Chapter 53

Chapter 53

As the war drew closer, Tarhan increased the number of soldiers he trained and reorganized his policy of transporting goods and supplies. He obsessively forged alliances and gathered his reinforcements.

With an almost fanatical spirit, he drove the allied forces.

Enya knew that the biggest part of that motivation was her. So she tried to stay away from him as much as possible while Tarhan also seemed to consciously avoid her. So, she assumed that today, too, he would avoid her and leave without a word. However, what he did was something completely different.

The man who stood by the doorway and stared at her for a while suddenly strode over and lifted her up. Enya asked in surprise.

“Tarhan… where are we going…?”

Even though she was surprised, she hurriedly wrapped her arms around his neck. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had hugged her like this. Enya instinctively buried her head in the hollow of his collarbone and inhaled his body scent.

“Hold on.”

Unlike the man’s blunt mouth, his hands gently supported her waist and hips. Enya gave herself up to Tarhan’s steps, feeling secure as if she was sitting on a sturdy tree.

Her picked her up and walked in front of a gerpan, which stood outside. Female gerpans were shorter than horses, strong and docile, making them suitable for long distance travel or pulling carts. Then, he carefully seated her on top of the gerpan and climbed on its back.

“Tarhan… wh, where—”

The place where the bride and groom should be on the first night was none other than the newlywed room. Though Tarhan was heading to a completely different place with her.

As Enya turned anxiously and tried to look at him, he silently grabbed her waist and started the terpan.

After traveling on the gerpan for quite some time.

“…Is your stomach okay?”

Tarhan asked, covering her stomach in a low voice.

He seemed to have heard that she skipped a few meals a few days before the wedding due to being strangely sick in her stomach. Enya had only had a couple of drinks that day, but she shook her head, saying it was okay. He, of course, didn’t believe it.

In between, both of them remained silent except for Tarhan, worrying that she might be dizzy.

In fact, at that moment, Enya was basking in Tarhan’s body temperature with his terribly calm heart. The scent of his body that she smelled every time he breathed in, buried in his cloak, was enchanting. The two of them had been separated for a long time, after all.

With her eyes closed, Enya held her breath, trying to hide her desire to spend more time with him.

They finally drove the gerpan along a road deep inside the mountain.

As the forest grew thicker and the rocks that stretched around it grew in size, she noticed the air getting thicker. Enya blinked her eyes at the feeling of steam on the tip of her nose. Hot air was coming up from somewhere. Finally, when they reached almost the end of the mountain, Tarhan stopped the gerpan.

She knew the hot springs were nearby by the scent she felt on the tip of her nose. She then glanced at Tarhan, who was hugging her from behind, with surprised eyes, and he opened his mouth in shame.

“…I found it while digging a path.”

Enya, who had been soaked in hot water several times before, pursed her lips in anticipation. It was very rare for a hot spring to be created at the foot of a mountain in this way in winter. She wondered if Tarhan’s discovery of this was a coincidence.

When she wanted to get into the water as soon as possible, he quickly tied gerpan to an old tree nearby.

Tarhan whispered to her as he slowly lowered her.

“Don’t rush. I’ll let you have as much as you want…”

Tarhan stopped talking and shut his mouth. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.

She waited by the gerpan’s side like an obedient child while Tarhan unpacked their belongings.

Before long, Tarhan led Enya near the steaming water.

He unwrapped the package he had brought and spread it out under a wide stone, and sat her on it. Then he began rounding the bronze rod he had brought around it. Enya noticed that it was a stone with magic to drive away monsters and looked at him in amazement.

Those precious things were made when guarding the graves of dead chieftains or their children. After using it once, the effect was exhausted, so the cost was not cheap. To use it like this today, he must have prepared months ago.

“Ta, Tarhan…”

Enya looked up at Tarhan anxiously. Even if he was Aquilea’s supreme leader, he would not be able to afford such an item just to bathe her. At this time, they were in great need of materials for war preparations.

Trying to block her thoughts in advance, he slumped down in his spot, bending over his large body next to her.

“You don’t have to look at me like that. If this amount caused any trouble, the allied forces would have already been annihilated.”

Then, without hesitation, he began to untie the shoelaces that were tightly wrapped around her feet.

His touch quickly revealed her white feet. He even managed to get rid of her slightly swollen calves in one go, massaged her small feet a few times, then held them in his hands as if holding something precious and rubbed them with the hot spring water several times.

“Haa…”

Enya groaned spontaneously at the warm energy that permeated her bones. With her eyes closed, she felt the nerves of her whole body languidly unravel.

