CH 34.1

34. If I can’t keep you locked up (1)

“Ariad, your body, and mind. I need it all now.”

Sohee blinked.

She understood what that remark meant.

He couldn’t have known how much he wanted to be loved.

The word ‘love’, which she could have easily uttered so far, got stuck in her throat like a thorn and didn’t  dare come out.

Now, it was a difficult word for her to say without knowing the reason.

“I mean—-”

She faltered, thinking of the best answer that only she could formulate.

“I’ll try.”

That was the best thing Han So-hee  could tell Joshua.

Not Ariad.

“I’ll try to give you my heart.”

She couldn’t have done it by merely trying so she had to research about this and figure him out.

In order to play this web novel’s heroine, she had to act like she was truly in love with him.

Joshua didn’t add anything to Sohee’s response.

It was definitely a good choice rather than promising him fake love.

When his anger had passed, serenity took place.

Now, Joshua’s gentle caresses on her cheek caused her heart to flutter pleasantly compared to before.

Before she knew it, the crackle of burning firewood as Joshua’s palms settled on her face permeated in the silence before they disappeared.

All she could do was stare into the depths of his blood-red gaze.

Sweet voices filled the space where only the two of them existed.

“Ariad.”

The hand on her cheek came down to sweep the back of her hand.

Then, his palm covered her small hand before holding it tight.

Joshua’s warmth caused her temperature to rise.

“Don’t hug Deon ever again.”

She wondered why he was so obsessed with holding hands right now.

This must be the exact reason.

So-hee tried to dismiss it with an awkward smile.

However, the corners of her mouth stiffened at the following words.

“I want to kill them both.”

She grimaced.

Indeed, Joshua had carried a gun earlier at the Great Hall.

When So-hee plotted the synopsis, guns were supposed to be distributed as war supplies in that period and it should have corresponded to the initial ideas of her web novel.

In short, these weapons should have appeared much later than now.

Her novel’s plot had become so twisted that nothing could surprise her anymore.

However, if there was a problem, it was the position where these weapons were headed.

It turned out that the gunpoint facing either Deon or Joshua had been directed at her little head for quite some time.

While staring at Joshua, Sohee’s eyes became unfocused as she recalled her dream.

‘I’ll live quietly. I would rather die than deal with you every time you feel upset.’

If the character, Ariad, couldn’t escape death, So-hee planned to get in between Deon and Joshua on that day and faced Joshua’s gun herself.

Joshua raised his arms to embrace her.

“I don’t want to hate you, Ariad. I mean——”

“….”

“Please try to give yourself to me.”

The problem was, that the idea didn’t just cause her anxiety.

* * *

After midnight, Joshua finished his busy schedule and carefully laid himself down on the bed.

He brushed the hair of the woman lying on her back next to him with his fingertips.

Then, he noticed that some of the iron bars on the window behind her were missing.

Joshua’s chest felt strangely empty and hollow as if someone had ripped his heart out of his ribcage.

Couldn’t a crown prince keep his wife to himself even if he locked her up?

That fact was proven and tested today.

The realization made him laugh.

Joshua assumed Ariad was a mere helpless woman but it appeared like he had to build stronger steel bars covering the windows to keep her in thebedroom.

However, he didn’t want to do that.

He unconsciously knew  that he couldn’t have what he really wanted.

His insatiable desire to possess Ariad grew even more that it could no longer be contained.

Joshua wanted her eyes, nose, mouth, hands, hair, and more.

Eventually, she would have no choice but to give him—

“Your body and mind. I need it all now, Ariad.”

He was talking nonsense, wasn’t he?

Then, what else could he do aside from asking her to give him her heart?

Joshua was certain that he couldn’t have Ariad’s heart if he locked her up so he ordered his servants to remove all the locks.

He rose from his bed.

The thicker her lavender scent permeated his nostrils, the darker his thoughts become.

Amid his various thoughts, Ariad, who was holding unto Deon until the end, came to mind that he didn’t want to be here any more.

Joshua pulled the thick curtains from both sides towards the center to cover the moonlit window.

As the room darkened  and his vision turned into pitch black, the images of men and women in front of them disappeared.