Chapter 199
“Commander-in-Chief!”
Zion hurriedly followed after Calix, who had suddenly left the tent. Since it was a letter from the imperial palace, he thought it needed to be delivered quickly, but what caught his eye was Lea in the distance, peacefully guiding the Espers.
Just watching her, Lea exuded a beautiful and gentle atmosphere, so different from how she’d been in the past. It was almost as if a holy aura was flowing from her.
Zion, nearly forgetting why he’d followed Calix, approached her, almost as if entranced.
“Lea, come here.”
It was then that Zion snapped out of it at the sound of someone calling her before he could. At the call of someone whose rank could never be surpassed, Lea’s head and body turned in that direction.
Watching her from just a step away, Zion unconsciously crumpled the letter he was holding.
He knew she could never truly belong to him, and yet his thirst showed no sign of abating. As Lea disappeared, led away by Calix’s hand, Zion watched her retreating figure with a relentless gaze, only looking away when he sensed someone else nearby.
“You should hide those obvious eyes of yours a little.”
Derek, who had approached at some point, was staring after the disappearing Lea with eyes not so different from Zion’s.
* * *
Having been suddenly pulled away, Lea was flustered, but she was more worried because she could smell blood from Calix again. The moment she entered his tent, she reached out her hand.
“…Did you get hurt again?”
“Yeah.”
Calix shamelessly answered, even though he was the one who had injured himself. He watched her reaction with sparkling eyes.
“This isn’t just a scratch…”
Seeing the wound, which was deeper than yesterday’s, Lea muttered in a trembling voice. She glanced around and then immediately tried to go back outside.
“Lea.”
Startled by her unexpected behavior, Calix grabbed her hand. When she turned her head at his call, he saw her eyes reddened, on the verge of tears, and felt a pang of guilt.
“That’s not it…”
He hadn’t even thought to ask her directly, and now he regretted pushing her like this. Only then did Calix begin to explain the doubts he had.
“…It’s just, I hurt myself on purpose to check something, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
Even after his explanation, his apologetic words didn’t bring a reaction from Lea. Embarrassed, he looked around aimlessly, but when no answer came, he glanced at her.
Meeting her golden eyes, he noticed the quiet storm of anger swirling within them.
“…Sister, are you angry?”
Lea had never gotten angry at him before, so Calix was momentarily flustered and instinctively shrank back.
“How could you do something so ridiculous, hurting yourself over something so uncertain?”
At her cold question, Calix was even more taken aback. In fact, the reason he still used ‘Sister’ to address her was twofold. One, because he liked seeing her embarrassed, and two, because he knew she was especially vulnerable to that title.
But for the first time, the word ‘Sister’ had no effect. Watching him freeze in surprise, Lea let out a deep sigh.
“…Honestly, I think it’s completely absurd, but what are you so curious about?”
“Uh, well…”
Calix was flustered, but he followed through on what he’d planned.
“Could you lick this place, just once?”
As he spoke, he held out his wounded palm, having come up with his own hypothesis based on what Zion had said earlier.
When he’d been stabbed in the side, he’d been physically intimate with her. But since Zion had experienced results just from contact guiding, maybe something would change if she touched him directly, even if not to that extent.
“Ah, never mind. I shouldn’t have asked…”
Seeing the blood on the palm he’d reflexively offered, Calix tried to take back his words, thinking he couldn’t possibly ask her to lick something so filthy. But Lea was faster. She accepted his request without hesitation.
The sensation of her hot tongue running over the wound was not exactly pleasant, but both visually and physically, it was incredibly stimulating. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she tended to his wound.
Meanwhile, Lea didn’t think much of licking a wound. Humans might find it dirty, but as a werebeast, she was used to licking wounds with her tongue.
Whether in her animal form or not, she was always quick to lick her own wounds.
Discussion
2 CommentsRBluemoon238
RBluemoon238