A Barbaric Proposal

Chapter 75 | On the Eve (2)

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The face just beyond the door frame belonged Black, but his usual stoic expression looked especially stiff right now.

[Black] “What—”

[Rienne] “Lord Tiwakan!”

Seeing Black enter the room, Rienne rushed toward him, arms outstretched as she hugged him fiercely. The moment she jumped up into his embrace, Black caught her, pulling her up into a big hug.

[Rienne] “Why are you so late?”

[Black] “I had something troublesome I needed to take care of. But why are you here?”

There was a smile on Black’s face as he leaned down with Rienne hanging off of his neck, whispering into her ear.

It was the same as always when he was with Rienne. Normally, he was someone who was calmer and more expressionless than anyone else, but whenever he did express his emotions, he would become almost shamelessly brazen with them.

[Rienne] “I was worried, so I wanted to go find you.”

[Black] “In Phermos’ bedroom?”

[Rienne] “Oh, that’s….”

From behind Rienne, Phermos pulled back.

[Phermos] “No, it’s a misunderstanding! A terrible, terrible misunderstanding!”

Pulling his eyes away from Rienne, his gaze, which was once soft and kind, rapidly turned bitter and grim.

[Black] “Where’s your shirt?”

[Phermos] “Excuse me? I was about to turn in.”

[Black] “You should be fully clothed in front of the Princess. What the hell were you thinking of doing?”

[Phermos] “I was going to change, but the Princess stopped me.”

[Black] “……?”

Then Black’s eyes widened.

[Phermos] “Princess?”

[Rienne] “Oh, I thought you were just making an excuse to get me to leave the room. You seemed like you wanted to stop me from going to find him.”

[Black] “…………So you’ve just been staring at him like this?”

[Rienne] “It didn’t bother me.”

[Black] “. . .”

Black looked like he was about to say something, but then he swallowed hard and bit his lip.

[Black] “There’s no reason for us to stay here now, is there?”

[Rienne] “Of course not. You’ve returned safely, Lord Tiwakan.”

[Black] “Then let’s go.”

Black leaned down, scooping Rienne up off her feet and into his arms. But just before he left, he turned his head back to Phermos, not forgetting to glare as he mouthed a single phrase to him.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Phermos was completely frozen in place, but Rienne was just so surprised to be carried again. She tapped Black’s shoulder with the palm of her hand.

[Rienne] “P, put me down! I can walk.”

[Black] “I noticed you’re barefoot.”

[Rienne] “That’s…..I just forgot to put on slippers…”

That made it sound like she was worrying so much, something so obvious slipped her mind. Now that Rienne was coming down from the excitement of him having returned safely, she suddenly felt very embarrassed.

[Rienne] “Ah, why did I do this…..? I must be acting very strangely today.”

[Black] “That’s fine. I understand.”

[Rienne] “You do?”

[Black] “I get weird when it comes to you too, Princess.”

Just like he did now. 

His head understood it well. Obviously Phermos and Rienne didn’t get along with each other like that. For the most part, they rarely spoke unless there was business that needed taking care of.

But after coming back to an empty bedroom and hearing that Rienne had run off to Phermos’ room barefoot, it felt like he couldn’t control his emotions any more. Like they were bubbling up inside of him, threatening to boil over.

Even right at the moment when he opened the door, he still couldn’t believe it.

Why is that bastard not wearing any clothes, he thought. What the hell is he thinking of doing to her?

And as those thoughts kept rushing into him, he honestly wasn’t sure what he would’ve done next. Things might’ve gone very poorly had Rienne not immediately hugged him the second he entered the room.

[Rienne] “But I shouldn’t do this anymore.”

As they descended down the stairs, Rienne naturally held onto him to support herself. Leaning her head against his chest with one arm hooked around his neck, she didn’t feel nervous at all.

[Rienne] “If my nanny saw me, she would’ve scolded me.”

[Black] “I would too….”

[Rienne] “Sorry?”

Black turned his head away from Rienne, the muscles in his expression twitching in a way she couldn’t see.

[Black] “……..I wanted to tell you not to walk around barefoot.”

[Rienne] “I know. I don’t usually do this.”

[Black] “And don’t go around wearing just your nightgown, either.”

[Rienne] “You can’t see anything under the shawl I’m wearing.”

[Black] “Even with that, it’s still obvious you’re only wearing a nightgown underneath.”

When he said that, Rienne looked a little uncomfortable.

[Rienne] “…..Lord Phermos said the same.”

[Black] “Did he now?”

Black’s eyes turned harsh.

Even looking up at him, Rienne couldn’t tell what kind of expression he was making, but she could still notice the shift in his tone of voice, as subtle as it was.

He seems unhappy, but who was the one who said they’d come back in a hurry? Does he have any idea how worried I was?

[Rienne] “You’re late.”

Rienne reached up, grabbing Black’s collar and nudging him down.

[Rienne] “I mean it. I was really worried. I kept thinking something might’ve happened.”

Feeling her tugging at his collar, Black stopped in the middle of the stairs.

