Chapter 71: Establishing Discipline (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: Establishing Discipline (3)
Rune fell asleep in my arms, her breathing soft and rhythmic.
Looking at her like this, she seemed like nothing more than a cute young lady, but in reality, she carried the heavy burden of being the successor to a Great Lord on her shoulders.
If possible, as her lover, I wanted to share that weight with her.
‘The Young Lady has been very lonely since the death of her kin. That is a void that neither the Countess nor I can fill.’
Just as the old man had hinted to me, Rune had a deficiency she kept hidden from others.
I believed that once she saw me as her definitive husband material, the possessiveness and obsession stemming from that void began to manifest intensely.
Naturally, from the moment I first held Rune, I had assumed our relationship was a prelude to marriage. However, there were things the Countess had said that continued to weigh on my mind.
‘The name Alto Bertrand carries immense weight. In a world where men have become so scarce, and a man of your caliber is truly rare, even saying the word “monogamy” would be a stretch. Lady Airune must be able to acknowledge this and show consideration. It was partly to create even a sliver of that emotional leeway—and because I believed that if it were her, she could eventually embrace others—that I intentionally arranged for her to meet you first.’
Rune was precious to me.
It went without saying, but she truly was.
She was the one who first showed her feelings for me, and if anything, her possessiveness had bolstered my self-esteem.
However, I was now realizing that to build a family and protect my boundaries in accordance with this world, I would also need Rune’s concessions and consideration.
I kissed the crown of the sleeping Rune’s head, tucked a pillow into her arms in my stead, and stepped out of the tent.
Lady Narupa was standing in a corner of the camp, keeping watch with several magic circles floating around her.
“It’s not my turn for watch yet, is it?”
“I wanted to talk.”
“Right. I was actually waiting to see when you’d come out.”
She had explained that the magic circles were a type of alarm system—devices that would alert us with vibrations and noise if anything other than our party members approached.
After confirming that the magic circles were quiet, I drew closer to Lady Narupa.
“I’m glad. I like that you came to me first.”
“So suddenly?”
“Of course. It’s time alone with the man I like, after all.”
“Why do you like me?”
“That’s a rude question. I think I’ve made my feelings plenty clear by now.”
She wasn’t wrong.
From our very first meeting, she had said I was her type, and since then, she had made several attempts to touch me whenever she was out of Rune’s sight.
“Do you still lack confidence in yourself?”
“No. Rune loves me, and you’re expressing yourself quite diligently, My Lady.”
“I’m jealous. I’m the one who’s lacking.”
“In self-confidence?”
“Yes. In many ways.”
She gently leaned her head against my shoulder. The sensation of that moderate weight on my shoulder wasn’t unpleasant.
“You remember… my father, right?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a complete madman, isn’t he?”
I couldn’t possibly deny it.
In truth, among the Four Heroes, there wasn’t a single sane person besides Marquis Dakuren.
Bisharen was a man who acted entirely on his own whims.
Before joining the army, while researching magic, he had proudly bragged to me about how he used to demolish anything he found annoying or obstructive.
“I believe blood runs very thick.”
Lady Narupa began her story with those cryptic words.
“That’s why I think I take after my father a lot. Especially in personality.”
“You do, My Lady?”
While the fact that both father and daughter liked me was a similarity, Lady Narupa seemed far more mature compared to the violent tyrant that was Bisharen.
From what I had seen so far, whenever Rune acted spoiled, Lady Narupa was usually the one to yield.
In contrast, if Bisharen didn’t acknowledge someone, he wouldn’t yield; he would take what he wanted by force.
“Because I watched my father, I saw how many enemies he made and how many people tried to harm me because of him. So I always felt it. I realized that if I lived my life venting every bit of my temper like my father did, things would end badly.”
Her head shifted slightly against me, finding a more comfortable position.
“Is that why? I always take on all the responsibility and do nothing but yield.”
There was a sorrowful resonance in those words, so I reached out and stroked Lady Narupa’s hair.
I heard her catch her breath for a moment, but soon her breathing steadied.
“I studied magitech and became a businesswoman with my own factory, thinking that if I contributed to the world—unlike my father—people would see me in a good light. But society is just a cold and terrifying place.”
“It is heartless.”
“Count and Countess Dakuus looked after Rune and me, but the two of us were always empty somewhere. Having each other helped us endure, but we always wanted something of our very own.”
The Countess had added something regarding this.
She said that while both were lonely, their ways of dealing with that loneliness were different.
“Rune couldn’t endure that deficiency, so if there was something she wanted, she refused to give it up. No matter how nonsensical it was.”
