Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When the handsome and dignified face suddenly appeared before her eyes, she forgot that she had bitten and sucked this man all night and her heart raced.

Without warning, the man bowed his head and stuck his tongue deep into her mouth. Reflexively, Enya’s arm grabbed the nape of his neck. Tarhan’s lips intertwined her tongue more deeply and pressed into her mouth.

Shutting her eyes tightly, she unconditionally tried to hold back the noise, knowing that they would hear her moan outside.

Tarhan, who gazed down at the woman indifferently, bit her lower lip.

“Ah…!”

Even though the bite didn’t hurt, the startled woman opened her eyes and made a noise. Enya gazed up at him resentfully. As such, he did not hesitate to show that he was with her.

Outside, her attitude was completely opposite, she dared not even step on his shadow.

“I will be back.”

He met her eyes as he lifted her up. Enya could feel his dark brown eyes staring at her without an inch of distraction.

She just looked at him and nodded without answering.

There was much work to be done within the tribe, as Tarhan had announced that they would return by the day of repose.

The whole village was buzzing with preparations to welcome the new women of other tribes.

Of course, there was no room for Enya to intervene in the preparation. All she had to do was to clean the hut where she and Tarhan lived or to make food for the winter season—even that was over in half a day.

After noon and as the sun slowly began to set, she sneaked out of the hut to do the laundry by the well.

The busiest time of the laundry was in the early morning though Enya, who often overslept unintentionally, always missed that time.

Not surprisingly, there was not a single person at the always crowded laundry place.

Tarhan had washed their clothes, so the only thing she could do in the first place was the coat he ripped last night and a large piece of cloth to cover her as the duvet. After doing a few things, there was nothing she could do.

Even when he wasn’t going out, Tarhan got up early and had done all the chores, so there wasn’t really anything to do.

Tarhan even knew how to sew. He was the one who taught her how to sew.

It was relatively recently that he had grown into the tribal leadership as the deputy chief. Before that, he had lived a life just like any other tribal man. He sorted out what to eat and what to store right away, repaired tools with animal bones, and weaved baskets himself.

He had good dexterity. With his rough hands, after a few tries, he used to create quite useful things in a short amount of time.

The best of them all was basket weaving.

Tarhan’s weaving method was a little different from other men in the tribe.

“It’s because it’s the Cartantina way.”

She remembered one day when she asked with a curious face, and he gave a blunt answer. While he was able to freely use Aquilea’s basket weaving method, he unintentionally used the Cartantina style frequently, perhaps because his hometown method was familiar.

So, when Enya went to retrieve the trimmed meat, she could easily find their basket among the hundreds.

But now, there was no such thing.

The meat they would eat was now packed in freshly woven baskets and sent directly to her doorstep.

Tarhan’s hands were full of more troublesome things than weaving ropes or baskets. Since he became the deputy chief, many changes have occurred in their lives. It was a change that was not necessarily good enough.

…What was certain was that the clumsy family games played by the two abandoned children in the tribe had ended that day.

Enya remembered that terrible night.

“It would be impossible for a man like Tarhan not to partake in the day of repose.”

When Servia, the daughter of the elder and mother of the children of the chief, Kahanti, asserted, Enya stood with her head bowed behind Tarhan like a sinner.

“It is unbelievable that the most influential young man for the position of the next chief has been neglecting his day of repose duty until now because of only ‘this kind of problem’.”

When she said those words, Servia’s sharp eyes, like a jaguar, were fixed on her. A small woman stood clenching her hand. It seemed as if she could tear off her hand, unable to even hold onto Tarhan’s hem. Her left leg had been hidden behind her right leg from before.

Even though her thighs trembled as she focused on standing with only one foot, she couldn’t put her left leg down comfortably.

“It is useless, a great waste.”

Servia, who was staring straight at her, uttered each letter, piercing it like a dagger.

On the other hand, after being surrounded by dozens of people, including the elders who suddenly came, Tarhan did not feel discouraged or dazed in the slightest. Rather, he stood in front of Enya and said, with his broad shoulders stretched more forcibly.

“What kind of fuss is this? When I decided to accept the position of deputy chief, I didn’t remember this being in the rule before. What is wrong now?”

Nonetheless, the council was obstinate.

“It wouldn’t be something we need to warn one by one. The day of repose is the most fundamental ritual. It’s Aquilea’s basic law and order.”

