Invitation of the Crescent Moon - Chapter 83

The checkpoint had resumed its passage operations. The merchant group had received back their permits and was granted permission to enter the Grand Duchy as soon as the checkpoint gates opened tomorrow morning.

Drushia’s lodgings had been moved from near the checkpoint to inside the town. Nile was once again assigned surveillance, and Ashika was guided to a room adjacent to Drushia’s. Of course, when Ashika entered that room, Drushia followed behind her.

The largest and finest room on the highest floor of the inn building. It came with a bedroom featuring a lavish, large bed that could only be seen in nobles’ mansions, along with a separate reception room and even a bathroom. Ashika removed her hooded cloak and hung it on a chair.

Only then was Ashika’s appearance properly revealed. Traveler’s trousers and tall boots, with an upper garment slightly larger than her frame hanging loosely. Though her attire was comfortable, the material was of the finest quality.

Her black hair, braided into a single strand and let down, still gleamed with luster despite the long journey. Seeing her boots with hardly any dust on them, she felt relieved thinking the journey couldn’t have been too arduous.

Drushia stood by the door, watching every detail of Ashika’s attire and movements without so much as stirring. Standing guard at the door was an action that came out unconsciously—behavior born from the anxiety that she might flee.

Despite having frantically chased after her, Drushia found it difficult to speak first. It was because he had provided the decisive cause that led Ashika to even resort to running away from home.

‘Is she angry?’

She must be angry. She had to endure things she shouldn’t have had to because of him. Now that he thought about it, he realized anew just how tremendous a thing he had done.

He wished she would at least get angry, but Ashika still wouldn’t open her mouth. She seemed ready to keep her mouth shut and spend the night in silence, so it was ultimately Drushia who spoke first.

“I’m sorry this happened. I started this intending to resolve it on my own, but I ended up putting you in a difficult position.”

Ashika’s gaze remained fixed somewhere around the floor. Did she find even looking at his face distasteful? Anxious and uneasy, Drushia desperately suppressed the urge to rush to her immediately.

“It’s Igraine and Talion, so it wouldn’t be surprising no matter what happened.”

Not a sarcastic tone, but a calm one. Drushia felt something sharp cut through somewhere in his heart.

Something was strange. Though he had watched Ashika for a long time, this was the first time he had seen her so ice-cold. Even when the two of them used to growl at each other, it had never been this frigid.

“Aren’t you curious why I came all the way here?”

At Drushia’s subdued tone, Ashika finally turned to look at him.

Pure black eyes without any impurities mixed in. The eyes looking at him felt like a deep well whose bottom couldn’t be seen. Looking into those distant eyes, he began to think that perhaps everything that had happened over the past month had all been a dream.

‘Was I the only one raging around like a madman?’

Was he the only one who had been shaken, angered, and burning with anxiety? The anxious, yearning heart he had felt was being mercilessly torn apart by that undisturbed gaze.

Perhaps that was why he had felt uneasy the entire time he was with her. In his greed to possess her more certainly, he had ultimately been unable to overcome his impulse and sent the marriage proposal. Perhaps it was because he knew that Ashika could turn her back on him at any time.

“I have a request.”

Ashika lightly ignored his desperate question. Whether she had dismissed it or simply didn’t want to know, even that was difficult to tell.

“A request?”

“Can you grant it?”

Drushia’s expression twisted subtly. A woman who showed not a trace of interest in him was suddenly making a request out of the blue.

“Let me hear what kind of request it is first.”

“I can’t tell you unless you promise to grant it.”

“Ha.”

What kind of nonsense was this? It seemed Ashika had become more shameless during the weeks she had been missing.

Drushia’s gaze sharpened. He felt both resentful and curious about what kind of request she was making while turning away from his yearning heart. So sarcastic words naturally spilled out.

“Your basic attitude for making requests is lacking. If you say it like that, it becomes a demand, not a request.”

“Then what should I do for you to grant it?”

Her indifferent tone stabbed at his heart once again.

Did this woman really feel nothing at all? While he was floundering in the mud at her every word. The emotions that had barely subsided began to boil up again.

“Would you do everything I tell you to do?”

