The Forgotten Field - Chapter 181

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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 181
The provocative gleam in her upturned gaze sent a sharp throb through the back of my skull.
I abandoned my thoughts and bent my body before my wife.
Dropping to one knee, I cradled the back of her thighs, and her slender forearms naturally wound around my neck.
Breathing steadily against the sweet, intoxicating scent flooding my senses, I wrapped my other arm around her back and rose to my feet. The Wolf Beast, which had been sitting sentinel beside her, lifted its haunches from the ground.
I watched the beast warily.
Contrary to my concerns, the dire wolf displayed no particular aggression. It merely pressed close as if checking on its master’s wellbeing, its gaze fixed persistently on Talia’s face.
I strode forward briskly, as if brushing off the creature that thrust its snout toward her.
The beast, its muzzle wrinkling in displeasure for a moment, quickly pursued me.
“Use the back gate, not the main gate. I don’t want to run into your siblings.”
Talia whispered against my shoulder, her head resting there.
Startled by her breath tickling my jaw, I immediately changed direction toward the rear of the building.
“Are my siblings still being disrespectful to you?”
“Lucas is fine. He can be irritating sometimes, but he maintains basic courtesy. Your sister, though—she’s genuinely infuriating.”
“What exactly has Raina done?”
Sensing the chill in my voice, she murmured evasively.
“Nothing dramatic, really. She just complains about me to the attendants, and occasionally picks childish fights with me.”
“I’ll summon her separately and give her a stern warning.”
“Don’t.”
She suddenly lifted the outer corners of her eyes.
“If you step in, what becomes of my dignity? I’d look like a child running to her husband over petty spite. I’m being just as difficult with her, so leave it alone.”
Her husband.
Turning those words over in my mind, I suddenly clenched my teeth. I despised how I was swayed by her every trivial utterance.
I consciously quickened my pace. Holding her in my arms felt dizzingly intoxicating, yet simultaneously unbearable—as if I needed to escape this moment as soon as possible.
I traversed the corridor in one breath and entered the bedroom that had once been mine.
“How are your legs?”
“They’re fine. Just a bit sore, that’s all. But rather than that….”
As I walked toward the long chair with velvet cushions and asked, she tightened her forearms around my neck and whispered against my ear.
“Take me to the bed instead. I want to lie down.”
I jerked my head back sharply, fixing her with a piercing gaze. Amused by my reaction, she narrowed her feline eyes to slits.
I knew this expression well. During my time in the Imperial Palace, when she would toy with men as if they were in the palm of her hand, she often wore this very face.
My lips pressed into a rigid line, I approached the bed. I lowered her onto the soft sheets, then quickly tried to rise and leave the bedroom when her hand clung to my shirt like adhesive.
“Where are you going?”
The woman with luxuriant honey-blonde hair spread across the white sheets gazed up at me with glistening eyes.
“This is your bed. Lie down too.”
In that instant, my patience shattered.
I seized her wrist and pressed her down onto the bed, my voice emerging with a growl.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
“…What do you mean, what am I doing?”
A faint blush and an anxious expression crossed her face with brazen nonchalance. Even that looked devastatingly seductive, and irritation flared within me.
“What exactly did you intend by dragging me onto the bed?”
At his sharp interrogation, her cheeks flushed an even deeper crimson.
The woman, flustered, fumbled through her words hesitantly.
“I just… I simply wanted you to rest a little. You’ve been trudging through battlefields for the past two years. Even since returning, you’ve done nothing but work late into the night with all these official duties… So…”
“So, you thought we should lie in the same bed and take an afternoon nap together?”
At his mocking words, her eyes narrowed sharply.
“What? Is there something wrong with that?”
To her defiant question, he twisted his expression and slowly raked his gaze over her.
Beneath her disheveled, thin dress, delicate yet decidedly feminine curves were laid bare. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who had lain on this very bed two years ago, bleeding profusely and growing pallid with each passing moment. She appeared almost dangerously sensual now.
Feeling unwanted heat harden his lower abdomen, I bit down on the inside of my cheek. In the past, my body’s physical response to her had been unwelcome, but now it bordered on repulsive.
He pulled himself away from her and exhaled in a strained voice.
“I have no need for rest.”
Then, casting a suspicious glance, he pressed further.
“Why have you suddenly begun to concern yourself with me?”
“You are… you are my husband. It’s only natural that I should care.”
Even as the words left her lips, embarrassment colored her features, and her ears flushed a vivid red. Yet Barcas found himself unable to mock her for it.
Something hot and heavy seemed lodged in his throat. He soon recognized the sensation as longing. Pushed by this unwelcome realization, he spoke aloud words he had only repeated in his mind until now.
“Did you not say that merely looking at me suffocates you?”
Her complexion drained of color in an instant.
The woman, her eyes shadowed, looked up at him carefully and raised her upper body to sit. Then, drawing her knees to her chest, she murmured.
“That’s… that’s not true anymore. I actually…”
He stood motionless, waiting for her to continue.
Talia, fidgeting nervously with her knees, added in a slightly hoarse voice.
“I’ve… worried about you so much. This time especially… your absence was unusually prolonged. You didn’t return for half a year…”
The woman, speaking disjointedly, began to bite at her lips with her closely trimmed nails.
He wrapped that hand in his own and examined her face carefully.
“Is being with me no longer painful for you?”
The woman, as if anxious, averted her gaze before finally nodding.
Barcas felt something he had barely been holding onto snap, and he knelt upon the bed.
Sliding one hand into her abundant hair, he gently traced the pale, rapidly pulsing curve of her neck, and her steady breathing visibly faltered. She appeared tense, certainly, yet showed no sign of disliking his touch.
Observing her reaction intently, Barcas cupped her small chin and gently rubbed his thumb across her lower lip, which bore a small wound. At this, her full lips parted slightly, as if in invitation.
Feeling the familiar thirst burn through his throat, he cradled her soft cheeks in both hands and slowly lowered his head. As he carefully watched her response and brought his lips to her parted ones, her delicate tongue brushed against him tentatively.
Trembling at the sensation of his heart being seized, he drew that soft flesh into his mouth. Then, gently pushing her back onto the bed, a heavy thud sounded, followed by a commotion.
Startled by the sudden noise, she flinched back. He clenched his fists to keep from pulling her close again, his eyes fixed on the entrance. The door was shaking violently, as if its hinges might tear free at any moment.
Barcas sprang to his feet and crossed the chamber in a single stride.
Grasping the door handle roughly and pulling it open, a massive beast burst through the gap.
It shoved him aside roughly and leaped onto the bed, which he watched with an expression of utter disbelief.
The creature, claiming the spacious bed as though it were its own domain, thrust its enormous head into her embrace.
“Khan!”
Talia, embracing the Wolf Beast, looked uncertainly toward him, gauging his reaction.
Barcas kept his grip on the door handle as he observed the scene, then slowly shifted his gaze toward the Corridor.
Soldiers crowded the passage in droves, whether drawn by the commotion the Wolf Beast had caused or for some other reason.
Feeling the heat drain from his mind in an instant, he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair, trying to compose himself.

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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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