The Forgotten Field - Chapter 126

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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 126
Talia’s gaze remained fixed on the shadowed expanse of his back, rigid with concern, before she hastened across the chamber.
I caught the faint movement as he turned. Talia reached out immediately, her fingers meeting the stiff bandages that covered bare skin.
“Are you injured?”
“Merely a light scratch sustained during a monster subjugation.”
“A light scratch? What manner of creature could possibly wound you?”
A man possessed of such formidable strength that he subdued even Wyverns with ease—how had he come to bear a wound at all?
As she tilted her gaze upward to trace the contours of his face with widened eyes, Barcas answered in a voice tinged with resignation.
“A mated pair of Drakar had nested in the Northern Region. Being a rare specimen, I took care not to damage the hide, and thus….”
The moment her hand touched his bare chest, he fell abruptly silent.
Talia traced her fingertips along the bandages with singular purpose—to assess the depth of the wound. Thick cloth wrapped diagonally across his left shoulder and chest.
“How severe is it?”
“Nothing of consequence.”
“Let in some light. I cannot see properly.”
Barcas drew a deep breath and extended his arm to draw back the curtains that draped the window.
Though dense charcoal clouds blanketed the sky, the darkness was not absolute, and thus I could discern his entire form without difficulty.
Barcas stood barefoot upon the carpet, clad only in loose-fitting Eastern wool trousers.
The sight struck me as primitively striking, yet my stiffened posture dissolved the moment I glimpsed the medicine vial clutched in his hand, and I raised my voice in sharp reproach.
“Why did you not summon the Healer? Magic could mend it…!”
“The claws of Drakar bear a toxin resistant to magic. Healing spells prove entirely ineffective until natural detoxification occurs.”
Barcas turned toward the shelf with blunt efficiency, affording me an unobstructed view of his exposed back at close range.
His physique resembled a structure stripped of all superfluous elements—a flawless architectural composition. Dense musculature clung to his robust frame without gap or weakness, and sinews rose across marble-like skin in precise, sculptural relief. Even the bandages encircling his form seemed mere ornament designed to accentuate his formidable build.
“The toxin should dissipate within a week, and then healing magic may be applied.”
Barcas set down the vial and added the remark with measured composure.
Talia, whose expression had grown vacant, suddenly collected herself and averted her gaze awkwardly.
“…Does it not pain you?”
“Not in the slightest.”
His excessively terse reply prompted Talia to regard him with suspicion.
Certainly, as Barcas donned his shirt, no trace of discomfort appeared in his movements. Yet unable to ease her concern, she pressed further with anxious insistence.
“You are truly unaffected?”
“There shall be no impediment to my duties, so please do not concern yourself.”
Talia looked up at him as though she had been struck across the cheek.
“Do you imagine I am obsessed with bedding you?”
“Did you not seek me out for intimate congress?”
His gaze held no trace of mockery—merely the calm certainty of one stating fact. In that moment, words abandoned me, for his assertion was precisely true: I had come to him for the purpose of sharing his bed.
She flushed deeply, her voice faltering.
“Do not misunderstand. I did not come for you. I came merely to conceive a child….”
“Rest assured. I have never misconstrued your intentions.”
Barcas cut short her protestations with unaffected composure.
Talia drew her lips inward. She ought to have felt relief that he harbored no doubts of her words. Yet why did her chest feel so constricted?
“Anyway, I have no intention of doing that to an injured person. So light the fireplace for me.”
“…Will you be staying in this chamber?”
For a moment, surprise flickered across Barcas’s face.
Talia’s expression darkened. This man truly seemed to believe she approached him with only that single purpose in mind.
Even though she had deliberately cultivated that impression, something felt strange now that Barcas appeared completely oblivious to her true feelings.
She stepped back, her gaze fixed firmly on the floor.
“If you don’t want me here, just say so. I’ll return to my chamber….”
“Please stay here.”
He suddenly grasped her hand.
“You were the one who said you never wanted to be here. I have always asked you to remain.”
Talia looked up at him with confusion in her eyes, then quickly averted her gaze to the hand that held hers captive.
After being intimate with Barcas, she always felt vulnerable. She grew tense wondering when his touch might drift to her legs, anxious that her unflattering appearance might be revealed in the darkness to which his eyes had grown accustomed.
