Varkas said with a mocking laugh.
Talia felt the blood drain from her face.
Quietly looking down at her pale complexion, Varkas added coldly,
“I don't know what that woman encouraged you to do, but I have no intention of serving as your stud horse.”
Then he straightened up and picked up the coat he had taken off.
“Your Highness may use this room tonight.”
Talia stared blankly at him as he walked toward the door.
A cold chill washed over her, as though icy water had been poured over her head.
Trembling violently with humiliation, Talia limped after him the next moment.
Grabbing the fabric draped over his broad back, she yanked it fiercely and felt the huge body woven with powerful muscles go rigid.
Using all the strength she had, she shoved him. But his fortress-like body did not budge. Bursting out in frustration, she pushed him again with all her might, and Varkas grabbed her shoulders.
A groan escaped her lips from his powerful grip.
Hearing the sound, the man flinched and withdrew his hand.
Talia seized that opening and threw herself against his chest of iron.
At last, that body as solid as a fortress tilted backward.
Talia toppled him over and sat astride his stomach. Their brief struggle had roughened her breathing, and every breath scraped painfully against her throat like sandpaper.
Her chest heaving as she exhaled hot breaths, Talia glared down at him with eyes blazing like fire.
“You can't defy me.”
The man's beautiful face distorted faintly.
Looking directly at that face, she spat out the words as though coughing up blood.
“You said you'd do anything I asked. You said you'd do everything you could.”
The hand that had been trying to push her away froze halfway.
Talia seized the front of his shirt as though wringing it and tugged hard.
The trembling wracking her body only grew more violent.
She struggled desperately not to beg, but tears had already begun mixing into her voice.
Clenching her trembling jaw, Talia stubbornly cried out,
“Keep your promise!”
After that resounding shout, a storm-like silence descended.
Unable to meet his eyes, Talia lowered her forehead onto the slowly rising and falling chest beneath her.
A bead of sweat rolled down her temple, lingered briefly near her eye, then dropped onto his shirt.
She stared blankly at it when firm fingers touched the tip of her chin.
Her head was lifted, and before her dizzy eyes filled a face bearing an incomprehensible expression.
Before she could understand what it meant, her shoulders were pushed back.
“...Very well.”
Sitting up, Varkas spoke in a hoarse voice.
Talia looked at him with trembling eyes. She saw his tightly swollen Adam's apple moving up and down. After a long while, he opened his mouth again and completed his answer.
“I will do as Your Highness wishes.”
Though she had finally obtained the answer she wanted, her trembling only grew worse.
Wrapping her arms around herself with convulsing fingers, Talia shivered.
At that moment, his tightly compressed voice pierced her ears once more.
“But not tonight.”
She immediately raised her head and glared at him.
Varkas hurriedly continued,
“Wasn't it only a few weeks ago that you collapsed after coughing up blood? After your health has fully recovered—”
“My body is fine.”
Talia shouted harshly.
“I'll do it with you when I decide the time is right. And that time is today, right now.”
She could feel his entire body go taut.
Did he resent her for acting like a tyrant?
It didn't matter.
If she retreated here, she would never again be able to make a resolve like today's.
Once this madness-like impulse cooled, she would retreat behind the walls she had built around herself once more.
So it had to be now, this moment when she had gathered every last shred of courage she possessed.
“You can't refuse.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
Anger? Disgust?
No.
It didn't matter.
This... this...
This wasn't love.
It wasn't passion or desire.
It was merely a desperate struggle to survive.
So there was no need to feel miserable.