Chapter 52
Rosetta kissed him on the lips, then pulled away. She smiled brightly at him as he stiffened.
“It’s not, but it’s still sweet.”
Rashid bit his lip nervously.
Stripped of all her expensive clothes and jewelry, she was now clad in nothing but a white tunic. Her hair was disheveled and she was drunk.
Nevertheless, the woman before him was beautiful and lovely, with disheveled hair and rosy cheeks. Even when she was drunk, her eyes still sparkled and her lips were red.
He’d never felt anything like desire for a woman before. It had never occurred to him to want to possess someone. To him, a woman was a shackle. Something to keep by his side someday, but not to interfere with the future of his tribe. His future wife would be respected as a wife, but she would not be able to take his heart.
But for the first time, he felt like he wanted to have something. He wanted to know more about this woman, to feel her for himself.
He wanted to run his hands deep into her hair and see how soft it was, to kiss her white, flushed cheeks. No, actually, he wanted to swallow those red lips right now, to close his mouth around them so they wouldn’t pull away as quickly as they had just moments before, and to kiss them until he was breathless.
Then he’d stroke her heaving breasts, pull her tunic up, and then between her white legs, into her deepest, most secret place…
Rashid was confused by how he felt right now. These intimate, lustful feelings, they don’t belong to him. He shouldn’t have them.
“Rashid?”
Rosetta stared at him blankly, not knowing what was going through his head.
At that moment, he realized that he hadn’t done anything to her, despite knowing she wasn’t the daughter of the Basque chieftain.
The old him would have taken action the moment he realized she was a fake. He would have gotten someone to find out the facts and take action, as this would have been a major change in his plans.
Once that was done, he would have immediately revealed her true identity and decided her future as soon as possible. Keeping a fake bride under these circumstances would be a laughingstock to the other tribes.
But he hadn’t done anything so far, and he didn’t want to.
In fact, he was glad.
The moment he heard the word Myastra, relief overcame his confusion. This woman isn’t the daughter of the Basque chieftain. That at least means she isn’t the daughter of the enemy who killed his parents.
Rashid ran his fingers through her hair that had fallen across her forehead.
“Rosie.”
The woman showed no reaction to the name. She just stared at him, blinking her green eyes slowly. A reaction that could not have happened if it was her real name.
“Rigaina.”
She smiled prettily this time, pulling her lips up. This is how she reacts to the title she’s just recently heard. Unlike just a moment ago.
I wonder what your real name is.
Rosetta slowly reached out and stroked his cheek. The slight touch against his ear tickled him and made him impatient. Rashid lowered his head, trapping her between his arms. Her long, dark hair mingled with the golden color that pooled beneath.
And when she wrapped her arms around his neck again, this time he didn’t avoid her touch, didn’t stiffen.
Rashid sought her lips first. He traced his tongue across her dry, tiny lower lip, pulled it slightly, and bit it.
“Mmm…”
The moment she let out a languid, catlike moan, Rashid plunged his tongue deep, digging between her parted lips.
Her tongue, at first surprised and still, began to move slightly as he repeated his gentle strokes. Soon, their breaths were completely intermingled. The scent of faint wine mingled with his hot breath.
As she said, it was indeed sweet. Enough to make me want to let go of everything just like this, and to pursue pleasure with no thought of afterward.
She was the one who had waited to be captured in the first place. No one could blame him for taking her the very night he snatched her up as she stood holding a lantern in the meadow and put her on his horse.
The kidnapped bride is the groom’s, and there is no such thing as a bride’s rebellion here. The rule here is to take what you want, and if it’s in someone else’s hands, take it by force. If what you have still tries to run away, shackle and lock it up.
This isn’t Lysa. This is a world where the weak succumb to the strong.
But Rashid slowly pulled his lips away from hers. As he paused to catch his breath, her closed eyelids opened again. Her green eyes were unfocused.
Rashid sighed softly and closed her eyes again with his hand. “Go back to sleep. Quickly.”
Rosetta squirmed under his hand. “Why?”
