Chapter 35: Volume 3 - CH 13

Satisfied with his answer, I admired his artwork-like body that belonged to me, entirely to me.

Not only his handsome face, but also his gorgeous bulky body which looked like a sculpture carved out of marble by the best artist of the century.

It was the moment when I stroked his body to my heart’s content.

“Who’s there?”

Valhail sprang to his feet, looking out the window to identify the unexpected guest.

His response was extremely speedy, almost if he were a beast.

Surprised, I held his arm.

“There’s no one there.”

If Valhail caught him, the uninvited guest would never be safe. I purposefully dragged time around to give him an opportunity to escape.

“It must be the sound of the wind.”

Valhail sat down again, his gaze fixed on me.

I opened the door and looked around to reassure him.

Of course, there was no trace of an uninvited guest.

‘It seemed that he had managed to get away in the meanwhile.’

Even so, the guy’s quick feet came in handy.

Why couldn’t he properly hide himself?

Tsk tsk, kicking my tongue inside, I shut the window and changed the subject to avoid making Valhail uneasy.

“Do you like the name I chose for you?”

Strictly speaking, I didn’t come up with the name Valhail on my own.

It was a name he’d heard from The Raven before.

He didn’t, however, refute anything I said.

“The body belongs to me, and since I gave you your name…… it means you are completely mine.”

As I carefully stroked my hand from his solid jaw through his iron-like neck to his shoulders, as though examining his body, Valhail replied calmly.

“It’s impossible for me to refute that.”

My eyes were drawn to his muscular left forearm.

There was a tattoo of two swords pointed towards each other.

That tattoo implied that Valhail was a Toono.

As I stared at the tattoo, Valhail looked at his forearm belatedly.

“Do you like this tattoo?”

“Not at all.”

Valhail didn’t appear to have given the tattoo any thought.

He looked back at me again, sweeping down his forearm with his large hand, pretending that it was nothing.

“Is it not good to see?”

“Yeah.”

He will undress and expose his body in the White Eagle Knights.

They were all men, after all.

When that happens, his colleagues who glance at his body will notice the tattoo and recall that Valhail was a Toono.

“Don’t you think it’d be better if this tattoo was removed?”

Valhail wished to become a member of the White Eagle Knights officially.

Actually, he was deserving of commendation solely for saving Cedric and the Knights from the barbarian onslaught.

The reason why he eventually couldn’t join the White Eagle Knight, and the reason why it was hard for him to step foot into the Count’s castle was because of his origin.

Is there any purpose for him to keep Toono’s tattoo on his body in this situation? Valhail, for the most part, was willing to comply with my wishes without question.

He just stood there calmly staring at the flames behind me. It’s the iron in it, to be precise. I was terrified when I realized what his glance meant.

‘Oh no…… I didn’t mean it in such an uncivilized way!’

That iron was used to turn the firewood over.

‘I’m sure he’s not considering it.’

Valhail got out of his seat, as I alternated between him and the furnace.

He walked to the furnace and pulled the iron out without hesitation.

With his dull eyes, he gazed down at the red-hot iron.

“…Hold on. I didn’t mean it in this way.”

A cold sweat broke out from my shoulder.

At that rate, I felt like he was about to put that hot iron in his forearm.

‘It could be healed, right? Since I do have my own healing power!’

However, the sword tattoo on his body led me to believe that the wound could not be healed.

He was now merely looking at that hot iron, as if waiting for my orders.

“I believe…… there are other options for removing the tattoo.”

My lips became really dry.

Actually, I’m not sure whether there is another way.

There’s no laser surgery in this world!

‘But not in that way!’

When his gaze met mine, I hurriedly shook my head.

Valhail, on the other hand, seems to have no intention of changing his decision.

Rather, he gave the iron to me casually.

“You do it.”

“……What?”

Why me? Why me!?

Sweat was accumulating in the palm of my hand, which was gripping the iron’s handle forcefully.

Valhail calmly turned to his side and held out his forearm even when he saw how embarrassed I was.

My heart was pounding furiously.

How could he tell me to use a hot iron on another person’s body?

‘Wouldn’t it be harmful to the body?’

Although these things might be prevalent to do in the middle ages, I was a person who came from the modern ages.

And even if I was pretending to be from the middle ages, there was a considerable difference between talking about it and really doing it.

Furthermore, even if the Toono’s tattoo was removed, another scar would remain on his body.

I thought I should turn down his proposal.

Just like the day he made me strangle him in the quarantine room and asked that I kill him.

“I can’t do this. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’ve never done anything like this to other people’s bodies….”

I was about to hurriedly return the iron to the furnace when he stopped me.

“But, you said that I am yours.”

For the first time, his huge hand grabbed my wrist against my will.

“I’d like you to leave your imprint on me.”

The unshakable blue eyes moved me like a chain.

I froze like a little animal in front of a wild beast.

His dignified gaze made it difficult for anybody to disagree with what he had decided.

He was looking up at me, but at the same time looking down at me.

He had no intention of doing so.

It was an attitude that could only come from someone who has grown up with everything under their feet since birth.

“So that everyone knows I’m yours.”

“……”

“Come on.”

His voice was tinged with pressure, as if he were giving a command.

It never seemed to be his will, but it sounded that way to me.

I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes firmly.

Finally, the hand that moved against my will moved on its own.

Sizzle…

I heard the sound of burning flesh.

Even in this terrible situation, Valhail didn’t groan.

1 second? 2 seconds?

That brief time, which was merely a fleeting second, felt like a lifetime to me when the burning iron touched his flesh.

“Stop. Stop!”