Chapter 6: Marriage III

Chapter 6: Marriage III

Third Person’s POV

The Valerius clan envoy with the striking red sigils attracted the attention of the citizens passing the main road of the Rogue capital.

The bustling sight captured Raimere’s shining golden pupils as she reveled in the lively and joyful expressions of the citizens.

She has always been cooped up inside the emerald forest and has grown to the age of twenty without even knowing what the outside world looks like. Her only knowledge of the outside world came from the books and travel journals that she has read.

Seeing the real thing made her tangled mood of anger, anxiety and hatred to lessen.

But their carriage quickly left the vibrant city streets and crossed the magnificent gate of the capital, before taking the brick road leading to the blackwood forest.

The originally bustling environment plummeted to cold silence, and Raimere could no longer disregard the huge presence of the man next to her without the distraction from outside the carriage windows.

Her limbs stiffened and her heart drummed like unending thunder on a stormy night.

A blurry memory of their kiss yesterday floated in her mind, and Raimere almost screamed, wanting to smack her brain for bringing up that scene.

Heat travelled from her cheek down to her neck.

Raimere could only fan herself with her trembling hands, while trying to control her eyes from looking in the direction of that man.

As a girl with no interaction from even her close blood relatives, Raimere hasn’t even hugged another person to this age, but just yesterday, she had such a close intimate contact with a man that she just met.

‘It must be what they call the frivolous blood of youth…yeah, it must be that…and the marriage seal must have played a role too.’

Raimere nodded to herself, convinced that she found the reason for her awkwardness of facing and being near the man next to her.

‘Besides, why would I feel anything other than hate at being tied to this man forcefully?’

Remembering her experience of being betrayed and sold by her own blood relatives, Raimere’s golden pupils darkened.

‘I should have repaid their upbringing with this, right?’

Raimere decided that she would use being sold as a marriage tribute as a repayment to the life given by the Celeste clan, and that there would be no more ties of blood to bind her to those cold-blooded relatives of hers starting from the day that they betrayed her trust.

“Roar!”

“Neigh!”

A sudden stop of the carriage shook Raimere out of her thoughts.

The shadow horses pulling the carriages raised their hooves at the resounding roar that disrupted the serene tranquility of the road.

“A blood bear! On your formation!” The leader of the thirty cavalries shouted at the top of his lungs as they surrounded the six carriages at the center while facing the four-meter-tall red furred bear emitting a bloody smell standing in front of the thicket of trees next to the brick road.

The shaking of the carriage pushed Raimere’s unprepared figure to the side.

“Shit!”

The back of her head squarely hit Varyan’s jaw and Raimere instinctively reached out her hands to grasp at anything as she felt her body falling.

“Thunk!”

The two of them fell down the carriage floor.

Raimere laid half of her body atop Varyan. Her hands clasping his robes tightly.

Feeling the toned muscles underneath the robes on her hands, Raimere felt heat rushing up her face.

“Uh…I-I, I’m s-sorry…”

She hurriedly tried to stand up but the restless shadow horses of their carriage once again moved and rattled the carriage from left to right.

“Ah!”

Raimere face-planted on Varyan’s chest and her whole body now stuck close to his that even air couldn’t pass through.

A crack finally appeared on Varyan’s impassive face as he felt the soft and tender body of his new princess consort on top of him.

A pleasant fragrance of gardenia wafted in his nose as the soft ends of auburn hair nestled on his neck. The tickling sensation caused a tingling feeling to rise from the base of his neck to the top of his head.

Warm breath sprayed down on his chest, and Varyan blanked out for a second before fury bubbled up in his black pupils.

‘Hah…she adamantly refuted that she did not want to marry me, but now she’s giving her best seducing me?’

Varyan felt like laughing that he even thought that he acted harsh to Raimere yesterday, because she was full of conviction that he almost believed her.

He has met a lot of noble ladies like her. They would act demure and restrained at first but would show their true colors of wanting to seduce him under their skirts.

Varyan’s indifference to women was due to their duality. He did not expect that he would almost be fooled by one such women.

Feeling the stiffening and tense body under her, Raimere’s mind went back to yesterday when Varyan pushed her down as the cost of touching him.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Raimere hurriedly groped the carriage chair to propel herself up from the devil’s body. She doesn’t want to sport another round of bruises. They will heal quickly but it will still hurt the same.

Catching her breath, Raimere seated herself back on her position with an especially behaved look on her face.

‘It was my fault, so I better just stay silent here in the corner.’

Not wanting to see those murderous eyes of Varyan, she lowered her head and acted oblivious while playing with her fingers.

Varyan felt a vein popping up in his temples. He sat up and went back on his seat while staring at the bowed head of his princess consort.

“I never thought that my princess consort was hellbent on the consummation of our marriage that she could not wait until the marriage night.”

Raimere bowed her head lower at the sound of derision and sarcasm from Varyan’s words.

‘He’s really petty...’

Looking at the unmoving Raimere, Varyan let out a humorless laugh.

He reached out his hand to raise her chin. Her messy auburn hair framed her small and delicate face that could garner the envy of the most beautiful noble lady in the capital.

Golden pupils met with Varyan’s deep black ones.

His long fingers caressed the warm, pillowy soft skin, leaving streaks of red from the force of his grip.

“I wouldn’t mind it if you wanted to do it here, my princess consort.”

Sounds were shut off outside the carriage as an invisible crackling line met in the air between Raimere and Varyan.

Their eyes only strayed off each other at hearing the loud announcement of the leader of the cavalries.

“Resume the journey!”

Blood littered one side of the brick road as the mangled body of the blood bear lay breathless in the same position that it appeared.

The six carriages once again moved forward, and Varyan’s playful expression cooled down to disinterest as he released his hold on Raimere’s chin.

Raimere felt her chin pulse from his grip, but her eyes couldn’t help but observe the quick change of face of her now nominal husband.

‘His temper is really quick to change, which is similar to what I’ve heard from those stories of his devilish reputation.’