C126
Zachary's lips descended upon Bianca's eyelids. His lips trailed along Bianca's cheek. It was a gentle kiss, as if licking fresh cream.
Zachary's lips touched the nape of her neck, and Bianca let out a languid sigh. Bianca blinked and looked up. The stone ceiling remained the same, but somehow it looked different.
Bianca blinked slowly. She was emotionally stirred, yet her mind was calmer than before.
Zachary's hand naturally roamed inside Bianca. Bianca's body naturally tensed, and her back trembled. A sigh escaped Bianca's lips.
As Zachary unfastened his belt, Bianca asked, looking at Zachary with blurry eyes.
"Are you going to war?"
......
In that moment, Zachary's body stiffened. Seeing him pause just before taking any action, she could feel how agitated he was by her question.
Indeed, Zachary did not respond easily.
It wasn't because Bianca's confession had tempted him to reconsider his decision.
Rather, even for Bianca's sake, he couldn't resist going to war.
Until now, the main reason was his pride as a worthy comrade, but now he had to exclude Aragon completely, who threatened Sevran for its future and hers.
Either way, the result was the same.
Still, Zachary hesitated, thinking about how disappointed Bianca would be if he shook his head again. He didn't want to ruin the current mood.
Bianca gazed at Zachary's face. Bianca knew Zachary wouldn't say no to the war.
Though she was stubborn, it wasn't that she was unaware of giving up. And if she surrendered, it was to gain something. Bianca spoke first without waiting for Zachary's response.
"Then give me the assurance that you won't die."
"How?"
"Today, don't use contraceptives..."
Bianca gently placed her hand on Zachary's hard chest. There was more urgency than shyness. It was the last gamble Bianca could throw. Internally, while waiting for Zachary's response, she burned with anxiety.
......
"Don't make me more anxious..."
Bianca clung to him. Zachary's eyes trembled at her sincere plea.
Zachary couldn't reject her as firmly as before. As stubborn and ironic as he was, he was also a human being, so he couldn't feel comfortable rejecting his beloved Bianca's request twice in a row.
Furthermore, the situation was clear. Once upon a time, there was a legend that a king sold his kingdom due to a conversation in bed. If Bianca had said she wanted the kingdom, Zachary would have immediately responded.
If it had been a few hours ago, there would have been no room for such reconsideration. But Zachary heard Bianca's confession... that added weight to Zachary's conflict.
The scales were tipping. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Bianca with a determined gaze.
"It's still a long way until dawn."
Suddenly, Bianca's waist was pulled down. Bianca blushed and rolled her eyes. She tried to grasp the meaning behind Zachary's words, but it wasn't easy.
"No way... no. I shouldn't expect anything... However..."
While Bianca remained confused, Zachary acted out of control. Shaking off his hesitation, he buried himself deep inside Bianca. Bianca involuntarily leaned back and took a deep breath.
"Ah...!"
"Maybe I can't put an end to all your anxiety, but it will be enough to console your heart."
As Zachary moved, Bianca's body trembled with the motion. If Zachary hadn't held her tightly, Bianca's slender body would have swayed back and forth.
Bianca raised her chin to the maximum as pleasure rose from the lower part of her belly. Her reddish-brown hair was scattered on the quilt. It was a short time, but by then sweat was running down her skin.
Zachary let out a brief sigh and mischievously asked Bianca,
"How many times do I have to come for you to be satisfied? Huh, Bianca? Three times? Four times? Is that enough?"
"Hng, ugh, as much as you can, ah...!"
"You're a greedy person."
Zachary's lips formed an arc.
Zachary tightly held Bianca's buttocks and moved his hips. Bianca stifled a moan that almost escaped uncontrollably at the sensation of his member sinking deeper.
Due to the movement resembling that of a wild horse, Bianca tried not to separate from Zachary. Her legs were wrapped around his waist as if intertwined with him.
Is this how it feels when you desperately run? Her breath reached the tip of her throat. No, it might have been a moan. She pleaded for him to do everything he could with words, but Bianca was already nervous at the signal of climax that made her tremble.
