Beast’s Flower - Chapter 9

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Chewing a sweet strawberry, Bioust looked around the cabin again. It was shabby and shoddy.

 

Crushing the sweet flesh with his teeth and devouring it with his tongue, Bioust looked at Layla who was in front of him.

 

She was brewing tea with her clumsy hands. Besides, the tea looked to be on the same level as leftovers.

 

“Why do you live here?”

 

Layla’s hands, which were pouring the tea, paused at Bioust’s words. She looked at Bioust with a dissatisfied expression.

 

“Why are you asking that?”

 

She asked as if it wasn’t a big deal, but like a person who unexpectedly got pricked, her hands trembled and a few drops of tea spilled on the table.

 

“A pretty girl lives alone in the forest, wouldn’t anyone be curious?”

 

A few drops of tea dripped onto the table again when he said she was pretty. Again, with a frown on her face, Layla stared at Bioust.

 

“Are you a pervert?”

 

“Why do you think so?”

 

When the person he was worried about asked if he was a pervert, Bioust couldn’t help but ask the question again.

 

“It’s because I smell dirty…”

 

Layla, who was talking up until that point, stopped her speech as if wanting to say ‘Oh no.’

 

“… Smell?”

 

Bioust asked with an innocent expression, pretending to know nothing.

 

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

 

Layla frowned, recalling that Bioust said that he couldn’t smell anything when he first came there.

 

That’s right. He couldn’t smell her stench. So it was possible to have such a calm expression.

 

An ordinary person would have been frowning and covering their nose while looking at her. Just like the people she met at the market earlier in the day.

 

“Layla? The tea is overflowing.”

 

“Ack!”

 

Looking at the teacup she was filling and overflowing, Layla raised the teapot upward. There was a distinct agitation in Layla’s face as she rushed to get something to wipe it.

 

At that time, she was in urgent need of money, and it had been a long time since someone visited her cabin, so she set it aside. But at his words, Layla was reminded that Bioust couldn’t smell.

 

He couldn’t smell her.  To him alone, Layla was an ordinary woman!

 

“It’s okay. I’ll do it.”

 

Bioust took the dry cloth that was on Layla’s hand. If Suli, who must be waiting at the Baron’s mansion right now, saw this sight, he would’ve been horrified.

 

There’s a dishcloth in the hand of the noble Crown Prince!

 

“Just in case you also burn yourself.”

 

While waiting for the dishcloth to get wet slowly, Bioust said so. In fact, he had never used a dishcloth before, and he didn’t know how to do it, so he just put the dishcloth in the water.

 

“I’d rather eat this as it is.”

 

Bioust gently pushed the cup full of tea to the side. Then the tea jolted and spilled more.

 

“Ah…”

 

He picked up the dishcloth next to him again. Then place the dishcloth next to the teacup to absorb the tea.

 

“You’ve never cleaned anything like this, have you?”

 

“You caught me.”

 

At Layla’s words, Bioust abashedly confessed.

 

“Why did you do it if you don’t know how to?”

 

Layla carefully picked up the teacup and set it aside, and wiped the spot it was on.

 

“I know right. Why did I do that?”

 

Bioust gave away the dishcloth and sat down again. Layla diligently cleaned the table.

 

“Are you perhaps a noble young master who has never wiped anything in your entire life?”

 

“That, too, is correct.”

 

Although he wasn’t a noble but a member of the Imperial Family.

 

“If you’re a noble young master, you should’ve had a place you can hang out. Don’t go to a ditch-like place like this.”

 

“I’m also not sure. Strangely… I just happened to come to this house. I end up doing things I don’t do.”

 

Wondering what he was talking about, Layla looked at Bioust with a frown.

 

He slowly propped up his chin and looked at Layla. As if he’s appreciating something beautiful, his eyes were filled with goodwill and praise.

 

“Strangely, I’m bothered by this dark house, I’m worried that maybe you’re scared alone, and I’m worried that you might burn your hands.”

 

Bioust gaze descended on Layla’s face, she was disappointedly slim so she had a sharp jawline, a slender neckline that could be broken with one hand, and hollow collarbones.

 

Layla was about to scream if he would go further down, but Bioust’s gaze turned to her side.

 

Her bare arms were flesh barely hung on her bone, the bones in her hands were clearly visible. There, Bioust’s gaze stopped.

 

“You got hurt?”

 

At his words, Layla looked down at her own hand.She saw the wound on her palm from when she fell down at the market during the day.

 

The wound that had dried red blood on it didn’t even hurt anymore.

 

“It must be from when I fell down.”

 

Bioust naturally reached out and grabbed Layla’s wrist. It wasn’t just her neck that looked like it would break.

 

“This… It must be painful.”

 

At the voice of the muttering Bioust, Layla remained still as if possessed.

 

Someone was concerned about Layla’s wounds.

 

Someone was sympathizing with Layla’s pain.

 

Someone was holding Layla’s wrist without saying she was dirty.