“How is the temperature…? Isn’t it too hot…?”

Tarhan looked at Enya’s expression several times and asked again and again. Enya nodded her head languidly, her eyes wide open at the warm sensation.

“Good… It’s warm…”

She unknowingly leaned on Tarhan’s shoulder, who was kneeling next to her, enjoying the hot spring water submerged up to her knees.

Even in the cold winter weather, the surroundings of the hot spring were warm with steam, and the temperature of the water was not as hot as he feared. It felt like her body and mind, which had been frozen with tension all along, were released at once in the moderately cooled heat.

Enya thought how nice it would be if she could throw off all her cumbersome clothes right now and dive into warm water up to her neck.

Perhaps he had noticed her feelings, Tarhan looked at her from the side and asked.

“…Do you want to take a bath?”

Enya swallowed dryly and looked at him.

It was in the forest at night when the moon was starting to rise, but he was by his side. Above all, there were stones around them that chased monsters. Because of the cold weather these days, she couldn’t even wash her body properly except for wiping her body with a towel soaked in warm water.

She nodded to him with a desperate desire to take a dip. Then, Tarhan untied the sword from his belt, set it down, drew the sword from its scabbard, and plunged the scabbard into the ground.

Enya could tell at a glance that it was Kahanti’s sword.

It was a scabbard made of the bones of a monster inherited from the previous chieftain. Enya had heard that while the scabbard was in place, monsters could not find the vicinity and only roamed around. She realized that he had made up his mind to bring her to a bath.

He opened his mouth as he took off her coat.

“Don’t rush. If you think the water is too hot, you have to tell me.”

Nodding her head, she raised her arm to help Tarhan undress her. In an instant, the cloth that covered her chest and stomach came off, and her naked white body was reflected in the water. She could feel his neck vibrate as he gazed at her body.

Enya unknowingly lowered her eyelids and covered her swollen chest with her hands.

However, Tarhan soon seemed to be okay, and he took off her bottoms and slowly took her by the arm and helped her down to the water’s edge.

Splash.

Eventually, Enya, who had submerged herself halfway into the stomach, let out a sigh as she closed her eyes tightly at the hot energy that ran up her spine.

“Ha…”

It was good enough to bring tears to her eyes. She wanted to move her body and wipe every nook and cranny, but at that moment, she couldn’t even lift a finger. At that moment, she heard the sound of Tarhan entering the water right beside her.

He, who took his top off as well, dipped his bare back behind her.

“Enya, come here. Lean on my body.”

Said Tarhan, putting his hand on Enya’s side as she was submerged naked in the water and pulling her towards him.

Enya quietly sat on his thigh as he instructed. Then she rested her head lightly on his flat chest. Like a child in a cozy cradle, Tarhan’s body and hers meshed tightly together. The warm water filled the gap, so it was more comfortable than ever.

She let out a satisfied sigh and lowered her eyes.

The sound of splashing water sounded like a lullaby in her ears. He kept pouring warm water on her arm, her bare shoulder that was leaning against his chest.

Tarhan’s hands were busy pouring water on the parts exposed outside the water, from the hill of her big chest to the flat belly underneath.

Enya fell asleep in his arms.

After a while, feeling sweat starting to form on her forehead, Enya opened her eyes, feeling refreshed. The head of the man she was leaning against rested on one of her shoulders. Tarhan’s wide, scarred chest against her back stirred slightly with each breath he took.

Suddenly she realized that he had fallen asleep right away as he had stayed up all night to find time for her.

It was as if something hot was rising from her chest, along with pity. Enya impulsively licked up the droplets of water that fell on Tarhan’s thick nape, which was on her shoulder, with her lips. He flinched, then immediately woke up and raised his head.

She held her breath.

Awakened from his sleep, Tarhan gazed down at her with a speechless face and blinked a few times.

Receiving that gaze, her body trembled.

“Hu-uhp, ah…”

The moment their wet lips touched was an instant. It was softer than ever but just as deep, Tarhan pushed his tongue into Enya’s mouth. She didn’t know if it was because of the steam or because of each other’s saliva, but there was a sound full of water.

The man tucked his hand under her arm and turned her torso slightly to kiss her more deeply.

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Enya, too, put her hand through Tarhan’s wet hair and squeezed it lightly. Her relaxed, warm body was enveloped in heat in an instant. She grunted and clung to the man’s stocky body, and the arms coiled around her like a snake.

It felt like her whole body was entangled in the man’s body.

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