She was weak in physical strength, and after doing it once or twice, she would get exhausted and lose consciousness. But today she couldn't. She had to make sure Zachary came inside. Bianca desperately tried to regain consciousness.
In Bianca's ears, Zachary's voice resonated from afar.
"All my life, I've been searching for a way to let you go at any moment for your sake. Now I'll be greedy too, Bianca. I won't send you back."
"Hngh, hng, agh, ahh...!"
"You'll be Arno forever...!"
The speed of their movements increased. Bianca's toes curled and scratched the quilt. Bianca's well-groomed almond-shaped nails dug into Zachary's thick, strong forearms.
Zachary's member plunged deeply inside her. It felt like a lightning strike to her head. No matter how many times she did it, she couldn't get used to it.
Bianca shuddered and trembled in the glow of climax, but Zachary's large hands held onto her thighs and buttocks. And soon, a strange feeling crawled inside her. It was what she had longed for.
Like sealed with a stopper, they remained motionless in that state for a long time. Bianca struggled and held her breath. Tears welled up in her eyes, unable to believe it. There's no way she could get pregnant from just one time, but how much did she long for this?
Zachary had to curl his massive body as tightly as possible to make eye contact with Bianca. As if to hide Bianca's entire body. Zachary rubbed his forehead against Bianca's and whispered in her ear with a slightly hoarse voice.
"You can't go back to Blanchefort even if I die."
Under Zachary's remorseful voice, there was even a sense of satisfaction lurking somewhere. He had been very worried, but when he actually did it, he felt so fulfilled.
"Please don't say you're going to die. I..."
"Should I stop?"
Zachary chuckled at Bianca's grumpy voice. His sweaty silver hair fell and stuck to his forehead. Zachary looked at Bianca with a gentle gaze as if the night sky was falling onto the grass.
His unwavering wife, who no longer needs to worry about when she'll fly away. His love. A moment ago, he was so happy that he vomited his desire, but the lower part of his body rose again without knowing its extent.
Zachary softly whispered against Bianca's cheek.
"The dawn is too short to satisfy your greed... I have to work diligently."
"You, won't you fall off your horse on the way to war?"
"How do I look in your eyes? If you have 15 years of war experience, you can sleep even on a horse."
Bianca smiled softly at Zachary's joke. Bianca lifted her legs and wrapped them around Zachary's waist. It was an implicit affirmation that it was okay to do so.
The second love story started more slowly, but the ending was the same. Thus, the couple entangled with each other again and again until the sun rose through the window.
When the rooster crowed at dawn, one stayed in bed while the other changed clothes and hastily flew on the horse to the battlefield. The couple separated, but there were no misunderstandings.
It was the end of the dream.
-----
Bianca woke up rubbing her heavy eyelashes. Her body felt heavy, as if it were cotton soaked in water. Bianca pulled the blanket up to her neck as the cold wind blew over her exposed shoulders.
The place next to her was empty. Bianca lay in bed, staring at the vacant spot. Zachary's warmth, which had been holding her tightly, was swept away by the winter wind like a lie.
Bianca held Zachary's hand and embraced his shoulder, as if trying to mask a little of his warmth. It was her body that was trembling, but it felt like her heart was trembling too.
Bianca reflected on the conversation she had with Zachary yesterday. At first, she was in a hurry to clarify the misunderstanding, and then she was busy frantically mingling with him in the name of getting pregnant. As a result of her concern for him, Bianca forgot to disclose to Zachary about the future she had seen.
At least she managed to blame Jacob and tell him to be careful. Now that she thinks about it, so many things have already changed that not talking about trivial matters could make her head less cluttered.
Jacob and the threat of assassination during the war. Those two things she knew firmly, so the essentials had been conveyed. For the rest, she simply trusted Zachary.
The helplessness that there was nothing she could do was a pain she couldn't get used to no matter how many times it happened. But this time was different.
