Chapter 120
Thalia felt something warm fill her body and let her limbs go limp.
The man lying over her rose.
At the same time, what had filled her body slowly slipped out.
Thalia bit her lip at the unfamiliar sensation and pressed her thighs tightly together.
At that moment, his hand settled over her bandage-wrapped leg.
Thalia screamed without thinking.
“Don’t touch me!”
In the darkness, she saw Varkas’s shoulders visibly stiffen.
Pretending not to notice, she hurriedly pulled down the hem of her skirt that had rolled up and stepped down from the bed.
She tried to move her trembling legs toward the door, but a firm arm wrapped around her waist.
In an instant, she was pulled back onto the bed.
Thalia instinctively flailed her arms.
“L-let me go! It’s over now. I’m going back to my room!”
He grabbed her wrist, his eyes blazing fiercely.
“You are going to finish only your own business and leave?”
“I said from the beginning that I would.”
Thalia swallowed the tears that were about to burst out and glared at him with venomous eyes.
“I have nothing more to do with you now.”
For an instant, the air in the room froze cold.
She felt his grip on her wrist tighten painfully.
She violently shook it off and crawled toward the edge of the bed.
I was not held by him because of love.
So there is no reason to linger here.
Muttering in her mind as if hypnotizing herself, she staggered out of the bed.
At that moment, Varkas spat out words in the language of the East that she could not understand, snatched the blanket that had fallen to the floor, and wrapped it tightly around her body.
Caught in his firm embrace, Thalia lost her composure and began struggling violently.
“No! Let me go!”
However, he did not even pretend to listen.
In an instant, Varkas wrapped her body snugly and strode out of the room, wearing only his trousers loosely around his waist.
The attendants guarding the door stared at them with their mouths hanging open.
But Varkas did not even blink.
Holding her in his arms, Varkas crossed the corridor directly, went up the stairs, and opened the bedroom door on the third floor.
Thalia glared at him with a face stained with sweat and tears.
The light flowing from the candlestick brightly revealed his sweat-soaked, smooth upper body, his disheveled silver hair, and his blue eyes and handsome face.
Even though he looked more unguarded than ever before, he still appeared only solid and cold.
“Are you satisfied now?”
After setting her down on the bed, Varkas spoke coldly.
Thalia pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned away from him.
She knew Varkas was angry, but it was none of her concern.
“I want to be alone. Leave.”
“…”
“Please, I said leave.”
When she shouted roughly in a trembling voice, his expressionless face finally distorted.
Varkas inhaled deeply and bent down in front of her.
“Just tell me this. Did I hurt you?”
Yes.
You always hurt me.
She was about to answer that way, but closed her mouth.
In her head, she knew that would be an unfair answer.
She was the one who had suddenly barged in and forced intimacy upon him.
She also knew that the way she was acting now, as if she had been assaulted, must seem absurd.
But in this moment, such rational thoughts were of no help at all.
Like a caterpillar curled up inside a cocoon, she hugged her knees tightly and shook her head.
“I just want to rest. So please leave me alone. I don’t want to face you anymore.”
Had his patience finally run out at her selfish attitude?
His entire body stiffened rigidly, and veins bulged in places across his bare upper body.
It was such a threatening sight that fear suddenly surged up.
But as always, he calmed down in an instant.
After taking another deep breath, Varkas rose with a hardened face.
“I will call the healer so your condition can be checked.”
“I don’t need it.”
“I will not leave unless you promise to receive proper treatment.”
Varkas’s tone abruptly grew rough.
Thalia glared at him with wet eyes, then soon nodded.
“Fine, so… please go.”
The muscles in his jaw hardened.
The man stood motionless for a long while, as if he wanted to say something, before finally turning around.
Soon after, the sound of the door opening and closing rang out, and a silence like ruins settled over the room.
Listening to the sound of his steady footsteps, Thalia soon curled herself into a ball, lay down, and closed her eyes.
She was terribly tired.
So tired that she wanted to melt away and disappear…
***
Over the fields fully dyed in autumn colors, a flock of kites was gliding in circles.
A few among them swooped down toward the ground in graceful curves.
Where they headed lay the carcass of a stud horse torn apart by predators.
It was the trace of wolves that had suddenly appeared before dawn.
“Fortunately, there were no casualties. However, they say the damage to the ranch is not insignificant.”
Varkas watched a gray-brown bird of prey tear flesh from the horse’s ribs, then turned his eyes toward the gently rolling ridge.
Beyond the collapsed stone wall, three or four mares could be seen lying fallen.
All of them had their necks and bellies torn open.
Daren, following his gaze, let out a deep sigh.
“I suppose we should at least consider it fortunate that the Nornec Mountain stallions are safe…”
“Has a subjugation force been formed?”
“The guards have been thoroughly searching Armond Forest since early morning. But they say the pack vanished without a trace. It appears to be a group led by a very clever leader.”
“Double the number of trackers, and place guards around the ranch and the outskirts of the village.”
Varkas, gripping Tork’s reins with a leather-gloved hand, gave the order in a heavily sunken tone.
Daren immediately nodded to the subordinates standing behind him.
“You heard him, didn’t you? Relay His Grace’s orders to the unit at once.”
Two soldiers crossed the broken fence and ran toward the castle walls.
Varkas turned his head again to check the damage to the ranch, then soon turned his steps toward the village.
The small village formed north of Kalmor was crowded with people who had come out to see the new lord.
Without giving them a glance, he walked along the road paved with gravel, and Daren, who had been quietly following him, cautiously opened his mouth.
“Troublesome matters have been happening one after another lately. As if the Zram raiders beginning to run rampant were not enough, now even a wolf pack is causing trouble.”
“…”
“After the succession ceremony, unfortunate matters have overlapped, so you must be troubled, but please take good care of yourself. Your complexion has not been like it used to be lately.”
Varkas, who had been walking silently, came to a sudden stop and looked back at him.
Perhaps thinking he had displeased him, the man immediately bowed his head.
“Please forgive me if I spoke out of turn. I was only concerned for Your Grace’s well-being…”
“Do I look tired enough for you to worry like that?”
Varkas asked, stroking his chin.
After studying his face for a moment, the man scratched the back of his head and spoke awkwardly.
“You have seemed especially sensitive these past few days. I wondered if perhaps you have been unable to sleep.”
Varkas frowned, then turned forward again and answered like a sigh.
“It seems I have caused concern. I will take care.”
It was true that over the past few days, he had not been able to sleep even three or four hours a day.
It was not only because of the mountain of official duties piled up before him.
He turned his head and looked up at the fortress standing on the hill.
The midday autumn sunlight was pouring down over the massive building where she would be staying.
That woman was probably shut inside her room even now.
Suddenly feeling a bitter, metallic taste spread through his mouth, he ran the tip of his tongue over the inner lining.
Blood was seeping from the flesh bitten by his molars.
It was a strange habit that had appeared recently.
He scraped his tongue over the ragged flesh inside his cheek and swallowed the metallic liquid down his throat.
As the scent of blood brushed the tip of his nose, an unpleasant afterimage rose in his mind.
Varkas, frowning at the strange heat stirring in his stomach, roughly raked up his hair.
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