### Chapter 118
For an instant, Varkas’s pupils dilated enormously, and the silver-gray flashes scattered in his blue iris seemed to stir.
However, that disturbance lasted no longer than a fleeting blink.
Varkas quickly regained his icy expression and fixed her with a glittering, blue gaze. Then, a dry voice, mixed with an ironic laugh, broke the silence:
"Do you even know what you are saying?"
"Do you think I am stupid?"
Talia concealed her nervousness and tried to adopt an arrogant attitude. She did not want, under any circumstances, to appear like a suppliant.
"I mean that I am going to bed with you."
"..."
"Why? Do you need me to be more explicit?"
She raised her chin with a defiant gesture, which caused the mocking smile forming on the man's lips to vanish.
He uncrossed his arms and approached her slowly.
"You want to go to bed with me?"
A chill ran down her spine upon hearing that deep voice descending from above her head.
Talia forced herself to keep her neck erect, resisting the urge to shrink back. Varkas contemplated her without making the slightest movement; then, he took her chin with his hand and gently pressed her lower lip with his thumb.
"Is that why you came looking like this?"
She felt the pasty lipstick spread across her lips. Talia's face flushed red, and she pushed his hand away violently.
A faint, sarcastic smile appeared on Varkas's features.
"You behave as if you are about to faint from a simple touch, and yet, you intend to do something?"
"Because you always touch me suddenly...!"
Talia retorted with a bewildered face, but closed her mouth immediately. She must not let herself be dragged into this man's game.
"What is with all this talk? I said I will do it."
The corner of Varkas's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
"If you say you will do it, must I then obey you without question?"
That sharp and contemptuous reaction ignited a burning heat at the back of her neck. Talia swallowed the humiliation and glared at him fiercely.
"Yes."
"..."
"You must do what I ask."
His cold, wide eyes narrowed. They reflected not so much displeasure as a deep astonishment.
Talia gathered strength in her stiff legs and stood up. She approached him until they were practically nose to nose and raised her head boldly.
"You are now the head of the Shierkan family, and you have the duty to leave an heir. It is something that any married man must fulfill."
"I did not know since when you had become so responsible."
A bitter irony crossed his lips.
"So, do you mean to say that you are going to sacrifice yourself for me and my family?"
Talia contemplated him with a hardened face. She had anticipated that he might show rejection, but she did not expect him to mock her so frankly. Had this man, since they married, not treated her with an almost uncomfortable consideration? Perhaps the idea of sharing a bed with her was abhorrent to him to that extreme.
Talia contained the offense and replied in a sharp tone:
"How long do you think we can maintain this farce of a marriage? Soon it will be discovered that we are not a real couple, and I will become everyone's laughingstock, even more than I already am. If we do not conceive an heir for a long time, your vassals will not remain silent."
Talia abruptly interrupted her rushed speech and let out a harsh laugh.
"Or is it that you harbor that hope?"
The well-defined lines of Varkas's jaw tightened visibly. Talia proceeded with indolence, ignoring the warning sign shining in his pupils:
"If you endure a few more years, voices will begin to arise everywhere urging you to dissolve your marriage with me to take a new wife. Even His Majesty the Emperor will consent to the divorce, feigning helplessness. Are you obstructing Ayla's marriage because you plan to marry her later...?"
"Enough."
His thunderous and sharp voice struck her forehead with violence. He stepped closer threateningly and declared:
"Even my patience to listen in silence has a limit."
Talia understood that she had crossed a line she should have never brushed against. However, she could no longer back down. She raised her voice, fixing a gaze as piercing as nails upon his face:
"If that is not the case, then fulfill my demand! Do you not possess a will of your own? You are nothing more than a puppet moving to the rhythm of duty."
"And you, are you not perhaps the Empress's puppet?" Varkas countered with disdain.
Talia felt the blood drain from her face. He contemplated her coldly while she remained pale and added crudely: "I do not know what that woman told you, but I will not be your servant."
Immediately afterward, he straightened up and took the coat he had taken off.
"Have this room tonight, Your Highness."
Talia looked at him with dumbfounded eyes as he headed toward the exit. She felt a wave of cold, as if ice water had been poured over her head. Trembling with indignation, she followed him instantly with clumsy steps.
She clung violently to the edge of the garments covering the man's broad back, and noticed how that strong, robust body went rigid. She used all her strength to push him, but his anatomy, firm as a fortress, barely moved.
She let out a groan choked with rage, but Varkas grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back. Under the pressure of that iron grip, an involuntary moan escaped her lips, causing him to loosen his hands immediately.
Talia did not waste the opportunity; she lunged against his solid torso like a piece of metal, and finally, that structure, firm as a wall, gave way backward. Talia brought him down and sat upon his abdomen.
Her breathing, accelerated by the brief struggle, scraped her throat like sandpaper. She contemplated him with eyes burning like embers while she panted, her chest rising and falling with agitation.
"You have no right to disobey me."
The man's attractive features contracted slightly. She screamed in his face like someone vomiting blood:
"You said you would do everything I asked of you. You said you would do everything in your power."
His hand, which was trying to push her away, stopped and remained suspended in the air. Talia clung to the collar of his shirt tightly, as if squeezing it, and pulled him violently.
The trembling shaking her body intensified. She tried her best not to beg, but her voice began to mingle with tears. Clenching her trembling chin, she exclaimed stubbornly:
"Fulfill what you promised!"
Following that resounding clamor, a tempestuous silence settled in. Talia, unable to hold his gaze directly, rested her forehead against his chest, which rose and fell slowly. She felt the drops of sweat slide down her forehead, pool in her eyes, and then track down her cheek.
An instant later, firm fingers brushed her chin. They forced her to raise her face, and her blurred vision met a countenance carrying an indecipherable expression. Before she could understand its meaning, her shoulders were gently pushed backward.
"... Fine."
Varkas held her face and pronounced a word in a tone so low it sounded raspy. Talia looked at him with trembling eyes. She distinguished the prominent Adam's apple in his neck, as if he were holding back an impulse.
He opened his mouth a moment later to add to his answer:
"I will do as you wish, Your Highness."
Despite having finally obtained the answer she was looking for, the trembling of her body did not cease; on the contrary, it became even more intense. Talia made a supreme effort not to show her fear and nodded with difficulty. It was then that a firm voice cut through the air:
"But not today."
Talia raised her head immediately and stared at him. Varkas hastened to clarify:
"Did you not vomit blood and lose consciousness just a few weeks ago? Once you have fully recovered..."
"My body is fine," Talia exclaimed vehemently. "I will do it at the moment I decide. And it is now, at this precise instant."
She felt how his anatomy tensed completely beneath her. Did he feel aversion toward her manners, which were fitting of a tyrant? It did not matter. If she backed down at this moment, she would never be able to make such a determination again. Once this burst of madness cooled down, she would seclude herself again behind her own walls. Therefore, it had to be at this instant, in which she had gathered even the last bit of courage she had left.
"You cannot refuse."
Something stirred in his pupils. Anger? Disgust? None of that mattered anymore.
'This... this... is not love. It is not passion or desire. It is simply a maneuver to survive.'
Therefore, there was no reason at all to feel miserable.
