Invitation of the Crescent Moon - Chapter 70

“Ah.”

A strong force embraced her as a familiar scent penetrated her nostrils. A heavy yet refreshing woody scent like that of a forest. The broad chest enveloping her body and even the sound of a rapidly beating heart were familiar.

“…Drushia.”

A deep sigh sounded above her head. It seemed like both a sigh of relief and one suppressing anger. Ashika belatedly realized they were in a public place.

“Let me go.”

Feeling the strength leave Drushia’s arms, Ashika quickly escaped his embrace. Immediately, a large hand followed like a tail and grabbed her hand.

“Were you so busy that you couldn’t even reply to my letter despite your fingers not being broken? Or were you too busy preparing yourself to come here?”

His voice was sharp, suppressing anger. His attitude was quite different from the unwavering demeanor he had shown while dealing with Erwin.

“Didn’t you say you were leaving today? How are you here?”

“Is that all you have to say to me?”

He had hurried back despite the urgent summons from his domain. He hadn’t expected to be welcomed with open arms, but Ashika’s impatient attitude made his temper flare.

“I surely told Mia to deliver…”

“I heard you were receiving marriage proposals?”

Ashika’s voice suddenly dropped. Her face showed clear signs of embarrassment.

“Ha.”

He had hoped it wasn’t true, but it was.

Drushia had rushed back to the Duke’s residence to prepare for an unscheduled ball. Meanwhile, the news Kalf had delivered struck a decisive blow to Drushia, who was already displeased.

It was something Duke Igraine had expedited, he’d said. Since it involved receiving marriage proposals, Talion wasn’t concerned and had received the news late.

“So while you were meeting me, you were also preparing for marriage. Was that really the case?”

He couldn’t believe it. The fact that Ashika would marry someone other than him.

No, though he knew it was a future that would come someday, he felt an unbearable revulsion. The fact that Ashika wouldn’t be in his life felt as if his entire future had vanished.

His blue eyes froze like a winter lake. Ashika’s lips wouldn’t move to deny it.

She didn’t understand why this man was so angry, or what he wanted. Didn’t he know they couldn’t promise a future together?

From the beginning, their relationship was destined to end. The end had just come sooner than expected. A relationship that had begun like a midsummer night’s dream should end as a dream.

Her hesitant lips opened, and words she didn’t mean flowed out.

“Didn’t we both know this from the start?”

“Is that what you call an explanation?”

Drushia’s voice dropped even lower. His suppressed emotions leaked through his teeth along with his subdued voice.

“I told you. I don’t engage with other women while having a fiancée. The opposite applies as well.”

“It wasn’t a relationship we started so seriously anyway.”

“Don’t judge my feelings as you please!”

When had it been? When he began to feel her sincere honesty in those black eyes looking at him. Before he could doubt or question, Drushia had been swept away by that emotion. Without realizing it, he had come to trust Ashika.

And now she was saying it was nothing? That she was just a partner satisfying desires?

“You’re lying.”

He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it. Even now, her wavering black eyes revealed her true feelings that she couldn’t hide.

“This marriage is being pushed by my grandfather. I cannot defy his wishes.”

Drushia’s movements stopped abruptly. The most crucial reality he could do nothing about.

Adult men and women in the Empire could marry whomever they wished. However, the right to designate a family heir belonged entirely to the head of the family, and as long as the family head was alive, not even the Emperor could interfere.

If Ashika defied Weive’s will, she could lose all her rights to the family. So from the beginning, Ashika had no choice in the matter of marriage.

A tense silence pulled them taut. The feeling of anxious hearts and wounded sincerity cutting each other sharply. The desire to run away right now and the desperate feeling of not wanting to let go suffocated her.

The darkly shining blue eyes were fixed on Ashika without moving. Ashika’s face, meeting that gaze, was colder and harder than ever.

He wanted to mercilessly shatter that thin shell. Drushia’s lips opened, and a voice breaking the tension flowed out.

“Get engaged to me.”

Ashika’s eyes widened as much as they possibly could.

“What…”

“You need to get married, and I can’t let you go, so I’m finding the best solution. Whether it’s engagement or marriage, do it with me.”

It was a desperately simple solution. Except for the fact that it wasn’t realistically possible.

“No.”

