A Barbaric Proposal Chapter 33

※Spark (2)※

She waited in tense silence for his next words.

[Black] "I cannot understand if the Princess is being overly clever, or simply ridiculously naive."

[Liene] "...Neither sounds like a compliment."

[Black] "Are you acting this way because you know I am unable to refuse your requests, as if some spell ensnares me?"

[Liene] "Is that... true?"

[Black] "You know what happened today."

[Liene] "..."

She knew perfectly well.

She knew what he had done for her. She also knew that though he spoke of a price, he actually had no intention of collecting it.

[Black] "But I will not be this way forever. So..."

He reached out and abruptly snatched the towel from her hand.

[Black] "Leave. While I am still trying to pretend to be a decent man."

Her hand was empty.

Liene stared at her empty hand, then grabbed the towel back just as he had.

If I leave now, nothing will change.

He will continue to misunderstand me, and I will remain tortured by this misunderstanding.

I don't want to stay this way.

[Liene] "I know Lord Tiwakan is far more than merely a decent man."

I... am not afraid of you.

[Liene] "So stay put. I will tend to my fiancé as I see fit."

[Black] "..."

The muscles in his cheek visibly twitched with a spasm.

However, this time she could tell it wasn't an expression of displeasure.

---

It took quite a while to clean all his wounds.

After she insisted on washing his hair as well, the evening had long since passed.

Black had drawn a line, insisting she didn't need to do such a thing, but she couldn't stand watching him ignore his injuries and wash his hair so carelessly.

Because of all that, Liene was exhausted when she left the bathroom.

She was slightly puzzled, though, that Black appeared even more weary than she was.

After repeatedly instructing his subordinates to ensure the ointment was applied, she retreated to her room.

Her arms felt so heavy that she needed Madam Flambard's help to change into her nightgown.

After forcibly sending the Madam away, insisting she needed dinner, Liene immediately lay down on the bed.

It had been an impossibly long day.

She wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep immediately, but once she lay down, her back ached, and a groan escaped her lips.

[Liene] "Ugh... Why does it hurt now..."

She forced herself to turn over. When she finally lay on her stomach, the pain subsided slightly.

[Liene] "Did I hit my back then... even though the bruise is on my side."

I am in pain just from a bruise; how is that man coping?

He seems to be constantly injured.

Her thoughts then turned to Laffit, the source of all the chaos.

This is all because of Kleinfelter. Because he is acting worse than a five-year-old.

Why doesn't he understand that our relationship is over?

Speaking of which, she had forgotten to ask what happened to Laffit.

Since Black ordered him confined, he was likely being held somewhere.

My situation will be a mess. Lyndon will be enraged and surely cause a scene. He will surely send Mashilow immediately to pressure me.

What should I do about that?

...Haa, stop. Not now.

Think about it tomorrow.

She didn't want to think about the people from that family right before she went to sleep. If she did, she would, in all likelihood, have a nightmare.

She should focus on something pleasant instead. Something good enough to make her forget the ache in her back.

What could that be...?

What drifted into her mind was Black's low, deep, resonating voice.

—Leave. While I am still trying to pretend to be a decent man.

Suddenly, a tremor crawled across her cheek.

Her neck prickled and constricted.

Why am I so confused by those words?

It wasn't the content that was confusing. It was his emotion that was confusing.

The words were as tender as he usually was, yet they simultaneously sounded dangerous.

It felt like standing naked before a savage, carnivorous beast without a weapon. But the knowledge that the beast would never harm her also made her feel safe.

...What kind of nonsense is that?

She shook her head while lying on her stomach.

It was nonsense, but it made perfect sense when it came to Black. That man had been contradictory from the very beginning.

Time to sleep.

Liene forced her eyes closed.

I probably won't have a nightmare now.

My back hurts, but I won't feel it once I fall asleep. Sleeping is the best option right now.

[Liene] "..."

However, the day wasn't over yet.

Screak, click.

She wondered if she had misheard, but no. Her bedroom door was slowly easing open.

[Liene] "Who..."

Liene, who was struggling to sit up, found Black standing stone-still in the doorway, staring at her.

---

Why... why did he come?

Could it be...

[Black] "I have come to collect the price."

[Liene] "..."

Her nightgown rustled, making a crisp sound.

In reality, the sound came from her hands unconsciously clenching the fabric.

[Liene] "Didn't... didn't you say you wouldn't... collect it?"

Her throat felt tight, and the sound she made didn't sound like her own voice.

Black walked slowly toward her. In the profound silence, only his piercing blue gaze fixed on her seemed to shout loudly.

[Black] "You also did whatever you wished, did you not?"

[Liene] "I..."

[Black] "I also have something I wish to do. Don't tell me you can, and I cannot."

[Liene] "What is it you... wish to do?"

[Black] "I will not do anything you do not permit."

[Liene] "..."

It seemed the thing he wanted to do wasn't what she had feared.

She noticed he was holding something.

[Liene] "What... is that?"

[Black] "Ointment. Turn around and sit up."

[Liene] "..."

She hesitated for a moment, then turned and sat as he instructed.

His weight settled on the bed. He sat neither too close nor too far, and whispered to her back.

[Black] "I won't ask you to remove your clothes."

...Then what will you ask?

[Black] "Instead, endure it. Even if it tickles."

[Liene] "..."

Ssshk, her clothing lifted.

Liene was startled and turned her head.

Their eyes met for a moment, but Black didn't stop his hand from slipping under her nightgown.

[Liene] "W-wait a moment."

