Chapter 183
Meanwhile, she was already sinking back into the depths of sleep.
Growing anxious, he quickly laid her down on the bed and gently brushed the disheveled strands of hair away from her forehead.
Her delicate eyelids fluttered before slowly opening to reveal unfocused eyes.
"...We're in your bedroom?"
Looking around the softly lit room in confusion, she slowly pushed herself upright.
Varkas gently pressed her back onto the cool sheets.
Then, yielding to the impulse he had suppressed ever since finding her by the spring, he slipped his tongue into the hot, damp warmth of her mouth.
Startled by the sudden, desperate invasion, she instinctively drew back her neck before wrapping both arms around his back.
Feeling a shiver race down his spine at her gentle touch, he greedily explored the soft warmth inside her mouth.
The sweet moan that escaped her throat dampened his lips.
Grasping her small chin, he pushed his tongue even deeper.
When he brushed against the sensitive roof of her mouth, her head fell back.
One hand cradled the slender neck that looked as though it might snap, while his thumb slowly stroked the violently throbbing pulse beneath her skin.
The uneven trembling that traveled into his palm only fanned the heat burning through his body.
"Varkas... I can't breathe."
Having reached her limit, Talia weakly pounded his shoulder with her fist.
Varkas reluctantly lifted his head.
His gaze lingered on her swollen, flushed lips before drifting to her shimmering eyes.
Even in the darkness, those vivid blue eyes sparkled with tears.
For a fleeting moment, it felt as though a cold blade had pierced straight through his chest.
Once, he had believed that sensation came from hostility.
Now...
He was beginning to understand what these overwhelming feelings she awakened within him truly were.
Leaning over her once more, he pressed damp kisses against her reddened cheek.
He lingered there before lightly catching her small earlobe between his teeth.
Her slender shoulders trembled.
"Don't... do that. It feels strange."
"How strange?"
While soothingly stroking the narrow line of her back, he continued placing soft kisses over her closed eyelids.
Looking flustered, she suddenly pulled his neck toward her.
Then she lifted her head and gently bit his earlobe.
A violent shudder like lightning tore through the back of his neck.
Clenching his teeth to keep from letting out an undignified groan, Varkas lowered his head.
As though indulging in a mischievous prank, she lightly nibbled at his ear before breathing warm air against it.
"It feels really strange, doesn't it?"
Then she let out a quiet little laugh.
His entire body rigid with tension, Varkas slowly raised his head and glared at her.
The next instant, he caught her head in one hand and captured the smug smile on her lips with his own.
Wet, intimate sounds filled the room.
Like a man dying of thirst, he relentlessly explored every corner of her mouth.
He imprisoned her soft tongue, drawing from it with unconcealed greed before tracing the moist inner flesh of her cheek.
Moaning softly, she tangled both hands in his hair.
Savoring her frantic touch, he seized the shirt constricting him and ripped it open.
The cool night air washed over his burning skin.
It did nothing to quell the fire raging inside him.
He flung the shirt onto the floor beside the bed before climbing over her once more, gathering her slender, supple body into his arms.
Pressing kisses along her delicate jaw, he slowly traced each bone of her spine through the thin fabric of her nightgown.
Part of him wanted to strip away every piece of clothing she wore.
But if he went that far...
He knew he would never be able to stop.
His damp lips wandered down the sensitive curve of her neck before lightly catching her prominent collarbone between his teeth.
Shivering, Talia drew his head against the hollow of her chest.
Varkas squeezed his eyes shut.
Never in his life had torture tasted so sweet.
"Talia."
He breathed in the sweet fragrance lingering on her skin and wrapped both arms around her slender waist.
By now, his body was drenched in sweat.
The heat surging through him had reached its limit.
It felt as though he might explode at any moment.
The last remnants of his reason warned him to pull away.
Yet he simply couldn't.
"Kiss me more."
Just as he struggled to regain control, she whispered the request in a damp, breathless voice.
He hesitated only briefly.
Then he obeyed.
Tilting her head back, he repeatedly thrust his tongue deep into her mouth and withdrew it again.
Each movement produced wet, intimate sounds, as though their bodies rather than their mouths were entwined.