The black eyes looking at him blinked slowly. He felt his chest tighten because he seemed to know what answer would come.

“If you promise to definitely grant my request.”

Drushia’s mouth fell open in surprise. What had changed her in that short time? Or rather, what had made her so desperate?

Drushia clenched his hand that had been twitching to grab her. His hand, clenched so tightly that blue veins bulged, tingled.

He could hear the hallucination of his self-control cracking. He was torn between the thought that he should leave before doing something rash and the desire to keep Ashika before his eyes—more precisely, the desire to confine her to his side.

“What do you think I might demand?”

“Whatever it is, I’ll do anything I can.”

The emotions that had been boiling reached some breaking point and snapped, cutting the thread of reason. Heat rippled in his deep blue eyes, and the distance between the two was instantly closed. Drushia stepped forward and cupped Ashika’s face with both hands, lifting it up.

“Gasp…”

Beyond the instantly entangled breaths came the gentle scent of wildflowers. It was Ashika’s fragrance.

Ashika was pushed back by the crushing force that rushed at her. Pushed back and back until the back of her head touched the wall, Drushia’s lips devoured hers as if they would consume them.

Ashika’s body, which had been as cold as an emotionless doll, responded. Like metal clinging to a magnet, her body wrapped around Drushia’s solid form. The arms embracing her waist, the sensation of her soft feminine body entangled with his legs—everything was heating up intensely.

Thank goodness. Even in that brief moment, Drushia felt relief.

Even if Ashika’s response was only physical, it was better than seeing her like an unresponsive doll as she had been moments before. Though his heart ached and hurt, he could endure even that.

Though he didn’t know why he felt such desperate feelings, one thing he could feel clearly: he would absolutely never be able to let go of Ashika’s hand.

****

The time when the bluish dawn light gradually brightened and changed to golden. The distinct features of the man’s face were bathed in soft light as bright blonde hair and sunlight intertwined.

Ashika’s gaze had been resting on Drushia’s peacefully sleeping face for quite some time.

Thick eyebrows and the distinct, deeply set eyes beneath them, a sharply defined nose bridge and full red lips. Despite his handsome features, his face with its bold lines gave a strong impression. It had been a full month since seeing his face sleeping so peacefully.

‘His face has become rough.’

The moment she heard Drushia’s voice in front of the luggage cart yesterday, her thoughts stopped and her mind went completely blank. Just the fact that he was right behind her made her feel like she had become an idiot.

‘I thought it might be possible.’

A future where the two of them could be together. The only thing she had worried about for that was her grandfather’s opposition. However, reality was far more cruel than that concern seemed laughably naive.

Now she understood Weive’s actions a little. The reason he had chosen Count Perido’s house, which had weak influence within the empire but had influence abroad. Even his secretly checking the mansion’s secret passages that had been buried for so long.

‘Grandfather intends to help me flee to a foreign country if necessary.’

So a future together with Drushia was fortune that would never come to her.

‘We shouldn’t have gotten close in the first place.’

If that had been the case, she wouldn’t have felt such desperate feelings. When she couldn’t even guarantee her family’s safety because of herself, how could she speak of love? The reality given to her was so harsh that she couldn’t even cry.

Ashika’s endlessly sinking thoughts were interrupted by a knocking sound.

“Your Grace, are you awake?”

“No, come back in a little while.”

A hoarse voice flowed out naturally.

Ashika was surprised to learn that he had been awake and tried to get up from the bed. However, a firm arm quickly wrapped around her waist and laid her back down. A large shadow fell over Ashika’s line of sight.

“Ah…”

“Where are you trying to go again?”

Drushia held down her arms and looked down at her quietly. His eyes showed no trace of sleepiness, as if he had been awake for some time.

“You’re covered in my marks everywhere.”

His gaze swept over her neckline marked with red traces and her full breasts. Unable to bear the burning gaze, Ashika turned her head away. Though her expression showed no change, her cheeks could be seen flushing red.

Her white naked body not yet covered and her feeble struggling movements—they felt maddeningly beautiful, making his heart boil, yet thinking of yesterday’s memories made his blood run cold. The woman who had repeatedly surprised him had once again trampled his heart into the mud.