Liene tried to twist her body and grab his wrist. But her back and side hurt, and she let out a small groan.

[Black] "It would be better if you corrected your posture. If you sit incorrectly, the pain will intensify."

[Liene] "What are you going to do?"

[Black] "I will tend to my fiancé. Considering she likes to lecture others, she seems utterly neglectful of her own wounds."

[Liene] "No, wait... I can reach it. I can apply it myself."

[Black] "At that time, couldn't I also reach mine?"

[Liene] "But..."

[Black] "Turn your back, or continue to look at my face."

[Liene] "..."

Black showed no sign of stopping. Even though Liene gripped his wrist tightly, he moved his hand effortlessly.

[Liene] "Didn't you say you came to collect the price?"

She asked softly.

[Black] "Would you object if I substituted it with this?"

...Of course not.

Black offered a meaningless choice. She couldn't very well say that sleeping with him was better than applying ointment, and indeed, the ointment was preferable.

But this... is strange.

This sounds like he wants to do something for me, instead of collecting the price.

[Liene] "Why did you think of this?"

Finally, she turned her head away.

Her cheeks kept flushing, so she rested both arms on her knees and buried her face there.

[Black] "Think of what?"

[Liene] "The ointment."

[Black] "Because I did not trust you to apply it."

[Liene] "Then just give me the ointment..."

[Black] "Then I cannot touch you."

[Liene] "..."

[Black] "Besides, there was a bruise in a spot that is quite difficult to reach if you try to treat it alone."

How did he know that? Ah, he must have seen it.

Liene felt newly embarrassed.

How much did he see?

I also saw him naked, so we're even...

...Even my foot.

The embarrassment was crushing.

[Liene] "I-is there one on my back, too?"

She asked, clearing her throat unnecessarily.

His hand was now entirely under her nightgown.

[Black] "Yes."

The finger delicately grazed the center of her back as it applied the ointment.

The slightest contact was so terrifyingly vivid that she nearly cried out.

[Black] "Here. Does it hurt?"

[Liene] "...No..."

She lied, afraid that the vivid sensation would become more intense if she said it was hurt.

In truth, it wasn't pain; it was an unsettling sensation. It was tingling and throbbing.

It wasn't the kind of itch she wanted to scratch, but a feeling that made her want to tightly embrace the man who was tending to her wounds while her back was to him.

[Black] "I am doing it gently."

She knew that.

The problem was that it was too gentle.

[Liene] "Hurry... and finish it."

The man's hand had to leave for this strange tingling to end.

[Black] "I refuse."

[Liene] "...What?"

But he was being playful and contrary.

[Black] "I will do it slowly. Because I desire to touch you longer."

She gritted her teeth once, then said.

[Liene] "That remark... seems a bit too... indecent for someone applying medicine."

[Black] "I know. But I no longer intend to appear decent."

The hand that had been moving slowly along her spine descended further toward her side, the very area she knew was bruised.

That area felt exponentially more intense.

She could not bear it any longer and twisted her body.

[Liene] "Pl-please, stop..."

[Black] "Endure it. As I had to."

He also applied the ointment to her side slowly.

Today, he was strangely forceful, yet profoundly gentle. He was different from his usual self.

Could that be what he meant by no longer intending to appear decent?

But why?

[Liene] "Why do you not want to appear decent?"

[Black] "Because I think it is useless."

[Liene] "Useless for what?"

[Black] "For possessing you."

[Liene] "...I think it would still be useful. What woman would like an indecent man?"

She thought for a moment before speaking. However, his subsequent words forced her into silence.

[Black] "Perhaps that would be true, if you had never had another man."

[Liene] "..."

[Black] "I was going to wait for you to forget him on your own... but after today, I don't think that will happen, so I've changed my mind."

The hand applying the ointment paused.

However, the hand remained beneath the nightgown, softly cradling the bruised area.

[Liene] "As I said, I have not betrayed my fiancé."

[Black] "I also said, I do not believe you now."

[Liene] "I never once..."

...had feelings for him. I was his lover, but I couldn't treat him as one.

While living as his lover, I always felt like I was walking a tightrope.

The words caught in her throat and wouldn't come out.

Liene was in a situation where she was known to be carrying her former lover's child.

It would surely sound like a cheap lie to say now that she had never loved Laffit, just to escape the situation.

[Liene] "...I have never told him anything else regarding my situation. I only told him that I would marry Lord Tiwakan and that the child I bear would be regarded as Lord Tiwakan's own. That is all."

[Black] "Seeing you, accepting the situation, and cutting off all feelings appear to be two different things."

[Liene] "..."

He wasn't talking about physical betrayal.

He believed she still hadn't forgotten her former lover.

[Liene] "I... will try."

She couldn't say anything else.

[Black] "Yes. Try harder."

His fingers subtly twitched against her skin.

However, he didn't grasp the painful area harshly. He stroked her skin slowly, almost agonizingly.

[Black] "Until I can believe you."

His head tilted toward her. He was so close that she could feel his breath on the crown of her head.

[Black] "I will kiss you."

He no longer asked if he was permitted to kiss her.

[Black] "Here."

The place he touched with his other hand was the nape of her neck, where her hair fell.

While caressing her bare skin with one hand, he swept her hair to one shoulder.

The vulnerable curve of her bowed neck was exposed.

Liene had no idea how pale and slender the nape of her neck was, or how it appeared to him.

[Liene] "..."

It wasn't his lips that made first contact, but his fingers. She subtly trembled at the slight contact that tickled the fine hairs on her neck.

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