Chapter 28
A Wife’s Duty
A crimson gaze flickered from within the dark shadows where the sunlight had faded.
It was said that the flames of hell could melt even a human soul. She didn’t know why the descriptions of hell from the scriptures came to her mind.
Her breathing had stopped, yet she felt short of breath. No. Perhaps it wasn’t her breath that was short, but something else.
“My wife, on display in a place like this.”
He spoke as if he found it regrettable. His voice, seeping in lazily like an afternoon hour, crept up Nia’s ankles like smoke.
Her heels touched the wall. Her body, following instinct, tried to retreat, but Nia was already cornered.
“I almost missed such an interesting spectacle. Why wasn’t I invited, Count?”
“…My apologies.”
At the laughter-laced tone, Raid bowed his head. It was a wise choice. Tarahan wasn’t smiling. He was someone who never hesitated to kill, anywhere, anytime, and that hadn’t changed.
“So. What was it about my wife that you found so appealing?”
Tarahan asked, but Raid couldn’t answer. Then, continuing his words, Tarahan brushed past Raid.
His steps brought him before Nia. A hand that shot out in an instant grabbed hers and lifted it.
It was the hand the Count had kissed. Tarahan’s heat enveloped the long-vanished warmth. A moan burst from her hand, which hurt as if it might break.
“…Ah!”
A handprint quickly bloomed on her thin skin. Tarahan pressed his lips to the reddened back of her hand. His gaze was fixed on Raid.
“Lift your head, Count. Look at my wife.”
Raid had no choice but to look at Nia. It was she who lowered her eyes instead. Tarahan continued speaking, regardless of her reaction.
“Go on, tell me. Was it the pretense of innocence while coming to seduce a man that was alluring, or this face that looks so pure?”
While still holding Nia’s hand, Tarahan made her grasp her own face, forcing her to hold it.
Their red pupils and gazes entangled. He whispered into her ear, as if he knew she was avoiding the Count’s eyes.
“He can’t answer, so you tell me.”
“I…”
Her dry lips moved. No matter what he thought, she had to deny it. She had to say he was mistaken. But her terrified body only trembled, unable to produce a proper voice.
“If you want the Count, I’ll allow it. How about it, is that what you desire?”
“Your Excellency.”
“You, shut up.”
His voice, now devoid of laughter, was murderous. Raid closed his mouth again.
In full view of the Count, Tarahan kissed Nia’s ear. His lips, which had nibbled her earlobe, traveled down her neck. Nia struggled to suppress the sounds escaping her lips. Seemingly displeased with her attempt, Tarahan thrust his thumb between her tightly sealed lips.
“Knowing so well how to seduce a man.”
“…Hng!”
“If you wanted him that much, you should have come to me first. Didn’t I tell you before?”
His cruel words mocked her, tightening around her neck. The area under her trembling eyelids grew wet. Her tearful eyes were pleading for him to stop.
Tarahan pressed down on the corners of her eyes. Hot tears seeped into his fingers.
“How about here? If you want, you might even have two men at once.”
“…Your Excellency, please. No.”
Her trembling hand grabbed Tarahan’s wrist. Tarahan looked down at her hand, which was barely gripping him, more like it was just resting there, and bit her neck.
“I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I? So what is it you’re dissatisfied with now?”
Tarahan reproached her. He had picked up the trash someone else discarded because she had begged so desperately, and now that trash wanted to roll around in a filthier place. Nia closed her eyes.
“How much more must I indulge you? What method of defilement will satisfy you, my wife? I thought I’d rolled around quite a bit in the muck myself… but it seems I’ll have to strive quite hard to perfectly match your tastes. Otherwise, my pride might be a little hurt.”
A sweet voice whispered in her ear. It was as if the shards of glass she had swallowed were dancing inside her, shredding her fragile flesh.
The pain of being whipped on her bare back before the eyes of the priests hadn’t been like this. Tears flowed down the crushed corners of her eyes.
