GDTEA Chapter 141

I Love You

Half a year.

That was how long it had taken to erase the influence of the House of Gwendhill from the Great Empire of Neweiton and for the Marquis House of Bridend to stand firmly at the center of power.

During that time, Darhan had been enjoying power that rivaled even the Emperor’s.

[The Empress goes into a frenzy demanding that ‘medicine’ every time she sees me. It got to the point where the Empress’s head lady-in-waiting came to find me directly, without even going through Madam Patricia.]

The gentle and charming young lady ‘Eris’ had built a solid network with the Empress, far beyond what he had hoped for.

It was a result that even Darhan found impressive.

[Recently, I happened to ‘coincidentally’ run into the Emperor while taking a stroll with the Empress. I gave the Empress a private hint afterward. After all, sleep is what matters most as one gets older, isn’t it?]

Thanks to the Empress, her access to the imperial palace had become unrestricted, and she faithfully carried out Darhan’s demands.

Her eloquence in exploiting situations and delving into people’s psychology was nothing short of brilliant.

[Today, the Empress was the one to bring it up first. She said she would help break off the engagement with Marquis Gederus Knocharff. That saves me some trouble.]

Simply by removing one thorn named Gwendhill, everything had been flowing smoothly.

Clearly, it had been that way……

Darhan gazed coldly down at the general store merchant groveling at his feet like a dog, begging for his life.

“I-I always exaggerate and embellish things to ply my trade! That is the truth!”

“Then let us verify that, shall we. Whether this antidote truly brings the young lady of Count Chelonar’s house back to her feet.”

The general store merchant’s face drained to white.

Darhan had seen the faces of countless men who had been dragged in because their mouths had gotten them into trouble.

That was not the face of someone afraid of failing to revive her.

“Shall I trace your rumor-spreading, step by step, from start to finish.”

Where the rumor had begun, where he had been — every last detail.

Under Darhan’s threat, the general store merchant trembled with fear.

“T-that is…… I had no idea, I truly know nothing!”

“I haven’t even asked you anything yet. What is it you claim not to know?”

The knight standing behind him drew his sword and walked toward the general store merchant.

“Eek — My Lord Marquis, I truly, truly know nothing! I have nothing to do with this! I swear it!”

“Not knowing is not an option.”

“Aaaaargh!!”

Darhan left the grimy underground dungeon, leaving the general store merchant’s screams behind him.

He handed the medicine bottle he had been holding to his aide who stood waiting.

“Analyze this antidote, and on the off chance it truly does react to that poison, find the Doctor the general store merchant had been spreading rumors about — immediately.”

“Shall I bring her in?”

The scorpion charm hanging from the handle of his walking stick caught the light as Darhan idly brushed it, his eyes flashing.

“Kill her on the spot. Find everyone who received medicine from that Doctor and kill them as well. Everyone connected to this antidote, regardless of rank.”

“Yes, My Lord Marquis.”

He had already found it suspicious that not a single death notice had come from the house of Count Dohemian even after half a year had passed.

‘I had set it aside, assuming they had simply held a quiet funeral……’

It had been a mistake to leave the matter of Chelonar, who had been on the verge of being ousted even from his position as head of the neutral faction, to his subordinates.

Darhan tapped his walking stick with his index finger.

“A rumor, is it. A rumor……”

It was peculiar for something to be dismissed as a mere rumor.

The fact that it was specifically an antidote — not simply medicine — also nagged at him.

The purple poisonweed he had poured his resources into cultivating was a phantom weed capable of deceiving even the eyes of troublesome mages, and its venom was potent enough to render any antidote useless.

And yet, someone had been selling an antidote while specifically naming the young lady of Chelonar County’s house, who had been administered that very venom. And doing so while frequenting noble households at that.

“I cannot overlook a variable, even knowing of it.”

He could not allow the great undertaking that was proceeding without a hitch to be disrupted at this stage.