[Black] “If you’re going to catch me, then it would be best if you did so somewhere else.”

[Rienne] “Hm? What do you mean?”

[Black] “Don’t catch me by my clothes.”

Rienne quickly pulled her hand back at his words. She didn’t mean to, but maybe she accidentally hurt him by holding onto his collar and pulling on his neck like that.

[Rienne] “I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”

[Black] “I’m not saying don’t do it.”

[Rienne] “……..?”

[Black] “Catch me somewhere else.”

She didn’t get it. What was he implying right now? And what did he want her to do…..?

[Rienne] “Where did you have in mind?”

[Black] “Anywhere you want, Princess.”

He doesn’t like it when she grabs him by his clothes, but he wants her to grab him somewhere else? But where would be good?

[Rienne] “I hope this doesn’t hurt you.”

Rienne felt her body awkwardly shift as she let go of Black’s collar, so she reached out and grabbed whatever she could. With a teasing hand, she took her fingers and pinched the end of Black’s nose as a joke.

[Black] “This was unexpected.”

With his nose partially blocked off, Black’s nose sounded different from usual. This man was very strange indeed, but hearing this kind of voice from him was surprisingly fun.

[Rienne] “I don’t think I can reach anywhere else.”

[Black] “How about my ears?”

[Rienne] “It won’t hurt your ears if I touch them?”

[Black] “Better my ear than my nose.”

[Rienne] “Is that so?”

With his permission, Rienne carefully let go of his nose and reached out to touch his ear. But she didn’t want to tug at it and accidentally hurt him, so she was very wary with her touch.

But she ended up being so careful that rather than just touching it, it was almost like she was playing with his ear, her fingers trailing across it.

[Rienne] “Your ears are handsome, too…..”

Then, she whispered out something she only meant to think.

[Black] “What did you just say?”

[Rienne] “……Hm? Oh, it’s nothing.”

[Black] “It wasn’t nothing.”

[Rienne] “It was…….”

But just as she said that, Black tilted their bodies to the side, leaning Rienne’s back against the cold stone wall lining the stairwell.

[Black] “Even if it’s cold, just bear with it.”

Though, even as he told her to ‘bear with it’, Black slipped his arm in the gap between Rienne’s back and the wall, preventing the cold from even barely touching her.

[Black] “Do I look handsome to you, now?”

Lowering his head, Black got very close to her ear, almost like he was touching her before whispering softly, and she could feel his voice against her skin.

[Rienne] “…..You already know that.”

[Black] “I still can’t believe it.” (1)

[Rienne] “You see yourself in the mirror……ah.”

Rienne let out a gasp as he ran his lips along the length of her ear, and she instinctively tightly closed her eyes.

[Black] “I feel the same. I didn’t realize your ears were this lovely, Princess.”

[Rienne] “Just…..”

With her eyes still tightly shut, Rienne’s voice came out like a sigh.

[Black] “Yes?”

[Rienne] “You don’t have to say that. I’d rather you just kiss me instead.”

It was such a bold thing to say, she could hardly believe she said it at all….

But while Rienne was stewing in her embarrassment, Black let out a long sigh against her ear.

[Black] “You don’t seem to get why I have to keep talking in front of you, Princess.”

[Rienne] “I don’t think that’s necessary anymore……”

[Black] “What do you think would happen if I didn’t?”

[Rienne] “You…..would kiss me.”

Black whispered, pushing his lips against her.

[Black] “I would. But you know, there’s so much more we could do besides kiss.”

She thought briefly about what that could mean, but there was no point in even trying to think. Any attempt at a coherent thought flew to the wind the moment she felt that same sweetness across her tongue.

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The process of returning to the bedroom from the tower was a little strange.

After forcibly pulling himself away from their long kiss, Black went into the bathroom, saying he wanted to clean up. But after being gone for barely five minutes, he didn’t even wash his hair properly, returning still dripping wet.

Seeing that, Rienne had no choice but to pull him back to the bathroom.

[Rienne] “That reminds me, what did you mean by ‘something troublesome happened?’”

It was surprisingly fun to dry his hair for him with a towel. Or rather, ‘enjoyable’ was probably a better way to describe it. As she did it, Rienne ran her hands through his hair, checking to see if he had any wounds he hadn’t noticed.

She knew him to be someone who had a terrible habit of ignoring his injuries, so if there was any kind of smaller wound on him, it certainly would’ve gone unnoticed by him.

[Black] “Oh, a knight of the Kleinfelders appeared out of nowhere…..”

[Rienne] “What? Did you get into a fight?”

Rienne’s hands stiffened immediately, the comfortable gestures of her fingers running along his hair stopping as she looked down at him with fervent worry in her eyes.

Black reached back, taking Rienne’s wrist and pulling it forward, kissing the back of her hand.

[Black] “It’s not like that.”

There was only one knight, and what he asked for was to accompany the exiled.

It was a bit hard to understand his reasons, but the long and short of it was that he was a knight who was extremely loyal to Linden Kleinfelder, vowing to serve him until the day he died.

