As his fingers traced those elegant lines, Talia briefly pulled away and murmured in a hoarse voice,
"I'm soaked too."
She slipped her fingers beneath his tunic and gently caressed the firm muscles of his abdomen.
A fierce surge of desire struck him so powerfully that his vision nearly blurred.
Grinding his teeth, Varkas caught hold of her wrist.
"Please don't touch me so carelessly."
She immediately looked at him with obvious dissatisfaction.
"Why?"
He frowned, not immediately understanding what she meant.
She continued in the same petulant tone she had used as a child whenever she had cornered him with impossible demands.
"You touch me whenever you want. So why do you always stop me whenever I try to touch you?"
Varkas looked down at her defiant face through narrowed eyes.
Is she truly asking because she doesn't know?
This woman scattered temptation wherever she went, yet there were moments when she behaved as though she knew absolutely nothing about men.
He let out a long breath.
"Because when you touch me... it's difficult to endure."
The blunt confession instantly widened her eyes.
Slowly, her gaze traveled downward.
Only then did she seem to notice the unmistakable evidence of his arousal.
A deep blush spread across both of her cheeks.
"If it's so difficult to endure... then don't endure it."
Lifting the hem of his tunic, Talia lightly traced the taut muscles of his waist with her fingertips, smiling faintly.
Varkas swallowed hard.
His entire body ached with the desire to answer her invitation.
But he could not gamble with this woman's life again.
Summoning every shred of self-control, he gently pulled himself away from her.
"...You should change into dry clothes first."
"What for?"
She sat up, looking at him with openly provocative eyes.
"We can just take them off."
At her unmistakable invitation, the faint smile he had barely managed to maintain slowly disappeared.
Varkas met her gaze with visible tension.
Between the problems with the raiders, the cultists, and the constant interference from that accursed beast, they had not had much time together.
Still, whenever the opportunity arose, they had shared lingering caresses and sweet kisses.
He had never been able to bring himself to tell her that he did not want children.
The moment he confessed it, he feared everything they had built would vanish like a mirage.
Yet he also knew he could not keep pushing her away forever with transparent excuses.
Running a hand roughly through his dripping hair, he finally admitted in a low, heavy voice,
"I don't want to place any burden on your body."
"What do you mean?"
Her voice had become dry and rough.
Watching the warmth disappear from her eyes, Varkas felt his expression stiffen with regret.
He spoke somewhat hurriedly.
"I mean... I want to avoid any risk that Your Highness might become pregnant."
The color instantly drained from her face.
"So... you also think I can't bear a child?"
Varkas's eyes froze.
"Who told Your Highness such a thing?"
"What does it matter who told me? You think the same thing!"
She stared at him resentfully, her voice trembling.
"You think I can't give birth to a proper heir either, don't you? That's why you keep rejecting me. Then just say so. Why do you keep giving me hope? Do you pity me?"
Looking down at her rigid expression, Varkas bent over the bed.
He grasped her trembling shoulders before swallowing the lips that continued spilling those absurd accusations.
Startled for a moment, she shoved him away.
Ignoring her resistance, he cupped the back of her slender neck and gently pushed his tongue between lips trembling with the verge of tears.
Before long, the hands that had been striking against his chest gradually lost their strength, clutching helplessly at his rain-soaked clothes.
He pulled her tightly against him until there wasn't the slightest space between their bodies.
Then he brushed his lips against her flushed ear and spoke slowly, emphasizing every word.
"Do you truly believe... this is because I pity you?"
Keeping her lips tightly pressed together, she glared at him with reddened eyes.
Kissing the corner of those eyes as though soothing her, he continued,
"There are already two other people in House Siorcan who can carry on the family line besides me. There is no reason for Your Highness to endanger your health simply to bear an heir."
"...But I want to have a child again."
She whispered with unmistakable longing.
"Thanks to Tiuran, I've become much healthier than before. This time... I'm sure I can give birth safely."