CH 17.5

Stripped down to her underwear, Lila shouted.

“You’re not going to believe me!”

Leaving her screaming, not telling him what had happened, Lucas tore off his own shirt.

His bare upper body rippled with muscles. Lila blushed involuntarily at the sight of him, familiar but arousing every time she saw him.

“Do you want to go first, or do you want me to find out?”

Lila swallowed hard as he spoke the words she’d heard so many times before.

Watching him fidget with his hands as he spoke, she backed away, angry at his revealing behaviour.

But soon he grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her down, and she cried out in panic, ‘Errr, I don’t know.’

“I’ll do it, I’ll talk!”

Lucas grinned through his teeth at her desperation.

“Yeah, I’ll do it from now on.”

He replied briefly and grabbed her leg. Her flailing lower body came close to his face.

“Lucas!”

Flushed red with panic, Lila gripped the bedding tightly in her hands.

A rush of heat rushed up from beneath her quickly dampened skin.

“No… Ugh.”

For a moment, Lila struggled against the dizzying sensation of pleasure.

Damp heat rushed inside her, and she shuddered at the sensations she’d never felt before.

She heard a sound similar to a kiss. Her eyes fluttered open as she realised that the sound, which would have been near her ears if they were kissing, was coming from a little further away.

Sharp fangs gnashed.

“That…”

This time, she couldn’t form the words, and water quickly gathered at the corners of her eyes.

Her head was a mess of frustration, sadness, and elation.

“Humm, hmph.”

Of all the emotions, sadness was by far the biggest. She burst into tears as the rush of pleasure brought her to a brief climax.

“Ugh, humm, hmm!”

Her childlike sobbing startled Lucas, and the corners of his eyes, which had been raised by the heat, quickly dropped.

“Lala?”

“Ugh, hugh.”

If Michael cried, he didn’t think it would be this loud. Lucas carefully lowered her lower body, a look of bewilderment on his face.

Then he picked her up and lifted her onto his lap.

“Why are you crying, again.”

“You, you horny little thing, hmmm…”

Lucas bit his lip tightly as she pounded his shoulder with her tiny cotton fists.

She looked so cute under the circumstances, Lucas wondered if his head and eyes were finally failing him.

“Easy…”

Lucas said in a soothing tone as he patted her back.

“Why are you crying? You need to talk to me so I know.”

“… Hhuoh, if I tell you, will you believe, will you listen?”

“Yes.”

“Hugh, hmmm, hmmm.”

“Shhh, tell me, and I’ll believe you, even if you’re actually a fairy born in a flower.”

“…”

Glancing at him as he delivered the joke, Lila giggled, then slowly opened her lips.

“The Crown Prince is…”

“Yeah, him.”

His scent, softly enveloping her, stirred ferociously at the mention of the Crown Prince, and yet his expression remained somehow gentle.

Unable to see his expression through her tears, Lila spoke up, her voice filled with concern.

“He said he turned back time… He said I was his lover in the past…”

“…What?”

Lucas felt as if someone had slapped him across the back of the head. The tingling sensation nearly knocked him off his feet for a moment, but then he had to ask.

“Do you believe such nonsense, wife?”

She must have, for there was conviction in Lila’s tone.

It’s ridiculous.

How could anyone turn back time, and does that mean the Crown Prince has magical powers?

Confusion filled his gaze for a moment, then he turned to Lila. She was hesitating, her demeanour convincing Lucas.

“You believe it?”

She was as troubled as he was, so she didn’t answer straight away.

If she lied and said she didn’t, she could get away with it for now, but she couldn’t make that decision easily, fearing that the Crown Prince would hurt Lucas.

If she told him her secret, she didn’t know what he would say, and she was worried and afraid.

The truth is, she’s not the real Lila.

What would Lucas think of her?

Would he see her as an unscrupulous person who had taken another’s body?

Or would he despise her like a ghost, seeing things she shouldn’t?

Would he stay away?

And then…

‘I will be abandoned.’

Dark blue eyes, like a stormy sea, fluttered wildly.

‘What will I do…?’

Lucas’s eyes grew colder and colder as he waited for Lila to answer. His withered mint-coloured eyes were like glacial meltwater, beautiful but cold.

“Lila.”

He grabbed her chin and wrapped his arms around her waist in a crushing hug. Lucas felt like he was about to lose his mind to a boiling jealousy, and he wanted to redeem everything about her.

Ever since Lila had told him she can smell him, he’d been free to manipulate his scent.

Somehow, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he did.

He wanted to bind everything about her with his scent, even the smallest thoughts in her head.

“Last chance. I want you to think before you answer.”

Immobilised by his snake-like scent, Lila lifted her fluttering eyelids. When she was still looking at him through shaky eyes, Lucas gave her one last look.

“Does your secret involve the Crown Prince?”

Lila pursed her lips, immobilised by the mint-coloured eyes staring directly into hers.

“Tell me.”

Lila shuddered in fear at the low, urgent voice, and forced her lips to open in a way that wouldn’t fall.

“That’s right…’ I’m sorry I lied to you. But… But you know…”

Lucas froze, his eyes tearing up at her answer. The delusion that rushed over him in an instant was terrible.

Had she deceived him by conspiring with the Crown Prince, and if so, was she now going to leave him?

Lucas remembered the way she’d looked at him as a child. The contempt in her eyes that he could barely hide.

“Lucas… Lucas.”

