Talia stared at his back as it disappeared into darkness, her expression stiff, before hurriedly crossing the room.
She could vaguely make out him turning around.
Without hesitation, Talia reached out.
Her fingertips met the rough texture of bandages wrapped over bare skin.
“You're hurt?”
“I was only scratched while hunting monsters.”
“Only scratched...? What kind of monster was it?”
How could a man with enough monstrous strength to bring down even a wyvern so effortlessly have ended up wounded?
Looking up at the outline of his face with widened eyes, she heard Varkas answer with a weary sigh.
“A mated pair of Drakars had made a nest in the north. They're rare creatures, and I was trying not to damage their hides...”
His words abruptly stopped.
Her hand had come to rest against his bare chest.
Intent only on judging the extent of his injury, Talia traced her fingers along the bandages. The thick cloth ran diagonally across his left shoulder and chest.
“How serious is it?”
“It's nothing.”
“Light a lamp. I can't see properly.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Varkas reached toward the window and pulled back the curtains.
Although dense ink-black clouds covered the entire sky, it wasn't completely dark, allowing her to make out his figure without difficulty.
Varkas stood barefoot upon the carpet, wearing nothing but a pair of loose eastern wool trousers.
For a brief moment, there was something almost savage about the sight.
Then Talia noticed the medicine bottle in his hand and immediately raised her voice.
“Why didn't you call a healing mage? If they used healing magic...!”
“Drakar claws carry a poison with magical resistance. Healing magic is completely ineffective until the toxin naturally dissipates.”
Varkas answered flatly as he turned toward the shelf.
From where she stood, Talia now had an unobstructed view of his back.
Varkas's body resembled a structure built with every unnecessary element stripped away.
Dense muscles covered a flawlessly proportioned frame, while taut tendons stood out beneath marble-like skin like intricately carved reliefs.
Even the bandages wrapped around him looked less like medical dressings than ornaments meant to emphasize the strength of his physique.
“The poison should leave my body in about a week. I'll receive healing magic then.”
He calmly set the medicine bottle down.
Lost in thought, Talia suddenly came back to herself and awkwardly lowered her eyes.
“...Doesn't it hurt?”
“Not at all.”
His answer was so dry that she looked at him suspiciously.
Indeed, nothing about the way Varkas pulled on his shirt suggested he was in pain.
Even so, she couldn't put her mind at ease.
“Are you really all right?”
“There won't be any problem carrying out our marital duties, so don't concern yourself.”
Talia looked up at him as though she had just been slapped.
“Do you think I'm obsessed with doing that with you?”
“Wasn't that why Your Highness came to see me?”
He looked at her in genuine confusion.
There was no trace of mockery in his voice.
He simply seemed to be confirming a fact.
For a moment, she found herself speechless.
Because he was right.
She had come intending to spend the night with him.
Blushing, she stammered,
“Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't come because I wanted you. I only came because I want a child...”
“Don't worry. I've never misunderstood your intentions.”
Varkas calmly cut off her explanation.
Talia tucked her lips inward.
She should have felt relieved that he believed her.
So why did her chest feel so unbearably tight?
“Anyway, I have no intention of doing anything with someone who's injured. So light the fireplace.”
“...You're staying here?”
For the first time, genuine surprise crossed Varkas's face.
Talia's expression dimmed.
He truly believed that physical intimacy was the only reason she ever came to him.
It was she herself who had worked so hard to make him think exactly that.
Yet now that it seemed he hadn't noticed her feelings in the slightest, she felt strangely disappointed.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the floor, she took a step backward.
“If you don't want me here, just say so. I'll go back to my room—”
“Please stay.”
He suddenly wrapped his hand around hers.
“You're the one who's always said you didn't want to remain here. I've always asked you to stay.”
Looking up at him with bewildered eyes, Talia slowly lowered her gaze to the hand enclosed within his.
Every time she slept with Varkas, she felt frighteningly vulnerable afterward.
She grew tense, never knowing when his hand might brush against her legs.
She worried that once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he might notice how unimpressive she truly looked.
Most of all...
She was afraid that her longing for his touch, for his warmth, was growing beyond what she could bear.
Yet...