“Because if you don’t sleep now, I don’t know what I’ll do to you, and you’ll resent me and cry later.”
“Resent? I don’t think so.”
Rosetta mumbled something in protest, but Rashid lay down on the bed and pulled her head to his chest. Rosetta beat on his chest a few times in frustration, but when that didn’t work, she stopped.
Rashid stroked her hair until she was completely asleep. When her breathing became steady, Rashid slowly got up.
She was sleeping like a baby, cooing softly. His body was tingling and uncomfortable with unmet needs, and she was sleeping peacefully, alone. It was almost depressing.
“Ha…” Rashid let out a low sigh. He’s been sighing a lot more since he met her.
He slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Rosetta, and blew out all the candles before leaving the room.
Up until now, he had shared a room with her because he was confident that he wouldn’t touch her under any circumstances, but not anymore. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he was physically drawn to her.
***
On the way to the underground prison, Rosie gave Iselle a brief explanation, and when she was done, she couldn’t look him in the face. If she wasn’t mistaken, he looked like he wanted to cut her down right now.
There was no stopping him now, not even if he wanted to tell the Lysa’s royal family everything. I’m not even sure where things went wrong. At first, I just wanted to help people in trouble, and then I wanted to make this work without sacrificing my people.
“Miss Rosie!”
As she approached the prison, the gatekeeper saw her and came running out, the same man who had let her in without her father’s knowledge.
“I was just about to call you. The chieftain just moved them to another location.”
With that, Rosie hurried into the cell. The cell that had held Allen and the others until yesterday was now empty.
“Moved them? Where?”
He shook his head. “He didn’t say anything to me. He suddenly moved the prisoners, doesn’t that mean he’s going to kill them?”
“Oh, my God…”
Sighing, Rosie slowly turned around, feeling the hairs on her body stand on end. As expected, the Duke’s face was ice cold.
Rosie swallowed hard. “We- we’d better start looking in the woods; if my father was going to deal with them, he would have taken them there.”
“Do you happen to have Allen’s sword with you?”
Rosie arched an eyebrow at his sudden question.
“You mean the holy sword?”
“Yes.”
Rosie wasn’t sure why this man was suddenly looking for the holy sword at this time of urgency, but she signaled to the gatekeeper, who immediately brought the holy sword, which was stored in the prison’s storeroom.
After receiving the sword, he first checked the engraving on it, and his gaze fell on the gem embedded in a circle beneath the wing design.
It was an unfamiliar type of gem. No, is it really a gem? His thoughts naturally drifted to the gemstone, as such a precious sword was usually inlaid with gems.
It looked more like a stone than a gem. It didn’t have the brilliance or beautiful color that a gem would have.
Only the middle part of the stone was deeply pigmented. As if something liquid had pooled there. Other than that, it was just another black stone.
Iselle drew the small dagger he wore at his waist, and suddenly began to dig at the object embedded in the sword with it.
“What are you doing?” Rosie cried out in astonishment.
It was no other sword, but a holy sword. Breaking a holy sword is itself a capital offense of blasphemy. She couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing – how could he not know that?
Despite Rosie’s words, he continued to damage the sword. Finally, the stone rolled out of the blade. Iselle grabbed it, walked out of the cell, and threw it into the air.
Rosie looked at him the way one would look at a madman.
Is this guy out of his mind, digging it out of a holy sword and now throwing it outside?
“Excuse me…”
As Rosie was about to speak, something shimmered on the ground where Iselle had just thrown the stone.
Soon after, a blinding light pierced the darkness. That wasn’t the only surprise. The glowing stone began to slowly rise into the air, as if it were alive.
“W- what is that?”
The gatekeeper slumped to the floor, his face contorted in horror. Rosie wasn’t much better; she didn’t cower as much, but her face was as white as if she’d seen a ghost.
I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I’ve never heard of a stone floating in the air like that.
When the stone began to move, Iselle looked back at Rosie and said, “Follow me. That will lead us to where Allen is.”