Bianca jumped out of bed. The blanket slid off her white body. Bianca reached out, pulled the fur from the edge of the bed, draped it over her body, and quickly rang the bell to summon Yvonne.
Yvonne entered Bianca's room immediately as if she had been waiting.
"Shall I prepare the bathwater?"
"Clothes first."
"Yes."
Yvonne brought her clothes without further questions. Bianca, dressed under Yvonne's care, gave orders again and again.
"Prepare the tools for writing a letter and a messenger."
"Yes, I will prepare them immediately."
Though it was a sudden order at dawn, Yvonne complied with Bianca's command without hesitation. The news of the war brought by the Count and Bianca's heavy mood weighed down on her. Bianca didn't say to hurry, but Yvonne instinctively knew there was no time to discuss or hesitate.
Yvonne quickly made preparations for Bianca to write a letter and went to call the messenger.
-------
While Yvonne was away, Bianca dipped her pen in ink, forcing her hand stiffened by the cold of dawn.
The vapor running from her lips obscured her vision. But Bianca's eyes remained fixed on the phrase she was writing on the parchment.
The ink seeped through the nib and transferred onto the parchment. The writing, simple yet classic, continued uninterrupted.
Just as Bianca was about to seal the letter and place her familiar seal on the edge of the parchment, Yvonne appeared with the messenger. It was early in the morning, but the messenger looked sharp as if he had been awake due to Zachary's departure.
"Madam, I have called the messenger."
"Hand this to the Archbishop of Lahoz."
"The... Archbishop of Lahoz?" the messenger said, puzzled, as he accepted the letter from Bianca. While it was unexpected that the recipient would be the archbishop, it was questionable whether he would be able to deliver a letter to the archbishop in the first place.
The Archbishop of the church was not someone easily accessible for personal correspondence. Not only Bianca, but not even her husband, Zachary, and her father, Gustave, could do so.
The messenger, unsure, murmured his words. But Bianca didn't mind and pointed to the box she had taken out next to the desk.
"Yes. Just go to the Cathedral of Lahoz and show it to him, saying it was sent by Countess Arno."
The box Bianca handed him contained Nicholas's candles. Even if she didn't do this, Francis would take care of receiving Bianca's message directly, but it was just in case he didn't know. The Arno seal and Nicholas's candles. That alone would be enough to prove her identity.
"How many days will it take you to reach the capital?"
"Do you need an answer?"
"It's important to send the letter as soon as possible."
"Usually, it takes three days by horse, but I will try to reach Sevran the day after tomorrow, even if I have to ride day and night."
He didn't know what was happening, but it was clear that the situation was grave. And the messenger's job was not to find out the situation but to deliver the letter accurately and swiftly. The messenger, well-prepared, took good care of the candles and letters he received from Bianca and immediately rushed out of her room.
That was when Bianca could finally breathe.
The contents of the letter were that Zachary was participating in the war, so the essence of the letter was to ask for the Paladins' help. There were many remarks about the need to prevent Zachary's death.
He said it would take at least two days to reach the capital, but then there was the time it takes to connect the capital with the Vatican. Still, Zachary left this morning, so they would catch up sooner rather than later.
Bianca sighed deeply and leaned back against the chair's backrest. She believed in Zachary's abilities and his promise to return alive. However, there was no reason not to use a letter that she could use. Safety was essential. For Bianca, it was more comfortable to be cautious.
After sending the letter to Francis, Bianca could do nothing but wait anxiously for a response from the messenger.
And five days later, the messenger returned with a response from Archbishop Francis. She still couldn't believe it, as he delivered the letter saying he had received the response directly from Francis. It was an honor for her family to meet the archbishop in person, being a commoner. Even though she couldn't close her eyes well for five days, her face was filled with excitement.
As soon as Bianca received the letter from the archbishop, she quickly opened it. The hand holding the knife trembled.
The parchment wrinkled in Bianca's hands. Her trembling eyes quickly scanned the contents of the letter, but she was so nervous that the content couldn't easily enter her mind.
