Die Melusine - Chapter 55

“Guh, ugh… Uncle, ugh…”

The emperor’s not-so-small body was suddenly lifted off the ground and suspended in the air. Kieron, who had grabbed him by the collar, looked as though he might fling him away at any moment. His thick forearm trembled violently.

“Kh… You came, ugh, faster than I, huh, expected.”

Even as he struggled to speak through the pressure choking his throat, Edvard sneered at the man before him.

“Your Majesty.”

The Grand Duke, his teeth clenched, forced out the words through ragged breaths, as if chewing them out.

The low growl that scraped through his throat carried raw fury—so intense it sent chills down the spine.

Even in this moment, he used formal language, but it felt more like thunder striking the surface of the sea.

Just as Kieron shut his eyes tightly and was about to let the emperor drop to the floor, a high, delicate voice called out to him.

“Kieron…?”

Melusine.

Her pale, blood-drained face that had caught his eye the moment she entered the drawing room flashed once again in his mind like an afterimage.

She must’ve been more shocked than anyone else, but her composed, almost fabricated calmness rekindled the horrifying feeling he had tried to suppress.

“Ah!”

At last, Kieron hurled Edvard to the floor of the drawing room.

Thanks to the thick carpet, there was little physical damage, but the emperor, who hadn’t expected the Grand Duke to actually throw him, looked up at the man in shock.

“U-Uncle…?”

Step, step. Kieron’s approaching footsteps were slow but filled with unmistakable purpose.

Like a predator leisurely closing in on its prey, the cold hunger of a hunter in his gait sent a shiver down one’s spine.

“It—it was a joke. You know that, right? Just like at the chalet in Laphiro, it was just… just a joke…”

Shffk.

But the Grand Duke didn’t hesitate. He drew his sword. The sharp metallic hiss that escaped as the blade slid from its sheath cut through the air with an icy chill.

“Y-you know, right? I’m not even armed right now, and this—this isn’t proper etiquette for a vassal, nor is it chivalrous, no, it’s not… Guh!”

The tip of Kieron’s sword now aimed directly at the center of Edvard’s throat.

“How polite of you, to lay your hands on someone else’s possession… without the owner’s permission.”

Even as he flinched at the sharp blade so close to his face, Edvard kept babbling out of habit.

“I—I’m the master of this empire! I’m your master too, Uncle. So technically, that woman also—Hik!”

The Grand Duke’s golden eyes were as cold and sharp as a drawn blade. He brought the sword even closer.

The tip of the blade pressed lightly against the emperor’s white neck—just enough to draw a drop of blood.

“G-Guards! Where are the Amoud—!”

“They called her a lioness, didn’t they.”

Kieron’s grip on the sword tightened ever so slightly as he spoke. Edvard trembled all over from the wave of terror that hit him.

Hovering above him, the man’s lips even curled into a faint, feral smile. It was chilling.

“Usually, lionesses hunt instead of the males because they’re much weaker. But… what if the opposite were true?”

In a flash, the Grand Duke raised his sword high.

“U-ugh?”

Edvard flailed his clenched fists in front of his face and writhed in desperation, as though struggling to escape. The suffocating fear that he might really die overwhelmed him.

Thud.

“Aaagh!”

Kieron’s longsword stabbed the floor right beside the emperor’s neck—just below the earlobe.

If it had been just a millimeter closer, it would’ve ended his life on the spot.

“Gasp… huff… huff…”

Instead of relief from surviving, sheer terror continued to pierce through Edvard’s body.

The Grand Duke had never reacted, no matter what Edvard had done. He could let the man rot for years on the battlefield, send assassins, or lace his food with mild poisons, and Kieron had never once glared or raised his voice in front of him.

He had always been disturbed by those emotionless golden eyes—and truthfully, he’d always been afraid.

His father had been like fire, and his uncle like ice, but deep down, he had sensed there was something burning even hotter hidden inside that man. Something that resembled his father all too well.

“Your Majesty… you seem to be the one under a delusion.”

Kieron slowly pulled the sword from the floor and slid it back into its sheath at an excruciatingly slow pace.

“I’m not hunting on someone else’s behalf. I’m choosing not to do anything.”

“W-what?”

Edvard awkwardly raised his upper body. His neck stung more than expected, and he grimaced deeply.

“You know it, too.”

The man leaned in close to his nephew and whispered right into his ear, slowly and lazily. The murderous intent in his tone hadn’t faded, and the emperor instinctively shrank away.

Kieron’s lips twisted into a long, crooked half-smile.

Clack.

“Your Majesty.”

The man’s hand clamped down hard on Edvard’s trembling shoulder, squeezing it with force.

“That new medicine you’re taking—don’t mix it with alcohol. That’s likely what caused today’s mistake… so I’ll let it slide just this once.”

Edvard’s eyes widened in shock. It was a medication he had only started taking a few days ago. How could the Grand Duke know so much about what was happening inside the palace?

Kieron scooped Melusine into his arms, tucked her inside his cloak, and exited the room. The emperor, still half-naked and sprawled on the floor, could only stare weakly at his uncle’s retreating back.

Only then did Edvard notice several of his personal guards lying unconscious by the door. He bit his lip hard.

The thought that his supposedly elite guard could be so easily taken out by his uncle was humiliating.

