I Don't Need A Husband - Chapter 68
Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi
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Chapter 68
Berthas could feel Isilis taking a breath at his words, but he spoke again.
“Isilis. How many times do I have to tell you? That’s what I mean by I love you. It’s okay to hear that I’m a tyrant who handed over the entire country. If only I could be by your side.”
“Berthas.”
“When I thought that you who saved me after my father was dead had died, too, and I had to give up the position of the imperial family at the age of ten, there was only one thing left for me. Revenge. There was nothing else. Then, you appeared and I dreamed of a future with you. So even if that future is dotted with darkness, I’ll gladly walk that road with you… I’ll walk by your side, protecting you.”
Berthas whispered while looking at Isilis’ watery eyes.
“So you… will you give me your lips?”
As soon as his words finished, he swallowed her lips as he hugged her, who wrapped her arms around his neck.
It was sweet.
It was a kiss that made him drowsy, like drinking sweet liquor. Isilis’ sweet scent stimulated him and gave him a deep breath. Berthas roughly swallowed that breath and encroached on it. He thought to himself that it would be nice if time stopped like this.
‘…This is love.’
He held her tightly around the waist and seated her on his thigh, kissing her lips and speaking in a low voice.
“You can only cry in my arms. You can’t show those precious tears to someone else.”
“You are talking nonsense.”
Berthas whispered again while licking the corners of her eyes as she spoke casually.
“Stay with me.”
“Aren’t we together?”
“You know I don’t mean that.”
“I will think about it.”
“Is it not easy?”
“Can’t it be easy to become the consort of Larchen?”
He smiled as he brought his lips to Isilis’s cheek as she spoke playfully, her eyes curling. He really wished time would stop like this.
Usman, who had been watching Isilis and Berthas from afar, turned around. He knew it the moment Berthas appeared… that there was no place left for him.
“Your Highness.”
“Don’t say anything.”
“Still…”
“Was she the woman who can smile like that?”
Witnessing Isilis’s radiant smile brought back a flood of memories for him. He couldn’t help but reminisce about the day they first crossed paths, her confident smile captivating him instantly.
However, over the past ten months of their relationship, he had rarely seen her wear such a bright smile. Her current expression held a different quality as if she had forgotten how to smile like she did in her childhood.
The Isilis he once knew seemed to have faded away.
“Has too much time passed?”
A lingering sense of indebtedness tugged at his conscience.
He had intercepted Isilis’s messengers, preventing any news from reaching her, and he had also barred Berthas’s messengers from entering the castle. It was he who had deprived her of the opportunity to hear from her child.
…Even without knowing the full extent of his actions, he couldn’t dismiss the weight of what he had done.
It was plausible that Isilis had experienced anguish due to his interference, causing her heartache.
“Your Highness.”
“It’s fine. The unrequited love has been too long.”
“Your Highness…”
Just like that, the man’s love was lost without blooming.
Resting her head on Berthas’ shoulder, Isilis allowed her thoughts to drift.
The consort of Larchen…
She was going to get married. It was a twist of fate that the person she encountered while escaping from the impending marriage would eventually become her husband. The whirlwind of emotions and thoughts consumed her mind, leaving her feeling overwhelmed.
Sensing her inner turmoil, Berthas tightened his grip around her waist, providing a sense of comfort and security.
Relieved by his embrace, Isilis gently closed her eyes, contemplating the idea of drifting off to sleep like this. Then, in a soft, almost whispered voice, she parted her lips as she felt him press his lips against her hair.
“Why are you here so late?”
He could not answer her words, whispered with a resentful heart. She said again, unable to see his tightly closed lips.
“I wish you had come a little earlier.”
“…I didn’t know that the messenger hadn’t arrived.”
“If you knew…”
“If I had known, I would have come to you somehow.”
His lips continued to rest on her head. Isilis smiled softly at the desperation contained in his gesture. She still had the thought that it would have been better if he had come a little sooner. Then, it would be fewer days for her to wander through the garden night after night.
The sudden thought startled her.
…Since when did she, the Emperor, start to speak so weakly?
‘Why am I…’
Did she give her heart into Berthas Hillenton this much? After the child’s disappearance, her acquired mental illness continued to eat away at her. Isilis straightened her back as she took control of her weakened self.
Berthas hugged her tightly as she tried to stand up.
“That’s enough…”
“Don’t try to get away from me, Isilis.”
However, he remarkably noticed her changed atmosphere and whispered. His mournful voice weakened her heart again.
‘…Is this what it means to be loved?’
When she couldn’t ruthlessly dismiss his sincere affection, Berthas whispered in her ear as she hesitated.
“I only have you, Isilis. Don’t reject me.”
“Berthas.”
“I’m the one who came all the way here looking at you… so give me your heart.”
“Didn’t you already take my heart?”
“That’s not enough. More.”
She couldn’t resist Berthas, who lowered his lips all over her face as he spoke to her when she looked up.
“It tickles.”
“Tickles?”
He responded to her words with a voice that contained his desire. She couldn’t hide the trembling of her body at his low voice.
“Did you look at the sky to your heart’s content?”
“What if you covered my face before looking at it to my heart’s content?”
“Then, look at it again.”
As he laid her back in the chair, the lady-in-waiting came again with a blanket. Berthas draped the blanket over Isilis’s body, not refusing to take the blanket that was offered to her. The feeling of a soft blanket, the cool breeze, and his warm body temperature.
Her eyes closed spontaneously.
‘I can’t fall asleep…’
With that thought in mind, Isilis fell asleep. It was a comfortable sleep that even she did not know.
Seeing Isilis fast asleep on his lap, Berthas pressed his lips to her forehead. The ladies-in-waiting had known that he and Isilis had been in the garden and turned away. The wind was cool, and the woman he loved was in his arms.
He laughed at her relaxed look.
How long has it been? He had a hard time, too, while he was separated from her.
Even though people around him helped, it was difficult for him to raise the child. He was worried when she cried if she was sick for no reason, and if she didn’t eat right, it would be bad. It was his child, but it was also difficult to protect the child.
The nobles who learned that Berthas had a child were aiming for the child, not him. The child was always by his side—day or night. That was all. It went smoothly until he punished the imperial family and raised the child to the throne.
The problem was after that.
A lot of time had passed as he sought out the nobles who were keeping him in check one by one, and it gnawed at his nerves.
A feeling of irony rushed over him, which he had never felt before.
‘It’s so comfortable in Larchen, which is no different from an enemy country.’
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