Chapter 64
‘Just where did he drink that much?’
He hadn’t shown up even at the banquet hosted by the Emperor.
Eliana sat there blankly, enduring all the uncomfortable stares.
While she had been desperately waiting for him alone in the banquet hall, Greddy was nowhere to be seen. As if he had never existed in the first place.
“…Why did you drink so much?”
Greddy, who was leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed, cracked them open at her words. The vivid red ceiling entered his gaze before he closed them again.
But what came to him wasn’t darkness—it was the red-tinged afterimage of that day.
“Heh. Are you really trying to act like my wife? If you’re going to pretend, don’t just act—do it properly.”
The words shot out abruptly, piercing Eliana’s chest.
She was used to being hurt. Not just physical wounds, but wounds to her heart as well.
But being used to it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
Still, she wasn’t in a position to complain to him that his words had wounded her.
So Eliana decided to exercise her right. The right called a wife’s right.
“Did our contract get annulled without my knowledge?”
Her steps, which had briefly halted, moved again. Following her steady stride, Greddy’s gaze shifted.
“…What did you say?”
“You spoke as if our contract had ended, so I asked.”
Standing before him, Eliana looked down at him. Her face, once touched by surprise and fluster, had hardened like a wax doll, hiding all emotion.
Greddy looked up at her.
“The contract is still valid. Nothing has changed.”
Indeed, Greddy Criber still bore the shackles Rosella had fastened on his ankle. And today, Rosella had even waved those shackles around as a threat.
Nothing had changed. And it felt like nothing ever would.
A deep shadow fell across Greddy’s face. Misery that had long claimed its rightful place within him stretched its long shadow, slowly corroding him.
“…But why is it that you never make any effort?”
Eliana tilted her head slightly, arms crossed. As if dissatisfied, she closed and opened her eyes, tucking the strands of hair that slipped down behind her ear in one fluid, graceful motion.
“…Am I being scolded right now?”
Greddy looked up at her with a face full of incredulity.
“What I’m saying is that I’m not the only one bound to keep the terms of this contract.”
Though her clenched fists trembled, Eliana said everything she wanted to. Greddy clicked his tongue at her stubbornness.
“So you’re saying I broke the contract?”
He shrugged and jerked his chin arrogantly.
“You certainly haven’t been fulfilling it. Tonight, for instance—I was alone in the banquet hall.”
Greddy glanced sideways at her, then let out a dry laugh.
She was impossible to pin down. At times she shook her hips crudely, as if her body were the only thing she had. Then, the very next moment, she’d straighten her back, lift her chin with arrogance, and demand what she wanted like the perfect noblewoman.
And her dazzling way with words set her apart from the women who usually pursued him.
Meeting her direct gaze, Eliana quickly dropped her eyes. Seeing herself reflected in those black pupils felt like being stripped bare. Her face flushed hot with embarrassment.
“So what—you’re asking me to play the role of husband properly?”
Perhaps because he was drunk, Greddy’s tone was slower than usual. He stretched out his words, casting her sidelong smiles. The tension in her body eased. His half-lidded black eyes moved slyly, tracing the outline of her body.
Greddy reached out toward her.
Eliana stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before laying hers upon it.
“Ah!”
In an instant, she was pulled onto his lap. His hand seized her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. It was like a storm raged in his dark pupils. She felt she would be devoured whole if she stayed there. His thick thumb pressed into her lips.
Her blue eyes, caught in his grasp, could only hold his face, unable to move.
He smelled of the forest. Like grass heavy with dew, or moss by a mist-covered lake.
She noticed then—caught between his black strands of hair were traces of thorns, never fully removed.
“If you expect me to be a faithful husband, then the wife must fulfill her role too. How about… starting tonight?”
His hot hand slowly trailed up her thigh. Her body, caught in his gaze, surrendered to his touch without resistance.
“…Do you know how you look at me?”
His fierce grip loosened.
As if to show she wasn’t about to run, Eliana wrapped her arms around his neck. Her slender hands locked tightly, holding the back of his head.
“…And how is it that I look at you?”
“It’s a gaze I know very well.”
“……”
“The same gaze other men have when they’re burning up with desire.”
“…Because you’re beautiful.”
Greddy nodded at her words. Eliana, famed across the Empire as a temptress, was indeed unmatched in the art of drawing people’s eyes.
Unlike when they first met, her golden hair was now well-tended, curling luxuriously around her body, her skin white and soft as silk. Her lips were petal-like, her eyes shimmering with moisture.
Clichéd, bard-like descriptions, yes—but nothing else captured her better.
“…You’re afraid, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
“Afraid you’ll fall for me.”
“…What makes you so sure of yourself?”
Greddy let out a short laugh.
But it didn’t last. His lips, stiff and tightly shut, betrayed his struggle.
“Your eyes—they look exhausted from grief tonight.”
At her gentle caress along his face, something swelled in his chest, clogging his throat. Was she glimpsing the sorrow and bitterness he had never once revealed to anyone?
Her touch was endlessly careful as it traced his face.
“…Are you going to comfort me with your body? That’s the most valuable thing you have, isn’t it?”
Burying his face against her chest, he looked up at her, his wicked hand roaming her slim waist that fit perfectly in his grasp.
“…Are you scared?”
At her question, his playful expression hardened. The lips that had just been spewing venom to wound her sealed shut.
“…Do I look like a man afraid of death?”
Eliana gave a faint laugh and shook her head. Her golden hair swayed with the movement, filling the air with a soft fragrance that nearly made Greddy bury his face in it without thinking.
“You’re scared of falling in love with me.”
Thump!
For a moment, it felt as if his heart leapt out of his chest.
“…Nonsense. Hard to believe there’s still someone in the Empire who doesn’t know who it is I truly love.”
He averted his eyes, shaking his head.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Even so, his heart sank deeper and deeper. Once recognized, the emotion raged, demanding to be acknowledged.
“…Lies.”
At first, he’d dismissed the head maid for reporting every detail of his life to Rosella. When he realized Rosella was using him like a purse, he’d boldly severed her hands and feet, figuratively speaking.
After that, not once had he reproached Eliana over it.
“What do you know to spout such nonsense?”
“The look in your eyes wasn’t one of love. They were the eyes of someone lowering their gaze, sighing deeply, wishing desperately for the moment to pass.”
Greddy’s lips parted unknowingly.
He had deliberately spent tender moments with Rosella in public, endlessly indulgent to her demands. Yet of all who watched, not one had seen through him.
“……”
“I won’t ask. We both have plenty of secrets.”
“Don’t spout nonsense.”
He tightened his grip on her waist, turning savage in the face of a secret already exposed.
“All I have to give is my body, just as you said. You wanted proof, didn’t you? Proof that you can trust me?”
Eliana pulled his head firmly against her chest. With him perfectly trapped in her embrace, she brought her lips to his ear.
“My first husband preferred men to women. He never had the slightest interest in me.”
Her whisper left him no time to feel a chill.
“……”
“My second husband wanted me desperately, but… he was impotent. They say it was because of medicine he took when he was young.”
Her calm confession made Greddy unknowingly clutch her back tightly.
It was unbelievable.
Most of the rumors about Eliana were about her scandalous lifestyle—two marriages, countless affairs, whispers of endless lovers.
But here she was confessing—she had never once lain with a man.
