What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 13
“Your Majesty?”
At Ysaris’s summons, Kazhan shifted his gaze from the past to scrutinize her in the present.
Her once youthful face now bore a hardened, matured expression. Especially when directed at him, her eyes emitted only negative emotions, impossible to ignore.
Ysaris could no longer love Kazhan.
It was a fact as firm as it was absurd to entertain even a moment of doubt.
“Empress.”
“You summoned me.”
Kazhan stared at her in silence, his gaze lingering on Ysaris’s stiff response. Such a cold, delineated relationship was fitting for them.
Since she had betrayed him, and he had committed irreversible actions, any lingering regrets were futile. So, what held him back wasn’t regret, but simply…
Was it possessiveness? Or desire?
Kazhan ceased probing his twisted emotions. Whatever it was, he had a task at hand.
“For whatever reason, you caused pain to Runellia.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“Then, you shall repay it in kind.”
“……As you wish.”
Ysaris lowered her gaze. Now, she waited with a face that seemed to have abandoned any attempt at retaliation against Kazhan’s impending violence.
Though she had been treated harshly by him before, she had never been struck. So, this would be a first.
She pushed aside her faint fear and misery, steeling herself.
Better to take a hit and be done with it than to risk sparks flying elsewhere. So, isn’t this for the best?
Ysaris took a shallow breath, mentally preparing herself, but flinched when Kazhan’s hand rose. She closed her eyes.
However, what followed was far from what she had anticipated.
Crack!
“…! Wait, ah!”
“Resisting won’t make things any prettier.”
Ysaris, flustered as the front of her dress was torn, tried to push away the approaching Kazhan, but stopped in her tracks at his whispered growl, biting her earlobe. The soft down of her startled body yielded as he pushed her aside roughly.
She hadn’t even taken five steps backward when Kazhan, with one arm, bent to hold her waist as she stumbled, about to fall from misplaced footing.
Startled by the unexpected turn of events, Ysaris stuttered as she found her voice.
“Pain, I’ll repay it…! Ugh!”
“Quite literally. This time, it won’t be so gentlemanly.”
When was he ever gentlemanly towards Ysaris?
Ysaris wanted to protest, but her thoughts were scattered by the hands rummaging within her torn dress. Reflexively, she grabbed Kazhan’s arm, but with her weight shifted backward, she ended up clinging to him instead.
“It’s the reception hall, Your Majesty!”
“So?”
“I’d prefer the bedroom instead… Ugh.”
Despite Ysaris’s desperate plea, Kazhan remained indifferent. He bit down on her exposed neck, causing enough pain to make her wince, then firmly stimulated the space between her legs with one thigh.
Ysaris, unable to escape his embrace and squirming helplessly in his arms, her movements disjointed, her breath ragged, felt a surge of pain-laden moans welling up inside her. Though he wanted to hear more of those agonizing groans, he also wanted to swallow them all.
“Your, Your Majesty…”
Even now, just the trembling of her voice as she called out excited him to the core.
What if her heart had already left? Yet, here she was, at Kazhan’s mercy, and he alone could touch and toy with her like this.
She still belonged to Kazhan.
Instead of answering, Kazhan traced the marks he left on Ysaris’s neck with his lips. As if savoring her delicate skin, he nibbled and sucked, while his hand sneakily slipped beneath her undergarments.
A sharp gasp, mingled with her astonishment, echoed at the fabric’s violation.
“What!”
“You complain a lot for someone receiving punishment.”
“Is this what punishment looks like…!”
Gasping, Ysaris reflexively clung to Kazhan as her body floated, an instinct to prevent herself from falling. With Kazhan lifting each of her thighs with his hands, there was nothing she could do as her weight shifted backward.
He continued to stride purposefully, pressing her back against the hard wall instead of the plush sofa, and rested his forehead against hers.
Their breaths mingled. In this distorted world where perspective was lost, his burning red eyes gazed intently at her stiff blue ones, as if they would devour them.
“Make sure you hold on tight, Empress.”
Otherwise, she might fall.
Even if it’s just for your sake, hold onto me.
As if I won’t let you go.
…That’s definitely not out of lingering attachment.
Kazhan reiterated to himself.
* * *
“Ugh…”
Ysaris stirred slightly before letting out a faint groan as the sensation of her entire body being dragged to the ground jolted her awake. Tears, blurred from her time with Kazhan, made it difficult for her to see clearly.
Reflexively rubbing her eyes to clear them, she raised her hand, only to have every part connected to her arm scream in agony. Ysaris, barely managing to suppress her cry, gave up on her attempts and let her body go limp.
Trying to recover her groggy mind while slumped over only invited sleep once again. It felt like a long time had passed, being left alone in the dimly lit bedroom instead of the reception hall, yet somehow her body’s fatigue remained the same.
She hadn’t realized she had merely blacked out, not fallen asleep. Or perhaps Kazhan hadn’t stopped even after that.
“Ugh…”