Her eyes carefully traced his figure bathed in bluish light.
With his damp hair brushed back from his forehead, he looked strangely like a lonely boy.
That unexpectedly harmless appearance gradually dissolved her caution.
“...Then I'll stay for just a little while. If I go back like this, the nanny will nag me.”
The clumsy excuse drew the faintest crease beside his eyes.
Realizing she had practically admitted that the nanny was pressuring her to conceive, Talia awkwardly looked away.
Watching her in silence, Varkas spoke in an icy voice.
“If that woman continues to bother you, I'll send her back to the Imperial Palace.”
“No!”
Talia shouted almost instinctively.
“Don't you dare! I won't let you get away with it!”
He looked at her with an expression that was difficult to describe.
He genuinely couldn't understand why she refused to cast aside a woman who treated her so carelessly.
Talia raised her voice as though defending someone dear.
“She raised me from the day I was born. She's like a real mother to me.”
“...”
“If you send the nanny back to the Imperial Palace, then I'll go back with her.”
She answered firmly.
His brows immediately hardened.
Varkas parted his lips as though about to argue.
Instead, he let out a quiet sigh and turned toward the fireplace.
“Don't stand there. Sit down.”
Rather than calling for a servant, he knelt and began lighting the fire himself.
Relieved that the conversation had changed, Talia quietly walked over beside him.
“Leave things like this to the servants. You should sit down and rest.”
“This much is nothing.”
It wasn't long before flames crackled to life among the logs.
After hovering anxiously nearby, Talia reached out and tugged on the hem of his clothes.
“Now hurry up and sit.”
She practically dragged him toward the bed before pressing down on his shoulder.
Varkas looked at her with an odd expression.
Perhaps it amused him that the woman who always pushed him away was now clumsily trying to take care of him.
After silently studying her for a long moment, he finally sat down on the edge of the bed.
Relaxing slightly, Talia turned toward the cabinet.
“You said there's poison in your body. Shouldn't you take something for the fever? Or a painkiller...”
“I don't have a fever. And it doesn't hurt.”
She ignored his answer and rummaged through the drawers.
Before long, she found a bottle containing mandragora extract.
Opening it to check the contents, she poured an appropriate amount into a teacup and held it out to him.
“Here. Drink it.”
Varkas merely looked down at the teacup.
Does he think I'm trying to poison him?
She glared at him indignantly.
Gently brushing his fingers along her waist, he said,
“I'll drink it if Your Highness feeds it to me.”
Talia blinked blankly.
Without changing his expression in the slightest, Varkas calmly waited for her answer.
Only then did her frozen thoughts finally begin moving again.
“U-Use your own hands!”
“I've always fed you. It's time for you to repay the favor.”
With a face burning crimson, Talia looked back and forth between him and the medicine.
Something about the shamelessness with which he made such an unreasonable request suddenly irritated her.
She had been about to tell him to forget it if he didn't want to drink it.
Instead, she changed her mind.
Taking a mouthful of the bitter extract, she held it in her mouth.
Apparently he hadn't expected her to actually agree.
His eyes widened ever so slightly.
Talia deliberately cupped his face in both hands and pressed her lips against his, still carrying the faint scent of soap.
As though it were the most natural thing in the world, his arm slipped around her waist.
She instinctively grabbed his shoulder—
Then immediately recoiled when her fingers touched the thick bandages.
In that brief instant, his smooth tongue gently swept across her lips.
Unable to withstand the silent urging, she slowly let the liquid flow into his mouth.
But unlike him, she wasn't nearly as skilled.
She felt some of it spill from the corners of their mouths.
As she pulled back, Varkas cradled her cheek and slowly licked the medicine from her chin.
Before she realized it, they were lying together on the bed, tightly wrapped in each other's arms.
Feeling the firm heat of his aroused body pressing against her abdomen, Talia hurriedly pushed herself upright.
“No. I told you we're not doing anything until your injury heals.”
“I won't do anything more.”
His deep voice was quiet as he gently stroked her hair.
“Just stay like this.”
Talia, who had been about to push him away, gradually relaxed.
Amid the relentless sound of rain and the crackling firewood, she could hear the steady, heavy beat of his heart.
