Chapter 194 – Hide Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan Slowly, Blain walked through the dark and gloomy palace. Through tall windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, the rain fell endlessly. A sudden flash illuminated the night and the lightning was like a scar on the black sky, followed by a roar that shook both sky and earth. Blain walked on, indifferent to the storm. The Tomaris sitting on the floor of the corridor looked at him as he passed. Though they dressed in servants’ clothes, their behavior was still crude and mannerless. They didn’t even offer proper respect, just hummed songs in a language he didn’t understand. Opening the door to Cerdina’s room, he found it warm inside, and saw the silhouette of a woman’s body through the bed curtains. “Didn’t you tell me I would have her heart?” He asked seriously. Sliding out of bed, Cerdina put on a pair of slippers. She wore only a satin nightgown, but she didn’t comment on the fact that he had just awakened her in the middle of the night. She only frowned. “Why? Won’t Leah listen to you? She didn’t tell you she loves you?” Blain’s lips twisted. “It’s different.” After Leah had been brought back to the palace, Blain had only been satisfied for a week. It hadn’t taken long to realize something was wrong. This was not the love he expected. There were no bright smiles, no intimate conversation, none of the loving jokes that he had wanted. When he asked her, Leah would say she loved him, like pulling the string on a broken doll. Her love was based entirely on what she had experienced with that savage. Her memories of that man had been replaced by Blain. Therefore, he still had not gotten what he wanted. Two months had passed since she had returned to the palace. But their relationship stagnated. She did not really love him. His frustration with the incongruity pushed him to the edge, and the madness in his blood worsened every day. “She doesn’t love me like she did that man.” Silently, Cerdina looked at him. He had changed clothes, but his hair was still soaked from the rain, and droplets trickled down his face. Glancing at the window, her long eyelashes fluttered as she watched the rain through the gaps in the curtains. “You’re being too gentle. You know it, too.” There was a hint of irritation in her voice. “The girl is yours, Blain. The control is yours.” Stepping closer to Blain, she ran her hand through his damp hair. “Don’t let Leah defeat you. Okay?” He didn’t answer, and she sighed. “Maybe you’re worried because he’s still alive,” she murmured. With a wiggle of her fingers, black smoke appeared at her fingertips. “I will turn the emissaries of every country that attends your wedding into dolls. The barbarians will kneel to you.” Black smoke oozed through the small cracks in the windows, and the sound of rain diminished, and then disappeared. Drawing the curtains back, Cerdina looked out the window. The rain had stopped. Smiling, she looked back at Blain. “Now I’m no different from a god.” “You can’t even give her heart to me,” Blain said ironically. “You talk too much.” Her smile faded. Her words snapped out arrogantly, as if the whole world already belonged to her. “If we just kill the barbarian...” But she trailed off. A cool breeze blew into the room from the windows as the warmth escaped outside. “I don’t need the crown, the throne, or the continent. That is your wish. I have wanted only one thing from the beginning.” Blain was menacing. “Please keep your promise. Mother.” *** Ironically, after he had slapped her, Blain had waited for her in front of her palace for a long time. After she dried herself and changed clothes, he applied ointment to her swollen cheek, and only left her after she had fallen asleep. The next morning, Leah woke early. But instead of rising immediately, she lay in her bed for some time, thinking. Normally, she would have ignored what he had done, or excused it because she loved him. But this time his actions stuck in her mind. He had treated her like an object. He had humiliated her. Perhaps it was because of the strange man she had met. The King of Kurkan... She struggled to push the golden-eyed man from her thoughts. It seemed the security around the palace needed to be increased. Her day began as usual. Countess Melissa came to attend her, and Leah listened to the day’s schedule and decided to have a light breakfast in her room. But as soon as the food was brought to her room, Leah frowned. The meat especially smelled bad, intensely unpleasant. Even though she hadn’t had anything to eat, she felt the urge to vomit. Just as she was wondering whether to eat her breakfast, her bedroom door opened abruptly, without the courtesy of a knock. “Good morning, Leah.” Smiling, Cerdina entered the room as if it were her own. Her gaze shifted to the plates in front of Leah. “You were eating?” An instant, instinctive thought popped into Leah’s mind. ‘She can’t find out.’ Leah didn’t understand why Cerdina shouldn’t find out, but she hid her nausea under a casual smile. “...Yes, I’ve been eating.”