Chapter 43
Chapter 43
“Erna!”
Erna jumped in surprise when she heard Kalion’s voice bellowing through the door. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and laid still while he rattled the door aggressively and then pounded on it with his fists as he continued to shout her name. It sounded like he was going to break the door down if Erna didn’t open it. She stared at the rattling door in disbelief. What is wrong with him?
The day after Kalion had left, Vanessa informed Erna that he’d left Archduke Castle to subjugate the demons that had appeared again. But she’d also said that it hadn’t been necessary for Kalion to go to the town in person. Erna had then realized that he’d left the castle out of embarrassment after his body had been purified.
She understood his motive for doing so because she was also highly embarrassed about everything. And so Erna had cleaned up all her stuff in the master bedroom and didn’t go back there. She had done this out of kindness for herself. If the master bedroom showed no traces of her, then both of them could forget about the fact that they’d gotten strangely familiar with each other over the past two weeks.
When she’d heard Kalion returning earlier, Erna had walked over to the window immediately. Then she’d crouched below the windowsill and had sneakily raised her head to observe him, asking herself why she felt the need to hide.
Erna hadn’t done anything wrong. So she couldn’t understand why she was feeling guilty and behaving in such an unusual way. It was so out of character for her to act this way. In all this confusion, the one thing she was sure about was that she couldn’t face Kalion right now. The only reason he’d clung onto her was because of the demon poison, while she had been in her right frame of mind when she’d accepted his behavior without protesting.
While Erna was looking out the window, she’d watched in the moonlight as Kalion headed to the Knights Order without even looking at the castle, and she’d rolled her eyes. She’d then gone over to her bed and had thrown herself on it feeling relieved in a sense because he wouldn’t be coming back. Perhaps he wouldn’t return for a few days. Since he’d left Archduke Castle on purpose, out of embarrassment, there was no way he would come to the master bedroom. And Erna comforted herself with this thought.
Erna reached out and grabbed the cushion she’d been screaming into as Kalion continued to bang on the door. As if she wasn’t already embarrassed enough, the innocent cushion had to receive her punches again. After bullying it for a while, Erna crawled into the bed and wrapped herself in the blanket. And it looked like she was in a cocoon. She was determined to sleep well this evening in the safety of her room because she knew that Kalion wouldn’t go into the master bedroom.
When Kalion eventually stopped banging on the door, Erna wiggled herself out of the blanket and walked over to the inter-leading door to the master bedroom. She then put her ears against the door, and a second later, asked herself what she was doing. Erna felt pathetic at that moment.
Even though it was a covenant, she didn’t know why she observed his mood so much, nor why she was waiting for him. Leaning against the door, Erna pulled her hair and twisted it despite herself. Pulling her hair seemed to settle her heart strangely. It might be because it was a feeling she’d gotten used to for the past two weeks, as Kalion had done that to her often.
Kalion touched every part of her body. And out of all the areas he caressed, her hair got the most attention. Of course, she smacked the hands that touched her waist or breasts. But Erna didn’t mind him touching her hair, and so he fiddled with it almost the entire time they were in the room together.
While she was thinking about how she’s gotten used to such bizarre things, she heard Kalion entering the master bedroom. As she listened intently, it sounded like he momentarily stopped his steps as if he’d noticed that she wasn’t there. Even then, she thought maybe he would go back to his room, but she heard him march towards her door, and now he was pounding on it.
Erna quickly turned the knob after observing the shaking door. It looked like he was going to break it, and someone outside might hear the commotion.
The doorknob turned with a click, and the door opened, and there was Kalion with his hair wet as if he had recently washed. He lowered his hand, which had been banging on the door, and stared at Erna.
“What do you want?” She asked. But Erna was well aware of the fact that he was going to inquire as to why she hadn’t met with him.
When she was about to answer and remark that he too was late, Kalion asked, “Why did you move your belongings?”
“What?”
It was a random question. Erna assumed he was going to ask why she didn’t come, so this caught her off-guard, and she blurted out, “I thought they might get in your way, so I cleaned them. Is that a problem? I didn’t touch your stuff, and I also returned the pen that I borrowed. You didn’t like my belongings anyway. You said it was a mess.”
Kalion didn’t say anything as he stood towering over her. She was correct in what she was saying because it had been like that at first. Each time her belongings piled up on the small table beside the sofa and Erna sat down, Kalion stared in displeasure. He’d even told her to clean up a few times. But since when did he stop caring about that? To see Erna lying on the sofa, her belongings increasing in number, and the fact that she was around him, had started to seem normal. So when he saw that all her things had disappeared, Kalion thought maybe Erna also disappeared.
“I didn’t mean for you to get rid of them.” Kalion swallowed hard and kept on brushing his face nervously with his hand. He felt like he should say something but nothing came out of his mouth because his head was spinning with things he wanted to say.
Kalion was not stupid. He knew more than anyone about the feeling of someone desiring another person. It was difficult for him to accept that the person he felt a desire for was Erna. But Kalion still wasn’t delighted with Erna because every time he saw her face, it reminded him of the past. And the moments of shame that he helplessly had to process.
