Chapter 188 Episode 29: Poisoned Rat(3)

“My rabbit has already arrived and has been waiting.”

“What are you talking about?”

Tarkan frowned at what Aristine said as soon as she entered the room.

Aristine gave him a playful smile.

Tarkan felt himself about to smile just by seeing that expression on her face and he tightened his mouth.

No matter how much he thought about it, it seems he was too weak against his wife.

‘How exactly did I treat her casually until now?’

He was so amazed by the person he was until yesterday.

Honestly, to anyone looking from afar, he didn’t treat her casually at all…but he wasn’t aware of it himself.

Tarkan tried to managed his expression and stretched a hand to Aristine.

Aristine reflexively gave him her hand and tilted her head as if asking, ‘What?’

‘So cute.’

Tarkan pressed down the corners of his mouth that were rising and frowned.

“Let’s go eat.”

“Yes!”

Aristine’s eyes lit up at the mention of food.

Tarkan asked to have dinner together, so she set aside time for the first time in a while.

The couple rarely had dinner together recently.

Before the scalpel business stabilized, Aristine came back late at night, and Tarkan was also so busy that he often had dinner in the command room rather than the bedroom.

After they arrived at the dining, food was constantly being brought out, starting with appetizers.

Unlike Silvanus where dishes were served one by one, Irugo served a dinner with the table full.

For Aristine, it was a feast for the eyes.

Looking at the endless rows of delicious food, she felt excited, like an explorer finding treasure.

Aristine took a big bite of the cheesy clam chowder.

The savory milk, butter, and cheese were mixed with ripe and sweet onions, and even chewed clam meat had a soft texture.

It was hot enough to make her mouth tingle a little, but that was the charm.

Tarkan chuckled when he saw Aristine’s face.

“Is it good?”

“Mhm.”

Her response was short, but her expression said more than that.

“Try this, too.”

With a few swings of his knife, Tarkan perfectly removed the ribs from the bone. He cut it into bite-sized pieces and give it to Aristine, which she happily munched.

“This, too.”

He felt the lamb chops would taste better with buttered garlic, so he even added that. Of course, Aristine ate all of it, looking satisfied.

“You’re not eating?”

“I’m eating.”

That was how he replied but in reality, Tarkan had only had a drink or two. He pretended to take a bite of a few things in front of him, but he was too absorbed with watching Aristine eat.

‘…His Highness Tarkan is quite…’

The court ladies, who had been serving the meals, were standing awkwardly by the side because they had just lost their job to Tarkan.

How do you put this…it felt really nice to see the couple acting all lovey-dovey, but their eyes were feeling damp for some reason.

It was like the two were off in their own world, and the court ladies felt oddly left out.

‘Let’s think positively. He must be trying to break the bed again by feeding her lots of meat.’

‘That’s a little comforting when you think about it that way.’

‘Is this what they call fattening up for a feast?’

The court ladies, who were whispering silently, laughed a little.

‘But His Highness Tarkan needs to experience a little bitterness!’

That was a disrespectful thought towards their master, but the court ladies were somewhat peeved with Tarkan.

‘He called our Princess Consort bothersome!’

The loyal court ladies, who once feared even a glimpse of Tarkan’s shadow, gazed at Tarkan with their eyes ablaze.

‘We have to keep a close eye on how well he treats our Princess Consort!’

While the court ladies were exchanging silent words with each other, Aristine was busy eating with immense satisfaction.

Once her stomach was somewhat full, she finally began to look around.

Since they began eating, Tarkan had been taking care of her and not eating properly himself.

‘What is going on?’

At first, she just thought, ‘Aww, you must have been really lonely. Did waiting for me by alone make you want to take care of me? Hehe, did you realize your wife’s importance after seeing an empty seat?’.

She was simply joking with herself, but something was strange.

How come he kept feeding her throughout the meal? And it wasn’t just once or twice.

‘Ignoring this delicious food in front of you!’

Anyone with normal tastebuds couldn’t do that. Aristine got a little nervous.

‘They say when people start acting unusual…’

Death is drawing near.

That sudden thought made Aristine suck in a breath. She cautiously began studying Tarkan.

“Good.”

He was mumbling with a smile on his face.

