In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 267

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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This Life, I Will Become the Clan Head

 

Side Story Episode 10

 

Perhaps because of the candlelight in the room, his red eyes seemed deeper and more luminous.

 

“I feel like I might be enchanted…”

 

My inner thoughts unknowingly spilled out between my lips.

 

“Then let me enchant you.”

 

Perhaps Peres felt the same way.

 

“Please do, Tia.”

 

As if yearning, and as if seducing.

 

Peres’s face, whispering like that, gradually drew closer.

 

In the time it took to take one long breath in and out, we had become close enough that our noses tickled.

 

But Peres didn’t move any further.

 

He simply gazed deeply into me, as if trying to draw something up from deep within me.

 

So I asked.

 

“Do you want me?”

 

Ah, I must be drunk.

 

I thought that the moment the words left my mouth.

 

There’s no way I would ask such a thing while sober.

 

My head, which had been dazed as if truly enchanted by Peres, became clear and I gradually felt my senses returning.

 

At the same time, I could tell.

 

The fact that Peres, who was holding me now, wasn’t drunk at all.

 

But the voice that eventually flowed from Peres was definitely that of someone intoxicated by something.

 

“I want you.”

 

“Peres…”

 

“All of you.”

 

I felt a momentary shiver.

 

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

 

It’s just that if I stayed like this, I really would be enchanted, and I’d end up giving him even my soul.

 

So I was only trying to turn my head away.

 

“H-hey, wait a minute.”

 

“I’m drunk right now. Think of everything I’m saying now as drunken nonsense, Tia.”

 

A lie.

 

He wasn’t drunk at all.

 

But that gaze that wouldn’t leave me for even a second looked so desperate that I had no choice but to nod.

 

“I wish you were mine, Tia.”

 

While holding me so tightly in his arms that I couldn’t move at all, he said that.

 

“I want your smile, even your gentle touch, to all be for me. I wish all your beautiful aspects were mine and only I could see them.”

 

It felt like thick possessiveness was dripping from every single word.

 

“That’s why I’m angry.”

 

“Angry?”

 

“That you eat spicy food well, and that you become this cute when you drink. I didn’t know. Because someone else knew first.”

 

“Such trivial things… I found your appearance a bit unfamiliar today too, but…”

 

“It’s not trivial, Tia. Not a single thing about you is trivial.”

 

Peres said, rubbing his forehead against my hair.

 

“I can’t be your very first.”

 

I stiffened slightly.

 

Whether he knew I had tensed up or not, Peres pulled my shoulders even closer.

 

Like someone who believed that by doing so, he and I could become one.

 

“I can’t be like that. Because you’re my everything.”

 

The face that had moved away for a moment slowly approached me again.

 

Kisses between us were now a common occurrence.

 

Because Peres always preferred to express his affection for me through actions rather than words.

 

But this time was different.

 

My intuition told me so.

 

Was it because we had been acting like newlyweds?

 

Or was it because of the alcohol?

 

Perhaps it could be because of the scent of roses scattered on the bed.

 

‘Is this okay?’

 

I asked myself.

 

The answer came quickly.

 

‘It’s okay because it’s Peres.’

 

Just when I had made up my mind to draw close to him, who had always been the one approaching me.

 

Swoosh.

 

With a small sound that probably only we could hear in this world, Peres’s hair flowed down, casting a faint shadow.

 

It was blonde hair that I still wasn’t used to.

 

Because black hair suited Peres better.

 

I shouldn’t have given him hair dye out of curiosity.

 

I only hesitated for a moment and thought that.

 

I swear to heaven that was all.

 

But then.

 

“…Don’t force yourself.”

 

He said that in a low voice and pulled his body away from me.

 

And before I knew it, I was lying on the bed, properly covered with a blanket.

 

“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

“Sleep well, Tia.”

 

I stared blankly at the back of Peres as he heavily kissed my forehead, grabbed a pillow, and headed toward the sofa on the opposite side of the room.

 

“This is…”

 

This isn’t right?

 

Why am I lying on the bed?

 

No, more than that, why am I lying here alone?

 

Weren’t we supposed to lie down together today?!

 

I half sat up and shouted that fiercely with my eyes, but all that came back was the sound of him flopping down on the sofa.

 

At the same time, I felt deflated by the wave of disappointment and lay back down with my head on the pillow.

 

My heart, still unable to calm down and beating alone, felt pitiful.

 

‘Should I suggest we continue?’

 

Tempted by the thought, I glanced toward the sofa, but it was so quiet without any sound that he seemed to have already fallen asleep.

 

“…Sigh.”

 

Fine, let’s just sleep.

 

My body, which had been in a carriage all day, drank alcohol, and had been quite tense just moments ago, gladly accepted the rest.

 

Feeling myself falling asleep quickly, I thought.

 

When I wake up tomorrow morning, I should have a talk with him.

 

And I must tell him this too.

 

That I think I prefer your natural black hair better.

 

* * *

 

Listening to Tia’s breathing gradually becoming regular, Peres quietly opened his eyes and sat up.

 

“Phew.”

 

A weary sigh escaped with the large hand that swept down his face.

 

The candle had burned out completely just moments ago, leaving only black darkness in the room, but such things could not hinder Peres.

