So you are a pervert (2)
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Tarkan’s forehead creased at the shameful misunderstanding.
“I’m pretty sure I said I will not eat you though.”
Aristine, who was quietly watching him, shifted her away and mumbled.
“The fact that you even consider it…”
When I practically look like dirt itself.
She omitted the latter half of that sentence as if she was trying to say she will respect the taste of a pervert.
“You’re the one who said we were still unmarried when I asked you to wash up.”
Tarkan said in a low voice like he was forcing those words out. However, that sort of intimidation couldn’t work on Aristine.
“I did say that but… I didn’t mean it that way.”
The woman slowly looked Tarkan up and down again.
“I mean, you’re incredibly dirty too.”
See, you’re just as dirty, aren’t you going to wash?
The woman’s eyes seemed to be asking that.
For the first time, Tarkan could tell what she was thinking. And at the same time, a question arose in his mind.
‘What kind of woman is this?’
* * *
“Since we are not yet married, we cannot bathe together.”
So first of all, they had to draw a fair line between each other. Aristine was only reminding him of a simple fact.
Tarkan looked down at himself.
The blood of demonic beasts was splattered all over his clothes. It was unavoidable because he came here right after the battle. The stains were covered when he was carrying her in the long silk cloth but now that he had put her down, there was nothing to cover it up.
The first way he appeared to his bride was covered in the blood of demonic beasts but Tarkan didn’t care.
This blood was proof of his victory. It was a sign of his battles and pride as a warrior.
However, to call it dirty. Not only that but ‘incredibly’ dirty. How can she compare this to dust?
‘Now that I think about it…’
He expected the princess of Silvanus to turn pale or scream when she saw blood, but she didn’t. Even the Irugo people who had the blood of warriors were scared and trembled when they saw him.
But this woman was calm. She was neither afraid nor in awe.
“…”
Starting from her dusty appearance, his bride was nothing like he expected.
‘What a strange woman.’
But that was it.
He wasn’t going to get any more involved with this woman. All she would get from him was the title of the ‘prince’s wife’.
“I’ll be taking a bath somewhere else.”
“Ah.”
Aristine nodded in understanding when Tarkan said that.
Normally, a palace had several places for bathing. Her mind understood that, but she had lived confined for so long that she habitually didn’t think of it.
“Alright, then.”
Aristine hurriedly got up from the sofa. She was in a good mood.
‘It’s a normal palace so I should be able to bathe with warm water, right?’
She wasn’t asking for too much. She’d be happy if it was lukewarm at least.
‘No, as long as it’s not too cold…’
Tarkan looked at the woman whom he just couldn’t tell what was going through her mind. He wondered what she was thinking about right now.
‘She’s not treating me like a pervert again, is she?’
Even when he looked at her with narrowed eyes, he couldn’t figure out anything.
The hall he was currently in had no doors and it was surrounded by pillars. And each pillar was either connected to a garden or a corridor. So even after Aristine left following a court lady, he could still see her slender back for quite some time.
With every step she took, the red silk fluttered in the air like wings.
“Your Highness Tarkan.”
Tarkan turned his head at the voice calling him.
“Dionna.”
Dionna walked up to him with a chuckle, and furtively placed her hand on Tarkan’s solid arm.
“It’s not like Your Highness to not notice someone walking up to you. What were you thinking so hard about?”
Only then did he realize he had been distracted because he was thinking about a woman.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“I see.”
It bothered her because it didn’t look like that was the case but Dionna didn’t push any further. At this point, digging into it because she was curious would only make Tarkan annoyed.
Instead, she began to talk about Aristine in a gentle tone.
“The princess…she’s very different from what I was expecting.”
Tarkan nodded his head half-heartedly. There was no hint of interest in his dull golden eyes.
‘Hmm, I guess he’s not that interested in her. Well, I did expect that.’
Dionna hid her satisfied smile and nestled closer to Tarkan with concern on her face.
“What do you think she meant by coming here looking like that? Especially when she’s marrying Your Highness, it doesn’t look like she has good intentions…”
While backbiting coquettishly, Dionna suggestively stroked the arm of Tarkan she was holding.
“There’s likely a reason behind it.”
“A…reason?”
“You saw what my damned siblings were saying too. She doesn’t look like a fool who didn’t expect this. And she doesn’t seem to have any intentions of mocking me.”
Dionna was somewhat surprised when Tarkan defended Aristine.
This was the first time she was hearing him defend someone he didn’t even know that well. But she soon erased the surprise from her face and lowered her eyes submissively.
Tarkan didn’t exactly raise his voice but she felt his mood sink a little.
Quick to notice what was wrong, Dionna stopped clinging to his sturdy arm, moved away, and straightened herself.
“That may be true but…there’s no way to tell with her.”
At those words, Tarkan unconscious turned to look at the corridor where Aristine had disappeared.
“Indeed, you really can’t tell with that woman.”
Dionna paused and looked up at Tarkan.
The sight of him staring in the direction Aristine had disappeared was unfamiliar.
His eyes were as cold as usual. His indifferent face did not have a hint of a smile. And his expression was in no way gentle as he thought about Aristine.
However, the smile on Dionna’s face slowly disappeared.
“Seriously.”
Tarkan mumbled as he recalled that woman.
Her expression had stayed the same from the first time he saw her till she left. It was to the point where he almost mistook her for having no emotions.
Her face had changed little by little, but it was not a noticeable change. The only time her expression really changed was that moment.
The moment when he carried her up.
Her violet eyes were fully exposed, and they widened immensely at her predicament. She had been much smaller and lighter than he expected so he was startled.
‘I thought she was crying.’
He thought she was crying in that situation where she was getting shamed by herself. But when he got closer, he realized that wasn’t true at all.
Her expressionless face seemed rather firm. Rather than saying she was frozen stiff from fear, her face was just indifferent.
‘She grew up as the princess of Silvanus so she shouldn’t be familiar with such treatment though.’
It made him curious why someone of noble blood like herself was the only one who was dirty.
An unreadable woman.
The woman who will be my wife.
My bride.
Even when the political marriage was decided, he had never been conscious of her like this.
“Your Highness Tarkan.”
Dionna’s voice brought him back to reality.
“Do you like the princess, perhaps?”
Translator’s Corner:
*Maybe it’s because I re-watched wonder-woman recently but I keep wanting to type Diana.
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