I Became a Barbarian's Bride - Chapter 89
Sometimes it’s an arm, sometimes it’s an eye, sometimes it’s a limb, and sometimes it’s life itself, this man had said.
And Nisha, for the first time, felt her life force being consumed.
She had never known before because she had never replenished it for 24 hours and then used it all at once.
Perhaps it was because she had come to the barren land of a foreign country.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Nisha was simply mistaken.
But Nisha had never before felt death as death or danger as danger.
Yet, on the day she witnessed that black figure standing atop the volcano, she felt it for the first time.
The passage of time.
The sand that had been still in the hourglass began to fall.
The stopped clock hand started to move.
Death.
Nisha took a deep breath and blinked.
Of course, there couldn’t be anything eternal without cost when life force was used to extend something’s existence.
It was absurd to think otherwise.
There was always a condition.
If she used her ability to pour out all the life force she had replenished over 24 hours,
then her own life force would surely begin to diminish gradually.
“What is it, Princess?”
Kagan, who had been sitting beside her, holding her in his arms, tilted his head.
“Did that put you at ease? Seeing you smile today, I must be in luck.”
Nisha hesitated at the man’s nonchalant, playful words, then slowly nodded.
“Yes, I was anxious.”
She was thinking about the moment her secret would be revealed, when everyone would turn away, or when the worst possible outcome she could imagine would come to pass.
It wasn’t difficult to speak while hiding the subject.
Honestly, she wasn’t afraid of dying, but she was definitely afraid of pain. Being experimented on or, in the worst case, having her abilities exploited—those were all possibilities.
Not that she believed Kagan would do such things.
There were many who desired immortality, and no matter how formidable Kagan was, it would be hard for him to stop them all.
“That’s the bride the prophecy spoke of, the one meant to be the great sacrifice.”
From the beginning, she had been labeled as a sacrifice by his own mouth.
Even if using an undying life seemed necessary, she didn’t think it would be difficult for others to exploit it.
Bad thoughts kept coming.
Nisha wasn’t confident she could withstand violence. To her, Kagan was the predator of predators, and she was merely the prey relying on the favor granted by this sated predator.
Prey that could be devoured the moment his favor disappeared.
How could she possibly be at ease when everything given to her could vanish in an instant?
No matter how beloved a concubine might be, when her beauty fades and her usefulness ends, she inevitably falls out of favor.
History has proven this time and again, and believing that this man would be any different is nothing but naive.
She must always act with the expectation of being abandoned.
Relying on a title given by some unknown prophecy from a foreign land as a source of security was simply unreasonable.
Nisha lacked certainty.
And because she lacked certainty, she had no choice but to prepare for the worst.
Thinking ahead to the worst-case scenario was a desperate attempt to find a way out when backed into a corner.
Even as she thought this, she slowly rubbed her face.
“Princess?”
“Yes?”
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
The man reached out and brushed his thumb against Nisha’s cheek.
Nisha leaned into his touch, curling the corners of her eyes and smiling brightly.
Seeing his eyes widen slightly without any hint of displeasure, she relaxed a bit more and leaned into him.
“Suddenly teasing me like this is problematic.”
“What do you mean?”
“It makes me want to strip you down piece by piece from the morning.”
Noticing the raw desire in his eyes, Nisha awkwardly smiled and pulled away slightly.
In any case, now that she knew he wouldn’t kill her easily, all she needed to do was cater to his tastes, keep him from growing tired of her, and give him what he wanted.