 

Especially when he was with Tia, his five senses became twice as sharp as usual.

 

Like a starving creature trying to absorb every bit of her sweet fragrance, breath, and even laughter without leaving anything behind.

 

Peres, who had been staring into the void with dim eyes for a moment, slowly stood up.

 

His steps toward the bed where she lay were soundless, like a predator hunting in the darkness without hesitation.

 

Just a few steps away from where he had been lying, Tia was sleeping.

 

Defenseless, as if she were in the safest place in the world.

 

Peres slowly climbed onto the bed.

 

But she remained fast asleep, unaware of any presence.

 

He slowly reached out his hand.

 

The shadow of his black hand, created by the moonlight streaming down, crawled over her body.

 

Without any sense of shame.

 

The black hand climbed up her sleeping form without hesitation.

 

But in the end, all he could dare to touch was a single red rose petal clinging to her luscious hair.

 

It was always like this.

 

She was a person who shone brightly, so his dark self could only hover nearby.

 

While anxiously worrying that his darkness might stain that precious thing, he felt ugly jealousy toward the things that shared in her light.

 

“Mmm…”

 

The hesitant expression from earlier overlapped with her peaceful sleeping face.

 

Even that look in her eyes, brief as it was, that had flickered across her beautiful green eyes—the way one might look at a stranger.

 

Peres quietly frowned at the feeling of his chest being squeezed from the inside.

 

‘If only I could turn back time.’

 

If given such an opportunity, he would return without hesitation to the moment he opened the door to that rose-decorated room.

 

Peres roughly swept back his bothersome hair.

 

Regret washed over him.

 

He hadn’t even been truly drunk.

 

Yet he had revealed his dark inner thoughts.

 

And collapsing under impatience, he had frightened Tia.

 

He feared that tomorrow morning, when she sobered up and recalled the memory, she would come to hate him.

 

If she no longer smiled at him without reserve, if she no longer shared her warmth with him.

 

Peres buried his face in his knees in anguish and moved his hand to find hers among those scattered carelessly on the bed.

 

His fingertips trembled as he tried not to grip too tightly the small, soft hand he felt through the bed sheet.

 

The two eyes she had praised as being like rubies were dried to the color of blood.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

The low words he barely managed to utter scattered into the dark room.

 

* * *

 

“I’m Kent, a soldier of Sersheu Territory. I’ll inspect your identification.”

 

I handed over the two identification papers I had to the mustachioed soldier.

 

“Cheyser and Larita Glow, a married couple. What brings you to Sersheu Territory?”

 

“We came to board the eastern passenger ship departing from Chesayu.”

 

“…Another guest bound for Chesayu.”

 

The Sersheu soldier muttered with a displeased frown.

 

Arcadia, a small city in Sersheu that bordered Lombardy territory, was located on the route from Lombardy to Chesayu.

 

However, the atmosphere felt quite different.

 

Unlike Lombardy territory where people and carriages moved relatively freely, Arcadia had soldiers stationed everywhere and was filled with a deadly tension.

 

As if they were searching for someone.

 

“Since Chesayu is your destination, you won’t be staying long. Fine, go on in.”

 

The soldier returned the identification papers with an indifferent gesture and tapped the side of the carriage.

 

For a moment, Peres’s cold eyes turned in that direction, but soon the carriage started moving, leaving only silence.

 

“Ahem.”

 

I coughed uncomfortably and fixed my gaze out the window.

 

Since our failed attempt at intimacy, our journey had been in this state for two days.

 

There had been a few brief exchanges of conversation, but that was all—uncomfortable silence would follow.

 

After confirming that the carriage was entering the street where lodging facilities were clustered, I glanced at Peres.

 

The guy was resting his chin at an angle, looking out the window on the opposite side from me.

 

What on earth was he thinking about?

 

At times like this, his personality of not revealing his inner thoughts was really inconvenient.

 

‘Well, of course he’d be hurt.’

 

Actually, I felt I could understand Peres’s feelings without having to ask.

 

He had expressed his feelings so honestly, yet whether it was a misunderstanding or not, it must have seemed like I was reluctant.

 

And considering his usual personality, he probably wasn’t acting this way because he was angry at me.

 

Rather, he was probably digging himself into a hole, thinking he had done something I disliked.

 

The flow of his thoughts was roughly predictable just from seeing how he sat so far away from me.

 

‘I can’t stand this discomfort.’

 

As I got off the carriage that had stopped in front of our reserved lodging, I made up my mind.

 

“Peres, wait, let me talk to you for a moment…”

 

Just as I said that and turned him around.

 

“Lord Herox?”

 

A delicate voice came from behind.

 

“Lord Herox… it is you, isn’t it?”

 

‘Herox’ was an alias that Peres often used.

 

Though there was no need to use it now, he had frequently used it when attending the Academy.

 

I slowly turned toward where the voice had come from.

 

There stood a woman with an innocent impression, her long brown hair neatly tied back.

 

The meaning of her hands clasped desperately in front of her chest and the blush on both her cheeks was clear.

 

The woman stepped closer to him as if I, standing next to Peres, was invisible, her large green eyes glistening as she spoke.

 

“I’m Lydia! Lord Herox, you remember… me, don’t you?”

 

Wow. You better explain this properly, seriously.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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