TFM 126

Chapter 126

***

Talia, who was staring with a stern expression at his back as it was suddenly engulfed in darkness, hurriedly crossed the room.

She caught a fleeting glimpse of him turning around. Talia reached out immediately. She felt the texture of the stiff bandage covering his bare skin.

“Are you hurt?”

“It’s just a minor scratch I got while hunting monsters.”

“A minor scratch…? What kind of monster was it, exactly?”

How could a man with such monstrous strength—enough to easily subdue even a wyvern—have possibly been injured?

As she looked up at his facial features with wide eyes, Varkas replied in a voice laced with a sigh.

“A pair of Drakar—a male and a female—had taken up residence in the north. Since they’re rare monsters, I was careful not to damage their hides………….”

He suddenly fell silent as her hand touched his bare chest.

Driven by the single-minded desire to assess the depth of the wound, Talia ran her fingertips along the bandage. Thick cloth wrapped diagonally around his left shoulder and chest.

“How bad is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Light the lamp. I can’t see very well.”

Taking a deep breath, Varkas reached out and pulled back the curtain draped over the window.

Although dark, ink-black clouds covered the entire sky, it wasn’t completely pitch black, so she could easily make out his entire figure.

Wearing only loose-fitting Eastern-style woolen pants, Varkas stood barefoot on the rug.

Talia stiffened for a moment at his somewhat savage appearance, but when she spotted the vial in his hand, she suddenly raised her voice.

“Why didn’t you call a healer? If they’d used magic to heal it………………!”

“Drakar’s claws are coated with a magic-resistant poison. Healing magic won’t work at all until the body naturally detoxifies itself.”

Varkas replied curtly and turned toward the shelf. Thanks to this, Talia was able to examine his back, now exposed right in front of her, up close.

Varkas’s physique resembled a structure from which all unnecessary elements had been thoroughly stripped away. Dense muscles filled every gap on a sturdy frame of perfect form, and taut tendons stood out like intricate relief patterns on his marble-like skin. Even the bandages wrapped around his body looked almost like ornaments designed to highlight his robust physique.

“The toxin should be out of my system in about a week, and then a healer can cast a healing spell.”

Varkas added matter-of-factly as he set the vial down.

Talia, who had been staring blankly, suddenly snapped back to her senses and awkwardly lowered her gaze.

“………………Does it hurt?”

“Not at all.”

At his overly dry reply, Talia looked skeptical.

Indeed, there was no sign of pain in any of Varkas’s movements as he pulled on his shirt. Still, unable to let her guard down, she asked again anxiously.

“Are you really okay?”

“There won’t be any problem with getting the job done, so don’t worry.”

Talia looked up at him with an expression as if she’d been slapped across the face.

“Do you think I’m crazy enough to do that kind of thing with you?”

“Didn’t you come to see me to sleep with me?”

The man gave her a puzzled look. His tone seemed less like sarcasm and more like he was simply stating a fact, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words. Because, as he said, it was true that she had come to share his bed.

Blushing, she stammered.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t come here because I wanted you. I just came to have a child………”

“Don’t worry. I’ve never once misjudged your intentions.”

Varkas cut off her excuse in a calm tone.

Talia pursed her lips. She should have felt relieved that he didn’t doubt her words. But why did her chest feel so tight?

“Anyway, I have no intention of doing that with someone who’s injured. So, please light a fire in the fireplace.”

“……………Are you going to stay in this room?”

For a moment, a look of surprise flashed across Varkas’s face.

Talia’s expression clouded over. This man truly seemed to believe she was treating him solely for that purpose.

Even though she had worked hard to make it appear that way, she felt strange when it turned out Varias hadn’t noticed her feelings at all.

She took a step back, keeping her gaze fixed on the floor.

“If you don’t want me here, just say so. I’ll go back to my room……”

“Please stay here.”

He suddenly clasped her hand tightly.

“Weren’t you the one who always said you didn’t want to be here? I’ve always begged you to stay.”

Talia, who had been looking up at him with a confused expression, soon averted her gaze, her hands still bound by his.

She always felt vulnerable after being intimate with Varkas. She was on edge, never knowing when his hand might touch her leg, and she was anxious that her unflattering appearance might be revealed to his eyes, now accustomed to the darkness.

