Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: If You Love Me, Then Love Me
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Suddenly why? Daphne's mind went blank. Asherad lifted the corner of his mouth in a mocking smile.
“Why? This is your original spot, isn't it?”
The words burrowing into her head were laced with chill. Why was Asherad suddenly acting like this? Hadn't he apologized for hurting her? So why was he doing this now?
Should she pretend to be hurt? No, that would be too obvious. The Asherad right now was dangerous.
“Y-Your Majesty? Did something offend you...?”
“Come here, or should I cut off that ankle?”
His growling voice was murderous. Seeing the thick killing intent shadowing his face, Daphne flinched and trembled.
She wanted to leave. She wanted to escape this place.
Daphne was afraid of this man's inexplicable anger. Forgetting even to breathe, she heightened all her senses and stared at Asherad.
His piercing gaze fixed on her like a beast staring down its prey right before the strike. She couldn't move an inch, as if impaled by a spear.
“Last warning.”
Daphne moved her feet slowly. It was only a short distance, but each step toward him felt as heavy as a thousand tons. The forgotten humiliation resurfaced.
In the past, this had been so natural, so why did it feel so repulsive now?
Daphne sat beside Asherad's chair, precisely below the right armrest. The spot where he often reached out to stroke her hair.
“Good girl.”
A hand rested on her head. Daphne accepted the gentle touch. In the past, receiving this 'favor' had made her happy, but now it brought her no joy at all.
She just stared blankly at the door, as if wishing to leave again.
The hand stroking her hair felt humiliating, like it was gripping and pressing down on her head.
“What, don't you like it?”
Asherad whispered softly. His long fingers trailed down her hair to her chin. He lifted her chin.
“Living comfortably as the Emperor's lover, and now that you're being treated like a dog again, you hate it?”
“......”
“Hm? Daphne.”
His mocking words stabbed into her chest like a blade. Blood flowed from Daphne's heart. But the blood from her heart became tears that flowed into her eyes.
The man looking down at her wasn't facing her. He was looking down on her.
“If you're the Emperor's lover, this is what you have to do.”
As if training a dog.
Asherad looked perfectly suited to lording over and dominating others from above.
She found herself relieved by that familiar sight, which made her shiver. The kindness Asherad had shown her lately had been abnormal, always leaving her anxious.
That 'relief' was the emotion of a dog. It wounded her pride so deeply. Daphne clenched her fists, gripping her skirt. A languid voice echoed in the quiet room.
“You come when I tell you to come.”
“......”
“You go when I tell you to go.”
“......”
“You kneel like a dog when I tell you to kneel.”
“......”
“You love me when I tell you to love me...”
“......”
“And that's that.”
The grip on her chin tightened. Daphne closed her eyes. Tears trickled down her chin.
He squeezed her cheek hard, and his tongue slipped into her slightly parted lips. As the deep kiss filled her mouth, Daphne squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Wet sounds filled her ears.
“Mm...”
Whenever she tried to pull her face away, Asherad yanked her chin back and kept kissing her.
The kiss was sometimes gentle, then savagely devouring her breath. Was her breathing quickening from the kiss, or was he aroused? He lifted Daphne and sat her on his lap in the chair.
Finally, Daphne and Asherad faced each other. He lifted her chin and stared at her for a long while.
He raised a finger and traced her collarbone. It felt as soft as a feather brushing upward. His finger trailed lower, to just above her breast. It pressed into the soft, elastic flesh. As he moved his hand to fondle her breast, Daphne stood up from her seat.
Asherad, still seated, looked up at the rising Daphne. With an indifferent expression, he asked,
“What do you think you're doing?”
“I don't want this anymore.”
Asherad let out a deflating chuckle.
“And?”
“Why... are you humiliating me like this?”
“Humiliating?”
His voice, laced with laughter, was utterly insulting. Daphne stepped back. Submission was a sweet temptation. What she'd done for Asherad all this time. If she fell back into that familiar, humiliating behavior, he would surely be pleased.
He might even reward her.
But she didn't want to.
Tears dropped from Daphne's eyes.
“Do you enjoy seeing me like this, Your Majesty?”
“......”
“Every time you do this, I feel sick.”
“......”
“I hate this so much.”
Daphne backed away. Even as she did, she tensed, wondering if he would stand and slash her ankle, or pin her down and force himself on her.
Her back hit the wall. Daphne watched him, tense as if he were a beast about to tear out her throat.
In that strange standoff, Daphne's hand touched the door handle.
She opened the door and fled outside. Asherad sat in his chair, staring at the door.
Blue moonlight rippled across his face. Then clouds covered the moon, shrouding his face in darkness.
After the long clouds passed, light fell again. The doll-like expressionless man's face twisted.
“Do you enjoy this?”
Asherad muttered. The knuckles of the hand gripping the armrest had turned white.
* * *
On the way back, Daphne looked over her shoulder repeatedly. What if the angry Asherad chased her? What if he overpowered her in an instant and dragged her back to the room? She feared it.
At the end of that terrifying corridor, she reached her room. Seeing the bed, she collapsed onto it and began to sob.
Was kneeling and looking up at Asherad again that humiliating? Of course it was. She had also been scared of his anger.
But above all, it saddened her endlessly that he was trying to treat her like he used to again.
Perhaps Daphne had hoped Asherad would change.
Why?
Why had she hoped that man, whom she didn't love and now found repulsive, would change?
Daphne asked herself. She knew the answer. Daphne bit her lip.
She pitied herself for expecting anything from the man who had treated her like a dog.
There were many reasons to break down and cry besides that. Daphne simply reconfirmed it. Everything Asherad provided depended on his mood.
If he got angry and sent her back to that filthy room. She would spend the rest of her life with the rats until she died.
Her entire life hung on his fingertip. Realizing that unfair relationship anew, she felt wronged.
She could do nothing to Asherad, while only he could shake Daphne.
She wanted to escape. She wanted to escape this place.
“I want to run away... I don't want to live here...”
But finding a way to flee was hopeless. She had no connections in the Imperial Palace, no allies. Who would let the Emperor's lover go? She was even more visible now than when she was just a lowly maid, so Daphne didn't know what to do.
“Tsk tsk, even your crying is so quiet, squeaking like a rat...”
Suddenly, a voice sounded in the sobbing Daphne's room. Daphne startled and tried to scream, but her mouth was covered.
But there were guard knights outside the room?
When Daphne's eyes widened, she saw Count Rocania standing there. He lifted the corner of his mouth at her shocked face.
“I'm not here to kill you, so stay quiet.”
If he wanted to kill her, this moment with her mouth covered would be ideal. Daphne nodded, and the count released his hand from her mouth.
“How did you get in here...?”
“Hiding under a lady's bed is my specialty.”
The middle-aged man chuckled. Daphne anxiously scanned the surroundings. Amanda or Sara, or Viscount Turbul might come here.
“I kept trying to approach you, but it was so damn hard.”
He grumbled. With Duke Turbul and the guard knights around, Count Rocania hadn't been able to get near Daphne at all.
This was a gap he had barely found. If Duke Turbul hadn't been a martial noble with connections, it would have ended with just a greeting.
“What in the world...”
“I thought about it.”
Just then, a knock sounded. Daphne and Count Rocania looked at each other in surprise.
“Pretend to cry.”
Count Rocania muttered that and hid under the bed. She burst into tears again.
“Who is it?”
“It's me.”
It was Yoannis.
[End of Part 1.]