Baron Dostern (Part Two)
What…?
What on earth was that man saying to her?
Become a Huscarl’s wife? A Huscarl—who? Surely he didn’t mean… with him?
Only then did Darin meet the gaze of the baron who had been watching her. After so long apart, he felt strangely unfamiliar.
Because what burned in those seething red eyes was nothing like loyalty to his lord.
“Parchin!”
Her voice rose before she could even grasp whether he meant it. That remark was not the sort of thing one could brush off as a joke or a slip of the tongue.
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Tension and a crawling dread seized the girl’s entire body at once. She had heard only a single sentence, yet her emotions were already spiraling far beyond reason.
Then again, the words had been that unexpected. Or perhaps she simply did not want to believe them.
Between the forced violation by her own son and the earlier assault by the Hero, Darin was thoroughly sick of any man who looked at her as a woman.
And now, in the middle of all that, one of the vassals she had trusted without question suddenly saw her as a conquest?
Without the slightest warning—simply because she had lost her husband and become a widow? Of course she could not accept it so easily.
“Wh-why all of a sudden? You were a good man. No—you were a good friend. So why would you say something like this to me…?”
She was so flustered that her pale cheeks flushed scarlet. Watching the cold sweat bead on her skin only sharpened the baron’s thirst. The startled young lady looked as timid as a cornered doe, and that made her all the more appetizing.
“You just want to sleep with me once? Is it something that simple? Or are you after power…?”
She seemed unused to seeing the man who had always been so gentle bare his lust. Darin tried desperately to read his intentions, but—
“It is nothing of the sort.”
None of her guesses had hit the mark.
“I have loved you for a great many years, my lady. Since you were a small child—far smaller than you are now.”
The baron’s red eyes tracked her earthquake-stricken amber ones. Darin averted her gaze as best she could and raised her voice.
“That’s absurd! What are you talking about, after all this time!”
And she was afraid. She was terrified. And last of all, she felt a vast, crushing sense of betrayal—exactly as she had on the day the Viscount of Bayorn had suddenly ceased to be a “friend” and become a “beast.”
“Is there any reason it should be absurd? I am, in the end, a servant of Bayorn. I have simply endured for a very long time.”
The baron gazed past the window with a distant expression. The weather had been just this fine on the day this woman had married the Viscount.
How had that man gotten his hands on this girl? The answer was obvious. Like any man of Bayorn’s raiding people, he had simply forced her to become his woman.
“You always said a man ought to be kind and gentle, my lady. There was a time I believed those words myself.”
Ironically, the man who had claimed the girl called Mandarin had been nothing like the kind, gentle sort she described. He had stepped back, just as she advised, trying to win her favor slowly through consideration—and the ending had been the exact opposite.
“But looking back now, I regret playing the gentleman while I was nothing but a barbarian. That is how I lost you.”
And so he had finally understood. The one who truly claimed the woman he loved was not the good man, but the vicious, relentless one. And if that man also held power—so much the better.
“Which means the Viscount’s absence is as good as a second chance for me. It will be difficult at first, but I believe the offer is not a bad one from your perspective either, my lady.”
“Y-you…!”
Darin let out a strangled cry. And then she remembered a conversation she had once had with her son in a carriage.
Be careful of Baron Dostern.
She had dismissed it as nonsense and ignored it all this time—only for it to turn out true. Then were the claims that certain vassals admired her also true? Darin shook her head. She did not want to think any deeper on the subject.
She flicked her eyes left and right, scanning the room. If anyone overheard this conversation, a storm would surely break over House Bayorn.
His faction was far too powerful to simply brand him a traitor and punish him severely. He had also been her friend for years; a woman as soft-hearted as she could not suddenly turn hostile without difficulty.
And if she set her emotions aside and judged coldly, a vassal’s affection for a widowed Grand Lady was certainly improper—but it was not a crime grave enough to warrant the iron rod.
I don’t know what will come of this later, but right now, a rumor would do no good. The territory is unstable enough as it is…
If her son learned of this, he would certainly make an enemy of the baron. At worst, it could lead to civil war.
That must not happen.
As a regional warlord house, the Viscounty of Bayorn already held a narrow position. Division would benefit no one—least of all her son, the new head of the family.
Baron Dostern had almost certainly thrown this gambit knowing the political advantage he held. He might be of martial stock, but he was no fool who could not use his head.
If the territory’s power weakened and stayed that way, the worst outcome was that they might never even receive the countship the Emperor had promised.
“P-Parchin. Take back what you just said. You know as well as I do that this is not the time.”
Kael might well be her only remaining blood. And so this mother did not want her son forced into a difficult position.
“There is no need to shrink like that, my lady.”
The red-haired man wore a sly smile. He roughly understood what this woman feared.
