Chapter 184
## THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL) – Chapter 184
### Chapter 184: THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL)
—I am sorry for scaring you.
He embraced her shoulders, which were still trembling slightly, and began to caress her rigid back, at which the breath she was holding back was released and she buried her face in his chest.
The beating of her heart, transmitted to him through her thin nightgown, was faster and more irregular than usual.
—Really… you were so still and motionless that you looked like someone who had left this world.
—It only looked that way from the outside.
Varkas patted her back as he directed his gaze toward the window.
The sun had already positioned itself in the middle of the sky.
It seemed that the fatigue accumulated from the long life of battle and travel had caused him to fall into a deep sleep since his return to Raidego Castle.
He inhaled a large breath of air, trying to erase the sensation of the cold, viscous blood-water that felt as if it were still entangled around his body.
—I received training at the monastery to control the body’s responses to the extreme. Due to that habit, I sometimes sink into a sleep so deep that it resembles a state of clinical death.
—Just… a deep sleep and that’s it?
She threw him a look loaded with skepticism.
Varkas held her pale cheek with one hand, wiped away with his thumb the tears trapped in the corner of her eye, and then replied coldly:
—Yes, I hadn’t slept that deeply in a long time.
—Are you sure you are alright? Is there no problem or…?
—There is no problem.
At his blunt response, her shoulders, which had been extremely rigid, relaxed.
She let out a long sigh and murmured:
—I thought my heart would stop because of you. You were strangely still, and when I touched you I found your body cold as ice, I couldn’t even hear the sound of your breathing…
He stared intently at the complaining face of his wife.
Her wet eyelashes drooped downward, flashing with a golden tint, and her blue eyes beneath them looked even clearer due to the contrast with the redness of their contours.
He tilted his head to see those eyes with greater precision.
It is natural for a woman to feel fear if the man sleeping with her in the same bed suddenly stops breathing.
But why did this so logical act arouse a tingling inside him? He kissed the tip of her slightly reddened nose and asked her in a whisper:
—Were you worried that I wouldn’t wake up?
—… Why do you ask something that is obvious and waste your breath.
Talia murmured in an annoyed voice as she lowered her eyes in embarrassment.
If it had been like before, she would have started and denied it, but her honest confession made something in his chest contract with pain.
At the same time, a certain doubt arose in his mind; what had changed in her feelings during this half year for her attitude to transform in this way?
Did she perhaps go through such harsh situations that she decided to depend on him again?
While he directed looks full of suspicion toward her, the woman, who was moving her eyes nervously, suddenly approached and pressed herself against his body from above.
Varkas’s body tensed all at once.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and raised her head with a defiant air.
—… If you are going to kiss me, do it quickly.
He felt his ability to think vanish in an instant and lowered his gaze to her lips.
As soon as his sight fell upon the red mucosa that looked like crushed flower petals, the cold chill running through his body receded, and he was invaded by a scorching heat that made sweat break out on his skin.
He took her chin gently and tilted his head, and soon their hot breaths mingled with sweetness.
He joined his lips to hers softly.
She climbed onto his knees naturally and held tightly onto his back.
Varkas took her by the waist and drew her toward him so that she pressed even closer to him.
How much time passed while they were in that state?
He forced his lips apart and withdrew his body cautiously.
As he was preparing to get out of bed, she took him by the arm.
—Why… don’t you continue until the end?
Before her face, which looked at him with dissatisfaction, the heat rose to his head to the point of feeling a throb in his temple.
He clung to the last thread of his sanity.
—… The sun is already in the middle of the sky. There is a mountain of accumulated work, so I must get up.
He tucked the strands of hair trapped on her face behind her ear and kissed her white forehead lightly, to which the woman, who was looking at him with eyes deep in thought, asked him in a slightly low voice:
—When will your official matters end today?
—… I will be able to finish them approximately at sunset.
—Then come to this room tonight. I will be waiting for you…
Talia whispered that seductively while caressing the prominent veins on the back of his hand.
The Adam’s apple in his neck moved sharply, as if swallowing the rising heat.
Sweat broke out on his back as he suppressed the urge to throw her onto the bed immediately.
He feigned calmness to hide it and placed his hand over the back of her hand.
—… All right.
Then he took her hand, kissed it, and stood up from his place.
He would have liked to carry her in his arms to the bedroom on the second floor, but he felt he would not be able to contain himself at all if he touched that warm, soft body.
He rang the bell to call the maid who would help her with her grooming; then he picked up his coat, put it over his bare torso, and left the room. However, he stopped upon finding that massive beast standing by the door.
The wolf was sitting next to their bedroom like a guardian, watching him in silence with its blue eyes that tended toward gray.
Contrary to his concern that the beast would be enraged for having stolen its mistress away in secret, the wolf remained calm.
Even its gaze toward him seemed to denote pity for his state.
Varkas looked with suspicion at those blue eyes filled with emotions like those of a human, and then left the hallway.
He finished preparing himself in the blink of an eye and headed to the boardroom to finalize the matters he had overlooked in the morning.
As soon as he entered the outer castle, built for military purposes, the knights surrounding the long rectangular table stood up in unison and presented him with the military salute.
He nodded slightly in response, sat in the main seat, and took the reports piled up to one side.
Most of them referred to conflicts between territories or to the looting damages caused by the people of ‘Zram’.
While gazes were directed toward the war in the north, the “savages” were eagerly increasing their power.
Although the knight warriors of the east followed the trail of the enemies constantly, they had not yet been able to determine the location of their headquarters.
Varkas lowered the reports with a heavy sigh and directed a question toward Lukas, seated beside him:
—The high priest suspects that some inhabitants of the Grand Duke’s territory are cooperating with the people of ‘Zram’. What do you think of this?
—I would like to dismiss that as nonsense, but… considering the recent movements of the looters, it is difficult to ignore the suspicions that internal collaborators exist.
Lukas rubbed his thick, dark brown hair violently and continued:
—The groups of looters knew the guard change schedules with great precision. They would break into villages or walled cities and kill the guards, then loot the weapons or food warehouses and disappear as if the earth had opened up and swallowed them. This is impossible unless there is someone inside the territory helping them hide.
—Have you conducted inspections?
—We conducted inspections several times, but… we did not find any concrete evidence or results.
Varkas drummed his fingertips on the table and flipped through the report of damages caused by the people of ‘Zram’; then he uttered sarcastically:
—Investigate all suspicious people. Hiding dozens of savages requires someone who enjoys a great fortune. Ask the investigators to track the trail of influential citizens who have lived in the east for generations.
Varkas conveyed his instructions in his usual monotonous voice, then turned to Perov, who was waiting on his right hand:
—Have the people who were sent outside the walls returned?
—No, it seems they are still in the investigation stage.
Varkas nodded his head and moved on to the next topic.
It was a discussion about recruiting additional apprentices to cover the shortage of forces. Varkas reviewed the additional budget proposal quickly and then stamped his seal on it.
Once the review of the main cases was finished, Varkas briefly conveyed the information that the leader of the ‘Silver Alliance’ guild had brought the previous night.
The knights did not take the warning of the man from the north very seriously; after all, the probability of the balance of war being reversed at this moment was extremely slim.
However, the report indicating the possibility that the leader of the rebellion had escaped from ‘Amasik’ was not a matter that could ever be overlooked.
### Chapter 184: THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL)
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