 

For the first time since she could remember, someone else’s skin touched Layla’s. At the subtle warmth, Layla’s mouth opened spontaneously when she felt the skin of others for the first time.

 

“It looks like you haven’t applied any medicine.”

 

Slowly, Bioust’s lips moved towards Layla’s palm. Not knowing what he was planning, Layla just stared at it, and only paid attention to the bizarre body temperature.

 

“Un.”

 

A rough tongue brushed Layla’s palm. Without realizing it, she reflexively tried to pull her wrist back, but it was already caught.

 

Once again, Bioust’s soft and sticky tongue swept through her palm. Layla was not sure if she felt the burning sensation from the wound being licked, or if it was a prickly feeling because someone was licking it.

 

“W-what are you doing?”

 

“I’m putting on saliva.”

 

“S-saliva?”

 

“Don’t you usually put saliva on wounds?”

 

“Usua…lly?”

 

Seeing Layla’s bewildered expression, Bioust simply chuckled.

 

“Yes. That’s how it usually is.”

 

No way.

 

Bioust was the Crown Prince;  imperial physicians came running just by a simple pricked finger by a thorn.  When they first saw the cut, Suli said, ‘No. Won’t it be enough to just put saliva on it, if it’s just that little?’ so he just thought that was the case for private households.

 

But the lady living in the cabin alone didn’tn’t seem to know that.

 

No, wasn’t she in fact the Baron’s daughter?

 

“Uhn.”

 

Once again, Bioust stuck out his tongue and ran it down the palm of her hand. This time, a subtle sound came out of her mouth.

 

It was a moan, but it was a moan with a slightly different pitch than before. Embracing something other than pain.

 

Bioust pretended that he didn’t hear that on purpose, and then, he put his lips on it and sucked it in. The flesh of her palm was sucked into Bioust’s mouth.

 

‘She’s the Baron’s daughter who was born with a curse that made her stinky.’

 

The voice of Suli, who had been collecting rumors from all over the place last night, appeared in Bioust’s head.

 

‘She seems to have lived in a mansion when she was young, but when she got a little older… No, she didn’t live in the mansion for more than 10 years, so she wasn’t that old yet. It is said that when she was young, she was abandoned in the forest cabin and lived there alone.’

 

Pressing the flesh gathered in his mouth with his upper teeth, he swept up his tongue vigorously. Perhaps because the hardened blood had melted, a rusty smell of blood coated Bioust’s mouth.

 

‘Since she’s been called a witch, she doesn’t have any friends, and her family has also abandoned her..’

 

As expected, it’s sweet.

 

Layla’s blood was fragrant and sweet, and it drove him crazy.

 

He was thinking to just do a little. It has been a while, so how about tasting it a little? He thought. But when he tasted it, it didn’t seem like he could stop with just a taste.

 

“Uhng!”

 

Besides, look. She was also feeling it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t quietly leave her hand like that, and spill out those sweet moans.

 

Bioust’s, once again, bit into Layla’s palm.

 

No. He couldn’t let it end with just her palm.

 

He got up from his seat, pulled the wrist he was holding, and hugged Layla. The dizzying scent that made Biost impatient, lingered intensely at the tip of his nose.

 

“Everytime I look at you…”

 

Burying his nose in her fragrant hair, Bioust barely spoke.

 

He felt as if his head was going to change at the intense scent of Layla. He swore, it was the first time he had ever lost his self-control.

 

“I feel like I’m changing.”

 

It was true. Everytime he smelled her scent, Bioust wanted to become an animal, not a human.

 

Throw away his rationality, and just bite, suck, lick and covet Layla like a beast in heat.

 

“Come with me.”

 

She felt Bioust’s lips touch her tiny ears, he brought his lips closer and whispered. He felt Layla, who he was touching, stiffened.

 

“I will save you from this d*mn ditch.”

 

Bioust took a deep breath to inhale the scent of Layla once again. Layla, with the little strength she had left in her tiny body, weakly pushed him away

 

Normally, the muscled Bioust wouldn’t be pushed away by the skinny Layla, but by being  intoxicated with her scent Bioust, fell off a couple of steps without realizing it.

 

“…Layla?”

 

“You can’t save me.”

 

Layla said, with slightly reddened cheeks and slightly ragged breathing.

 

Bioust was confused. She had no friends and was abandoned by her family. He thought that if he treated her with a little kindness, she would come to him right away.

 

To the woman who lived in such a miserable cabin, he should be the lifesaver that appeared in front of her, her savior. So of course, he expected her answer to be yes, but words of refusal came out of Layla’s mouth.

 

“Layla.”

 

“I’m not in a ditch-like place. I’m the ditch itself.”

 

Her blue eyes were sad.

 

Her mouth was stubbornly clenched, and she looked like she was staring at something, but her blue eyes only looked sad.

 

In the eyes of Bioust, Layla was crying without shedding a single tear.

 

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