He painstakingly avoided pressing his burning body ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) against hers while continuing to explore every moist corner within her mouth.
How long they remained like that, he couldn't tell.
After the sensitive places inside her mouth had been relentlessly teased, Talia suddenly stiffened from head to toe.
A moment later, all strength drained from her limbs.
Breathing hard, Varkas looked down at her.
Her unfocused eyes drifted blankly through the air.
His gaze slowly traveled downward.
Her flushed neck.
Her sweat-slick collarbones.
Her chest, rising and falling with ragged breaths.
The sensation of being pierced by a blade became even more vivid.
Forcing himself to suppress it, he gently brushed the damp strands of hair away from her neck with trembling fingers.
Still trying to steady her breathing, Talia looked at him in confusion.
"Why...?"
She was asking why he wouldn't go any further.
Without answering directly, Varkas simply pulled the blanket over her body.
"You look very sleepy. You should rest."
"...It's only because of the medicine. I'll be fine in a little while."
She wrapped her arms around his back again, slowly tracing the prominent muscles beneath his skin with her fingertips.
Carefully taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips.
He kissed each rosy knuckle one by one.
Her dissatisfied expression gradually softened into shy embarrassment.
He showered kisses across her flushed cheeks as well before gathering her pliant body gently against his chest.
Sliding one arm beneath her head, he softly stroked her tangled hair.
Before long, her breathing became slow and even.
Varkas silently watched her peaceful face in the candlelight for a very long time.
Something inside him still felt as though it had been brutally torn apart.
Yet strangely...
His heart felt completely full.
It was almost like drinking powerful liquor until reaching the very limit.
He drew her even closer.
One of her soft thighs, hidden beneath the thin folds of her skirt, slipped between his legs.
Every place where their bodies touched burned like fire.
Even so...
He had no desire to move away.
Burying his face in her hair, he breathed in her sweet scent to his heart's content.
Was this what it would feel like to sink into a marsh filled with belladonna sap?
The heat gripping his lower body remained.
Yet the warmth filling his arms slowly lulled his mind into drowsiness.
Holding her securely with both arms, he gradually sank into sleep.
* * *
He was walking across a desolate wasteland.
Before long, an altar built from stacked human skulls appeared before him.
Looking up, he saw countless decapitated corpses hanging overhead.
Blood poured endlessly from their severed necks, soaking the earth before flowing onward like a crimson river.
"This is the sin flowing through your blood."
He turned at the hand gripping his shoulder.
His father's face, pale and rigid like wax, stared back at him.
The empty sockets of his eyes glowed with an eerie crimson light.
"Our people must atone. By serving the Empire, we must repay the slaughter committed by our ancestors."
Varkas violently shook off his father's hand.
The hand instantly transformed into chains that wrapped themselves tightly around his body.
He struggled to break them.
But the icy, heavy chains only tightened further.
"Why are you resisting?"
A gentle voice echoed through the wasteland.
Looking up, he froze.
Bernadette stood before him, smiling kindly.
The hand that had pulled him from the grave gently cupped his frozen cheek.
"Was life not meaningless to you? If you live only because you happen to be alive... then why should it be so difficult to dedicate your entire life to the promise you made to me?"
As she whispered those words, she embraced the back of his neck with quiet affection.
Her pale white arms slowly hardened as well.
Before long, they too became icy chains, weighing heavily upon his shoulders.
He struggled desperately to cast them off.
Eventually...
He stopped resisting.
Then the river of blood swallowed him whole.
The thick, metallic liquid flooded endlessly into his lungs and throat.
Little by little...
He sank beneath the black-red current.
Someone suddenly shook him violently by the shoulders.
Varkas's eyes flew open.
He frowned as brilliant light flooded his vision.
A moment later, his sight cleared.
A pale face came into focus before him.
For several seconds, he simply stared blankly, unable to understand where he was.
Then he noticed the tears glistening in her eyes.
He immediately pushed himself upright.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell—"
"You weren't breathing."
She whispered the words in a frightened voice.
Varkas remained frozen for a moment.
Then he let out a quiet sigh.