Tarhan opened his mouth fiercely as if he couldn’t even snort at those words.

“You don’t even care about the filthy blood of Cartantina, and now, you’re making me join the day of repose…? You’re stumbling and falling over something that is not very poignant.”

Suddenly, one of the elders raised his voice.

“Tarhan. Aren’t your principles silly?”

“…Principle?”

But rather, the elder’s words seemed to make him angry. He took a step forward with his chin tightened, and several elders stepped back.

“Aren’t you guys the ones with the ridiculous principle? This is the house I built, and this woman is my wife. I have been mobilized for hunting, overcoming the hurdles of death many times according to the principles you have established. Ever since I was a boy, I’ve never been without dedication to the tribe’s affairs. The wealth piled up in your warehouse right now is proof of that.”

It was as though a ball of fire was falling at every word Tarhan expressed in anger.

“All of you said that I am the right person to fill the void as the chief, yet your actions are completely different. It’s not enough to be rush in the middle of the night and drag out then question the warrior who devoted himself to Aquilea, though now you’re also insulting me and my woman by talking about principles.”

He muttered cynically, seemingly that wasn’t even funny.

“You really would have to plan to send Kahanti, who is dying in his sick bed, to the next outing. Otherwise, you cannot treat me like this to replace him.”

At that moment, when everyone seemed to lose their words, Servia took a step forward. As she took off her cloak, which half covered her face, her wavy, flowing, voluminous black hair shimmered even in the moonlit night.

“…Wife.”

She opened her mouth, squinting her eyes that were beautifully slanted to the side.

“It is clear that you have not yet abandoned the method of the ruined Cartantina.”

The concept of a wife did not exist in Aquilea. By pointing that out, Servia was slandering not only Tarhan’s remarks but also his origin as a foreigner. However, he responded to her insult without raising an eyebrow.

“Servia, it’s probably not worth hearing it from you. In fact, you are the only one who has lived in Kahanti’s hut all your life and has given birth to four children.”

At his remark, Servia raised an eyebrow and responded coldly.

“None of the laws of Aquilea condemns a woman who bears only one male’s child.”

At that, she added, turning her eyes right away and looking straight at Enya.

“…The problem is that after staying in a man’s hut for so long, we don’t even hear that she’s pregnant, let alone a child.”

Enya could feel Servia’s cruel gaze on her.

Her heart, which had been beating at her words, seemed to stop. Eventually, a cold sweat ran down her forehead. At that moment, Tarhan stood in front of her, growling with an intensity that could not be compared to before.

“If you’re going to use my woman as an excuse, don’t even dream about it.”

Enya trembled and shut her eyes tightly behind Tarhan, who was so agitated and angry as though he had been insulted.

“To do the duty…? Just be honest! You’re nervous to see a bug from a foreign place, which you have never seen before, to take over Kahanti.”

Even with Tarhan’s disapproval, her cold gaze did not think of leaving Enya.

“What an excuse. We’re making a serious offer for you, Tarhan. We highly appreciate your abilities.”

Servia answered calmly.

“It’s just a pity that that power will be sown on a field that is not guaranteed to bear fruit.”

Enya eventually bit her lip, which she had been biting to the point of bleeding. The right foot, which could not stand it anymore, lost control of the left foot, which had been standing on its back, and eventually, the unsightly left foot fell to the ground in front of the elders.

She barely managed to stop her sobbing. If there was even a mouse hole, she wanted to hide in it.

“Shut that mouth.”

Tarhan eventually lost his temper and stepped forward in front of Servia. His lips convulsed as if he wanted to strangle Servia right now on the spot.

“We are young. The child will be born soon.”

He trumpeted a warning voice, word by word.

Enya thought she’d pass out just looking at his back like that, it was amazing that Servia’s face doesn’t change even if she faced him like that.

“Looking at what happened between you and Kahanti, I’ll pretend this didn’t happen. Instead, never again insult me ​​and my woman in this way. If you do that again, I will show you what it is like to be torn in two while standing.”

Splash.

Enya moved her hands over the water from the well, thinking gloomily about what had happened.

Eventually, the council again offered him the position of deputy chief on the condition that he did not need to participate in the day of repose as he had previously done. As deputy chief, no one overlooked Tarhan’s abilities. He had been faithfully carrying out his duties as he had done before.

Servia, too, had not expressed any strange pressure on her since that day.

After Tarhan began to take over Kahanti, everything was better than before. It had to be.

—

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