His tone was soft without any of its usual sharpness. And there was that weirdly oozing smile.

Clatter—!

Aristine lost strength in her hand and dropped her fork.

Usually, a court lady would have pick it up, but Tarkan picked it up and sat back down.

The champion of the demonic beast plains, the man who looked like he had never knelt before anyone before, was bending down to pick up a fork dropped by someone else.

Aristine’s eyes shook like it was hit with an earthquake.

“Tarkan…”

Her voice couldn’t help but tremble.

Tarkan looked at Aristine, wondering what was going on, all of a sudden.

“What is it?”

“It can’t be…are you sick?”

“What?”

“Is it fatal? Huh? Is that what’s going on?”

Aristine clasped a hand over her mouth and grabbed Tarkan with the other.

“How many months do you have left? Three? No way, is it a week?!”

“…”

They say silence is affirmation.

“Oh no!”

Aristine’s eyes were immediately filled with tears.

Tarkan looked down at her without saying a word.

‘I always knew my wife was unpredictable, but I didn’t know it was this bad.’

He heaved a deep sigh and spoke wryly, “Don’t go treating me like I’m fatally ill on your own.”

“T-Then, are you going somewhere?”

“What is this now?”

“I mean, are you maybe going to the demonic beast plains for subjugation or going to some other dangerous area…”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Tarkan replied with a frown. Then he quietly averted his gaze and added more, “Where will I go when you’re here?”

Those words expressed his sincerity in his own way but since Aristine was so caught up in Tarkan’s life or death, it flew over her head.

“You are really not going anywhere? So I’m not going to wake up in the morning and find one side of the bed empty, then I see a letter on the table. It’s not that kind of development, right?”

Tarkan looked at Aristine with bewilderment written all over his face. How did she suddenly think of such an oddly specific situation?

“Why exactly are you asking these questions?”

“I mean, you…,”Aristine hesitated and looked up at Tarkan, “You’re so different from usual.”

“…”

“I heard when people start acting unusual, they’re about to die…is that a no?”

Seeing her glancing up at him like she was studying his face, Tarkan felt his neck stiffen.

He just did what he wanted to do for the woman he loved, yet he was being asked if he had a fatal illness.

How do you put this…he was swept with a wave of shame.

‘Why is this woman so hard to seduce?’

The people he didn’t want to seduce were the ones who would try to flirt and annoy him. But the very person he wanted to seduce was smacking him with an iron wall.

The court ladies, who were watching, raised their fists with sparkling eyes, going, ‘Good job!’

‘Princess Consort is good?!’

‘His Highness Tarkan needs to crawl a little more!’

‘Don’t forgive him so easily!’

‘You can forgive him in bed though!’

The faces of the lewd bunch shone even more.

“Forget it. Why did I… I should have known.”

Tarkan shook his head and mumbled.

Despite saying that, his golden eyes, which were looking at Aristine, were filled with a dizzying sweetness, like it was dripping with honey.

The court ladies blushed unconsciously.

They weren’t the target of that gaze but for some reason, they felt so embarrassed.

Aristine, the person concerned, was distracted by something else, and after confirming that he was really not about to die, she went back to her food.

Tarkan ate a few bites, following her footsteps, then he got up and said.

“Let’s keep having dinner together.”

At those words, Aristine frowned and looked at Tarkan.

“You really don’t—”

“I am not fatally ill; I am not leaving for any dangerous place, and I have not committed any crime worthy of death. I am perfectly fine. I am not dying. I am alive and well.”

Aristine’s mouth clamped shut as Tarkan fired off those words before she could even ask.

Tarkan stretched out his arms and Aristine naturally linked her arms with him.

Tarkan stared at Aristine, who was looking up at him with suspicion, then he opened his mouth.

“That is just how it is between a couple.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he frowned and turned away.

His cheeks that Aristine could barely see, were a little red.

She thought he would keep looking away, but Tarkan quietly turned back to her and looked into her eyes.

Isn’t that what we are?

The golden eyes were asking.

It was the shade of sweet honey and the dazzling afternoon sun. They were trembling slightly with melting anxiety and anticipation.

For some reason…

‘Mm…’

…Aristine felt like messing with him.