There weren’t many people that knew he’d returned to Hessenguard from his trip, aside from Vanessa and maybe a few councilors. And some old servants in Archduke Castle as well. But they were the ones who bowed down to him, and none of them dared to look directly at him. Erna was the only person who remembered his past that would meet his eyes and scoff at him.
That was the main reason why Kalion didn’t like Erna. No matter what he did after becoming healthy, she would remember his lame past vividly. Through Erna’s eyes, Kalion saw himself ten years ago. So that’s why he didn’t like her then. That’s why he had to dislike her. And those feelings had remained until recently.
But why? Kalion grabbed Erna’s hand impulsively and then led her to the master bedroom. Erna followed his lead without protesting. Once inside, Kalion slammed the door as if suggesting to her not to even think about running away. Then he grabbed her waist and lifted her tiny body. Being as big as he was, she felt as light as a feather, and he embraced her with ease.
Kalion buried his face in her thick hair that tickled him as he walked with her in his arms. He then put Erna on the four-poster bed and climbed on her, locking her between his legs.
Erna’s eyes were wide open in shock as Kalion put her down on the bed in such a short amount of time. “What are you doing?”
“Well, we have to make a successor as promised.”
“Yes, I know, but why in such a rush?” Erna said to him as she didn’t understand the sudden urgency, and she added, “I heard the priest came by?”
I’m caught! Kalion thought as his stomach hit his ankles, and his mind went blank for a moment. Erna’s words sounded like she was questioning why he was clinging to her without the poison in his system. His mouth became dry. It was the same question he’d asked himself for the past three days. There was no poison in his body, so he couldn’t fathom why he still felt such lust for Erna. But it felt good the more he touched her. The silky blonde hair wrapped around his hand, and the breast that turned into a beautiful shape when he grasped it, felt wonderful to the touch. He liked the soft and squishy feeling, so he couldn’t take off his hand even though he was thinking he was going crazy. Since when did he even like something so soft to the touch?
Then something came into his sight while he was still feeling perplexed. It was the scab from wolf’s scratch he’d noticed when he was washing. Erna’s gaze also turned to where he was staring when he became still. She quickly straightened up after seeing the scratch, and because of that, her forehead butted against Kalion’s chin.
“Ouch!” They both cried out as each held onto their respective forehead and chin. As Kalion held onto his chin, thin fingers touched his arm. Kalion looked down at Erna in surprise and saw her frowning and rubbing her forehand as she held onto his arm with her other hand.
“Did you get attacked by a demon again?” She asked as she looked at him as if he were pathetic. No one in Archduke Castle would dare to talk to Kalion in a tone of voice like that. “How poor are your skills that you keep getting hurt?”
Even though she was saying such things, Erna’s finger didn’t leave the scratch mark. Thanks to that, Kalion could think while digesting her words again. She was making fun of him and found him pathetic. But her eyes and hand were still on his arm. And it reminded him of Erna when she was taking care of the wizards in Haldis. When the wizards were hurt and lying down, her gaze upon them was full of worry and pity. And now, her gaze that fell on his scar looked similar. In other words, she was worried about something as small as the tip of a fingernail while still finding him pathetic. Kalion’s body shook the moment he realized that. And a weird feeling made his fingertips tingle.
Meanwhile, as if she suddenly realized something, Erna asked, “Did the poison get you again?”
Kalion stared blankly at her and then furiously nodded. It felt like he’d found an oasis in the middle of the desert. The truth was that Kalion still couldn’t accept the priest’s words. There was no way he’d be like this with her without the poison. Either the priest was a fake, or there was some poison that even a priest couldn’t find in his body. That had to be the reason. Of course, this new scratch wasn’t from a demon. But it would be a good excuse until he found an actual answer about why he was feeling like this.
Kalion swallowed hard again. Many theories went through his mind. Out of all of them, there was a brief thought as to why he desired Erna continuously. If he held her until he was pleased, maybe this chaos would disappear.
Erna turned her head and sighed as she noticed that Kalion was in deep thought. Attacked by a demon again? She now believed the fact that this man was the best knight in Hessenguard might be a lie. Otherwise, what else could explain him getting attacked by a demon twice! But the moment he said he had been poisoned again, she understood why Kalion was behaving like this tonight.
Strangely, Erna felt relief during all this. At least it wasn’t enough poison for Kalion to collapse. But for two weeks, he’d be horny like this again. Why?! She was confused about why she felt relief.
Suddenly, Kalion’s hand grabbed onto her face and turned it towards him, “Erna.”
She had goosebumps as a deep voice that sounded like an echo from a cave called her. It wasn’t from fear. It was a different feeling that made her lower stomach tingle and her legs close up. Erna stared at his handsome face, and in his eyes, she saw a fiery passion.
Kalion lowered his head and whispered into her ear, “I’m sorry, but today’s going to hurt a little.”