Varkas's pupils expanded greatly, and the silver-gray specks scattered across his blue irises trembled violently. But that trace of agitation lasted only an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Varkas's face returned to an icy expression. His eyes flickering a cold blue, he stared at her. Then his dry voice, tinged with a hollow laugh, split the silence.

“Do you even understand what you're saying right now?”

“Do you take me for an idiot?”

Talia forced an arrogant expression despite the tension making her knees weak. She absolutely, absolutely did not want to look like she was begging.

“It means I want to sleep with you.”

“......”

“Why? Do I need to say it even more directly?”

As she raised her chin and looked at him challengingly, the mocking smile lingering around his lips disappeared.

Unfolding his arms, he slowly approached her.

“You want to sleep with me?”

The heavy bass voice falling from above sent a chill down her spine.

Talia forcibly straightened the neck that instinctively wanted to shrink back. Varkas looked down at her motionlessly before grabbing her chin and pressing his thumb firmly against her lower lip.

“So that's why you came looking like this?”

She felt the sticky dye smearing around her mouth. Blushing, Talia fiercely slapped his hand away. A faint sneer appeared on Varkas's face.

“You panic over nothing more than this much contact, yet what exactly do you think you're going to do?”

“That's because you always touch me out of nowhere...!”

Talia retorted with a flustered expression before tightly shutting her mouth.

She could not let herself be swept away by this man.

“Why do you talk so much? I said I'd do it!”

The corner of Varkas's mouth twisted slightly.

“If you say so, am I supposed to obey unconditionally?”

His response was sharper than she had expected, and heat rose to the back of her neck.

Swallowing her humiliation, she glared at him fiercely.

“Yes.”

“......”

“You have to do as I demand.”

His clear, open eyes narrowed. Rather than displeasure, it was closer to disbelief.

Talia put strength into her stiff legs and stood up. Then she walked right up to him and provocatively lifted her chin.

“You're the head of House Siorcan now, and you have a duty to leave behind an heir. This is something a married man is naturally supposed to do.”

“I don't know when Your Highness suddenly became so devoted to responsibility.”

A bitter sneer brushed across his lips.

“So what you're saying is that you'll sacrifice your body for my sake and for my family. Is that it?”

Talia looked up at him with a rigid face.

She had expected him to show reluctance, but she had never imagined he would mock her so openly. Hadn't this man, after their marriage, treated her with a gentleness that was almost bewildering? Perhaps sleeping with her disgusted him that much.

Swallowing her humiliation, Talia coldly shot back.

“How much longer do you think we can maintain this formal relationship? It won't take long before people discover that we aren't a proper married couple, and I'll become an even bigger laughingstock than I already am. If we fail to produce an heir for too long, your vassals won't remain silent either.”

Firing the words off rapidly, Talia let out a sharp laugh.

“Or is that what you're hoping for?”

Varkas's elegant jawline visibly stiffened.

Ignoring the warning in his eyes, Talia continued mockingly.

“If we endure like this for a few years, everyone will start urging you to dissolve our marriage and bring in a new Grand Duchess. Even His Majesty the Emperor will probably pretend he can't help it and grant a divorce. Were you perhaps planning to remarry Aila afterward, and that's why you interfered with my sister's marriage—”

“That's enough.”

His sharply honed voice scraped harshly against her forehead. Leaning close to her, the man spat out threateningly,

“There's a limit to how much I'll quietly tolerate.”

Talia knew she was stepping beyond a line she should never cross.

But she could not retreat.

Driving her gaze into his face like needles, she raised her voice.

“If that's not it, then do as I ask! You don't have free will anyway, do you? You're just a puppet that moves according to duty.”

“And aren't you the Empress's puppet?”

Varkas said with a mocking laugh.

Talia felt the blood drain from her face.

Quietly looking down at her pale complexion, Varkas added coldly,

“I don't know what that woman encouraged you to do, but I have no intention of serving as your stud horse.”

Then he straightened up and picked up the coat he had taken off.

“Your Highness may use this room tonight.”

Talia stared blankly at him as he walked toward the door.

A cold chill washed over her, as though icy water had been poured over her head.

Trembling violently with humiliation, Talia limped after him the next moment.

Grabbing the fabric draped over his broad back, she yanked it fiercely and felt the huge body woven with powerful muscles go rigid.

Using all the strength she had, she shoved him. But his fortress-like body did not budge. Bursting out in frustration, she pushed him again with all her might, and Varkas grabbed her shoulders.

A groan escaped her lips from his powerful grip.

Hearing the sound, the man flinched and withdrew his hand.

Talia seized that opening and threw herself against his chest of iron.

At last, that body as solid as a fortress tilted backward.

Talia toppled him over and sat astride his stomach. Their brief struggle had roughened her breathing, and every breath scraped painfully against her throat like sandpaper.

Her chest heaving as she exhaled hot breaths, Talia glared down at him with eyes blazing like fire.

“You can't defy me.”

The man's beautiful face distorted faintly.

Looking directly at that face, she spat out the words as though coughing up blood.

“You said you'd do anything I asked. You said you'd do everything you could.”

The hand that had been trying to push her away froze halfway.

Talia seized the front of his shirt as though wringing it and tugged hard.

The trembling wracking her body only grew more violent.

She struggled desperately not to beg, but tears had already begun mixing into her voice.

Clenching her trembling jaw, Talia stubbornly cried out,

“Keep your promise!”

After that resounding shout, a storm-like silence descended.

Unable to meet his eyes, Talia lowered her forehead onto the slowly rising and falling chest beneath her.

A bead of sweat rolled down her temple, lingered briefly near her eye, then dropped onto his shirt.

She stared blankly at it when firm fingers touched the tip of her chin.

Her head was lifted, and before her dizzy eyes filled a face bearing an incomprehensible expression.

Before she could understand what it meant, her shoulders were pushed back.

“...Very well.”

Sitting up, Varkas spoke in a hoarse voice.

Talia looked at him with trembling eyes. She saw his tightly swollen Adam's apple moving up and down. After a long while, he opened his mouth again and completed his answer.

“I will do as Your Highness wishes.”

Though she had finally obtained the answer she wanted, her trembling only grew worse.

Wrapping her arms around herself with convulsing fingers, Talia shivered.

At that moment, his tightly compressed voice pierced her ears once more.

“But not tonight.”

She immediately raised her head and glared at him.

Varkas hurriedly continued,

“Wasn't it only a few weeks ago that you collapsed after coughing up blood? After your health has fully recovered—”

“My body is fine.”

Talia shouted harshly.

“I'll do it with you when I decide the time is right. And that time is today, right now.”

She could feel his entire body go taut.

Did he resent her for acting like a tyrant?

It didn't matter.

If she retreated here, she would never again be able to make a resolve like today's.

Once this madness-like impulse cooled, she would retreat behind the walls she had built around herself once more.

So it had to be now, this moment when she had gathered every last shred of courage she possessed.

“You can't refuse.”

Something flickered in his eyes.

Anger? Disgust?

No.

It didn't matter.

This... this...

This wasn't love.

It wasn't passion or desire.

It was merely a desperate struggle to survive.

So there was no need to feel miserable.