender again. The bitter, cool taste of medicine and faint metallic blood still lingering in my mouth gave way to softness. He gently traced the wounds and bitterness scattered throughout my mouth, soothing them as though coaxing a child. The sacred energy flooding in with a shimmer gradually eased the pain in my throat.
“Hm….”
But separate from that, my breathing quickened. Thin gasps escaped between our lips. It was a sensation overwhelming no matter how many times I received it—sacred energy pressing in without pause for breath. I felt the corners of our touching lips curve slightly upward. The man, who had somehow returned to his usual languid expression, whispered in a low voice.
“You’re not planning to keep that thing by your side permanently, are you?”
“Hm, what… what do you mean?”
“There are more than a few things trying to stay constantly by your side, and it’s irritating.”
More than a few? What else could there possibly be…
But my question was swallowed between his lips just as I had done to him that night.
* * *
I clearly confirmed the existence of ‘those things trying to stay constantly by my side’ late that afternoon.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“What do you mean what. About your constitution.”
“Ah.”
I responded with indifferent amazement.
“Never mind, there’s nothing more to say. Let’s leave immediately.”
Sergei Lebanon pressed me with a deliberately angry expression. Of course, since I showed no contrition whatsoever, his severity had little effect.
I let Sergei Lebanon’s nagging wash over me as I slowly retraced my thoughts. Once I’d gathered myself and cleared my mind, the events from that night ten days ago came flooding back with vivid clarity—as though they’d happened yesterday. Every detail that Raulus had witnessed and heard in the Underground.
[I shall claim your body for myself.]
The skeletal form constricting Soleia Elad’s body seemed to whisper those words from mere inches away. To claim her body. I recalled how, at that final moment, Soleia had turned as though entranced, walking toward that skull. Hades—the god who ruled beneath Remordi—had taken her body.
“Are you even listening to me, Yerenika?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I answered absently while scratching Raulus’s trembling back with my other hand. Raulus had said he’d witnessed everything up to that point before shattering into pieces. Given that my own memories cut off after kissing Auredhian Belgot and stumbling to the ground, it seemed that was the limit of my consciousness as well.
[I never imagined that little Princess possessed the ability to summon Raulus.]
But I understood well enough that I, the “little Princess,” had become Hades’s target in an instant. How long would it take? For Hades to fully claim Soleia Elad’s body and then come for me.
“…Ugh!”
Come for me? Come for me?! I shrieked silently in my mind and yanked the blanket over my head entirely. So I’d transcended the hidden hero position of saving kingdoms and empires, only to become the protagonist facing off against the final shadow mastermind?! Author, there’s no way Yerenika would take on such grand and varied roles….
“….”
But at this point, it was meaningless to cry out to the author of “Brizni Wants to Be Happy.” With Soleia Elad’s target shifted to me and the existence of Hades as a massive shadow mastermind now clearly revealed, the original story was already twisted beyond recognition.
That realization meant one thing: one of my few remaining advantages—knowing the original story better than anyone—had completely vanished. It also meant I could no longer predict a single thing about what would happen next!
“Hey, hey?”
I cleanly ignored Sergei Lebanon’s bewildered calls. An ominous premonition struck me. Surely… I wouldn’t end up bearing all those gruesome death routes as compensation for twisting the original story, would I…?
“No, that can’t be.”
Great. Instead of Tezebia, I got kidnapped to Belgot, and now instead of Auredhian Belgot, it looks like I’m going to die from dark magic and become a zombie! I buried my face in my palms.
“Why am I the substitute? Why…?”
Why can’t it just be clean and simple—save my sister, save my man, and be done with it! Why does all the suffering fall on me?
[Since something is fixed, it’s only natural that you must fill that void with something of equal weight, little one.]
Raulus, curled up adorably on my lap like a fluffy bundle, spoke with irritating wisdom. Was this it? The terrible seven-year-old. I shoved Raulus deep under the blanket.

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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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