“What kind of feelings do you think I had chasing you all the way here?”

Ashika didn’t answer. She turned away and wouldn’t even look at him. Yet Drushia wasn’t as tormented as he had been yesterday.

“Why are you trying to run away?”

Flinch—strength entered the hand he held. He could see her tightly pressed lips hardening. Even without saying anything, that small reaction revealed the inner thoughts she wanted to hide.

Ashika reacted unconsciously whenever she was flustered. So pouncing on her last night had been a stroke of genius, Drushia felt relieved anew.

“Do you think I’ll let you go just because you do that?”

“I don’t understand why you’re going this far.”

“I sent a marriage proposal. Talion to Igraine. What kind of resolve do you think made that possible?”

“You probably thought it was definitely beneficial. You must have sent the marriage proposal to formalize our relationship through unavoidable scandal.”

Round, black eyes looked up at him and clearly pointed out Drushia’s calculations point by point.

“You can’t say that’s not true, can you?”

“Ha, so you’re going to come at me like this?”

What Ashika said wasn’t wrong. He had certainly sent the marriage proposal with such calculations. But wasn’t the order of priority different?

“Yes, I’m originally someone with clear calculations. But would that be all there is to it? I’m not so lacking as a person that I’d throw away my pride just for profit.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I express it through actions instead of words. Why don’t you understand that?”

The black eyes blinked slowly. It was a face that didn’t understand because Drushia was uncharacteristically beating around the bush.

“You know what kind of person I am. What do you think is the reason I’m running around like this, unable to get my head straight? That’s my true feelings.”

Ashika’s eyes shook greatly. Drushia was attempting a confession right now. That his feelings for her were real. Not just for the sake of calculating the family’s interests, but that he truly held Ashika in his heart.

Ashika twisted to pull her captured arms free. However, the hands holding her tightened even more.

“Let go… I still have something to say that I didn’t finish yesterday…”

“Look at this. You’re trying to slip away again. I told you. In this relationship, the only thing you could do as you pleased was the beginning. I won’t let you manipulate things as you want anymore.”

“When did I ever manipulate you?”

“Then you didn’t? Suddenly kissing me, pouncing on me physically and completely bewildering me. Then arbitrarily ignoring contact, and when I thought maybe not, passionately rolling around in bed with me again. Then secretly preparing to marry another man. When I sent a marriage proposal, you completely ran away and went into hiding. Ha, now that I say it, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

As all the misdeeds Ashika had committed poured out in succession, her black eyes widened in shock. Since not one of them could be denied as fact, her face flushed hot.

The corner of Drushia’s mouth twisted upward.

“Even you think it’s too much, don’t you? At this point, wouldn’t it be reasonable for me to go crazy and rampage?”

“…We both enjoyed it.”

“That’s right, we both enjoyed it. So I can’t let you go. Do you understand now?”

Though he was speaking calmly, an obsessive heat could be felt in his deep blue eyes. An obsessive will that wouldn’t give her any way to escape no matter what clung to her.

Unable to handle that gaze, Ashika closed her eyes.

She needed Drushia. So she couldn’t refuse him, at least not right now.

“I said I had a request. That matter is more urgent for me.”

The corner of Drushia’s eyes shot up sharply.

“You don’t miss opportunities. You’re even worse than me.”

Though his tone was grumpy, he didn’t seem to dislike it. It was more like he was relieved that she wasn’t cutting him off sharply or rejecting him like before.

When Ashika opened her eyes again, a different gaze from moments before was looking down at her. Feeling the firm sensation pressing against her lower body, Ashika’s face flushed even redder.

“We agreed to talk.”

“Isn’t it too early?”

The meaning contained in his suggestive voice was so blatant that Ashika twisted her arms with all her might to pull them free. This time, Drushia obediently let her go.

“Don’t be so heartless. It’s not even sincere.”

His casual remark shamelessly hit the mark. He really was a man who left her speechless.

Ashika avoided his persistently clinging gaze, wrapped the sheet around her body, and got up from the bed. She hurriedly gathered her clothes and put them on before Drushia could pounce on her again. Throughout this, his gaze never left Ashika.