Above all, she was terrified that her longing for his touch—for his warmth—was growing to an unbearable extent.

But…………….

She carefully traced his silhouette with her eyes as it was enveloped in a bluish glow.

With his wet hair swept back, revealing his forehead, he looked, for some reason, like a lonely boy. That seemingly harmless appearance broke down her guard.

“Okay, I’ll stay for a little while. If I go back now, my nanny will nag me……………….”

A faint crease formed at the corner of his eye at her clumsily uttered excuse. Realizing that those words were tantamount to admitting her nanny was pressuring her to get pregnant, Talia awkwardly averted her gaze.

Varkas, who had been silently watching her, said coldly.

“If that woman gets on your nerves, I’ll send her back to the imperial palace.”

“No!”

Talia cried out as if in a fit.

“Just try it! I won’t let you get away with it!”

He shot her an indescribable look—an expression that seemed to ask why she wouldn’t cast out a woman who treated her so disrespectfully.

Talia raised her voice as if in her own defense.

“She’s the one who’s taken care of me since I was a newborn. She’s practically my own mother.”

“…”

“If you send my nanny back to the palace, I’ll go back with her.”

When she snapped this out firmly, his brow furrowed tightly.

The man, who had been moving his lips as if to say something, sighed and turned toward the fireplace.

“Don’t just stand there—please sit down.”

Then, instead of calling a servant, he began stoking the fire himself.

Relieved that the subject had changed, Talia quietly stepped closer to him.

“Leave that to the servants. You just sit down and rest.”

“I’m fine with this.”

Before long, flames leapt up from the logs. Talia, who had been pacing restlessly, soon tugged at the hem of his robe.

“Sit down now.”

As she dragged him over to the bed and pressed down on his shoulders, Varkas gave her a strange look.

Perhaps he found it baffling that the woman who had always pushed him away was now trying to look after him in such a clumsy way.

After staring down at her for a moment, the man eventually perched himself on the sheets. Talia relaxed and turned toward the dresser.

“You said it’s toxic, right? Shouldn’t you take something like a fever reducer? Or maybe a painkiller or……”

“I’m not in pain, and I don’t have a fever.”

Ignoring his reply, she rummaged haphazardly through the dresser. Before long, she found a medicine bottle containing mandragora extract.

After opening the cap to check the contents, Talia poured an appropriate amount into a teacup and handed it to him.

“Here, drink this.”

Varkas simply stared down at the teacup.

Is he suspicious that I might be trying to feed him something strange?

As she glared at him with teary eyes, Varkas ran his hand along her waist and said,

“I’ll drink it if Your Highness feeds it to me.”

Talia blinked blankly. Varkas, his expression unchanged, calmly waited for her reply. Seeing his composed demeanor, her mind, which had been frozen, finally began to function again.

“You, you can do it with your own hands!”

“I’ve always fed you, haven’t I? Now it’s time to repay the debt.”

Talia’s face flushed crimson as she looked back and forth between him and the medicine bottle.

Seeing him make such a brazen demand as if it were nothing suddenly made her blood boil.

Just as Talia was about to shout, “If you don’t want to drink it, just stop!” she changed her mind and took a sip of the bitter liquid.

His eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected her to actually comply.

As if to prove a point, Talia grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his, which carried a faint scent of soap. As if it were only natural, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Talia instinctively clutched his shoulder, but when she felt the texture of the thick bandage, she jerked her hand away in surprise. Meanwhile, a smooth tongue gently swept between her lips.

Unable to resist that silent urging, she let the liquid trickle into his mouth little by little. But she wasn’t as skilled as he had been. As she lifted her head, feeling the overflowing liquid dampen the corners of her mouth, Varkas cupped her cheek and licked her chin.

Before she knew it, they were lying on the bed, tightly entwined. Feeling his body—hardened with arousal—pressing down on her stomach, Talia hurriedly sat up.

“No. I said we wouldn’t do this until your wound healed.”

“I won’t do anything more than this. Just please stay still like this.”

Varkas murmured in a hoarse voice as he gently stroked her hair. Talia, who had been about to push him away, soon relaxed her body.

The dull thud of her heartbeat mingled with the raucous sound of rain and the crackling of firewood.