Most of all, she was terrified by how her longing for his touch, his warmth, was growing beyond her ability to control.
And yet….
She carefully traced his silhouette with her eyes, surrounded as he was by the pale blue light.
With his wet hair swept back and his forehead fully exposed, he looked somehow like a solitary boy. That seemingly harmless appearance shattered her defenses.
“Then I’ll stay just a little longer. If I leave now, the Nursemaid will scold me….”
At her clumsy excuse, fine lines appeared at the corners of his eyes. Talia realized her words were as good as a confession that the Nursemaid was urging her to conceive, and she awkwardly looked away.
Barcas, who had been silently gazing down at her, spoke coldly.
“If that woman becomes troublesome, I’ll send her back to the Imperial Palace.”
“No!”
Talia cried out as if seized by a fit.
“Don’t you dare! I won’t let you get away with it!”
He sent her an indescribable look—the expression of someone who couldn’t understand why she didn’t cast out a woman who treated her so carelessly.
Talia raised her voice defensively.
“She’s been caring for me since I was a newborn. She’s like my own mother to me.”
“….”
“If you send the Nursemaid back to the Imperial Palace, I’ll go with her.”
At her firm declaration, his brow furrowed rigidly.
The man, whose lips had been moving as if to say something, finally sighed and turned his body toward the fireplace.
“Don’t stand there. Please sit down.”
Rather than calling for servants, he began lighting the fire himself.
Relieved that the subject had changed, Talia quietly approached his side.
“Leave such things to the servants and just sit down and rest.”
“This much is fine.”
Soon flames rose above the logs. Talia, who had been fidgeting nervously, immediately grabbed his sleeve.
“Now sit down quickly.”
As she pulled him beside the bed and pressed down on his shoulder, Barcas sent her a peculiar look.
Was it remarkable that the woman who always pushed him away was now awkwardly trying to care for him?
After observing her silently for a moment, the man soon settled onto the sheets. Talia relaxed and turned toward the storage cabinet.
“You’re saying there’s poison in your system? Shouldn’t you take something like a fever reducer? Or perhaps a painkiller…?”
“I’m not in pain, and I have no fever.”
She let his words pass through one ear as she rummaged frantically through the drawers. It wasn’t long before she found a medicine bottle containing mandragora extract.
Talia opened the cap to verify the contents, then poured an appropriate amount into a teacup and offered it to him.
“Come now, drink it.”
Barcas merely gazed down at the teacup in silence.
Was he suspicious that I might be giving him something strange?
As I glared at him with welling eyes, Barcas caressed my waist and spoke.
“I will drink it if Your Majesty feeds it to me.”
Talia blinked blankly. Barcas waited calmly for my response without changing his expression. At his composed audacity, my stalled thoughts finally began to function again.
“Drink it yourself!”
“You’ve always fed me before. Now it’s time to repay that debt.”
Talia looked between him and the medicine bottle, her face flushed crimson.
His shameless request made without hesitation suddenly kindled my irritation.
Just as I was about to cry out that if he didn’t want to drink it, he should forget it, I changed my mind and took a sip of the bitter extract.
His eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected me to actually comply.
Talia seized his face deliberately and pressed my lips against his, which carried the faint scent of soap. Naturally, his arms wrapped around my waist.
As I unconsciously gripped his shoulders, I felt the thick bandages and hastily withdrew my hands. In that moment, his smooth tongue gently traced across my lips.
Unable to resist his silent urging, I let the liquid seep slowly into his mouth. But it didn’t work as skillfully as when he had done it. Feeling the excess liquid wet the corners of my mouth, I lifted my head, and Barcas cupped my cheek and licked my jaw.
Before long, we were lying tightly entwined on the bed. Feeling his body, hardened with arousal, pressing against my belly, Talia hastily raised her upper body.
“No. We agreed not to do anything until your wounds heal.”
“I won’t do anything more. Please, just stay like this.”
Barcas murmured in a hoarse voice as he gently stroked my hair. I, who had been about to push him away, soon went limp.
Within the tumultuous sound of rain and crackling firewood, the dull rhythm of a heartbeat mingled.

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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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