I Thought I Didn't Have Long To Live!

Chapter 23 (The Reason I Have Mercy On You)

Lariette looked at Asrazan with eyes full of anticipation.

She was thinking that this was the perfect time for her first kiss. It was the first chocolate-flavored kiss.

– You should have done it in moderation.

Suddenly, the memory of a few days ago came into her head. It was a memory of the day when Asrahan took her first kiss because she was drunk and couldn’t control her desire..

Lariette was a really strong drinker. She couldn’t forget the whole memory of the night.

The eyes that looked as if they were about to eat me, the strong arms that grabbed my hand… Everything was vivid..

In fact, even her act of taking his lips first was not completely drunk. It wasn’t her will that she fell asleep because she was so sleepy.

In any case, Lariette felt that now was the perfect situation to follow. When I thought of Asrazan approaching with that sexy face, my whole body was already thrilled.

Not surprisingly, Asrazan frowned and twisted his face slightly. Then he slowly bowed his head towards Lariette.

His dark eyelashes fluttered slightly, covering his blue eyes. Lariette gasped and took a deep breath involuntarily at the subtle yet erotic eyes.

“Lariette.”

A low-pitched voice rang in her ears.

Lariette clenched her small fist and looked up blankly at him. My heart beat fast as I thought my lips would touch at any moment.

But the words that followed broke the subtle tension she felt.

“… You are too much.”

“Yes?”

“You… Are you alright?”

Aren’t you worried that I’ll get tired of you? Asrazan swallowed the last words in the stinging embarrassment.

I was sad. I was worried that she might get tired of it, so I even asked her to do it slowly.

Lariette didn’t seem to take his words seriously. Otherwise, there was no way to make such a bold contact as soon as he accepted the request.

Meanwhile, Lariette looked at him with her eyes wide open because she couldn’t understand the situation at all. Do you mean what’s too much and what’s alright?

It was just embarrassing for her, who couldn’t figure out that taking it slow was a seductive act.

Even the sight of putting chocolate on her lips and blinking her eyes was irritating to Asrazan, so he hurriedly turned his back.

Asrazan carefully wiped Lariette’s lips with a handkerchief. His ears were stained red from shame.

“Asrazan, what….”

“I’m going to rest first.”

Just as Lariette was about to question him carefully, Asrazan declared to run away again.

Far from being stopped by Lariette, there was no way to catch him. After blinking several times, he had already disappeared from the kitchen.

‘Again…?’

It was a scene very familiar to her.

Lariette took a deep breath, clasping her head in frustration.

* * *

The next morning. Lariette began to be decorated with a little more effort than usual.

She wore a mature red dress, and her hair was elegantly and beautifully styled. The changed maid’s skill was not as good as I knew, but it was still quite satisfactory.

The only disappointing thing was that I didn’t really like the head accessories. It was because I didn’t buy the head accessories at the boutique last time.

When you tie your hair up, you need a pretty hair ornament to make it feel pretty! Lariette put a modest decoration on her head and clicked her tongue.

After all preparations were made, Lariette headed for breakfast with Asrazan. Breakfast has always been together since they started dating.

‘I’m going to have a proper conversation today!’’

Before entering the dining room, Lariette clenched fists and vowed. It was not known for what reason Asrazan had started to run away again, but it was impossible to let it go.

She thought she should at least be careful with her words and actions so that he doesn’t run away again. I didn’t want to see my lover disappear in front of my eyes anymore.

‘If you want to be friendly with wild animals, you have to try not to scare them.’

Lariette recalled a book he had previously read impressively. It was a book about how to tame wild animals. Because what Asrazan did was no different from what wild animals did.

After taking a deep breath, she instructed the servant to open the door to the dining room.

Finally, the door opened, revealing the face of the fugitive and wild animal, Asrazan.

“…  Are you here, wizard?”

Asrazan, who raised his black bangs half way, greeted her while drinking coffee. Lariette sat down next to him with a normal attitude and made a puzzled expression.

“Why did I suddenly become a wizard again?”

As she sat down, the maid quickly poured her coffee. Even adding half of the milk was to her perfect taste.

Asrazan turned over the newspaper he had been reading without answering. At that suspicious attitude, Lariette narrowed her eyes.

