Chapter 91

Elegant Power (1)

Ivan wiped the liquor flowing down his chin with the sleeve of his priest’s uniform.

[Is there a way to avoid marital relations?]

Even thinking about it raised goosebumps.

“…Can I take back my words? I will take away my promise to listen to you.”

Lily’s head rose slowly. She stared into the air with her unfocused eyes. “It’s a big deal, Priest… Somehow it always happens.”

“Yes, and it makes your marriage 20 times better. You said that you went into the bathroom, but I’m not curious about the next story, so let’s please skip it.”

Lily nodded. “Yes… okay…”

Each movement made her head spin pleasantly.

She had once asked Crocus how it felt when he was drinking with his mercenaries. Apparently, it was like this.

“Madam!” Hans, who was lying on her floor, suddenly opened his eyes and sat down on his knees. “It must not be like this!”

His eyes sparkled.

“We have to open up! We need a hero… How long do I have to be treated like this! The advanced and innovative territory owned by the lord should be known all over the world!” Hans pointed at the air. He shouted so passionately that saliva sputtered down his neck.

Ivan let out a sigh of resignation. “It’s starting again.”

It was something Lily didn’t understand. Ivan twisted his lips bitterly.

After looking at the priest and the administrator one after another, Lily asked, “Opening?”

Hans approached the table and sat down with his chair between his legs to look at her directly, placing his arms on the wooden table.

“We’re… dying, Madam. If it goes on like this, it’s the end. Cadis and the lord…”

Lily’s breath choked at the gloomy murmur. “What… Do you mean to die?”

Big green eyes filled with fear.

Vlad. Are you going to die? Did… I cause that again…?

Fear swallowed up her consciousness.

Her heart pounded against her ribs. Just before Lily panicked, Hans grabbed her hands. “So now our hope is… only Madam!”

“He’s hopeless.” Ivan hit Hans’s temple with an apple, who groaned and fell to the side again.

Lily nearly panicked. “Administrator…!”

“Just leave him. He really can’t drink alcohol. A city dies when it is isolated… It’s a very bureaucratic thing to say.” Ivan poured out another glass of the liquor.

The anxious eyes turned towards the priest.

“But uhm, what to do… Is there anything I can do? If something really happens…”

“Gosh.” His hand came up to his head in annoyance.

His actions made Lily even more anxious.

Hans was a pain in the ass to Ivan so instead of acting like a proper priest, he threw the apple.

He poured Lily a glass until it overflowed. “Have a drink first.”

Lily quickly emptied her glass. The liquid, clear as cool water, ignited her throat like a flame the moment she swallowed it down. “Ahem! Cough….”

“There is also water here, so drink it.”

Lily took a deep breath after gulping down the water. It felt as if she had swallowed charcoal.

Ivan rested his chin on the table sullenly. “Well… We need to open up the city. Even if Ataka is blessed with natural resources, the truth is that we never know when it will run out.”

After eating a strawberry to erase the bitter taste in her mouth, Lily muttered, “Cadis… the economy… is centered on the metal manufacturing industry, right?”

Is it because I drank the water? My mind feels clearer than before.

The priest’s voice, which was just like a buzzing echo in the cave, was heard so much clearer than before. “Our city residents have a high percentage of veterans. I know there are quite a few people with disabilities….”

It was still a strange and mysterious word.

To describe those who were hated by God.

At the thought that it was better than such an absurd assumption, she felt that the word was not bad at all.

Ivan placed a new bottle of wine on the table. “You know.”

Lily jerked her chin very slowly. “Yes. I saw the documents…”

After they returned from the glass greenhouse, Vlad showed Lily a lot…

“Prostitution is…prohibited.”

“That’s right. We have rules like that.”

Lily blinked her eyes slowly.

Ah, my face is getting hot….

Ivan opened her bottle with a popping sound, his blue curious eyes fixed on her. “Cadis is underdeveloped in agriculture and commerce. The same goes for downtown facilities. Many materials are manufactured directly from minerals in Ataka and used.”

