DM Chapter 67
Come to think of it, there were a few times when he bathed her. Each time, she was so out of it that she didn’t realize the process was like this.
It would flow again once she got up, but for now, after wiping her lower parts clean, he lifted Sarin’s buttocks, allowing her skirt, now soaked up to the waist, to be pulled down over her knees.
Thinking that it was finally over, Sarin took a deep breath.
Feeling too lethargic to even move a finger, she felt like she could fall asleep at any moment, teetering between alertness and drowsiness. She wished he would just hold her and move her to the bedroom. But she would never say that to Owen, but maybe he’d do it if she stayed still and closed her eyes.
With that thought, she blinked her eyelids like leaden weights.
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Rustle.
A faint sound startled her back to consciousness as if she had fallen asleep for a brief period. She was still too tired to speak, but a savory smell pierced her nostrils. She unconsciously opened her eyes at the sharp smell that pricked her nose.
Could this be a dream?
Owen himself was bringing food to the table. She was so tired, she thought she was seeing things.
Praying for this to be a dream, Sarin closed her eyes again. She couldn’t tell if this was a nightmare or a dream.
“Sarin.”
Even with his affectionate voice calling her, Sarin didn’t open her eyes.
After a moment, Owen’s gaze reached her face. When his gaze felt so vividly real, she tried to think with her foggy mind whether this was not a dream. Owen then put his hands under her knees and behind her neck, lifting her up.
As she opened her eyes again, feeling like her body was floating like a roller coaster, she found herself in Owen’s arms, her knees draped over the armrest of the narrow chair.
“You must be hungry.”
Owen’s words sounded different to Sarin.
So, is this man hungry now?
But soon, he tore a piece of bread into small pieces and soaked it in the bisque, and the softened bread slid into Sarin’s lips. Reflexively mumbling, she even ended up lightly chewing the man’s fingers, eliciting a soft laugh from him.
“Is it that good?”
Owen asked as he quietly put the fingers Sarin had chewed into his own mouth.
Her eyelids were still heavy. It was difficult to distinguish between a dream and reality.
He couldn’t care less about anyone else’s hunger. She couldn’t imagine Owen feeding her like a child. While half-dozing, Sarin’s lips received oily and tender duck meat once, and then steak was pushed in another time.
Watching Sarin accept what he offered even in her sleep, Owen smiled softly. She turned her head and uttered a soft moan as he approached to lick the greasiness of the meat from her lips with his tongue.
Such actions were unfamiliar to him too. However, the sight of Sarin relying on him, opening her mouth like a fledgling bird, wasn’t bad at all.
“You smell like a child.”
Whether she heard his words or not didn’t matter. He didn’t want anyone to see her in such a vulnerable state so he brought the food himself, without the help of a server.
Owen opened his mouth and carefully nibbled on his finger, which still bore traces of Sarin. Afraid of mistakenly chewing something hard in her drowsiness, he didn’t even use a fork, leaving his hand messy with sauce. Nevertheless, it was fine.
Owen stayed there for a long time, filling Sarin’s stomach.
When Sarin woke up in the morning, she couldn’t help but freak out. She saw Owen’s face in front of her, his arms wrapped around her waist. He shouldn’t be there at this time.
She stared at the man, holding her breath as if she had forgotten to breathe.
Last night, Sarin wished Owen had just held her like this and moved her, and it seemed she’d gotten her wish. She didn’t remember walking on her own two feet.
Almost letting out a sigh unknowingly, she held her breath instead.
Sleeping and waking up together with someone next to her was still something she hadn’t fully adapted to. She felt like she would experience something similar to what happened in the bathroom if she tried to escape from here. So, she stayed still, and slowly, he opened his eyes.
“Good morning.”
As he greeted her with a soft smile, memories of last night came flooding back.
While she was asleep, he fed her and washed her like a child.
She was still half-conscious when he washed her. The water was just the right temperature and she was too languid to move. She realized that it would be a long night if she tried to wash herself, so she left it all to him and went back to sleep.
Suddenly, the realization hit her that he had even fed her. The thought that it wasn’t a dream but a reality gradually sank in, and Owen, watching her closely, noticed her face growing pale.
His hand brushed against Sarin’s earlobe, where her earring still hung.
“Does it still hurt?”
Recalling the saying “giving medicine after inflicting harm,” she slowly shifted her hips back as if protecting herself from a dangerous beast. His intentions were unclear.
Owen stiffened as her earlobe suddenly pulled away from his finger. He seemed to think for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.