Indeed—if he had not known, he would never have confessed his feelings so abruptly. Beyond that, he seemed to have prepared any number of measures to claim her. His sticky smile brimmed with confidence.
“I am not the late Viscount. Give me only your promise to become my partner, and I will prove I am not a bad man. I will also pledge my full cooperation in the investigation of this incident.”
“Shut up!”
Even so, Darin could not accept it on the spot. Too much information had flooded in too quickly; she needed time to sort her thoughts.
The fact that a man she had thought a friend had been looking at her as a woman was one thing. Turning a loyal vassal into an enemy left her with no good options either.
But to become the consort of the Huscarls’ leader, as he proposed?
It would certainly make House Bayorn wealthier—yet she could not bring herself to accept it. And the son who already looked at her as a woman would never permit it.
“That is the most vicious joke I have heard in a long time.”
The truth was, even if the choice were correct, she no longer wanted to allow another man between her legs. So why, of all people, did Kael come to mind in the middle of this? Darin decided the heat of stress was simply making her think unnecessary things.
“I will pretend I didn’t hear it for now. Get out.”
Biting her lip, Darin struggled to keep her composure. She wanted nothing more than to scream and thrash like a madwoman, but she refused to show him any further disarray.
— Ugh.
And she wanted those disgusting eyes, raking over every corner of her body, gone as quickly as possible.
“What are you saying?”
But the baron was not a man so easily dismissed.
“You call a man’s sincere proposal a joke? That is a harsh thing to say.”
They had barely exchanged a few words, yet a crushing fatigue washed over her. Seeing through the window how late the night had grown, Darin gave a weak nod. She wanted this wretched conversation finished as soon as possible.
“Fine. Fine—just leave for now. We can discuss this again later, once I’ve had time to think.”
Even faced with her open rejection, the baron showed no sign of withdrawing. Another thought was already turning in his mind.
Rather than retreat now, wouldn’t it be more effective to put a mark on her at once and silence her that way?
In his youth he had always hesitated, and so he had lost her. This was a second chance heaven itself had granted him; he had no desire to step back easily. There would be other opportunities later—but one never knew.
“Hmm. Night is nearly here. Won’t a woman alone grow lonely?”
“What?”
“When I looked through the window earlier, the villa’s bedchamber seemed rather spacious.”
“N-no…”
Was it metaphorical flirting, or outright harassment? What Darin felt was unmistakably the latter. The woman’s face flushed endlessly with shame. Her husband was barely cold, and already some bastard of a man was circling her like a dog in heat.
“That’s enough!”
Ignoring his words, Darin lifted the hem of her dress. If he would not leave, she would. The night felt too unsettled; she would return to the main house to sleep.
Click, click. She tried to leave the reception room with angry strides—
— Bang!
A massive hand shot out and sealed the doorknob. It happened in a matter of seconds.
The only exit was blocked. As Darin’s whole body locked rigid, a voice that raised the hair on her neck settled against her ear.
“My lady. I told you clearly. I am in love with you.”
This was the moment she ought to shove him away with all her strength—yet somehow she could not take a single step. Past experience had taught her that such resistance was meaningless.
“Surely you ought to give me an answer.”
Had she not already said she needed a little time to think? Was this man incapable of waiting even for that? Then she would make her position unmistakably clear.
“I-I don’t want to—I absolutely don’t! Make some other proposal if you must!”
Trembling, Darin stammered the words out with difficulty. From the man’s body pressed close behind her, a nauseating heat radiated.
It squeezed her heart with dread. Consumed by fear, the woman could not turn around; she could only stare into empty air.
“Do you truly believe that pushing me away like this will make me give you up?”
Before she knew it, those eerie red pupils had moved into her field of vision. He gazed at the frightened woman’s eyes as though they were precious. And within them lay a faint resentment toward the woman who refused him.
“My lady—no. Darin.”
The instant his hot breath settled against her hair—
“Hik!?”
—a sticky hand sank into her waist.
“I very much wish to call on you tonight.”
It was an open threat. Those words, dressed as a simple confession, carried a great deal of meaning. An implication that if she left this place in silence now, she would certainly face the consequences.
Clever Darin grasped the intent behind the whisper at once. But understanding it only left her unable to move either way, her skin turning pale.
“Ah—ah…”
The red beast stared at the pitiful lips of the woman who could not hide her agitation. He swallowed. They looked sweeter and more delicious than any fruit.
“M-my lady!”
Then a hand of salvation arrived. Emma, one of Darin’s closest attendants, pushed open the wooden door. She must have grown worried when the Grand Lady was late returning.
And she had not come alone. Among those with her was a Huscarl, who, the moment he spotted the baron, delivered a message.
“My lord Baron—the head of the house summons you!”