Chapter 70 - We’ll just hold hands and sleep. You trust me, right? (9) –

We’ll just hold hands and sleep. You trust me, right? (9)

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Aristine looked at Tarkan who looked somewhat doubtful and casually began to speak.

“Well, a child is important but…”

Aristine gently stroked a rose petal and continued offhandedly.

“Don’t you have another woman you like?”

Dionna’s visit to the bride’s waiting room during the day was no different from her blatantly declaring that she was Tarkan’s lover.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to properly confirm.

She glanced at Tarkan’s face, and his golden eyes looked sharper than usual.

“…How did you know?”

Ah, indeed.

Aristine smiled softly, “I can tell.”

Tarkan looked at Aristine who was smiling without any hint of darkness on her face.

‘Why.’

It didn’t matter if Aristine knew that he held another woman in his heart.

‘Am I.’

Rather, this was a good thing. Because he told her to put away emotions in this marriage from the start.

With this, it would be even more certain.

‘So…’

Tarkan felt like this mouth was going dry.

“Tarkan, you don’t need to worry. I understand everything.”

Aristine nodded at Tarkan with a benevolent expression on her face.

“We didn’t get married out of love but due to an arrangement for peace, isn’t that so?”

Her tone was both quiet and gentle.

“As for a child, we can think about that later. You should keep your chastity for your lover.”

“My lover? She is—” [1]

Tarkan frowned and was about to deny it right away, but he stopped.

A girl who suddenly appeared and stole his heart away in an instant then disappeared.

Tarkan wasn’t even able to convey his feelings to that girl.

Of course, they weren’t lovers.

However.

‘Why am I denying it?’

He didn’t need to deny it to Aristine.

Since she had misunderstood, it was better for him to let it be. If she thought of him as someone else’s man, she would never see him as the opposite sex.

“She is?” (Aristine)

“She is my lover.”

Tarkan spoke curtly and turned away.

For some reason, his mood plummeted. Maybe it was because he lied?

He hadn’t even been able to find her or convey his feelings so maybe he felt ridiculous that he dared to call her his lover.

“Right, so you have to treat your love well.”

Hearing Aristine saw that made him feel even more annoyed.

Not knowing how he was feeling, Aristine quietly approached him.

“You know, Tarkan.”

Her eyes looking up at him were filled with expectation and hope.

“If you do well, I might hand over the position of the Head of the Palace to someone else.”

“What?”

“Irugo is essentially a monogamous country, but the King is different, right?”

A long time ago, Irugo was basically polygamous. Mainly because the gender ratio between men and women was unequal because they were surrounded by demonic beasts on all sides.

However, as the world developed, the demonic beast invasion was blocked at the border, and thanks to the periodic subjugation of the demonic beats, the gender ratio began to balance out.

And with the advancement of the modern age, monogamy was gradually established. There was only one exception to the rule and that was the King’s marriage.

Because the King’s marriage had political ties, concubines other than the Queen were left as they were.

“When you ascend the throne, the Queen will naturally be me, as I am the Princess.”

What I’m saying is favorable for you.

Tarkan couldn’t understand Aristine who was giving him a gaze that seemed to say that.

“I don’t particularly desire the position of Queen, so I can concede it to someone else at that time.”

‘Then I will get a divorce and get out of here.’

Aristine swallowed back the remainder of that sentence.

“What, did you say…?”

“Wouldn’t you prefer it if your lover becomes Queen? So, what I’m saying is…”

Aristine gave Tarkan a confident smile.

As if he couldn’t refuse her offer just like when she first negotiated with him.

“We can negotiate further on this topic.”

Seeing Aristine talking about this with a confident smile on her face, Tarkan felt like something was boiling in his chest.

He was annoyed.

A slanted smile crept onto his lips.

“Then I’m looking forward to it. You better not forget what you said.”

“Of course. That’s a given!”

When Aristine smiled brightly, he felt even more frustrated.

Tarkan lifted the blanket roughly and the remaining rose petals on the bed poured down.

He snorted and laid down on the bed. He didn’t even glance at Aristine and just stared at the ceiling.

But either way, he was lying down next to her.

As Aristine lay down again, their arms touched due to the cramped bed. Tarkan’s forehead creased at the hot, yet soft and supple sensation.

His body couldn’t help but stiffen.

This was just because he had never lay next to a woman before.

“Oh, right. We have to look like we had the first night to other people.”

Aristine, who was lying right next to him, turned to him and said.

Her warm breath touched his ear like a wave.

Tarkan’s fingers twitched and trembled.

“Should I bleed?” (Aristine)

“…We don’t obsess over the bride’s purity in Irugo. Besides, it’s not like women always bleed on the first time.”

“Hmm, speaking from experience?”

“Keuk!”

Tarkan coughed loudly, almost choking.

Aristine looked at him in surprise.

Tarkan’s determination to not look at her seemed to have disappeared somewhere because he sat half-upright and looked down at her.

His face was bright red and there were even some tears in his eyes.

Aristine blatantly stared at his face and asked.

“Ah, but our marital relationship has to look good, no?”

It was marriage for peace after all so the better their relationship was, the more political power they could obtain.

It would improve Aristine’s position in the royal palace and Tarkan’s position too since his bloodline was his weak point.

If that wasn’t the case, Aristine wouldn’t have even considered having Tarkan sleep on the floor. She would have told the servant to prepare another bed much earlier.

“By the way, have you ever broken a bed?”

Translator’s Corner:

[1] He doesn’t phrase this as a question in the raws. The sentence structure is something like [She my lover not], except he doesn’t say [not]. This is the best way I could put it.