“She does have a side to her that prefers to try things first before judging.”
“But I… I endured and endured because I didn’t want to become like my father. If Rune asked for something, I gave it to her. If others wanted me to do something, I did it. My own desires and the things I wanted to do were pushed further and further back. I became the exact opposite of my father.”
“……”
“That’s why I even had a hard time getting a single hair tie I liked. Rune would always take it first. Do you know what happened to that hair tie I finally managed to get my hands on?”
“I have no idea.”
Lady Narupa smiled broadly.
“It’s still locked away in my precious treasure box, never having seen the light of day. I didn’t know when Rune might ask for it, so I’ve never actually used it to tie my hair.”
Twitch.
Uh… someone’s hand was currently stroking very deep into my inner thigh.
“I tend to keep the things I cherish very, very close, in a space all my own, hoping to be with them forever.”
That hand was gradually moving upward.
“Anyway, I’ve lived a life of nothing but yielding. But this time, something has appeared that I absolutely do not want to give up.”
“Is that… me?”
Grip.
Her hand firmly squeezed my thigh from a very dangerous position.
A touch from someone other than myself provided a very strange sense of elation.
“That’s right.”
“It might be a bit late to ask, but why me?”
“Why do I like you?”
“Yes.”
“I wonder.”
“Pardon?”
“How did I come to like you? I don’t know. You see, Alto, if you keep chasing the ‘why,’ the answer you eventually reach is ‘I don’t know.’”
Lady Narupa’s hand moved up to the very edge.
“Was it love at first sight? Yes. I felt you were my partner of destiny. Why did I feel that way? I don’t know. See? I’m already stuck at the second ‘why.’”
Her fingers were pressing firmly against the crease at the very top of my inner thigh.
“Let me ask you instead. Alto, since when did Rune become so lovely to you?”
“Probably…”
I couldn’t quite recall.
At some point, I just found my eyes following her.
“See? Surprisingly, we don’t consciously recognize the trigger; what remains are the current feelings and emotions. It’s the same for me.”
Her hand pressed against the joint of my inner thigh, and the back of that hand was covered by the weight of my manhood.
“Um… I didn’t come here for this.”
“I wanted this. I’ve wanted this all along.”
Her other arm slid along my side and reached around to the other side.
“Alto, do you know? The moment I first saw you, I briefly forgot the fact that I am Narupa Diberuper. I just… I just thought, I want to be a woman by that man’s side. I thought I would be truly happy if I could just have that.”
A sticky sensuality seeped into her voice, and a dampness thick with carnal desire seemed to drip from her words.
“I want you. No, it’s the opposite. Please take me. It was instinct. Instinctively, I felt that I must not let a man like you go. So, for the first time in my life, I moved first. To get what I wanted, I acted without looking around me.”
She openly pressed her nose against my body and inhaled my scent.
“I tried my best to flirt in my own way, but our Lord Alto’s heart was so deeply wounded that he wouldn’t accept me, would he?”
“It was indeed very deep.”
It still hasn’t fully healed. It hasn’t even become a scar yet.
“But after that incident at the salon, Rune snatched you away.”
Lady Narupa’s breathing began to grow ragged.
“Why? Why was it her? I was there too… If only I had known you were in the same space, I could have acted just like Rune did… In the end, it was Rune who moved, and you accepted her and walked away right in front of me.”
She poured out her resentment toward Rune.
“You were stolen from me.”
“Lady Narupa.”
“Alto, it’s not too late even now. Choose me. If you choose me, I can make those girls who hurt you, and even this world, customized solely for you. I can do it. It’s not because I’m Bisharen’s daughter, Narupa. It’s because I am me. Only for you.”
The hand that had been fumbling at my side grabbed my face and forced it toward her.
“Won’t you become mine?”
Her eyes were curved into a gentle crescent, but…
“I didn’t originally plan for it to be like this. I just wanted to have a warm conversation.”
Within them dwelt the madness of an endless obsession.
“I just… I just like you so much. I can’t stand it.”
It was a madness of a different texture than what Bisharen had shown.
“I can treat you so well. More preciously than anyone else…! So… instead of Rune, be mine.”
Yes, now I knew for sure.
I understood exactly why the old man and the Countess had designed it so that Rune would be my first lover.
Regardless of being accustomed to yielding and consideration, Narupa was far more narrow-minded than Rune.
Her greed for what she truly wanted was utterly unrestrained.
In that case?
“Narupa.”
“…!”
“How dare you try to get cheeky with your future husband?”
I’d have to establish some discipline, wouldn’t I?