Drowning in dark, unspeakable thoughts, Lucas was pulled back by the sound of Lila’s voice, calling out to him urgently.

Still warm.

Her voice didn’t change, her eyes didn’t change.

“I’m not trying to deceive you. I need you to listen to me a little longer. In fact…”

“Lila…”

Lucas’s expression grew more desperate as she tried to say something more.

Come on, say something. So that there will be no misunderstanding or separation between us.

He wanted her to understand him, even more than she did.

“… I didn’t want to deceive you, but… I didn’t think anyone would believe me, so I didn’t, so I didn’t tell you.”

Lucas added impatiently, his voice breaking.

“I believe, I don’t care what anyone says, I believe my wife. If your husband doesn’t believe you, who will believe my wife.”

“…”

At his plaintive words, the tears Lila had stopped burst out again. These were the words she desperately wanted to hear. Unable to hold it in, she buried her face in his shoulder.

She wanted to tell him the truth, but all that came out was hot breath and sobs.

Gently stroking the small of her back as she clung to him like a child, Lucas waited.

He closed his eyes as she clung to him, unwilling to let go.

Lucas laid Lila down, still sobbing and unable to calm down.

He pulled her into his arms and held her close. He was barely relieved to see her squirm in his arms as she finally calmed down.

“Are you okay now?”

Lucas asked, resting his chin on the top of Lila’s head. Lucas’s face fell and rose as Lila nodded instead of answering.

“Don’t hide it anymore, show me everything. I’m your husband.”

“… There is a saying that a husband is a husband on someone else’s side…” 1 implies that once a woman gets married, her husband may become more loyal to his own family than to hers

Lucas’s eyes narrowed at her outburst.

“Who says such nonsense?”

“It’s what all the noblewomen say.”

“Huh. You’re comparing us to the nobility of the Empire? They’re the ones who fall short somewhere.”

“…Pfft.”

Lila burst out laughing at the nakedness of his expression.

“You’re laughing? You don’t believe me now, do you?”

“No… I’m just saying it’s too… pfft.”

“I know… Lila.”

Lucas swept a hand through her mauve hair. Pulling away a little, he looked into her dark blue eyes and whispered.

“Tell me, everything about you.”

Seeing her own face reflected in those mint-coloured eyes, Lila blinked once, then looked up into his face.

The seriousness of his expression and the warmth of his body against hers made her want to give him everything.

Slowly, Lila let out a secret she’d never thought she’d confide in anyone in her life here.

When she was done, Lucas was silent for a moment, no questions asked, no change in expression as she spoke.

He simply stared into space for a moment, taking it all in.

As Lucas listened to her, he remembered Lupus’s words. The words of the grey wolf he had seen in his dream.

[My companion who came from far away. It was fortunate for you and me that I accidentally killed you… You must have suffered a lot because of it. It’s regrettable…]

That’s why he said those things.

After hearing all the secrets, he began to understand why she had tried to hide her face, why the scent of Theobald, Heinrich, and Alfonso filled him with anxiety whenever he saw them.

It all made sense.

“Lila… No, wife.”

“… Yes?”

Lucas said, running a hand through her hair.

“That’s good.”

Did he mean good for telling him her secret, good for avoiding them by wearing ugly makeup, or good for coming here…

Unable to make out the words, Lila put a hand to her chest, which was trembling with anxiety.

“What?”

“Everything.”

“…. Do you believe me, that this place is in a novel I’ve read?”

“No.”

“But why don’t you refute what I say? Don’t lie. Tell the real secret, you can ask as much as you want.”

He seemed to accept her secret so casually, Lila felt rather suspicious and uneasy.

But Lucas’s answer put her at ease.

“I only believe what I see, and you, to my eyes, are just that, you, my wife, my companion… The woman I love.”

A large hand cupped her cheek, stroking it with a callused thumb, and Lucas continued.

“Isn’t that enough? No matter where you come from, no matter if you’re not really you, the person I’ve come to love is you, now.”

With that, Lucas placed his palm up against Lila’s chest. The heat of his body seemed to radiate through her skin and into her heart.

“I wouldn’t be in love with you if you weren’t in here, that’s for sure.”

She looked away from him as he spoke so firmly. Lila could hardly breathe, her chest heaving.

She could feel her heart beating beneath his palm. It felt like he was holding her heart in his hand.

Instead of being scared, she was relieved.

“… Thank you.”

For believing in me.

She couldn’t bring herself to say the rest. She felt like she was going to burst into tears again if she opened her lips.

Lila slid silently into his arms. Lucas didn’t say anything more, just hugged her tightly.

But his eyes burned fiercely. The gentle sweep of his hand was tender, but the look in his eyes was anything but.

He remembered the grey wolf’s words now.

[Because of the time that has passed, it is an opportunity seized.]

[The black wolf’s descendant had already missed one chance. Even if she wasn’t truly her, she would have been her. A mistake elsewhere could be a fortune here. When coincidence overlaps and persists, it is inevitable. Never lose the chance that has come to you. Your companion, my companion.]

Lupus.

You were right.

She and I are inevitable.

But one thing you said was wrong.

She is not your companion, she is mine and mine alone.

In the few moments he was thinking, Lila’s back rose and fell as she slept. Lucas was quick to recognise the sound of her breathing and patted her back.

His lips curled up in a pout, and he muttered low.

“Still, you will never be taken from the descendants of a black wolf.”