He had already sent assassins to find the Doctor behind the rumor, so the larger variable needed to be stopped.

Darhan took in the scenery visible beyond the carriage window.

“Perhaps it is time to start eliminating them one by one.”

Darhan conjured a scenario in his mind.

The desperation of those who had pathetically lost their master and been abandoned by the Empire and the imperial family. Those who, as a result, make choices they cannot take back.

Was that not excellent material?

“At the very least, they should be sent off comfortably on the same charge, so Gwendhill won’t be lonely on the path to the afterlife.”

Darhan closed his eyes and wore a benevolent smile stained with blood.

****

A tall, slender man. A man with freckles, whose smile gave off an honest impression.

Above all, glasses were a must.

That had been Virena’s ideal type.

“So you don’t necessarily fall for your ideal type……”

Sharti, having returned to the small log cabin, murmured as she sat in the single-seat sofa.

The green-haired man who had come running to Virena’s house with passionate fervor was nothing like Virena’s ideal type.

His height and build were average, and he had no freckles.

He was a man with a gentle, open expression — and no glasses.

“More than anything, he seemed more interested in Ren than in Virena.”

The green-haired man who had stopped in front of Virena’s house had seen Ren holding Tein and collapsed on the spot, sobbing loudly.

In the end, Vireta had smacked him on the back and driven him away, saying he was making a racket wailing in front of her house.

“So we never got to exchange greetings.”

A flustered Virena had come outside to calm him down, leaving no room for introductions.

Virena, soothing the man who kept stealing glances at Ren even as he cried, had looked oddly pleased.

Virena had whispered that Ren was getting along warmly with her family, so it seemed she had jumped to a needless misunderstanding — that the green-haired man had cried out of what could only be described as jealousy.

“But it didn’t look like jealousy the way Virena described it.”

“Jealousy?”

Ren, who had just finished washing up, came over.

Sharti awkwardly averted her eyes.

“Why do you always come out half-dressed after a bath?”

“Ah, I suppose it’s become a habit.”

Ren, who had come out wearing only trousers, casually pulled on his shirt.

Then he naturally settled into a spot on the floor below the sofa and dropped down.

“More than that, not drying off properly is the habit.”

Sharti snatched the towel and briskly ruffled his damp hair dry.

Even under the rough, thoroughly deliberate touch, Ren stayed still.

Sharti stared intently at the top of Ren’s head.

‘Is he truly trying to seduce me?’

The reason he kept exposing his chest, abs, and arm muscles at every turn — apparently it was for seduction.

They were already lovers who casually exchanged light kisses.

Deeper, more adult kisses had also naturally come about depending on the mood.

‘……Did I seem too flustered each time?’

Come to think of it, she had been too busy catching her breath to pay close attention to Ren’s reactions.

But Ren’s reactions had been peculiar as well.

Whenever things were about to turn into something more, he would stiffen awkwardly and suddenly leave the room or lock himself in the bathroom and refuse to come out.

“Sharti?”

Sharti, who had been burning a hole through his lips without realizing it, snapped back to her senses.

Ren’s eyes and the bridge of his nose were covered by the towel.

Sharti swallowed a dry lump in her throat.

‘Seduction……’

Of course, Ren’s muscular physique was sensual.

His smile, and the glimpses of muscle peeking out from beneath his shirt — it was all alluring.

But for Sharti, who had never seen a man as a romantic interest before, and for whom love itself was a first — the stimulation was too much.

“……”

And yet — his eye level lowered, his eyes hidden, his lips slightly parted.

Ren, in that state, simply waiting for her touch.

Unintentional seduction was precisely what made a person’s heart flutter.

When Sharti tilted the towel slightly, Ren’s head tilted accordingly.

Listening to his shallow breaths, she slowly lowered her head.

“……!”

The moment their lips touched, his lips trembled faintly.

‘What did he do here?’

Sharti, with her eyes narrowed to slits, explored his lips the same way Ren had done to her.

