Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Seductress
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Daphne reached out and stroked Asherad's cheek. She felt the smooth texture warmed just right. Asherad gazed at her silently.
What he said no longer mattered.
“What if I get bored of you?”
Asherad stared at her face before lifting the corner of his mouth in a cold smile.
“Why? Do you think I’ll let you go?”
His hazy eyes gleamed with cruelty. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it as if to crush it.
Before Daphne could say anything, Asherad spoke.
“Of course…”
“…”
“If I get bored, I’ll kill you.”
His answer didn’t shock her. Daphne asked flatly.
“How?”
“Well, why don’t you try running away.”
His growling words sent chills down her spine. So the only path to escape was death. The warning was so gentle that it tormented her even more.
“I won’t run.”
Asherad scoffed at her words. It was a mocking laugh that said she was full of it.
“There’s no way to run. Everything’s in Your Majesty’s grasp.”
As she spoke, Daphne slid her hand down to caress Asherad’s lips. At his expression questioning what she was doing, she said.
“I’ll stop painting. Since you hate it.”
“…”
“I won’t harbor any doubts or resentment about it.”
“…”
Daphne pushed herself up on her knees, straddled the lying Asherad, and looked down at him.
“Are you going to send me back to that room? If you get angry, will you turn me into a maid again? Do I have to go back to that room?”
A moment of silence fell. Though drunk and his reason clouded, Asherad could tell Daphne was demanding something.
Don’t discard me as a maid, don’t send me back to that room,
Give me assurance.
“That’s what scares me.”
“…”
“It scares me so much that nothing feels enjoyable.”
No matter what situation he faced, Asherad held power over her. Everything about her depended on his will.
Asherad realized things had gone his way. He looked at Daphne. She wore her usual fragile expression, on the verge of tears.
“I got angry and regretted it. Afraid I’d have to go back there.”
Yes. Daphne didn’t want to return to that place.
The woman looking down at him seemed quite pitiful. Her uncharacteristic behavior now was because she didn’t want to go back to that room, didn’t want things to revert to how they were. That’s why she felt anxious about his affection waning.
Ah, yes, you haven’t changed at all.
Asherad smiled in triumph.
Something felt off, but on the surface, it was a logical chain of emotions he could accept. Asherad lifted Daphne and whispered to her in that same sweet voice as before.
“Of course. I’ll never send you back there.”
“…”
“I swear it on my name.”
Asherad raised his hand to stroke her hair. Daphne closed her eyes and smiled happily at his touch, just like that time.
Daphne leaned down and pressed her lips to Asherad’s. It was a feather-light kiss. At her tentative kiss, the reclining Asherad grabbed her waist and the back of her head, pulling her down.
“Ah!”
Daphne’s eyes flew wide in surprise. Leaning over him, their lips met, and his tongue plunged deep.
She lifted her hips to pull away, but it only stimulated his legs in the process.
Even as they kissed, Daphne was startled by the sensation against her hips.
To this extent… She hadn’t expected him to react this much.
Daphne tried to respond with her tongue, but it wasn’t enough. The sharp scent of alcohol filled the air, leaving her dazed as if intoxicated by it too.
Daphne gently pulled her face away instead of struggling. Strangely, Asherad released her lips.
She wiped her saliva-glistened lips and glared at him before kissing his nape, just as he had done to her before.
She could feel his breath quicken. His low, ragged breathing sounded like a growl. His hand trailed up her lower body, lifting her skirt. Daphne was startled. He had suddenly stripped off her drawers.
With her undergarments gone from her lower half, she widened her eyes and looked down.
As he pulled them down and they caught on her hips, he supported her waist with his other hand and yanked them off. Once they slipped free from one leg at her knee, Asherad sat her back down on top of him.
Daphne tried to remove the drawers dangling from her ankle, but he bucked his hips sharply, forcing her to look at him in surprise.
Through his trouser fabric, the hot sensation pressed vividly against her. Even without joining, it felt so real. Not content with that, he gripped her waist and moved her.