“… Are you mad?”

“No.”

“But why do you call me a wizard?”

Asrazan did not answer this time either. He didn’t even make eye contact with her.

‘He was mad!’

Lariette is surprised by the unexpected reaction! and burst out laughing. It was because the unexpected appearance was so cute.

Asrazan secretly glanced at her like that. Then Lariette shuddered and quickly smacked her lips.

“I’m sorry. Because Asrazan is so cute.”

“… There are a lot of cute things.”

Asrazan turned his head and muttered in a low voice. His ears were red again. It was because he himself was ashamed of his actions.

How can you act so childishly because your request was ignored! Even if Lariette got tired of him because of this attitude, there was nothing to say.

I knew better than to behave like this in order to continue to receive her affection. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop showing that I was upset.

But the moment Lariette told me I was cute, all my worries and disappointments melted away like snowflakes in the intense summer sun. It seemed that the corners of his lips were raised slightly without realizing it.

‘It’s cute.’

Lariette ghostly noticed the subtle change in expression. It was lovely to see him feel better with just one word of my words.

She didn’t understand why she was afraid of Asrazan before. What is a war monster? In front of me, he was nothing more than a gentle sheep.

She had already forgotten how he had cut Marquis Segreb’s wrist in pieces.

“Asrazaan-.”

Lariette called his name, stretching the end of her words. With her hands clasped together and her glittering eyes. 

Seeing her charming appearance, Asrazan tightened his grip on the fork. The fork was bent without mercy due to the inability to control the force.

“Why?”

Asrazan barely responded with composure, and then returned the fork to its original shape. I thought that Lariette might be intimidated if she saw it, so I was very careful.

Fortunately, Lariette, who did not see him, still thought of him as a gentle sheep, and continued to speak in a charming voice.

“Can’t you tell me? Why were you angry yesterday?”

Asrazan remained silent for a moment. It was because he seemed too pathetic to say that he was sad that his request was ignored.

I was afraid that Lariette would be disappointed if I spoke. Asrazan then looked at her position objectively.

Lariette was a woman who could be loved by anyone. She was beautiful, kind, and had a unique charm. Her bright smile was like the gentle sunlight shining down on her.

In comparison, I was far from sufficient. A monster whose body is rotting, dark and uninteresting.

No one came first and showed no affection. He is in a position to be grateful just for liking her.

Of course, if Lariette had heard of it, she was going to click her tongue at the absurdity. For Lariette, Asrazan was a person who had fun piercing the sky just by looking at his face.

“Huh? tell me I want to understand Asrazan more.”

However, Lariette’s eyes were too powerful not to say anything. Asrazan thought that he might divulge the contents of the top secret documents like this, and finally opened his mouth.

“You seem to be taking my request lightly….”

“Request? What do you want me to do?”

“Yesterday, I asked about progress.”

Asrazan bowed his head with a sullen face. Lariette quickly shook her head at the incomprehensible words.

Request? A request about progress? No matter how much I thought about it, nothing came to mind. However, the words that had been insignificant for a moment flashed through my head like lightning.

“Is that the request you said to proceed slowly? Wasn’t it about cooking?”

“… Huh?”

“No, we’re cooking, so of course it’s your first time, so you just saying let’s cook slowly….”

Lariette’s voice gradually diminished. She nodded, saying she understood the situation now. Her face was more comfortable than before.

On the other hand, Asrazan’s face turned red in an instant, as if it were blooming with flowers. It was because he was embarrassed by the fact that he had misunderstood himself and that he had been crooked.

“I’m sorry, Lariette. I’ve done something stupid….”

“Our Asrahan, you were disappointed because the progress is so fast-.”

He said that if you stimulate me more, there will be no interruption next time!

Lariette couldn’t hold back in the end and burst out laughing. Seeing the clumsy side of Asrazan, who only pretended to be cool, made me laugh out loud.

Asrazan felt his face heat up and jumped up. But as expected, Lariette grabbed his wrist.

“You trying to run away again!”

“Let me go.”

“This wizard doesn’t want to let you go”

Lariette called herself a wizard and laughed mischievously. It was intentionally teasing Asrahan by imitating the name he was calling her a while ago.

“It hurts, please let me go.”

“Oh, are you hurt?”

