The Forgotten Field - Chapter 141

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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 141
The change was subtle to the naked eye, but given how lean his frame was, even the slightest swelling became distinctly perceptible.
He slid his hand beneath the woolen surcoat, then under the thin silk undergarment, and slowly traced the area from below his navel to his pubic bone. Through the delicate fabric, the sensation of skin grown taut was far more pronounced than before.
Fascinated by how his once-flat abdomen had begun to form gentle curves, he kept touching it, when Aria—curled up in a ball on his lap—shifted her hips uncomfortably.
He gazed at her face with concerned eyes.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No, it’s not that… It’s just that beneath you….”
Talia’s cheeks flushed crimson as she stammered, her gaze awkwardly lowered.
Before learning of the pregnancy, they had shared a bed almost daily. He couldn’t fathom why she was being so shy about it, but sensing her discomfort with the changes to her body, he adjusted his posture slightly to hold her more gently.
“It will subside with time. Don’t concern yourself.”
“How can I not be concerned?”
She glared at him as if exasperated.
Did she do that deliberately, knowing that each time she lifted her eyes that way, her already alluring face became even more provocative?
He suppressed the urge to swallow those pouting lips, when she continued her rambling.
“I’ve heard that when a man is in such a state, it becomes quite painful. That if you don’t… relieve it for a long time, he even feels pain….”
“Who told you that?”
She flinched at his shoulders. Only then did he realize his voice had dropped to a threatening depth.
Since he had no intention of frightening her, he consciously modulated his tone.
“Who spoke to you of such matters?”
“I don’t know. I just picked it up somewhere a long time ago.”
She stammered noticeably, her panic evident.
He had little difficulty deducing where she had gathered such information.
It must have been something she overheard from some man when she attended the regular banquets held at the Empress’s Household.
Faces that had clung to her and pestered her flashed rapidly through his mind. As he was narrowing down the likely suspects, she hastily changed the subject.
“Anyway, doesn’t it become painful when your body is in such a state?”
“…If it becomes painful?”
Barcas spoke with a twisted edge to his words.
“What would you do if I said it was painful?”
Bewilderment flickered across her candid face.
The woman, gnawing at her lower lip, murmured in a voice that seemed to creep forward.
“There’s supposedly a way to relieve it without sharing a bed….”
“….”
“Would you like me to show you how?”
Barcas felt a throbbing at the back of his head and furrowed his brow.
His throat swelled with the desire to interrogate who had taught her such things. As he chewed back the vicious words that had risen to his tongue, her ticklish touch descended upon his waist.
He watched intently as she lifted his shirt.
Hesitant about touching his body, her fingers lingered long near his taut abdomen before finally creeping beneath his waistband.
For a moment, it felt as though blood rushed backward. The mere sight of those long, delicate fingers—like exquisite craftsmanship—fumbling with his belt sent his arousal to a dangerous peak.
He hastily seized her wrist.
“No.”
She flinched and looked up at him. Her blue eyes glistened with moisture, and the reddened skin around them was devastatingly raw.
He closed his eyes firmly, repeating to himself the fact that she was carrying his child.
“Please don’t concern yourself with my physical condition.”
“But… won’t it hurt if you just leave it like this?”
“It won’t hurt.”
“I heard that holding it in isn’t good for your body…”
He glared at her, the veins in his forehead bulging with tension.
He wanted to torment her so thoroughly that he could silence those lips spouting knowledge someone else had taught her by covering them with his own and crushing them. Barely restraining that violent impulse, he exhaled in a measured tone.
“I don’t know who fed you such nonsense, but erase it from your mind. It’s nothing but a ploy to manipulate a woman’s sympathy.”
“…Are you really not uncomfortable?”
“Not in the slightest.”
He spoke with complete composure, not blinking once.
The woman, who had been regarding him with suspicion, soon seemed to accept his words and leaned her head against his chest.
She took his words at face value and pressed her body so tightly against him that the lower part of his body was strongly constrained.
Barcas, barely managing to steady his roughening breath, pretended indifference and carefully stroked her round head.
She had no need to concern herself with such trivial discomforts of his body.
Since becoming pregnant, she had been eating better than before, and her body was filling out nicely, yet she remained small and slender.
Hadn’t the Healers all earnestly insisted she maintain absolute rest? He had no desire to burden her with anything demanding.
“I’m more concerned about Your Highness’s condition than my own. Is there anything troubling you?”
“No. Other than getting sleepy often and hungry quickly, I don’t think much has changed from before.”
She tilted her head curiously and touched her belly. Watching her intently, he carefully pinched her soft cheek.
He was detecting far more changes than she was. A slightly elevated body temperature, skin flushed with a delicate blush, a more pronounced body scent, and curves that had become more defined…
“You… are you really sure you’re fine? The lower part is getting more and more…”
He exhaled a heavy sigh. If he continued holding her, he feared he would lose his composure.
“Guests are arriving, so I must go back out. Please remain in your chamber and rest.”
As he carefully laid her down beside him and rose to his feet, a bewildered gaze followed him.
“You’re going out like that?”
Her wide eyes slid down to his lower half.
He picked up the tunic hanging on the wall and spoke somewhat tersely.
“I’ll handle it myself, so please stop concerning yourself with my lower circumstances.”
Her face flushed a deep purple.
“Who are you calling a pervert! I was just worried you might be embarrassed!”
Barcas, his loose coat draped roughly over his body, turned to look at her with troubled eyes.
Even her heaving chest and indignant huffing appeared provocative, and a slight irritation arose.
He ran his fingers roughly through his hair and bowed before her. Then he spoke in a soothing tone.
“The most important thing right now is Your Highness’s health. I would prefer you not concern yourself with anything else.”
“…Don’t treat me like I’m seriously ill. Maricen said my condition is better than she expected.”
“Better than expected doesn’t mean you can be completely at ease.”
He spoke somewhat stiffly, then carefully brushed away the hair that had fallen across her forehead.
Now she accepted his touch without hesitation. Seeing her eyes, which had always watched him warily, now softened with drowsiness, a tingling sensation flared from his waist to the nape of his neck.
I felt my resolve to maintain composure crumble in an instant as I pressed my lips against hers.
It was an act bordering on self-destruction, yet I could endure no longer.
Barcas, who had been greedily drawing in her slick, moistened skin and small tongue, lifted his head only upon hearing the knock at the door. The Chief Attendant’s voice immediately carried through.
“Your Excellency, the guests are asking when they might have the pleasure of seeing you. What shall I tell them?”
“Tell them I’ll be there shortly.”

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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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