“…I want to go back. Please.”
Nia was being consumed by fear. It felt like he would order her to entwine her body with the Count right then and there, in front of him.
If she could just go back to the main residence, she would accept any punishment. Anything but that one command. So, for now, she wanted to escape from the Count’s sight, from this corridor in the annex.
But the words Nia spoke became the switch that burned away the last shred of reason Tarahan had left.
“Go back? Where?”
The sweet voice had turned cold. His gaze froze over with cruelty, enough to make Nia’s trembling body halt for a moment.
“The temple that sold you to me? Or the bosom of the Goddess?”
By the time she realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Tarahan, gripping her chin painfully to fix her gaze, had a glint in his eyes.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
A grinding sound of teeth crushing together was heard. Unlike his eyes, which were being consumed by raging fire, the corners of his mouth curved into an arc once more.
“It seems my wife needs to learn how to be grateful.”
His dry lips met hers with a scorching heat. Like an ember igniting in a faint breeze, the cruel conflagration completely swallowed Nia.
Her eyelids were heavy. Nia slowly opened her eyes. A massive bed, the pillars supporting the bed’s canopy, and the blue fabric ceiling.
As the unfamiliar sight filled her vision, she grew anxious instead. As she tried to get up, a dull pain forced her to curl her body.
‘…What happened?’
She couldn’t clearly remember how she got here from the cold corridor. She looked at her own wrist. A red handprint was stamped on her transparent skin.
But the red marks weren’t only on her wrist. Her neck, her collarbone… Nia’s entire body was covered in large and small traces of Tarahan.
Like a small trickle of water, the forgotten scenes began to take over her mind, one by one.
Fumbling, Nia pulled the covers up. She had been left naked in his bed. Over the past day, she had fulfilled her duty as a wife.
‘Why…’
Nia blinked dazedly. The rising memories didn’t feel like her own. But Tarahan’s traces remained on her flesh, deep within her. The hand clutching the covers flinched. Her violated body burned with shame.
As her senses gradually returned, the physical pain awoke with them. Feeling her throbbing body, she thought of him. The absurd thing was, even after such humiliation, not an ounce of resentment towards him arose in her heart.
She was merely curious. Why hadn’t he discarded her? And.
‘Why did he hold me?’
If the thing he picked up seemed dirty, he could have just thrown it away. Instead, he had held her close.
The process had been cruel, and at times violent, but it had stained her anew. Nia was still within his domain.
‘…Have I now become a person who knows how to be grateful?’
Nia touched the mark engraved on her wrist and recalled his words. The traces looked as if they would not fade for a long time.
‘It’s because I have no divine power left.’
Her powerful divine power used to heal even sword wounds overnight. But now, with all the divine power gone from her body, Tarahan’s traces dominated her.
Was it an ascent? Or a fall?
A strange emotion seized Nia. She let out a faint sigh.
Nia slowly sat up. A moan rose at the unfamiliar pain, but she managed to lean her upper body against the headboard.
From her slightly elevated vantage point, Nia looked beyond the bed.
Only the necessary furniture filled the space around the enormous bed. The interior seemed several times larger than her quarters, but it was excessively bleak.
‘…His room.’
Within the castle, the only room of this size would be the Grand Duke’s bedroom. But even without considering the size, she was certain this was Tarahan’s space.
His scent, his movements, his very voice—each was melted into this place.
Nia drew her knees up and pulled the covers higher. Only her own warmth remained, but it still felt as if he was holding her. Just as she pressed her cheek against the soft cotton…
Creeeak. A tiny noise caused a ripple in the quiet space. Nia turned her head towards the sound.
“…Ah.”
Through the slightly open crack in the door, vivid green eyes were watching her. The peeping eyes turned away as soon as their gazes met.
Blond hair swayed in the door crack, then disappeared. Only the traces of the setting sun remained in the empty corridor.