Each time, Ren flinched and started.

And yet, the way he steadfastly kept his lips offered up was somehow endearing, and Sharti’s lips curved softly.

After holding his lips captive for quite a while, Sharti pulled away without reluctance.

The moment her hands released the towel as well, it slid silently off his eyes.

“……”

A pair of slightly hazy teal eyes stared up at her blankly.

He had taken off his silver ring, so his emotions showed plainly.

“Since it’s summer, the dampness dries quickly.”

When Sharti smiled with a casual air, Ren pressed his lips tightly shut.

His downturned eyes gave him the look of a sulking wolf.

“Why……”

It was the look of someone asking why she had kissed him, why she had stopped here, why she wasn’t going further.

“You were seducing me, so I gave in.”

“……!”

“And if we go further, I won’t be able to hold back.”

“I can hold back. So……”

“No, you can’t.”

Sharti’s dark red eyes rolled away, evading Ren’s gaze as he pleaded to continue.

A delayed flush crept across Sharti’s cheeks.

“……I’m the one who can’t hold back.”

“……”

When Sharti, flushed with embarrassment, tried to immediately escape the sofa, Ren snatched her up and lifted her into his arms.

The vacant look in his eyes had already ignited into unmistakable heat.

“I’ll be the one to hold back.”

Ren strode forward and entered her bedroom.

He laid Sharti down on the bed and, moving as though he were about to pounce on her, placed one knee on the bed.

The moonlight pouring through the window cast a shadow across the room, like prey being consumed by a beast.

“So, Sharti, don’t hold back and……”

The deep, low voice resonating from the back of his throat sent a shiver down Sharti’s spine.

“You can do whatever you want to me.”

Ren pressed his lips to the center of her palm, and his gaze was smoldering.

“……”

Without managing even a proper breath, Sharti reached out with her other hand.

Watching Ren become a tame beast under her touch, Sharti moved her lips.

“I — I can’t.”

Well, of course. What had he expected?

With a bitter smile, disappointment flickered across Ren’s eyes in an instant.

“— Not right now!”

“……?”

Sharti wriggled her way out from beneath him and knelt upright on the bed.

Her face had gone scarlet in the meantime, and she looked at him with resolute eyes.

Ren climbed up and sat on the bed as well.

“I’m an adult who knows what I need to know. So I want to be more careful about actions that come with responsibility.”

“Responsibility……”

“I like you, Ren. My feelings have grown so much I can hardly contain them — I like you far more than you think. As a man, as a lover — I love you, Ren.”

“……!”

Caught off guard by the unexpected confession, Ren drew a sharp breath.

A love confession spoken with such resolve, on a bed in a dark bedroom, gripped his heart and would not let go.

“But as someone who likes you, as a lover who loves you — this is as far as I go. So——”

Having drawn a firm line, Sharti squeezed her eyes shut.

“The act that comes with responsibility…… I want to share it after we have become a married couple.”

“……!”

It was an honest confession that followed her declaration of love.

His mind had gone entirely blank, and no words came to him for the lovely person right before his eyes.

But there was one thing Ren had wanted to say most of all.

“I love you too.”

It hurt.

The simple confession, just a few words, trembled painfully.

It hurt because the swelling feeling in his chest had grown so large it felt ready to burst.

“I love you, Sharti.”

Those few words — I love you — trembled without dignity.

Ren wrapped his arms around Sharti, toward whom every trembling part of him reached, and expressed his happiness to its fullest.

And then, emboldened by Sharti’s courage, he finally brought out a confession he had never dared attempt until now.

“So please — would you marry me?”

“Yes!”

Sharti threw her arms around his back and held on tight, as though she had been waiting for this very moment.

It was a proposal offered without a ring, in a place with no beautiful scenery and no romantic candlelight.

But just as the two of them always had — they made their promise by sharing only their hearts.

A small, simple promise to dream of a future together was enough.

Summer was passing.