Daphne’s breath hitched.
“Daphne.”
“…”
“You’re moving your hips well on your own.”
At his words, Daphne realized she was moving without his hands guiding her.
“You have to move.”
At his gentle command, Daphne moved her hips again. She looked down at Asherad. Things had gone as she wished.
Daphne had much to gain from this man. Assurance he wouldn’t demote her to maid, funds for when she fled, trust to loosen her leash for escape.
She smiled coldly. A woman seducing a man atop him to extract what she wanted.
Wasn’t that exactly the mother’s image she never wanted to become?
Fearing he’d detect her repulsive self-loathing, Daphne leaned down and kissed Asherad. That night’s lovemaking was bitter and even more intense.
And so, Daphne became Asherad’s official lover, the seductress of the Imperial Palace.
* * *
Daphne rose from her seat. Golden sunlight poured in. The gauzy summer chiffon dress fluttered with her every movement, its hem seeming to melt away.
Close her eyes and open them, and a day—no, two days—had flown by.
They were sweet days.
Settling as Asherad’s lover meant forsaking something within herself.
Yet above all, they were precarious days on thin ice. She received treatment far beyond her station, unbelievable that Asherad had “impulsively” declared her his lover.
Daphne needed to know if this was temporary or when it would end. So she tested the waters with small whims.
She wheedled for clothes, demanded fruits out of season, even said the garden stroll would relieve her stuffiness.
All received Asherad’s permission.
It was dishearteningly easy.
Thus, clad in flowing garments, she could now enter even the secret garden she once had to sneak into carefully.
Under the scorching summer sun, strolling shaded paths with a parasol, no trace remained of the shabby rat-like girl who once lived in that storeroom.
Everyone marveled at her transformation. Her radiant golden hair like sunlight, porcelain skin, graceful gestures and demeanor. Many took interest in the woman who appeared briefly then vanished.
But Daphne paid no mind to the changed treatment from others.
Her concern was how long she could enjoy this life. For now, it lasted as long as Asherad visited her bedchamber nightly.
Would he come tonight too? Lost in thought, she smiled coldly. She truly understood what ego dissolution meant.
This place was a sweet prison.
A mirage prison that could vanish at Asherad’s whim. She now knew why storybook concubines vied so desperately for the king’s love.
When love faded, so did the privileges. For Daphne, it meant death.
Asherad and Daphne never spoke of escape again. She couldn’t leave the palace, and night after night, they entwined.
Amid it all, what kept Daphne sane was…
“Didn’t I tell you not to go outside?!”
Callista’s presence.
Callista appeared before Daphne with her ladies-in-waiting and maids in tow. Daphne bowed her head.
“A wench like you is a disgrace. Do you even know where you are, wandering around?”
“His Majesty permitted it.”
“I didn’t.”
Callista laughed girlishly with the young ladies behind her.
“Even if His Majesty permits it, you shouldn’t dare set foot on the ground.”
Callista tapped Daphne’s forehead with her index finger. Giggles filled her ears. Daphne felt humiliated. Yet oddly relieved.
Callista’s bullying was commonplace. But the more she acted out, the more Daphne faced reality.
Her cozy bed, beautiful clothes, jewels—all mere temporaries.
Unlike them, she had nothing, was lowly and insignificant, no match for them.
So Asherad stayed silent through such incidents, didn’t he? Professing love yet ignoring Callista’s torments was a contradiction.
That contradiction sharpened her mind.
Perhaps Asherad truly favored Callista. Maybe keeping her was just as Callista said—a substitute.
“I’m sorry.”
Daphne bowed her head. Submissively, without a hint of defiance, her face blank.
Callista liked Daphne’s obedience but found it frustrating now.
No satisfying impact, so to speak.
“Ugh!”
Callista shoved Daphne’s head hard with her finger. Daphne toppled backward.
Sadly, no maid caught her. She fell on her rear and had to endure the peals of laughter.