Chapter 82

Chapter 82 – The Emperor (2)

Translator: Lunarise

Editor: Larkspur

“The reason the hostages haven’t been able to run away is that they didn’t have this map. And the reason that even the people who tried to do so were never able to fully escape and ended up getting caught, was probably also because they didn’t have this map, right?”

“Then! Oh!”

“We will need this later. Rather than me, Rosha, I think you should keep this with your luggage. We might need it.”

“Yes, I will!”

Rosha quickly hid the rag in the sleeve of her own dress and left the room.

Viola was preparing for the worst-case scenario. If a situation arose where she had to leave the imperial palace before her contract ended, it was Paul that would guide her back to the Kingdom of Koronis. Paul knew the way, so it shouldn’t be difficult for them to return. But one never knew what the future held in store… She could be caught by a guard before even leaving the imperial palace. If that happened, she would need this map to find a place where the guards could not pursue her.

Not long after Rosha left, Lustian, who had changed his clothes, entered the room. After making sure to be in control of her facial expressions, Viola got up and followed him.

Today, just like any other day, she left the concubine palace with him. What his thoughts were at the moment… she couldn’t figure it out, but the man always brought her around everywhere as if he couldn’t bear to be without her for a single moment.

At this point, Viola was getting worried about the empress. She felt like the empress might appear at any moment and yell at her again…

“What do I do?”

“Just watch me work.”

This man… Really, he was a man that couldn’t be hated. Today, he was saying to watch him do work.

She wanted to read a book but there weren’t any that she wanted to read. They were mostly books that she had already read, and there were none on the history of Arpen anymore. He seemed to have cleared them all away. Instead, all the shelves were full of books about beautiful love.

There was a book that depicted the love between a man and a woman long ago. There were also pictures in it, drawn extremely well. To be able to draw this delicately on parchment… As she was flipping through the pages, she saw a drawing of a man and woman making love… She immediately closed the book.

What is he trying to teach me?

Viola looked at Lustian silently.

Lustian quietly opened his mouth, “Love. I’m asking you to learn about love.”

“What?!”

He looked up from the pile of papers and smiled at her. It was such a charming smile that made Viola freeze in her tracks.

“Because love is not something I can do alone.”

“——”

His affectionate voice pained her heart. Is this a different type of torture? Viola pulled out a random book she saw in front of her and started reading it as if to ignore what Lustian meant by referring to love. For a while, she could feel his persistent gaze on her cheek. Thinking about the fact that he was looking at her like that made her heart quiver terribly.

At that moment, she suddenly heard Lustian groan.

“Ugh—”

A startled Viola jumped up and approached him. His skin was pale. As if he was having a sudden seizure, sweat trickled down his forehead. Having never seen him this way before, she was taken aback.

“What-what’s happening? Kyle!”

Kyle ran over to support Lustian, but the latter swatted his hand away.

“Quickly, we must go to the river,” Kyle said in a trice.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t have to go there.”

Viola tilted her head, not knowing what the two were talking about. At that moment, Lustian’s hand approached her and grasped the back of her head. Then he placed his lips upon hers.

Viola’s eyes widened. Even more than the fact that he had just kissed her in front of Kyle, she was shocked at how hot his tongue felt. It was like a fireball. Her tongue moved away from his in surprise, but he quickly closed the distance.

Their breaths mixed together. Her expression turned into a frown as his kiss deepened; and as his body drew closer to hers, she pushed him away more fiercely.

“W… Wait… Mmngh—”

“You’re the only one that can quench my burning thirst. Viola—”

Mmph – his lips seemed to pull away for a moment, but they quickly pressed against hers once more. The more deeply she was pulled into the kiss, the more her mind became a jumble of thoughts.

“It’ll be over soon. So just hang in there for a bit. Viola—”

♛

Kyle quietly exited the office.

The pain always came like a seizure, the only thing that could stop this pain was Viola. How had he endured, all this time, without this woman… If only he had known his thirst could disappear so quickly like this…

Lustian gazed at her lovingly. It felt good. The more he kissed her, the better he felt, and the more he touched her, the more he wanted her. For him, who had always been mostly uninterested in the act of s*x, Viola was his Achilles’ heel. Kissing her became an aphrodisiac, he was drunk on her and drowned in a lake of pleasure with unknown depths.

“Don’t do this. This is your office.”

“I don’t care.”

Lustian buried his face between her twin peaks and licked her with his tongue. The sweet smell of her flesh made him even more excited. His stiff shaft screamed with the desire to dig into her narrow flesh.

“Ah… I don’t like this.”

“Whenever I want to do it, wherever it is, we have to do it.”

Viola’s frown deepened. He didn’t feel entirely comfortable under her angry gaze. He knew that she hated this sort of behavior, but he didn’t stop. The more she hated him the more he wanted her and didn’t want to let go. Even at this moment, his head was filled with the sole thought that he wanted to capture her for himself.