At her resolute refusal, Drushia’s face crumpled fiercely.

“So you’ll marry another man despite me? Do you think that’s possible?”

He never wanted to see another man beside this woman. If he had to see such a sight, he would either gouge out his own eyes or gouge out and dispose of the man who would be her partner.

Murderous intent poured from his wide eyes. At his intimidating gaze, Ashika twisted her captured wrist.

“Let me go now.”

While thinking this wasn’t right, Ashika found herself partly relieved.

“It hurts.”

Only then did the strength leave his hand gripping her. But Drushia didn’t withdraw his ominous intensity.

“Don’t delude yourself into thinking you can end this as you please just because you started it.”

He stepped back. He contained his previously fierce attitude with a polite gesture. After looking down at Ashika for a moment, Drushia moved away without hesitation.

On Drushia’s back as he turned away, emotions he was trying to erase lingered like afterimages.

****

After canceling his trip to his domain and urgently attending the ball, Drushia shut himself in his office. More precisely, he stood by the office window like a statue, motionless.

As time raced toward dawn, a bluish light of daybreak was leaking through the large glass window. In the approaching dim light, the indistinct world was taking shape. How nice it would be if he could see Ashika’s heart this clearly.

Was this relationship like playing with fire for her? A relationship started without considering the consequences because it was her first. But one she could discard at any time in the face of cold reality.

No, that’s what he had thought. While being faithful to desire, hadn’t he calculated whether to move forward, propose a political marriage, or withdraw?

He thought he had prepared himself mentally to be able to pull back at any time, but that was an illusion. He had long since cleared such thoughts from his mind.

It was an emotion he had never felt for any other woman. He had wondered if it was because of the excessively ecstatic lovemaking. Every time they met, he had explored her desperately, so it was indeed intoxicatingly blissful.

‘But that’s not all of it.’

Each time he held Ashika, he felt a fulfilling satisfaction swelling in his chest. It was an emotion he had never experienced in his life. After feeling such an overwhelming emotion, could he hold another woman in his arms?

Her lovable gestures and affectionate voice, an unexpectedly languid smile, all of those things contained love. As if shouting “I love you” with her entire body.

Every moment with Ashika was intensely sweet. To the point where he absolutely couldn’t let her go.

Around dawn, there was a knock. It was Kalf, who, like Drushia, had not been able to sleep and was waiting.

“Your Grace, how would you like to proceed with today’s schedule?”

He had canceled all appointments to go to his domain. Everyone was on edge because there had been no instructions about whether to return to the daily routine or proceed to the domain.

Drushia slowly moved away from the window. He took firm steps with undisturbed movements.

He stared at the blank document on his desk for a moment. The series of actions—opening the ink bottle and moistening the pen—were as smooth as flowing water. Without even sitting in the chair, he quickly scribbled with the pen while standing there.

Kalf silently watched Drushia. He didn’t ask anything because he couldn’t dare guess what his master was thinking.

Drushia’s pen tip slid vigorously with the final signature. He picked up the completed document and carefully handed it to Kalf.

“Send it to Igraine.”

Kalf’s eyes widened as if they would pop out when he received the document. The usually calm aide rarely lost his composure.

“Are you serious?”

“Do you think I would create and send such an official document as a joke?”

“This… will cause quite a stir.”

“That’s why I’m sending it.”

Kalf was speechless for a moment. For a while, he had the disloyal thought that Drushia, who had been showing incomprehensible behavior lately, might have finally lost his mind.

“What message should I send to the domain?”

“Tell them the schedule is postponed. For one week… no, damn it!”

Drushia roughly rubbed his face with his hand. His voice was fierce as he muttered a small curse.

All his previously cold calculations had gone awry. Despite the urgent problems piling up, his mind was filled with thoughts of Ashika. Because of the anxiety that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t resolve this issue now.

“Later, I’ll think about all the problems later.”

An anxious sigh escaped. His blood ran cold at the thought that the person concerned might not want this.

‘She’s not a woman who would casually meet just anyone. For Ashika, I was her first and everything.’

For anyone, the first time is intense. It was an extremely flimsy reason, but Drushia pinned his hopes on it.

Ashika needed to know. That he had no intention of backing down easily. That she couldn’t easily escape from his hands.