RAMHM Chapter 114

Have Me

The guests sat with their backs to him, and she sat in a position facing Rhodness, so only she could see that gaze.

Rhodness looked genuinely irritated by these uninvited guests.

"Found out. Asked. Ellaconian people."

"How fortunate. Thank you so much, it must have been bothersome."

"No. Nothing much."

She too felt somewhat regretful that the atmosphere had been broken.

But unable to hide her joy that Viktor had discovered information about the medicine written in Bliea's diary, she clasped both hands together.

As her attention immediately shifted elsewhere, Rhodness stood there staring at her with an expression of utterly resentful death.

"Your Highness should also come here and listen together."

"You should, brother."

Epero immediately agreed with her words.

Rhodness looked down at them without unfolding his arms, but soon when she patted the seat beside her, he walked over slowly as if reluctantly yielding.

Rhodness sat pressed right against her as if to make a point. As if there were no space at all on the opposite side.

Epero's eyes, which had been following his elder brother, narrowed peculiarly, and Viktor, who hadn't seen Rhodness rubbing his lips on her fingertips, looked bewildered.

"So insistent..."

"Prince Viktor. So what kind of medicine was it?"

At the question cutting off Rhodness, Viktor immediately pulled several sheets of paper from his clothes and spread them out.

It was a table recording interpretations and effects of the Ellaconian herb names she'd given him.

"Many. Very. Various effects. Famous shaman. In Ellaconia."

"Mm?"

"There's exactly one shaman in Ellaconia who could handle those herbs."

At Viktor's awkward Imperial speech, Epero volunteered to interpret.

"Many Ellaconian doctors and shamans agreed these are herbs not used nowadays. There's a Grand Shaman in Ellaconia who could handle such things. However, it's difficult for them to come all the way here."

Therefore the thirsty one must dig the well—that was the meaning.

"No."

Rhodness openly pulled her shoulder tight and pushed away the paper Viktor had offered.

Viktor's expression crumpled as he watched those long fingers push away the bundle of papers.

"Cannot send. Him. Even from Ellaconia's position. Easily!"

"If you're a prince, act like a prince and handle matters properly."

"Get scolded. Sisters!"

Rhodness clicked his tongue briefly. Epero shivered slightly as if recalling the sisters Viktor mentioned, then mediated.

"Brother. The Grand Shaman is a respected figure in Ellaconia and lives in seclusion, so they cannot come to Ronteaux. They say they barely found the Grand Shaman's last known whereabouts, so if not now, we might have to search for him for months."

"No."

"Brother doesn't need to move. He'll only meet with people who have direct business, so just the Madam..."

"I won't send the Madam alone. If she goes, she absolutely goes with me."

At Rhodness's firm answer, Epero shut his mouth tight. But his rippling deep blue eyes were urging a different answer toward him.

"I'll go directly to Ellaconia myself."

"Madam."

"Count Acacia. Please call me that, Your Imperial Highness."

The face that had completely turned to her colored with hurt.

She shook her head firmly.

"I'm not Your Highness's assistant but the late Crown Prince's assistant. My whereabouts afterward are my own freedom. I want to go alone if necessary and meet him before it's too late."

"Adrienne."

He whispered, putting strength into the hand wrapped around her shoulder.

"His Highness and I will discuss separately and meet again tomorrow."

"No. Alone. I'm going too. Epero also."

"That's why it's even more impossible."

"Your Highness."

She gripped Rhodness's firm thigh with strength.

"Talk with me."

Epero didn't rebel against Rhodness and disappeared taking Viktor, who seemed somewhat angry.

Rhodness and she left the palace that way and headed for the Grand Ducal estate.

Throughout the journey, they didn't exchange a single word.

Though she'd wanted to talk, she could fully anticipate Rhodness's stubbornness, so she abruptly offered him a guest room.

She'd just announced they should both soak in warm water for a bit and organize their thoughts.

"Madam! What do we do! Your hair! Everyone's gossiping that you dyed it blonde at dawn and attended the funeral, I was so shocked!"

Yona, who'd followed into the bathroom to assist with bathing, chattered while helping remove the mourning clothes.

She silently entered the warm water Yona had prepared.

Yona, who seemed to have much to say, left without complaint when told she'd bathe alone.

She organized the thoughts in her head step by step.

Whether Rhodness came along or not, she planned to depart for Ellaconia immediately.

When she roughly washed and emerged from the bathroom wearing the light dress Yona had prepared, she saw Rhodness standing looking out the bedroom window.

He too had washed roughly—slightly wet hair, still wearing the black mourning shirt from earlier.

"What's outside the window?"

"I was wondering what you looked at and lived on when you were here."

He turned and approached her.

The touch pulling her waist and pressing their bodies together was quite natural.

"I wanted to tell you I'm leaving for Ellaconia tomorrow."

"..."

Rhodness silently pulled her waist closer.

"I want to look around the mana stone mine supposedly on Acacia territory. Most of all, if there's a chance, I want to go east and meet Father."

His platinum hair, already dry, sparkled in the sunset light.

She silently buried her cheek in his embrace.

The towel that had been wrapped around her head fell to the floor with a soft thud, and half-dry hair spilled down her back.

"If you go, I'm going too."

