The Forgotten Field - Chapter 127

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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 127
The fingers that had been caressing my hair traced downward along the nape of my neck.
Talia tilted her head back without thinking. That tongue, which spilled hurtful words whenever it found an opening, now moved softly across the inside of her mouth.
Her breathing grew increasingly ragged and her vision blurred. She felt the bodies pressed together growing unbearably hot, yet she could not bring herself to stop.
She followed Barcas’s lead, moving her tongue deliberately and deeply.
How long had they remained like this? Just as her lips began to sting, he lifted his head.
Talia gasped for breath and looked up into his eyes. Unlike the body that throbbed with heat, the serene face gazing down at her bore no trace of desire. That incomprehensible gap unsettled her.
As Talia steadied her ragged breathing, she quietly turned her body.
“I should… go now.”
The moment she attempted to rise from the bed, his arm wrapped around her waist.
“Stay a little longer.”
The sweet, low voice poured into her ear, and her bones seemed to dissolve. The man behind her pressed his body against her back without gaps, his lips finding the nape of her neck.
Talia stiffened with tension.
She had come here to bear an heir to the Grand Ducal House.
Surrendering her body to him in darkness was merely a procedure to accept him without pain.
Those self-deceptive lies crumbled helplessly at a single gentle touch. She desperately grasped for her resolve.
“There’s no reason for me to be here.”
“There’s no reason for you not to stay.”
He spoke while caressing her hair.
“I’m a patient. Just stay beside me until I fall asleep.”
At the slightly drowsy tone in his voice, Talia bit her lip.
Why did he want her to stay by his side?
She wanted to ask, but feared a disappointing answer would come.
Hesitating, Talia could only speak of other things.
“…Then go to sleep quickly.”
She felt his lips move slightly.
Was he smiling?
No, that couldn’t be. His lips remained unmoved except when he sneered or wore a cold smile.
She suppressed the urge to turn and look back, instead staring intently at the window where raindrops splattered. A flash of lightning suddenly illuminated the darkness, followed by a rumbling sound that echoed through the air.
“Are you afraid of thunder?”
He suddenly asked.
Only then did Talia realize she was trembling.
She had never felt fear from storms or lightning, yet she did not deny it. She did not want him to discover that she was being shaken by the emotions he stirred within her.
After a moment, the sound of even breathing reached her ears. The dull rhythm of his heartbeat gradually slowed.
Had he fallen asleep?
But perhaps not.
She speculated inwardly about facts she could confirm by simply turning her body, dragging out time, until sleep came crashing down like a tidal wave.
She gradually sank into the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness. Then, at some point, she was pulled down as if drowning into dense darkness.
The warmth that had pleasantly enveloped her body vanished in an instant, and the blackness became a sledgehammer, crushing her entire being.
She struggled to move toward the light, but only the pathetic sound of splintering bones echoed forth. Then, a growling breath mixed into that darkness.
In the darkness, she saw two eyes gleaming with an eerie light.
A monster with crimson eyes crawled toward her with deliberate slowness, intent on devouring her. The grotesque form of a scaled beast materialized hazily before her vision. The creature opened its maw and tore into her ravaged lower body. Not even a scream escaped her lips.
Talia watched in horror-stricken silence as the darkness-shrouded monster devoured her flesh.
Yet something felt wrong. The monster’s form gradually diminished, transforming into a shape disturbingly familiar.
A woman with a sinister smile etched upon her lips embraced her own blood-soaked upper body with luminously pale hands. Then, parting her blood-drenched lips, she tore away flesh from Talia’s neck.
At last, the monster’s face became recognizable.
It was the Empress.
Senevir consumed what remained of Talia’s body, piece by piece.
With only her head remaining, Talia wept tears of despair.
Delicate hands lifted the severed head.
How pitiful.
Senevir whispered with what seemed like genuine sorrow, pressing her lips against Talia’s wet cheek.
“Talia!”
Then, someone shook her body violently.
Talia gasped for air as though being dragged from water, her eyes snapping open in desperate urgency.
Through her panic-clouded vision, the dim landscape of the Bedroom came into focus. For a moment, she could not clearly comprehend where she was.
Trembling like an aspen leaf, she felt someone stroke her head gently.
“Shh, shh… You’re safe.”
Talia turned her head. A beautiful face clouded with concern came into view.
He cradled her cheeks in both hands, his thumbs brushing away the tears from her eyes.
“Calm yourself. It was only a dream.”
“… A dream?”
Talia’s eyes darted, chasing the lingering afterimage of Senevir burned into her retinas, and her shoulders sagged. Yet the trembling would not subside.
He wrapped his arms around her firmly and stroked her back in a steady rhythm. Her heart, which had been thrashing wildly as though it might burst from her chest, gradually found its own cadence once more.
She murmured in a voice thick with tears.
“Have you ever had nightmares?”
The hand caressing her back stilled momentarily.
“A very long time ago.”
“What kind of dream was it?”
“I’m not sure…”
Noticing the slight heaviness in his voice, she began to lift her head, but his hand pressed gently against the back of her skull.
“It was so long ago that I scarcely remember it.”
Yet he clearly remembers having suffered that nightmare. It must have been an agonizing dream indeed.
“Sleep more. If another nightmare comes, I’ll wake you.”
He drew the blanket up over her shoulders as he whispered. Talia naturally nestled into his embrace.
She realized she had never intended to sleep here, but the thought dissolved immediately. Now, she could not possibly escape from these arms.
She closed her eyes with her cheek pressed against his bare chest.
* * *
The next day, she learned precisely how he had sustained his injury.
A large box containing exquisitely groomed silver fur had been placed before her Chamber door.
The servant who had brought it personally explained with pride.
“This is Drakar hide that the Grand Duke himself hunted down. It does not burn in flames, and it perfectly shields against the biting winds of deepest winter—a supreme material indeed. He has ordered that a coat be made from it for Her Highness, the Grand Duchess.”
The Nursemaid’s hands trembled as she reached out to touch the fur, her mouth falling open in wonder.
The silken white fur caught the sunlight and shimmered with a subtle blue luminescence.
“Heavens, it’s absolutely exquisite.”
The Handmaidens who had come to assist with her preparations gasped in admiration as well.
And well they might. Drakar was among the highest-ranking subspecies of dragon-type monsters. Its only vulnerability was the soft fur covering its abdomen.
To obtain pristine hide without a single blemish, even master hunters had to risk their lives. Perhaps even the Empress had never laid eyes upon material of such supreme quality.
Yet Talia’s face, as she gazed down upon this precious treasure, had frozen into an expression of ice. The thought of him engaging in such reckless combat to obtain this gift sent fury surging from the crown of her head to her fingertips.
She cast a glacial look toward the servants.
“Where is the Grand Duke at present?”
“That would be… he should be attending to official matters in his Office.”
The servant, sensing her displeasure, answered with a crestfallen expression.
Talia left the chamber without hesitation. She intended to tell him plainly that she had no need for such a gift and that he was to cease such foolish endeavors at once.
Yet as she descended the stairs, a sight unfolded before her that seemed to mock her very anger.

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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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