CHAPTER 367: TO BEG IS TO LOVE

"It takes almost an hour to reach where the healers live," Xion pointed out.

It was exactly this overbearing person who had made them live so far from the castle grounds.

"And... and I don’t want to take you with me."

That earned him a narrow-eyed glare.

"Why?" the Archduke demanded. The look in his eyes promised that, without a good reason, he might punish Xion again.

"You’ll scare them," the brave kitten scoffed. "Don’t think I didn’t see how you glared at that poor bard..."

Darius’ expression hardened further, though a mocking little smile tugged at his mouth.

"You pity him."

Xion exhaled in exasperation. "Of course, I pity him. Can’t I even feel sorry for someone being wrongly accused and glared at?"

"No." The reply was flat, just like the Archduke’s pursed lips.

And then, as though to silence any further protest, he flopped down fully onto Xion again, knocking the breath right out of his lungs.

"Too heavy!" Xion gasped, squirming under him.

"Good," Darius said smugly, nuzzling against the soft skin just below his ear.

It was as though he were wordlessly urging, Focus only on me.

With the weight of Darius pressing close, the scent of him filling his senses, Xion really couldn’t think of anything else.

His whole attention was drawn back to this frustrating, devastating man looming over him.

Finally, after a long silence, Xion exhaled shakily.

"I’ll be back as soon as I can," he promised. "And then... You can take me to see the place you built for school. Okay?"

"...Will you teach them personally?"

Xion smiled. As if his fingers had a mind of their own, they were threading through Darius’ long silver hair.

"Yes, I want to."

Something in Darius’ chest ached at that. He wanted Xion to become his cheerful self again, to smile without any burden.

Just the thought of that face drenched in tears when Xion lost his eyes had left him sleepless for nights.

His arms tightened around the fragile angel below him.

"...Fine," he mumbled in a hoarse voice. "...One condition."

"Huh?"

"You eat your lunch properly."

Fiery bubbles fizzled in his chest until Xion couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Darius had been so scary. Yet all he asked was to eat properly.

He simply couldn’t get angry at this person even if he wanted to.

The earlier crying and emotional turmoil had taken a toll on Xion, and without even realizing it, his eyelids grew heavier until he couldn’t open them anymore.

His hand remained on Darius’ head.

"You’re so defenseless," the Archduke sighed helplessly as he propped himself up on his elbow.

After detangling Xion’s fingers from his hair, he kissed the palm before placing it at his side.

He couldn’t help but rest his chin on the back of his hand and study the sleeping person with concentration.

On one hand, he felt grateful that Xion trusted him enough to sleep so unguarded beside him.

But there was another part of him, the darker part he usually kept under lock, that seethed with something vile.

He wanted to punish Xion.

For leaving him. For making him wait for so long before returning to him. For daring to say so easily that he couldn’t always stay at his side.

He wanted to be patient, really. Darius wished to be as gentle as Xion asked him to be.

But the endless letters from the church and the royals — demanding to know the truth of Saintess Talia’s death — were already straining his composure.

The darkness he had tried to keep hidden was already starting to seep out.

He’d almost lost control earlier. Those swollen lips and flushed cheeks were evidence of his brutality.

"What should I do with you, Xion?" he murmured, letting his fingers drift down the open collar of his white shirt to rest on Xion’s bare chest.

He could feel the steady rise and fall of each breath.

"Must I chain you to this bed, just to keep you here?"

One by one, he undid the rest of the buttons, baring the slim torso to the cold air and his own greedy gaze.

His fingers teased the red beans before drifting down and circling lazily around the cute dip of his navel.

Another thought struck him. If there were some way — some forbidden magic, some divine trick — to make Xion pregnant... he would not hesitate to use it.

The idea of his lover’s belly filled with his seed made his cock twitch in his trousers.

"Wouldn’t you look so pretty then?" he whispered, leaning closer, letting his breath ghost over the soft skin.

His hand slipped lower until it reached the waistband of Xion’s trousers.

A few pictures flashed in his mind of him thrusting into Xion. It would be so easy to fill this little belly to the brim.

Suddenly, he wanted to see the shape of his cock bulging inside Xion’s tummy, to watch it press and shift beneath his skin.

Xion would cry. That was the fact, and the other truth was that he wouldn’t show any mercy. He simply couldn’t.

The green in his eyes dimmed, almost as if no trace of light could reach the depth where his filthy thoughts were born.

Before he even realized, his fingers were already tugging at the waistband, working it loose, baring more pale skin to the dim orange light.

His hand slid lower until he was cupping the soft flesh of Xion’s inner thigh. It was so easy to sink his fingers into the supple flesh he’d worked so hard to grow.

Feeling the touch on his sensitive skin, the sleeping beauty stirred slightly.

A sweet, tantalizing groan escaped his shiny parted lips.

That was all it took for Darius’ mind to snap. His hand moved with eagerness as he stripped Xion bare, throwing all the garments he had personally helped Xion wear to the floor.

Perhaps it would have been better to just keep Xion naked after his bath. Such an idea lingered in his mind as his own attire soon joined the heap of crumpled clothes.

The moment his body touched the bare soft skin, he sighed in bliss.

To feel Xion’s warmth beneath his hands, to know that he could hold him like this and hear his faint breathing, was bliss beyond words.

And yet, at the very same time, it was agony. A torment that gnawed at him even as he clung tighter.

This was his heaven, and also his very own hell.

Because to love was to beg for it.

It was to lower yourself, to bare the most vulnerable parts of your soul to another, and pray they didn’t turn away.

It was to grovel at the feet of your darling, just to have that fleeting glance.

It was to shamelessly keep showing your face in front of your loved one just to hear your name tumble from their lips.

And when they really called your name with a smile, it would be enough reason to live a bit more.

Love, in essence, was hunger and humility wrapped into one unbearable ache.

However, to long for someone with this desperation was never something Darius envisioned himself doing.

Yet here he was, ready to drench his hands in the blood of the ruler just to keep Xion safe.

"You will be the death of me, my love."

Darius placed a gentle kiss at the crown of Xion’s soft black hair.

When Xion shifted, the Archduke was quick to wrap his arms around him.

His limbs enveloped Xion from head to toe, almost like a clingy animal, or maybe, in this case, it would be better to call Darius a vine.

Like the very sigil of the Darkhelm house, Darius was the thorny rose vine. So beautiful and enchanting and yet equally deadly.

And like a vine, he could not help but wind himself tighter and tighter around what he loved, even if it meant choking the light out of it.

Just for the sake of not scaring Xion, he was willing to sheath his thorn. Even if it hurt. Even if it left him aching from holding back.

He stared down at that soft face nestled against his chest, and for a fleeting second, he thought he saw the shimmer of a smile.

Darius didn’t even care about the consequences of going against the goddess.

For this was enough. This warmth was enough to keep his sanity at bay and to keep his heart pumping.

Under the onslaught of various emotions running rampant in his mind, Darius, too, drifted into sleep.

Black Box-

Nikolai, smiling charmingly, "So, my dear alchemist, how about you teach me some of your healing spells? I’ll pay you, of course."

Before Allen could reply, the knight commander Ray rushed and scooped Allen up like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder.

Ray, glaring at the prince with murder in his eyes,

"In. Your. Dreams." Then, he took bewildered Allen away.

Now sitting on Ray’s bed, Allen tilted his head in confusion, "... What are you doing?"

Ray with red ears, "Protecting you from a pervert."

The royal highness, Nikolai, "... Ah, I am so lonely. No one wants me."

Poor Noxian, who had to witness the whole drama, "..." Are these really grown-ups?