Chapter 73
‘…What is wrong with him?’
Aristine looked at Tarkan’s sudden strange reaction with doubt in her eyes.
“What is it? Did you have a nightmare?”
As she spoke, she stretched a hand towards him but—.
Flinch.
Tarkan clutched his nightrobe tighter and moved backward.
Aristine stared at him with bewilderment, her outstretched hand still hanging in the air.
So she wasn’t just imagining; it really felt like she had become some shameless fellow. Moreover, the type that harasses innocent maidens.
‘I was just sleeping…’
She felt wronged being treated like this.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
At Aristine’s question, Tarkan looked at her with a face full of vigilance. He looked like a large panther with its hairs standing on ends as he spat out.
“You said we’d just hold hands and sleep.”
At cryptic words, Aristine tilted her head to the side. She didn’t do anything else apart from hold hands. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow so what could she possibly have done?
She looked down at her hand for a bit, then she realized.
“Oh, I must have let go in my sleep. Sorry.”
She thought he was upset because she promised to hold his hand and sleep but let go in the middle.
It seems her husband was the type to sulk easily, contrary to what his relaxed yet dangerous beast-like outer appearance belied.
He was quite the high-maintenance man.
-Is what she thought but it was true that she did not keep her promise.
Aristine moved a little closer to comfort him.
But why did Tarkan frown and glare at her even more?
“What did you just say to me?”
His low voice was even chiller than the freezing point.
If this was anyone else, they would have gone pale and fallen to the ground on their knees immediately.
Unfortunately, to Aristine, he looked like a toothless baby panther. Moreover, the type to pout when she didn’t hold his hand the entire time.
“Alright, I was wrong. You must be upset. Next time, I’ll hold on tight even when I’m sleeping, hm?”
Seeing her looking up at him and talking like she was the adult, Tarkan was already getting a migraine and the day hadn’t even started properly.
He wasn’t even surprised.
After all, he hadn’t slept a wink all night.
‘How can this woman just…’
His lack of sleep wasn’t because he was worried about the woman lying next to him.
‘Do that to me…’
Seriously, he was speechless and in disbelief at this ridiculous situation.
‘After she was touching me…!’
He couldn’t sleep because he was being harassed by the woman.
The veins on Tarkan’s head bulged.
“Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not know?”
His golden-yellow eyes reminiscent of a wild beast fell on Aristine, sharply piercing through her.
His gaze was so chilling that all her hairs stood on end.
“You forgot how you massaged my chest the entire night?”
His words were squeezed through ground teeth and upon hearing that, Aristine blinked.
“I massaged your chest?”
Tarkan’s gaze grew even more frenzied. But there was some embarrassment mixed in.
Aristine was dumbfounded.
“Me?”
“Who else is here?”
“To you?”
At those words, Tarkan shut his mouth. His eyes darted away, and his cheeks turned a little red.
His reaction was pretty much confirmation and Aristine gasped in disbelief.
‘So you’re telling me I really rubbed Tarkan’s chest?’
Even after organizing it in her head, she had never heard anything more absurd.
“There’s no way.”
Pfft, Aristine shook her head. She chuckled like she just heard a funny joke.
Seeing her reaction, the bulging veins on Tarkan’s forehead increased.
He was the one who wished this was a joke.
He remembered the feeling of her soft hand rubbing his chest last night. Her delicate fingers traced the outline like she was checking it, then she pressed down and used her entire palm to massage it as if it belonged to her.
He never thought he would experience such a thing in his life.
Startled as he was, he tried to ask her what she was doing but to his disbelief, Aristine was still asleep.
And in deep sleep too.
‘How can you be sleeping and…move your hand in such…various ways…’
Tarkan’s hand which was gripping his nightrobe trembled.
Tarkan barely calmed himself, knowing that if he applied more force to his nightrobe, it would tear.
He was never going to show his bare chest in front of this woman.
Aristine, who was chuckling, slowly stopped when she realized Tarkan’s reaction was different from what she expected.
She thought he would go ‘you didn’t fall for it’ at this point and tell her the truth.
‘What the…’
Aristine looked into Tarkan’s eyes.
‘It can’t be…?’
Seriously?
At least Tarkan’s reaction seemed to say so.
‘Now that I think about it.’
A memory suddenly flashed through her mind.
“I had a dream but…”
At those words, Tarkan recoiled.
Dream.
It must be a dirty dream.
No, he was certain it was a dirty dream. Definitely. That was obvious!
Otherwise, she wouldn’t use that kind of…technique.
He thought she was different but sure enough, Aristine wanted his body just like other women.
Her trembling eyes and bewildered expression right now were proof of that. She must have been confused by the incredible dream she had.
As if she was considering telling the truth, Aristine slowly opened her mouth.
“I dreamt of touching bread.”
“…Bread?”
“Yeah, the bread was really warm and puffy. It felt really nice.”(1)
As she spoke, Aristine licked her lips, perhaps thinking of the scene from the dream.
“It looked delicious, but I couldn’t eat it, you see.”
Her eyes grew unfocused, like she was remembering something with nostalgia and regret. With her expression, someone might think she was recalling a past lover instead of bread.
“It was bread, but it was a little hard. They said it would get softer if I touch it so I uh, um, I was fiddling with it but it…”
Aristine lowered her head.
“…I’m sorry.”
Tarkan looked at Aristine’s bowed head with utter disbelief.
The woman who treated someone’s chest like warm, puffy bread was bowing her head like a criminal.
He was so dumbstruck by all of this that he didn’t even have the energy to get angry.
In the end, this proves one thing.
Anyone who says ‘we’ll just hold hands and sleep’ cannot be trusted.
Translator’s Corner:
*LOL why did I start feeling sorry for Tarkan halfway through?
Note: Puffy in this instance means bread that has risen well.