The sound of refilling an empty glass with liquor and breaking nuts on the plate reverberated in Lily’s eardrums.

“Of course, when we send relief supplies to other middle and small camps, we do get paid. But in terms of scale, it’s honestly not worth it.”

It was like Ivan was talking to himself.

Still, Lily nodded her head slightly. It was almost like a habit.

I’m dizzy.

Like sugar that dissolves in hot water, Lily’s spirit began to melt.

Either way, Ivan sipped strong liquor from his glass. “The chief administrator is right. Well, like Vladislav himself…” He stared everywhere into the thin air on the table with unfocused eyes. “Is it just waiting for its end? This whole city?”

The cynical end of the tone was like a sharp spear.

“The man who ended the era of death and violence with his own hands, tasked with a territory…”

“We must open up, Madam!” Hans raised up his arm from his chair like a skeleton resurrected from its grave. “You shouldn’t just hide in the estate! Just by turning the portrait of the madam and the lord next to each other, the popularity of our estate will skyrocket. So let’s open up, let’s do it!”

Lily frowned, a little absent-minded. “Hm…? Let’s do a portrait…?”

After recognizing the condition of the two people properly, Ivan’s expression changed rapidly.

Imperceptibly reversing his peculiar attitude, he straightened his back and clapped. “It is a heartbreaking speech. Chief Administrator, I agree.”

Lily, who was staring at Hans, turned her head sharply. “I don’t want to”

“Ugh.” Hans fell on his chair, clutching his chest as if stabbed. “If even Madam says no… It’s all over…”

He despaired and lay down on the floor. And as soon as his head touched the floor, he started snoring like a sleeping old man.

Lily looked away from him, pouting. “Vlad… Handsome.”

“Haa.” Ivan sighed in exasperation and shook his head.

“But… I want to do it,” Lily mumbled.

I feel so good. Enough to want to continue.

“But that’s wrong…”

No matter how much Vlad tamed her body, she kept reacting. And now, she can’t escape from the immoral temptation.

“I mean… I wasn’t… Such a girl…”

She ended up falling from the position of a normal woman.

Lily slumped down, embarrassed and upset.

If I have to have sex to make children, isn’t it natural to feel good? Why did God make it so?

“God… forgive me… .”

Eila liked it and just lived with it.

How can she… Should I ask…?

Lily lifted her head. “Priest! Is there any way… to have children during marriage?”

“Cough!”

Ivan again spit his liquor on the floor. “If Madam was five years old, I would have explained it with all my heart. Unfortunately, you are 20 years late.”

Lily bit her lower lip. “Priest, you are an expert…”

Even thinking about it again while drunk, she was devastated. She wrinkled her face, sipping her liquor.

“You may not like it, but it is not something I can do.”

Lily lay down again like a jellyfish on her table. Her long silver hair was hanging loosely. “You are obligated… to help with couple counseling…”

“There are some people who do not want to know one’s private lives. For example, someone I’ve known for over 20 years.”

She began to shrug her shoulders as she exhaled.

Ivan frowned. “Are you going to sleep?”

“…I don’t want… marital relationship…”

“…”

Ivan muttered, “If you are so worried about your marriage, let’s talk in the priest’s office with a sober mind. I don’t think it’s the right time to have such a conversation right now.” He sighed. “How did you endure it?”

His head rolled quickly. She’s drunk…

He might be tied to the entrance of Ataka alive and eaten by demons until he dies.

It was wise to simply give up.

“I’m sorry, Madam. I must run away to save my life.” Ivan’s expression was bright. Until a gloomy voice entered his ears.

“You’re finally ready to meet your favorite God, Ivan.”

“Ehem.” Ivan’s throat squeaked. “Haha. Lord…”

Gray eyes glimmered at the sight of Lily.

T/N: in case it was a bit confusing, the timeline goes from Lily confiding in Vlad, then them going to the greenhouse, then the liquor scene. Narratively, the greenhouse scenes are sort of flasbacks that were triggered by Lily asking Ivan if there was any way to avoid marital relations.