A Barbaric Proposal Chapter 43

※The Designated Partner※

She wanted to kiss him. Yet, a sudden wave of shyness held her back. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t initiated it once before. But back then, perhaps her ignorance had given her courage.

Now, knowing exactly what a kiss with this man entailed... that knowledge paralyzed her.

[Black] "I’m not exactly skilled at this sort of thing."

Black spoke as he watched her fingertips hover uncertainly, ghosting over the skin just below his neck.

[Liene] "Skilled at... what?"

[Black] "This."

Black captured her hand and pressed it against his cheek.

Without her realizing it, he had bent his knees, lowering himself to meet her eye level.

[Black] "I don’t know women well. I have very little experience in that area. I’m terrible at reading signals, so I might be misinterpreting things, but..."

He took her other hand. Pausing briefly, he guided her other palm to his cheek as well.

Now, Liene stood cupping his face with both hands.

[Black] "The look on your face—does it mean you want me to kiss you?"

[Liene] "......."

...He doesn't know? What a lie.

He knows everything. What part of him is unskilled?

[Black] "Tell me if I’m wrong. Otherwise, I’m going to interpret this the way I want to."

Liar. He might actually be a terrifyingly accomplished liar.

[Liene] "You’re not... wrong......."

Black offered a faint smile as she answered in a voice as small as a mosquito’s hum.

[Black] "You want me to kiss you?"

Why does he ask when he already knows.......

[Black] "Then I’ll do it, but you have to do something for me in return."

...Wait a minute. This feels strange.

Is he attaching conditions to a kiss?

[Black] "If you don’t feel like it, we don’t have to......."

[Black] "What was it you said would be nice? Earlier, when you were muttering to yourself."

Black spoke quickly, cutting off any potential refusal before she could form the words.

[Black] "You said it would be nice if we met at the temple."

[Liene] "That’s... well....... If we meet there... we would come back together too......."

[Black] "And?"

[Liene] "It’s better than going alone......."

[Black] "Is it better because I’m with you, rather than being alone?"

Her eyes darted around, looking for anywhere to land but on him.

[Black] "Please answer me. Do you like me?"

[Liene] "......You already know."

[Black] "I still want to hear it."

Black leaned in closer to her.

[Black] "Close your eyes. I’m going to kiss you."

[Liene] "......."

She had half a mind to keep her eyes open, just because he was being a bit exasperating, but the moment she heard his command, her eyelids fluttered shut of their own accord.

[Black] "Give me... your lips."

Black whispered just before their mouths collided.

He is certainly demanding a lot today.

Liene parted her lips with that thought in mind.

What if he keeps being like this in the future?

But her heart already knew the answer: it didn’t matter.

The things he asked for were simple. Like now—all she had to do was open her lips and show him she welcomed him.

---

I have to tell him today.

Through the closed door, the faint sound of running water drifted from the bathroom. It was the sound of Black washing up before bed.

Liene, having bathed first and changed into her nightgown, sat before the mirror, brushing her hair as she steeled her resolve.

Tell him I’m not carrying a child. 

Tell him I only lied back then because I intended to reject his proposal. 

Tell him I’m sorry for deceiving him. 

Tell him that any child I bear in the future will be his and no one else's.

I have to say it.

As the thoughts churned, the hand holding the brush trembled slightly. In one sense, it was a simple confession, yet her mouth went dry with tension.

...Does that mean I also have to tell him I have no experience?

That, too, was a dilemma of its own.

If she admitted she never slept with Laffit, the conversation would naturally lead there, and she found that prospect endlessly embarrassing.

...He surely has experience.

The conversation from earlier that afternoon resurfaced.

—I don’t know women well. I have very little experience in that area.

Having no experience and having little experience were two entirely different realms.

Besides, he was just... skilled at everything. There was no way he was inexperienced.

The thought made her feel strange. Her emotions felt uneven, jagged like rough terrain.

Has he done... that... with other women? Just like he does with me?

Did he look at them with that same burning heat, sweeping over their lips again and again as if he couldn’t bear for the kiss to end?

Did he pull them into sudden, fierce embraces and tell them it was because they were too beautiful?

Suddenly, her mood plummeted to the floor.

It was irrational, but Liene felt a spark of anger.

He is my first everything. But I’m not his.

Yet, she couldn’t even be properly aggrieved about it.

He didn’t know he was her first... so perhaps he felt just as aggrieved.

I really should tell him.

I’ll tell him he is my first, and then I’ll ask just how many women have passed through his life.

Not that it would change anything, but she felt she needed to hear it.

Yes. Today. I’m doing it.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, a soft tapping on the bedroom door broke the silence.

[Liene] "Who is it?"

The faint sound of water still came from the bathroom. That meant it wasn’t Black.

Liene glanced once at the bathroom door before approaching the entrance.

[Liene] "Who is there?"

[Flambard] "It is I, Your Highness."

It was Madam Flambard.

Her face brightened as she opened the door.

[Liene] "Come in, Madam. You’ve worked hard until late."

The older woman looked exhausted. It was understandable, given she had likely spent the entire day outside the castle walls.

[Flambard] "I suppose you were about to retire....... But may we speak for a moment?"

[Liene] "Of course. Please, come in."

[Flambard] "Yes, Your Highness."

She stepped into the bedroom. But then, hearing the water running in the bathroom, she started in surprise and halted in her tracks.

[Flambard] "Is he here?"

Her voice was suspiciously low.

[Liene] "Yes. You know, we decided to use the adjoining room."

[Flambard] "Then we must move elsewhere."

[Liene] "Pardon?"

She urgently grabbed Liene’s hand.