"You have much to do, Rhodness. You have to handle finishing the funeral..."

"Even at that funeral, I only thought about how to keep you by my side."

Emotion denser than in the office tickled her ear unbearably through his mouth.

Instantly her entire body tensed.

"You'll need time alone too. Not even a day has passed since the funeral. Don't overdo it."

"Adrienne. I've already shattered all the illusions Bardenaldo created for me. Of course it would be a lie to say my heart doesn't ache. I'm glad Bardenaldo wasn't enshrined in a glass coffin. I couldn't have stood there intact looking at my dead elder brother's corpse."

"Rhoan."

"But I don't want to chase dead people anymore, nor do I want to lose living people because of them. Now the only person I have left is you alone. The very ground I stand on with both feet in this world—that itself is you, Adrienne."

The back he rubbed unconsciously heated to burning.

"So there's no way I'll send you alone to such an unsafe place."

His eyes had organized thoughts just as she had in the bath.

"But Rhoan. You've only now gained the chance to escape Bardenaldo's shadow and live as yourself. You need time to think deeply about your own life. I can't unreasonably ask you to accompany me on my personal business."

"Adrienne. I don't know if you realize this. But from very long ago, I've lived looking only at you."

Her eyes widened progressively at the sudden content. Rhodness remained unwavering.

"You said you liked strong knights. So I lived that way."

"...Rhoan?"

"You said you liked upright, dependable men like that, so I ground down all my rough edges and lived that way before you. You are my character, my life."

Ah.

From thoughtless childhood.

The contents she'd answered brightly to the question of what kind of man she liked raced through her mind like a panorama.

Shoulders so broad that spreading both arms couldn't encompass them. Tall enough to crane one's neck looking up. A knight strong enough to protect her from any danger.

She'd spouted such similar words endlessly without embarrassment.

At her face growing instantly awkward, Rhodness smiled darkly.

"I'm a coward, that's right."

"Rhoan, surely you didn't really because I said that when I was young..."

"The anxious one wasn't you but me, always."

"Rhoan."

"The fastest, surest way to eliminate your anxiety. Actually that's for my anxiety, not yours."

He smiled bitterly. But the pulling force grew stronger.

"The one who wants to have you is me, Adrienne."

"Rhoan, I don't want to make you anxious either. So there's no need to decide hastily. Besides time to think about your future life, the palace needs you now. I'll be back soon..."

To Rhodness, who'd lived as such a person because of one thoughtless word of hers, she answered urgently as if erasing guilt.

"No."

But Rhodness shook his head and spoke with a convinced voice instead.

"If it's thinking, I've done it all my life. You are my life, Adrienne."

"Rhoan..."

"I have to protect you, and if I must become Crown Prince to do so, I'll become that too."

She instantly stiffened and looked up at him.

Rhodness, who'd just severed the leash that had bound him to Bardenaldo, seemed to be placing that leash in her hands instead.

"I told you before. I don't want to let you go again. I can do anything for that."

Rhodness said:

"I want to have you. Adrienne."

Rhodness's hand slowly climbed up her back, threaded his fingers between strands of wet hair, and pulled her nape into his embrace.

"That thought was all that filled my head."

When her cheek pressed harder against his chest, she heard Rhodness's heart pounding heavily.

"I'll prove everything. That I'm not someone who'll lead this country to ruin, not my mother's darkness. That I'm a man who can protect you and make you happy."

The voice drilling into her ear with hot sighs was overwhelming.

She stopped breathing briefly and pushed his chest slightly away. Rippling eyes looked down at her.

"Trust me, Adrienne."

"Rhoan..."

Rhodness threw off his black shirt without hesitation. Without even unbuttoning—just gripping the hem and raising his arms.

The mourning clothes still carrying the aura of death were flung to the floor.

Startled, she stepped back—a body like marble sculpture gleaming in sunset light approached.

Filled with scars large and small, but an overwhelming physique those scars could never obscure filled her vision.

"So..."

Contradicting the urgently discarded clothes, his approaching steps were slow.

Bright red sunset light traced the elegant nape she'd always stolen glances at, down to the prominent collarbones supporting broad shoulders, then swept down like falling water droplets over firm, thick pectoral muscles visible to the eye alone.

"...Be seduced."

Dear God.

From his body stepping close came the soap scent familiar to her. And his body scent mixed together, invading her nose.

"Don't say such things about falling for me then going far away..."

Lowering her gaze to where they naturally pressed together, she felt the presence beneath his black trousers that couldn't hide its volume.

"...Have me."

Why did Neil's voice suddenly come to mind?

That indifferent voice replying 'Everything about him tends toward large' when she'd admired how large Rhodness's hands were.

"Have me. So I can have you."

Ah.

Her reason, which had been thinning since the office, snapped cleanly at that low-pouring voice.

"...Yes."

The unfamiliar desire that had been pressed beneath her dying body and the truth, whose existence had been hazy before today, shook frantically and burst out like uncorked champagne.

Eyes reddened.

To this obscenely wild beast crashing into her with all heart and body, she could only declare surrender.

"Yes, I will."

Rhodness's lips, tilting his body as if drawn to her, swallowed her lips whole the moment she wrapped her arms around his neck.