Chapter 181
THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL) – CHAPTER 181
That provocative look sent a sharp chill running down the base of his neck.
He stopped thinking at that exact moment and leaned down before his wife.
He rested one of his knees on the floor and supported the back of her knees with his hands, causing her slender arms to wrap around his neck naturally.
Varkas held his breath for a moment as the sweet scent of her body invaded his lungs; then, he wrapped his other hand around her back, holding her close, and stood up.
Only then did the wolf, which was sitting by her side like a faithful guardian, lift its hindquarters from the ground.
Varkas watched the wolf warily.
Contrary to his fears, the “direwolf” showed no notable aggressiveness, but simply approached them to examine Talia’s face insistently, as if wanting to ensure its mistress’s safety.
Varkas took long strides to move away, trying to evade the beast that was pushing its snout toward her.
The monster wrinkled its nose for a moment, showing its annoyance, but soon followed them lightly.
“Go through the back door, not the front. I don’t want to run into your siblings.”
Talia whispered that as she rested her head against his shoulder.
Varkas was startled by her breath brushing against his chin, so he immediately changed direction toward the back of the building.
“Are my siblings still behaving rudely toward you?”
“Lukas is fine; although he makes me angry sometimes, he stays within the boundaries of basic courtesy. But your sister is truly annoying.”
“What exactly did Lina do?”
Perhaps the woman felt the coldness that invaded his voice, because she murmured in an ambiguous tone:
“It’s not like she did anything grand… She just complains about me to the vassals, or sometimes tries to instigate childish verbal arguments.”
“I will call her and warn her severely.”
“Don’t do it.”
She suddenly raised the corner of her eye and continued:
“What will be left of my dignity if you intervene? It will look like I ran to complain to my husband because a girl treated me badly. I treat her just as badly as she treats me, so leave it to me.”
“With my husband.”
Varkas repeated the word internally, and then suddenly clenched his teeth.
He felt disgust at his own state, letting himself be carried away by every little word this woman uttered.
He consciously quickened his pace; the moment of holding her had been so magical and amazing that it caused him vertigo, and at the same time, so overwhelming that he wished to escape from it as soon as possible.
He crossed the hallway in the blink of an eye and entered the bedroom that had once been his.
“How is your leg now?”
“Fine. I only feel a little stiffness. Nothing more than that…”
While he asked her this, heading toward a long divan covered in velvet, she tightened her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear:
“Don’t put me on the divan, take me to the bed. I want to lie down.”
Varkas suddenly threw his head back and shot her a sharp look, but she responded to his reaction with a smile that made her cat-like eyes narrow with amusement, as if she were enjoying the situation.
He knew that expression well; during her days in the imperial palace, she often showed that face when she put the men under her command and manipulated them.
Varkas’s mouth tightened, and he headed straight for the bed.
He placed her on the soft sheets and tried to get up quickly to leave the room, but her hand clung to his shirt like glue.
“Where are you going?”
The woman asked him, her wheat-colored golden hair scattering over the white sheets, as she looked at him with languid eyes:
“This is your bed, you lie down too.”
At that moment, his patience ran out.
He gripped her wrist tightly, pressing it against the bed, and then spoke in a voice that sounded like a roar:
“What are you trying to do now?”
“…And what have I done?”
A slight flush appeared along with traces of anxiety on her face, which looked so innocent that it was infuriating.
And even that anxiety seemed terribly seductive, increasing his annoyance.
“Taking me to bed—what exactly do you intend by that?”
Faced with his sharp interrogation, her cheeks flushed even more.
The woman, biting her lips in confusion, began to stammer:
“I… I just wanted you to rest a bit. You have been moving between battlefields for two years. And even after your return, you do nothing but work until late at night under the pretext of official duties… So…”
“So you suggest we lie down in the same bed to take a nap together?”
The corner of her eye rose sharply at his sarcastic tone:
“Why? Is it forbidden?”
Faced with her defiant question, he narrowed his eyes and examined her leisurely.
The delicate feminine curves stood out clearly beneath her thin, disheveled dress.
It was a look so sensual that it was hard to believe she was the same woman who was bleeding and withering away on that bed two years ago.
He felt a tightness in the lower part of his belly due to an unwanted heat, so he bit the inside of his cheek.
In the past, he did not like his body’s reactions to her, but now he felt almost disgusted by them.
He moved away from her and spoke in a rigid voice:
“I don’t need to rest.”
Then he looked at her with eyes full of suspicion and asked in an interrogating tone:
“To begin with, why do you care about me all of a sudden?”
“You… you are my husband. What is so strange about me caring about you?”
Perhaps she felt embarrassed by what her own tongue had said, as her ears flushed a deep red.
Despite this, Varkas could not mock her words.
He felt as if a hot knot had become stuck in his throat, and soon understood that this feeling was “desire.”
Because of this unwanted understanding, he uttered the words his mind could not stop repeating:
“Didn’t you say that the mere sight of me suffocated you?”
Her face turned pale in an instant.
She looked at him with eyes shadowed by desolation, then pulled her body up and sat up slowly, drawing her knees to her chest while whispering:
“Now… it’s no longer like that. Actually, I…”
He remained standing, motionless, waiting for the rest of her words.
Talia, anxiously stroking her knees, added in a slightly hoarse voice:
“During this time… I worried a lot about you. This time… your absence was especially long. Six months passed and you didn’t return…”
The woman, murmuring disjointed words, began to bite her lip with her carefully manicured nails.
He took her hand and examined her face meticulously:
“Does it no longer hurt you to be with me?”
The woman finally nodded her head after having been avoiding his gaze with uneasiness.
Varkas felt as if something he was clinging to had broken, so he sat on the bed, resting his knees upon it.
One of his hands slipped between the dense strands of her hair and gently caressed her white neck, whose pulse was accelerating, clearly noticing the agitation in her breathing. She looked nervous, but showed no rejection of his touch.
Varkas watched her reaction intently; then, he took her small chin and gently caressed her injured lower lip with his thumb, causing her full lips to part slightly as if it were an invitation to him.
He felt a familiar thirst burning his throat, so he held her soft cheeks with both hands and tilted his head slowly.
While monitoring her reaction closely, he placed his lips upon hers, which were slightly parted, gently brushing her delicate lip.
Then he pushed her softly to lie down over her on the bed. But at that precise moment, a loud crash was heard, followed by noises of an uproar.
She pulled back in fright at the sudden noise.
He clenched his fist tightly so as not to hold her again and looked with anger toward the entrance.
The door was shaking violently as if the hinges were about to be torn off.
Varkas rose from his place and crossed the room in a flash.
He pulled the doorknob violently, and a huge beast lunged through the opening.
He looked with astonishment at that monstrosity that pushed him roughly and jumped onto the bed.
The beast occupied the wide bed as if it were its reserved spot, and pushed its enormous head into her lap.
“Kan!”
Talia hugged the wolf without knowing what to do, and stayed waiting expectantly for her husband’s reaction.
Varkas continued to watch the scene while holding the doorknob, and then slowly shifted his gaze toward the hallway.
The soldiers were gathering en masse, probably due to the uproar caused by the wolf.
He felt a coldness run through his head, which had been burning moments before, and ran his hand through his disheveled hair violently.
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