“You don’t like to be touched unless it involves fucking?”
Rising slowly from the bed, he casually asked. Only now did Sarin realize she had slept with Owen’s arm as a pillow. Surprised for the second time by the sight of him retracting his arm from where her head had been, she almost fell off the bed.
Owen quietly observed her behavior, provoking him to ask for it when she wanted, but keeping her distance when everything was fine.
“…I don’t feel comfortable sleeping with anyone. It feels strange.”
“But you slept without waking up even once.”
Sarin lowered her head deeply.
The earlobe he’d touched felt hot. The man was right. She had slept soundly last night without dreaming. It seemed like she had used Owen as a substitute for alcohol, inducing a deep sleep.
However, she couldn’t say such things. It’s Owen she’s talking to.
“I was so tired last night.”
Facing this man made her body and mind easily exhausted. She didn’t know that she had to exert all her energy every time she faced Owen.
Sarin stood up and put some distance between her and Owen. He looked down at his hands as she walked quickly toward her dresser and hid her naked body. The warmth that had been cradled in his arms throughout the night was gone, leaving him with a subtle feeling.
“What is it?”
This unpleasant feeling sinking to the ground.
Owen stood up and opened the bedroom door, still naked, and stepped out into the living room.
He patted the top of the heads of the three Dobermans, who were already in the doorway, sensing his presence.
As Owen changed his steps, the tapping sound of paws followed. The dogs took their places one by one next to the sofa where he sat.
Owen’s gaze flicked to Sarin’s former room with an unreadable expression.
As Owen left the room, the oldest dog, who had been quietly holding its breath as if knowing that Owen was the first to detect the unfamiliar presence, raised his head from where it had been buried in the sofa.
“Owen.”
Yuri appeared at the end of the hallway. A moment of surprise flashed across his face at the sight of Owen.
Since learning how to dress properly, he has never been so defenseless in this place. Owen, who always dressed formally, was now lost in thought, even exposing his genitals.
“Owen?”
“Yeah. Did you do well with your rat-like behavior?”
With a fixed gaze on Sarin’s door, Owen asked in a composed tone. His gaze shifted slowly to Yuri, who had been by Nikolai’s side the entire time and had just arrived.
His whole face was impassive.
He expected him to be angrier, or at least to break his leg, but his words left Yuri stunned.
Grrrr….
The first dog, the biggest of the bunch, bared his teeth and growled low.
Sensing its owner’s mood, it threatened first, aware that it needed to be vigilant. They had been together for a long time, so he knew that the dogs, upon Owen’s command, would rush at anyone without hesitation.
Owen reached out and patted the dog’s head.
“I’m a person who received favors from the old man.”
“That’s why I’m letting you be. Even animals recognize someone who’s been feeding them. People should be the same.”
His lips were smiling as usual, but his eyes were hard and cold.
“Owen, why don’t you put some clothes on and…”
“If I go inside, you’ll probably be startled and fall over again.”
Suddenly, his eyes loosened like a child’s. While Yuri thought he might have seen it wrong, the coldness returned to his eyes.
“Hmm… Pavel is visiting the child’s hospital.”
“I know. Nikolai arranged for him to go there, so just let it be.”
Pavel and Hayan happened to be in the VIP ward of the same hospital. It was Nikolai who had put Pavel there, and Owen knew that the father and son would eventually meet somehow. The old man, in his old age, sometimes does foolish things.
If the child’s condition worsened, it would never have a positive impact.
Perhaps Nikolai wants that. It would provide a convenient excuse to get rid of both the child and the woman.
“Is there any way…”
“Yuri.”
“Yes?”
“It seems like it’s time for you to truly repay Nikolai’s favor.”
Contrary to Yuri’s darkened face, Owen’s face was quite gentle. The animals under his hand were staring sharply towards Yuri, as if ready to pounce and tear him apart at any moment if he answered incorrectly.
Meeting their gaze sent a shiver down his spine.
Yuri felt the energy she once sensed from Nikolai in his youth now emanating from Owen. They say blood doesn’t lie; the man who once ruled Russia raised the best offspring.
That was why Yuri had been silent to Nikolai.
And now Owen was here to tell him the price of that silence. Cunning and sinister. Therefore, Yuri clung even more tightly to Owen’s side.
“The weighing is already over.”
Owen recounted the moment he became the owner of Eden City. Seeing his sly smile, Yuri swallowed bitterly.
“…Yes.”
He had grown too much.
