Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Thwack! Aslan's head snapped to the side.
"Such arrogance!"
The Emperor wiped the hand that struck Aslan roughly with a towel. Then, unable to contain his anger, he struck him again.
"Blinded by a Consumption patient on the verge of death, you depose a meritorious subject of the nation? Are you out of your mind!"
"Was it not something Your Majesty also agreed to?"
"Dare you try to shift the blame onto me!"
"Were you not displeased with the Border Count's actions to expand his power? Even if I had stepped forward, if Your Majesty had turned a blind eye, the deposition would have been for naught."
Aslan twisted the corner of his lips in a bitter smile.
The glint in his eyes as he glared at the Emperor was fierce. He did not seem like someone being reprimanded.
Just thinking about that old pervert still made his teeth grind. He had completely destroyed and trampled everything that man possessed, but he still felt unsatisfied.
An unfulfilled desire writhed within him.
It clamored to see blood, to take another life. The whispers of a filthy demon.
"How do you explain the matter of Duchess Eleonora! What were you thinking, exposing your own weakness!"
"Ah, that was a mistake."
"A mistake? A mistake?!"
"I am grateful that you handled the matter so well. Thanks to you, the Imperial secret was preserved, all thanks to Your Majesty's efforts."
The conversation was filled with hypocrisy and contempt, but this one phrase was sincere.
'My frail and lovely bride.'
She had not questioned Duchess Eleonora's death in the slightest.
If the Imperial Family had not intervened, he would have struggled to appease her.
However, the Emperor seemed very displeased with Aslan's last words. It made it seem as though he had personally stepped in for Aslan's sake.
"It seems I have let you off the leash for too long."
The Emperor, taking a riding crop from the wall, muttered ominously.
"Kneel."
Aslan knelt familiarly. Fierce lashes followed on his shoulders.
Silence filled with only the sharp sound of the whip tearing through the air.
Aslan endured without a single groan, and eventually, the Emperor was the first to tire. He threw down the whip, now stained with blood, and sneered.
"Truly venomous. Indeed, you are not human."
"I am unworthy."
"I did not command you to rise. Kneel!"
This time, he did not obey the Emperor's command. Aslan, now standing, overwhelmingly dwarfed the Emperor in stature.
"I am not as obedient as Johannes. Even when you threw me into Blackford to die, did I not stubbornly survive and build my own kingdom?"
"You…!"
"Either way, Your Majesty needs me, does he not? Someone to bear the Imperial Curse in your stead. So, please quell your anger. What good would it do to incur my resentment?"
Aslan smiled languidly and turned away. He was worried about making Vivian wait too long.
But his steps came to a halt at the Emperor's words.
"If the Princess Consort were to learn of your true nature, do you think she would still remain by your side?"
"……."
"I am asking if she would share a bed with a monster wearing a human mask!"
The relaxed expression on Aslan's face immediately hardened. The light in his eyes froze, turning red.
"If you touch Vivian… I do not know what I will do then."
He would not tell her anything.
"Even if it is Your Majesty."
He would blind her eyes and block her ears, so she could never leave.
"Vivian."
Vivian, who was strolling alone in the Imperial Palace, turned her head. Aslan was striding towards her.
She had thought the private audience with the Emperor was taking longer than expected, but it seemed to have finally ended.
"Did you wait long?"
"Of course. I thought my eyes would fall out from waiting. Besides, do you know what happened just now?"
"I heard you saved the Empress. My fiancée is truly amazing."
"News travels fast."
Aslan extended his hand, suggesting they continue talking as they walked. Vivian nodded and accepted his escort.
"How is your health?"
"Not bad. Perhaps because the weather has been consistently warm lately, my cough has lessened a bit."
"That's good. I'll have to make sure you take your medicine consistently from now on."
"That's a bit…"
Aslan had newly hired seven renowned doctors for her sake.
They debated daily and prescribed new medicines, and thanks to them, the taste of the medicine became newer day by day.
Vivian, who had been grumbling for him to try it himself, suddenly tilted her head.
She had been wondering where the strong smell was coming from, and it hadn't disappeared even after some time had passed.
"Aslan, did you put on perfume?"
He turned his head silently, meeting Vivian's gaze.
"What's the occasion? You usually hate it when I tell you to put it on."
"……."
"Come to think of it, you changed your clothes again too. No wonder you were so late; were you dawdling even though you knew I was waiting? Were you perhaps having an affair?"
In aristocratic society, affairs were commonplace, and changing into new clothes and applying perfume to hide the traces after having love affairs with mistresses was almost an unwritten rule.
Of course, Vivian didn't care even if Aslan had an affair.
She had just thrown it out as a joke because his mood seemed a bit dark.
