Ch#81
2023.11.20.
"......Have you been drinking?"
Blair was the first to break the silence flowing between them.
Herdin smirked at the sight of her fine brows furrowing slightly in worry.
"Why? Planning to nag me?"
He didn't answer her question directly, but his drowsier-than-usual gaze and leisurely approaching steps spoke for him.
Blair stepped forward to support him as she replied,
"It's not nagging. I'm worried."
Herdin watched her trot toward him with an amused gaze. It was ridiculous, her trying to support a man a head taller than herself.
His wife approached fearlessly, oblivious, and wrapped her slender arms around his waist. At the same time, her sweet scent wafted over him.
In that instant, the loosened reins of his reason tightened and snapped.
Herdin pushed the woman into his arms against the wall and pressed his lips to hers.
He felt Blair flinch in surprise, but he cupped her cheeks to prevent her escape.
Blair, frozen for a moment, closed her eyes and accepted him. The bitter taste of whiskey rode his hot breath.
He was the one who had been drinking, yet she felt as if she might get drunk instead. Clinging to him, Blair gripped his firm arms tightly.
The two devoured each other, entwining hot breaths as if forgetting they were in the hallway.
Blair regained her senses first.
"Herdin, to the room...... Let's go to the room."
As she barely pushed him away and parted their lips to speak, Herdin kissed her again and swept her into his arms.
Wondering if it was alright to be carried like this by a drunk man, she came to her senses to find herself already laid on the bed.
Herdin tore off her obstructive nightgown and continued the kiss as if to devour her. Blair trembled in shock, but he ignored it and caressed her body.
That kiss, those touches were as desperate as a man tormented by long thirst.
She noticed something subtly different from usual the moment she parted her suffocating lips and opened her eyes.
Their gazes met—his lowered slightly, looking at her.
His blue eyes somehow looked pained, as if his throat were being strangled.
In her previous life, lost in her own emotions, she had thought his difference was merely from being drunk.
She believed the man who had suddenly distanced himself had fallen for her again, and thrilled at even a sliver of his hunger, simply happy in that moment.
She had no leisure to examine his feelings.
Fearful that he might push her away again come morning when the alcohol wore off, that this night might end like a fleeting dream.
But paradoxically, in this life where she no longer sought his love, his emotions came into view first.
"......Herdin."
Blair called him as he tried to kiss her again.
"Did something happen?"
His approaching lips paused. But his reply soon after was as usual.
"No."
Herdin intertwined their fingers and added lowly,
"Nothing."
With that answer, their conversation ended.
He pulled her still unyielding body toward him and joined theirs.
"Ah!"
Though her body was already somewhat aroused from the sticky kisses alone, he still felt overwhelming to Blair.
He had always been burdensome, but especially tonight.
Herdin drew her in relentlessly to the end. Yet even joined without a single gap, the sudden realization born of emotion left a void unfilled.
As if needing to fill that emptiness, he entered her.
But the more he did, the emptier it grew, and he tightly embraced the woman looking up at him with feverish eyes.
Even burdensome, she who fully embraced him remained beautiful in this moment. Damn it all.
Why.
Why must you be that woman's daughter? Why the Emperor's sister?
No......
Why did I have to fall in love with you, of all people?
Countless reasons to let you go, yet only one to hold on—it drove him mad.
He felt as if falling endlessly beneath the water at his feet.
His vision blurred as the emotion consuming him grew, but Herdin ignored his teeth and focused on the desire before him.
Now, no matter what, I won't let you go.
"......Blair."
Blair, yielding her body and swaying mindlessly, opened her eyes at his rough voice by her ear.
The moment their gazes met—his blue eyes rippling with desire.
A forgotten fact dawned on her. That tonight was their last night together.
At the same time, his cold intensity crashing against her grew a little sadder.
He was still fully clothed in his outing attire, while she alone was utterly bare.
It had saddened her in her previous life too.
Even pressed so close they couldn't get nearer, the single layer of clothing between kept distance, that warmth forever unfelt.
The memory of that night, swallowing sorrow for fear he might pull away, remained vividly clear.
But tonight, couldn't she be a little greedier?
Just once more, tonight.
"Herdin."
Blair cautiously grasped his collar as she spoke.
"Can you...... hold me warmly, just a little?"
Herdin seemed to understand, beginning to remove his outer coat. One by one, clothes fell away, revealing his perfect form.
He leaned down, lips overlapping hers. At the same time, his hot body embraced her firmly. His warmth against her skin made tears well up inexplicably.
Soon, her vision began to shake once more.
Blair desperately embraced that warmth in return.
All night, so as not to let go.
* * *
The entire Capital Isle buzzed daily with rumors about Blair.
The back-alley taverns were no exception. If anything, among those living rough lives, the gossip grew even more vulgar.
Especially when the subject was a woman.
"Heard that rumor? The Duchess is supposedly trying to bite the Retired Empress's throat."
"Acting all prim, but the Imperial family ain't different from any other. Daughter seduced by a man, betraying her own mother—what a flour-dusted mess."
"Well, like mother, like daughter. Lowborn blood's rotten nature don't go away. Probably got so hooked on the Duke she sold out her mom."
"Women anyway, give 'em a little—"
As the men at the bar snickered, inflating vulgar rumors about Blair.
Crack—
The glass shattered in Mihail's hand as he served their cocktails.
The commotion startled his subordinates nearby and the men before him into staring at Mihail.
From his hand fell shards of the crushed glass, along with dripping liquor and red blood.
"......Ah."
Meeting the frightened customers' eyes, Mihail's face suggested he only then realized the glass had broken.
"Sorry. The glass broke."
But no trace of regret showed in his chilling expression.
One man flinched instinctively at Mihail's presence, then bellowed to hide it.
"You, did you break that on purpose? What kinda customer service is this?"
One of Mihail's subordinates, sensing the ominous air, quickly intervened.
"Apologies, sir. Our staff seems tired and made a mistake. We'll make a new one right away."
Catching his subordinate's glance, Mihail left the bar and headed upstairs. He used Divine Power to heal the wound where glass shards had embedded.
As he finished, footsteps approached from behind.
"Master."
Mihail turned to see a subordinate approaching. He paused at the bloodstains filling Mihail's palm.
"......What happened downstairs?"
"Nothing, just a scratch. What is it?"
"We've been investigating that Black Magic book as ordered, but being forbidden magic, it's hard to obtain materials."
Mihail furrowed his brow.
He had been looking into the Black Magic circle he saw on Blair at the Forest Villa.
If even she was unaware of it, it was highly likely implanted with malicious intent.
He wanted to remove the ominous circle from her as soon as possible, but as expected, gathering info wasn't easy.
"Bring anything, even the smallest detail, as soon as you get it."
"Ah, well......"
Mihail eyed his lingering subordinate curiously as he pulled something crumpled from his inner pocket.
"Not a Black Magic book, but a document related to Black Magic, so I brought it just in case."
On the first page he offered was a Black Magic circle drawn, and below it—
[There is said to be Black Magic that reconnects the second condition of the long-severed contract with the divine beast.]
......written neatly, likely by the document's owner.
"Where did you get this?"
"Some guy left it yesterday instead of paying his tab. Looked like a gambler; said he picked it up on his way home early morning recently."
"Picked it up on the street?"
"Yes. Tried selling it thinking it valuable at first, but got scared knowing it was Black Magic and just handed it over for drinks."
As Mihail reexamined the document while listening, he paused intently at the Black Magic circle on the first page.
'This is......'
It was the exact same pattern as the one engraved at the base of Blair's collarbone.