He had believed all his life that he had been winning over the Grand Duke—but was that really true?

As always, Edvard turned once more to alcohol and drugs and sank back into a blurry, forgetful sleep.

***

After laying Melusine down on his bed, the man lay beside her at an angle, saying nothing for a long while.

She had expected him to dive in relentlessly, to press her hard without pause—just like the few times in the past when she had made mistakes, or like the time he snatched her away by the sea.

But Kieron only gently brushed her swollen, red cheek with his thumb.

“Kieron… I’m sorry…”

Even when Melusine cautiously parted her lips to speak—

“Thank you…”

Even when she offered him the best words she knew, the man’s darkened golden eyes remained fixed only on her.

“That wasn’t Vercez you were calling.”

“…Huh?”

“Just now, what you said.”

“Oh, that… um.”

She hadn’t even answered properly yet, but Kieron’s lips came down first.

The way he slowly sucked on her lower lip felt softer than ever—so soft it felt strange.

With a soft smack, he pulled away and looked into Melusine’s eyes again.

“Looks like you finally realize you did something wrong.”

Melusine nodded fervently.

Heh. Kieron let his gaze drop—from the lips of the woman lying beneath him, to her bobbing chin, the necklace on her neck, then to her bare chest revealed by a haphazardly torn knot.

A curse slipped from his mouth.

“So… any human man would do, huh.”

“Huh? Any…? What are you talking about?”

“You said you wanted a baby. Even just now, if you’d spread your legs, I could’ve given you what you wanted.”

Melusine blinked wide. Her eyes, filled with confusion, glistened with growing moisture.

“No, it’s because it’s you, Kieron. I… it’s because you’re Kieron—”

“Is that so? But how can anyone trust what a beast says.”

His voice sank even lower.

“Ah.”

After a moment of hesitation, she began fidgeting and hastily lifted her skirt. Kieron was clearly angry—and Melusine knew exactly what he wanted.

Her dress, layered thick with chiffon and silk, was much more complicated and heavy than what she usually wore. No matter how much she pulled it up or tried to undress herself, her legs remained hidden, and the awkward struggle left her flustered.

As he silently watched her, Kieron’s breathing began to slowly change.

“So… that’s your answer.”

A crack formed in the man’s expressionless, cold façade.

Kieron knew. He had taught her everything.

How to willingly open herself, how to cry beneath a man all night long.

And yet, seeing her so readily throw herself at him—so naturally, as if it were the obvious thing to do—made him unbearably disgusted.

“Why didn’t you act like this earlier? Ah… saving it for later?”

You were planning to go cling to just anyone if you failed to take my seed.

The man spoke with scathing bitterness as he tore apart the last half-loosened knot at the bodice of her tattered dress—rip, it gave way completely.

“Ah!”

His fingers traced over Melusine’s chest, already marked with countless signs of his presence.

Did Edvard’s hands touch this body? Where, and how much?

“Hhng…”

Kieron pinched her stiffened nipple hard, as if scolding it—and Melusine gasped, her back arching with a reflexive moan.

Ever since she’d been pulled from the glass tank, she’d felt a persistent unease in her stomach, like a kind of motion sickness. But never like this. Not with her heart clenching so tightly in her chest it felt hard to breathe.

She wasn’t sure if it was because she’d just seen that foolish fish tangled up with Edvard—or because she was finally recognizing what she was: a creature ruled by instinct, bred for desire.

“Just keep your legs open.”

Kieron’s voice came low and rough, scraped from deep in his throat, more commanding than she’d ever heard it.

She obeyed without question, spreading her legs wide beneath her skirt, revealing everything hidden underneath.

The rustling sound of fabric filled the quiet, and one of Kieron’s dark brows twitched slightly in reaction.

“The rest, too.”

Melusine looked confused, not quite understanding at first.

Kieron slowly moved over her body, positioning himself on his knees. Then, with deliberate slowness, he began to unbutton the uniform that had always been buttoned to his throat.

“Kieron…?”

She had assumed, as always, that he would simply undo his pants, take only what he needed.

Click. Clack.

With each golden button undone, more of his body came into view. Melusine’s eyes followed the gradual reveal—his shoulders, broad like the sea; his chest, chiseled and rippling like stone breaking waves; and his abdomen, tightly packed with muscle, far more defined than she’d imagined through the brief touches and glances she’d had before.

Even through the gap in the fabric, what little she saw of him now seemed bigger, harder, more than she had realized.

Then something made her pause.

A strange sensation rippled in her chest.

Without thinking, she reached up and pushed his collar aside, revealing the part of his neck just beneath his throat. Her fingertips brushed over something uneven—an old scar.

The skin there was pale and raw, unlike the rest of his sun-bronzed body. It looked like a long, thin mark, raised and almost wormlike, as if something had once burrowed across the base of his neck.

“Kieron… What is this… Why…?”

It was something no one had ever seen since that day.

Kieron caught her small, exploring hand and pinned it to the mattress above her head, holding it there as though binding her in place.

“Close your eyes,” he said, voice low and thick. “Stick out your tongue.”

His words wrapped around her like a command.

“But—there… your neck…”

“Mnnh…”

Before she could say more, Kieron leaned down and found the tongue she offered. He bit it gently, claiming it, as he shrugged off his jacket and shirt completely, revealing the full expanse of the body she had only guessed at until now.