Perhaps if it weren’t the Tiwakan executing the order and just an ordinary peacekeeping group, they would’ve allowed him that. Even if they knew nothing else, they would understand that a knight’s loyalty to their lord was the reason for their existence.

But with the Tiwakan, things were different.

It wasn’t that the Tiwakan didn’t understand the value of loyalty. But after so many years on the battlefield, too many of them had seen the ideal of loyalty be used and abused by others, quickly crumbling to pieces.

[Rienne] “So did you refuse him?”

Rienne asked as she carried on with her work, carefully rubbing the towel against Black’s wet hair. The sensation made Black loosely close his eyes, a subtle smile growing on his face.

[Black] “No. But I told him if he insisted on going, he would have to leave wearing the clothes of a slave and join them in exile.”

[Rienne] “Oh. But he’s a knight…..”

[Black] “He had to leave behind his armor, but I allowed him to keep his blade. Like you said; he’s a knight.”

[Rienne] “Haha.”

Rienne chuckled.

[Rienne] “You’re somehow both cold-hearted and merciful.”

[Black] “I’ve never been called merciful before. What would you have done, Princess?”

[Rienne] “If it were me…hm…….I think I would allow him to keep his armor, but I’d require a full body search first. If he serves the Kleinfelders, there’s a chance he may have hidden something on his person.”

Sitting in the bathroom chair, Black leaned back, stretching out his upper body and kissing Rienne on her chin.

[Black] “That’s why I had him leave behind his armor.”

[Rienne] “Oh, I see.”

Phermos didn’t say the two resembled each other for nothing.

While Rienne’s methods were more forgiving in comparison to Black’s, that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to draw the line and maintain it.

She was merely good at recognizing things that could not be yielded on versus things that had to be let go for the sake of cooperation. Perhaps that was how she managed to protect the royal house while living in conflict with the six families.

In that way, Rienne was both weak and strong at the same time.

[Rienne] “Did he manage to hide anything?”

[Black] “A few things. Some currency from the Kingdom of Sharka, a couple of valuable jewels—things like that.”

[Rienne] “As expected.”

She thought they might try something like that.

[Black] “I had a thought.”

[Rienne] “What’s on your mind?”

[Black] “I think there might be someone left controlling the remnants of the Kleinfelders. No matter how loyal a knight is, it doesn’t make sense for them to offer up their own money.”

[Rienne] “Is that so……? Then maybe it wasn’t his? Could it have been something the family chamberlain ordered?”

[Black] “A chamberlain wouldn’t have that kind of authority. It would have to be a member of the family with access to the treasury.”

[Rienne] “I see…..”

As Rienne continued to fluff out his hair, she had a serious expression on her face.

[Rienne] “That leaves the possibility of someone still remaining with that kind of power in their hands……”

[Black] “Safer to assume than not. They haven’t been revealed yet, but they will sooner or later. Perhaps even tomorrow.”

[Rienne] “Why tomorrow?”

[Black] “The five families will be appointing a new representative tomorrow. It’s unlikely the Kleinfelders will give up their seat quietly.”

[Rienne] “Yes, I agree.”

Rienne tapped her foot against the floor.

[Rienne] “It’s a little bit frustrating that I cannot attend the meeting myself, nor can I send Lord Arland in my place like today. The selection of a High Priest is a matter decided by the council, not the royal family.”

[Black] “Did you want to attend the meeting?”

Black turned around, wordlessly pulling Rienne down and sitting her on his lap. Rienne quietly allowed herself to be guided down, showing no sign of surprise as she leaned her head against his chest.

[Rienne] “I’m not sure.”

[Black] “It’ll be like that from now on.”

[Rienne] “What?”

[Black] “Maybe not tomorrow, but in the future. Going forward.”

With a gentle smile, Rienne caught Black’s earlobe between her fingers.

[Rienne] “What on earth are you planning on doing?”

[Black] “I think it’s high time someone did something about the Treaty of Risebury. I’ll bring you some results by tomorrow.”

As he answered, Black smiled, but hidden within that smile was a strange grimace.

[Rienne] “Oh, I’m sorry, does it hurt?”

[Black] “No, it doesn’t. I like it.”

[Rienne] “But you look like you’re in pain…..”

[Black] “It feels a bit strange, but I like it.”

Black stood up from his chair, still holding onto Rienne. By now, Rienne was used to the sensation of being held like this—her feet dangling high above the ground.

[Black] “Shall we go to bed now?”

[Rienne] “…….Yes.”

She was also getting used to that feeling of her body heating up all of the sudden.

And as Black held Rienne in his arms, he pushed his head forward, burying his face in the crook of her neck, murmuring softly against her.

[Black] “From the moment I wake up in the morning, all I do is look forward to the time when we can go back to bed together.”

[Rienne] “Ah……”

Somehow this man always managed to say the sweetest things that tugged at her heart.

Just as they did the night before, the two of them fell asleep in the same bed, snuggled up in each other’s arms.

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T/N: (1) Black once again expressing awe at Mutual Feelingsᵀᴹ, but Rienne mistook him for saying he didn’t know he was handsome, heh.