"Me, having an affair while having you? That's impossible, Vivian."
"What does it matter? How many nobles these days don't have a lover on the side? I heard it's faster to count the ones who don't."
"Then what about you? You're so charming that you must have quite a few men following you."
"Well, what do you think?"
It seemed that even the great Aslan was a bit of a novice in these matters. As soon as the topic of affairs came up, his voice lowered and his words became choppy.
She had thought he wouldn't bleed a drop even if pricked, but it was surprisingly fun to tease him.
Vivian giggled and walked ahead, but her waist was suddenly grabbed. Aslan, who was hugging her from behind, whispered softly in her ear.
"Who is it?"
"Pardon?"
"The man who covets my fiancée."
It was a gentle and soft voice, as if coaxing out a timid herbivore. But the glint in his eyes was murderous, as if he would butcher someone.
When Vivian didn't answer easily, Aslan became anxious. Thick veins stood out on the back of his hand that wrapped around her slender waist.
"Geez, where would I have a lover? You keep me locked up in your mansion all the time."
"Still, we're not together 24 hours a day. There's a saying that history is made in the blink of an eye."
"History or whatever, I'm already struggling to deal with you. Do you think my stamina is that good?"
From waking up in the morning to falling asleep at night, Aslan frequently visited the bedroom.
When Aslan was busy with official duties and didn't have time, the head maid Emma would, and if not her, a doctor or another maid would frequently come and go, taking care of her illness.
If she tried to lock the door because it was annoying, they would turn around and enter through Aslan's connected bedroom, so Vivian hardly had any time alone. It was a watertight, close surveillance.
"That's very pleasing to hear. That you're struggling just to deal with me."
"I didn't say it for you to like it, you know?"
"Still, I like it."
Vivian's words were a complaint containing her own protest. But it seemed that Aslan wasn't even listening.
"Let's stop joking around. I want to go back and rest."
"Cough……."
It was the moment Vivian poked his chest with her elbow. Aslan let out a groan mixed with pain.
Surprised, Vivian quickly pulled away from his embrace. Aslan quickly turned his head, but he couldn't hide the expression distorted with pain.
Besides, the cheek that was revealed because he turned his face…
"What's wrong with your cheek? What kind of mark is this?"
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing! Goodness, who hit you like this?"
Vivian soon realized it was a foolish question. How many people could hit an Imperial Prince who had received the title of Grand Duke?
Besides, one person was with her, so the only one left was the Emperor.
'In the original story, the Emperor often used Aslan as a target for his anger. There were times when he turned his whole body into rags with a whip…'
He never groaned even under the Emperor's indiscriminate violence. He also never revealed the traces of the violence he had suffered to others.
But now, he couldn't hide his cheek, which was flushed crimson, or his groan mixed with pain.
Vivian grabbed his arm and quickly returned to the carriage.
She faithfully ignored his nonsense about wanting to ride a horse and forcibly dragged him to sit next to her.
"Let me see."
"It's nothing…"
Vivian glared silently. Answering like that with such a dejected look had no persuasiveness at all.
As expected, he glanced at Vivian as if gauging her reaction, then slowly took off his clothes.
His exposed body was terrible. Blood oozed from the burst wounds, even though they had been bandaged and treated with medicine.
The smell of perfume from earlier was to hide the strong smell of medicine; the bitter smell of medicine stung her nose.
Aslan added softly, as if noticing Vivian's shock.
"It's a familiar thing. Since I was very young."
She knew it from reading the original story. She knew it, but the weight she felt was different from what she had imagined.
No matter how uninterested she was in someone, she couldn't help but feel sympathy when they came back so battered.
He had endured such terrible pain alone since he was very young.
"Are you okay, Aslan?"
"You wouldn't know, Vivian. There was no one by my side. No one who would worry so kindly and ask as if it were their own problem."
"Aslan…"
"I keep showing you only my weak side. You'll probably get tired of me like this. You'll definitely want to leave."
"Why do you think that?"
Vivian held Aslan's hand tightly.
Of course, she did want to leave and was actually planning to leave, but she couldn't bring herself to say that to someone who was struggling with past wounds.
Aslan gazed at Vivian with expectant eyes.
"Then will you stay by my side? By my side, even though I am so lacking…"
"I will."
"Without leaving?"
"I will never leave."
For the next year, that is.
Vivian swallowed the rest of her words and loosely hugged Aslan's neck.
She had intended to pat him as if taking care of a large child, but suddenly his arms wrapped around her waist.
So intensely that she couldn't escape.
"You promised, Vivian."
It seemed that she had ended up being clung to instead of comforting him.
Vivian had to pat Aslan for a very long time, until he let out a satisfied sigh.