[Flambard] "This is a conversation he must not hear."

[Liene] "What... What do you mean, he mustn't hear? Lord Tiwakan?"

[Flambard] "Yes."

She nodded firmly.

Looking closer, she wasn't just exhausted; she looked terrified.

[Liene] "……."

Liene glanced back at the bathroom.

What could be so sensitive that Black shouldn't hear it?

Is it bad news? If so, I don't want to hear it.

...But I must. I cannot remain ignorant of matters concerning that man.

Liene bit her lip and nodded.

[Liene] "Then let’s go out."

Liene and Madam Flambard walked quietly out of the bedroom so the sound wouldn't reach the bathroom.

---

The place the two relocated to was the audience chamber at the very edge of the South Tower. It was certainly a place no one would visit at this hour.

Madam Flambard’s own bedroom was too risky. The room opposite hers, which Black had previously used, was frequented by Fermos, who used it as a secondary office.

[Liene] "Tell me now. What is going on that has you so agitated?"

[Flambard] "I looked for the old man as you commanded. Yes, I did."

Her story was not short.

Just meeting the old man had been difficult. The area in front of the temple was under construction for the staircase, making it constantly chaotic.

There was no place for a beggar to sit comfortably like before. Because of that, she had to scour the alleyways, asking around for his whereabouts.

In the process, Madam Flambard witnessed a bizarre scene.

A servant—a minor cleric—was sharing the temple’s water and bread with the begging old man, only to be beaten with a cane by that very same beggar.

[Liene] "That story again......."

Liene frowned.

[Flambard] "Did you see it too, Your Highness? In any case, I couldn't just watch, so I tried to intervene. But the servant actually stopped me. He said he deserved to be hit more."

The old man only stopped the beating after striking the servant several more times.

[Flambard] "The old man seemed so eccentric that I was cautious about even speaking to him. But how could I fail a request from you, Your Highness? I told him it was your command and demanded he speak about that man. Then he......"

The old man said something similar to what Liene had heard.

Nauk’s sin has returned. The daughter of Arsak will bleed.

[Flambard] "I couldn't understand a word of it. Why would a beggar use such difficult phrasing, like a cardinal? So I asked him to speak clearly—to start by telling me who that man is.”

[Flambard] "The old man mumbled something, but as you know, his speech is hard to decipher, isn't it? So I asked him to write it down instead. With his crippled hand, he struggled to write on the ground, and......"

He had barely managed to scrawl a couple of characters. That was when Fermos and the Tiwakan mercenaries stormed in. They claimed they had come from the temple looking for the servant, Klima.

Klima fled, and the Tiwakan took the old man away under the pretense of asking about Klima's whereabouts.

[Flambard] "But it felt entirely forced to me. The servant ran away right in front of their eyes; why would the old man know where he went?"

She had not forgotten Liene’s instruction to keep the search for the old man a secret.

If she had protested further there, it would have only aroused suspicion, so she had no choice but to step back.

The problem arose after that.

After the Tiwakan left with the old man, Madam Flambard saw the marks where boots had crushed the dirt.

Coincidentally, it was the exact spot where the old man had been writing Black’s name.

[Liene] "Ah......."

Liene let out a soft sigh.

[Flambard] "I didn't even realize Sir Fermos was scuffing out the writing on the ground. He was speaking so quickly and smoothly that I was distracted listening to him. But isn't it terribly strange that he happened to crush the very spot where the name was written?"

[Liene] "......."

It was more than strange.

Liene knew how intelligent Fermos was. There was no possibility that he did something meaningless by accident.

But why?

The timing was also incredibly convenient.

Liene had mentioned the old man to Black, and he had asserted the man couldn't possibly recognize him.

Fermos went to the temple to find Klima and seized the old man in his stead.

It looks as if... Black ordered Sir Fermos to snatch the old man away behind my back.

[Flambard] "I wonder what 'Nauk’s sin' means. The old man certainly seemed to know something. That’s why he tried to write the name."

[Liene] "Sin......"

He had said Black would take revenge.

Revenge required a grudge. The death of a blood relative was certainly reason enough for a grudge, but Black had said he had forgotten it all because it was so long ago.

He said the daughter of Arsak would bleed.

Black claimed he only came to reclaim the daughter of Arsak. Because he didn't want to lose the fiancée of his childhood.

Which one was the truth?

[Liene] "So, you couldn't recognize the name at all?"

[Flambard] "Yes, Your Highness. His hand was shaking so badly that the characters were barely legible. I think there was an 'O', and maybe I saw a 'P'......."

[Liene] "Is that all?"

[Flambard] "Forgive me, Your Highness. The Tiwakan appeared so suddenly."

The suspicion deepened.

However, the desire to believe Black’s words was still too strong.

[Liene] "Madam, by any chance... were you aware of any... marriage arrangements involving me when I was a child?"

[Flambard] "Pardon? When was this?"

[Liene] "About... twenty years ago from now."

[Flambard] "You would have been only four or five years old then. A betrothal at that age?"

[Liene] "True... but the partner was supposedly young as well."

[Flambard] "Then it must have been a political marriage between families."

[Liene] "Yes. It must have been. Do you recall anything?"

[Flambard] "It hasn't been sixteen years since I entered the palace to serve you, Your Highness. Do you remember? The first time I saw you was on your ninth birthday. You were so mature even then. You never once complained, even though the Queen was bedridden with illness."

[Liene] "That... is true. I met you when I was nine. So that means the betrothal happened before that."

[Flambard] "Yes. Since I have never heard any mention of you being betrothed, it must have been annulled long ago, or perhaps it was never formally agreed upon."

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