Bianca murmured the content of the letter in her mouth. After several paragraphs praising the Saint, Bianca was able to find the phrase she was looking for.
"[Our Church will follow the orders of the Saint with devotion and sincerity.]"
Yes!
Bianca clasped her hands tightly and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. She thought everything would go as she wished, but inside, she was nervous about what might happen.
A faint smile appeared on Bianca's lips, who could only feel relieved after receiving confirmation from Francis.
There was still a lot of lurking anxiety to be completely relaxed. Still, whenever something different happened from the future she had seen, Bianca burst into tears with the feeling of accomplishment.
"From now on, let's just continue like this..."
The arrow that was shot rises higher and higher into the sky as if it could pierce the sun. But one day, it will fall. Only God knows what the returned arrow will go through. Bianca wanted the arrow to pierce Jacob's neck, not his life or Zachary's.
The arrow had already left the bowstring, and the future was approaching.
The future she had to change.
---------
It has been a month since Zachary went to war. When leaving the Arno estate, he promised a lot to Bianca, but the situation on the battlefield was not very good. Above all, the war to win was not easily unleashed as morale had hit rock bottom.
It was the Arno army that had fought in countless battles under their undefeated master Zachary, but none could hide their unease. The reason was none other than the death of Prince Gautier.
The symbolic meaning of Prince Gautier was also very significant, but his death was a shock because there were no reinforcements.
With the death of Prince Gautier, the nobles of the 1st Prince's faction dispersed to find their way. In particular, there were many people who positioned themselves as if they had gone to the side of the second prince.
Unlike Bianca, who was unaware of the situation, they sharply grasped the order of the throne. Others judged that it was more likely for the king to favor Jacob, the second prince, over Albert, the Crown's grandson. Above all, Albert was too young, while Jacob was in his prime.
The problem was that some were reluctant about Jacob's origin. Sevran, who hated illegitimate children, the timing and opportunity when the second queen conceived Jacob were highly controversial.
But in the end, Jacob's mother became the queen of Sevran. Only when Gautier, the first prince and legitimate enemy, was there another option, so Jacob's flaws seemed significant, but now Gautier is dead. There wasn't enough justification to say he couldn't become king by accusing him of his origin.
Everyone was busy covering their eyes and aligning themselves against Jacob. When the nobles who were supposed to support Albert left, it was natural for the situation in Sevran to be confusing.
In such a situation, they were far from paying attention to the border war. Moreover, if the rival you're playing against is Zachary, who doesn't have a good relationship with Jacob, even more so.
In fact, Zachary has sent letters requesting reinforcements, but there has been no news. Zachary gritted his teeth at the reinforcements that didn't arrive.
This battle may find a way to break through, but this is not the end of the war with Aragon. How long will it last? Once or twice?
So far, the Knights of Arno still have the threads they have been working on and remain steadfast, but if this situation of war continues for a long time, it would be impossible not to collapse.
Furthermore, would people who don't provide proper support care?
If there is any difference, you can seek support from the Blanchefort family, but that would not be possible at the moment. It was because it was the Blanchefort family whom Zachary entrusted with the escort of Crown Prince Albert.
When Bianca hinted at Gautier's murder and the possibility of Albert's murder, Blanchefort also became busy.
Moreover, as he had sworn to Bianca that he would not let Johaseng participate in the war, he could not ask for reinforcements. It was, in a way, quite foolish male pride.
His thoughts even reached the Paladins that Bianca mentioned. But Zachary shook his head. There was no doubt in Bianca's words that she was a Saint. However, he thought that Bianca's status as a Saint and the dispatch of the Church's Paladins were separate issues.
Zachary didn't know much about Saints.
He heard rumors that Aragon might be slowing down due to the appearance of a Saint in Sevran, but he didn't think much of it because it was doubtful that a Saint could have such an impact on the Church.
That thought remained the same until today.
He doesn't have much knowledge about Saints, but to have Bianca's "escorts" take the place of her husband in the war... In a way, it seemed like an inappropriate use of the Paladins.
Tags:
TWB (Novel)