Lariette was startled and released Asrazan’s wrist. And of course, it was impossible for Asrazan to suffer because of her power.

As soon as Lariette let go of his hand, Asrazan quickly ran away. The only thing Lariette could see was the fluttering hem of the bandage. He didn’t know how many times he had run away.

‘Now, he even lies and runs away?!’

Lariette was absurd and quickly chased after him. But he was so fast that he had already disappeared.

“Asrazaan-!”

Lariette’s loud voice filled the Duke mansion. It was a playful voice, as if teasing the tail of a fleeing sheep.

* * *

At dinner time that day, Lariette made fun of Asrazan without a break.

From now on, when we hold hands, ask if I can hold them, and if you are thinking of escaping now, please tell me in advance so that I can get ready.

Halstein even smiled and shook his head at her joke.

Asrazan felt very ashamed of that time, but also strangely reassured. Because she was convinced that she wasn’t afraid of him.

Asrazan left the mansion to get things done, Lariette, who came out to see him off, was as worried as someone sending a child to war. It was meant to be a joke.

“Don’t get lost and come back safely, okay?”

“… Of course.”

“You can’t run away because you’re embarrassed while Your Majesty is talking, okay?”

“It’s not going to happen.”

It was good not to be afraid, but it was overprotective. Asrazan sighed with regret for his past actions of running away whenever he had a chance.

After leaving the mansion, Asrazan took a familiar carriage and set out on the road. It wasn’t the usual direction.

He got off in a deserted suburb. Dusk was already falling on the quiet street, and a chilly wind blew.

“Did you tell Lady Blanche you are going to the Imperial Palace?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

To Gerard’s question, Asrazan answered with a calm voice that didn’t feel any emotion. It was unbelievably different from the attitude he had when he was with Lariette.

All of a sudden, Gerard and other members of Ranoche were standing behind Asrazan. Covering their faces with black cloth, they followed the path of Asrazan like a shadow.

Bang!

When he reached the old warehouse at the end of the alley, Gerard opened the door with a dull sound.

And inside the building, an unfamiliar red-haired man was tied.

“Eup- Ugh!!”

The man who found Asrazan struggled and screamed, but no proper words came out because his mouth was blocked.

Asrazan approached him with an expressionless face and without hesitation untied the cloth covering his mouth.

“It’s been a while, Prince Blanche.”

“You bastard-!”

Illustration 

As soon as the cloth was untied, Raon put a harsh swear word in his mouth. But before he could finish speaking, a sharp fist slammed into his face.

Whamp-!

Raon couldn’t even scream in extreme pain. It was just a fist punch, but his nose bone was shattered and his teeth broke and fell to the floor.

“You’re still not fully awake.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I guess it wasn’t enough.”

“There you go. I just need him to come to his senses.”

Asrazan still muttered as if he had caught a mosquito. Then he grabbed Raon by the collar and lifted him up into the air.

Asrazan continued to punch Raon with an expressionless expression on his face. Even though his black gloves were stained with blood, he did not stop.

It was a different behavior than usual, where he would always clean up his opponents with his sword.

‘How dare you touch Lariette.’

He couldn’t even touch her for fear of getting her hurt if he gave her a little bit of strength.

When Lariette grabbed my wrist, I couldn’t release it because I was afraid that she might get hurt.

Lariette was the woman and savior who first fell in love with Asrazan. He was such a precious person that nothing could be changed.

There was no way I could easily kill this guy who dared to punch her like that.

“Help… me….”

Raon, who was exhausted, clasped Asrazan’s collar with his trembling hands and barely muttered. He was so hurt that it was difficult to even pray for his life.

“I have no intention of killing you, Prince Blanche.”

“Ugh…”

“But, Remember.”

Asrazan grabbed Raon’s neck at once. A strong grip tightened his neck, and Raon sighed desperately through the broken teeth.

However, when he met Asrazan’s beast-like face in front of his eyes, he forgot to breathe and stiffened his body.

“The reason I have mercy on you is-.”

It was a face full of madness. The desire to cut Raon’s neck at any moment spread to the point of horrifying.

“Only because Lariette didn’t give me permission.”

Permission to kill you. Asrahan added, pressing Raon’s throat with his finger as if he was breaking it.