Chapter 20: SILENCE!

"Mated for life…" Swan murmured as she tried to let that sentence seep in. 

"Yes, mated for life. Stop trying to suggest sacrifices. I have no intention to sacrifice you," Gale added as he wanted to stop Swan from having crazy thoughts. 

Unfortunately, his effort was in vain, because Swan asked, "T-then, if your curse has been lifted out, does that mean you don't need to marry so many women in the future?"

"What are you talking about? I never said that," Gale frowned. 

"Uhm… I'm just connecting the dots. Suppose you're forced to marry many women because of the curse. Then, you can… you can just use me as a sacrifice and then find the real woman who will mate for life with you—ah!" Swan let out a loud groan as Gale bit her nape. It wasn't painful for some reason, but it gave her the stimulant that shut her brain off, making her unable to think straight. 

All she could think of was the pleasure that he brought. Gale ripped her dress, making her fully naked as he began to embrace her from behind once more. 

He played with her body while constantly nibbling on her nape, neck, and earlobe, making a trail of hickeys that would probably stay for so long.

Yet, despite all the pleasure that Gale brought to shut her up, she still had the clarity of her sacrifice. She had long been thinking of a way to end herself respectably, so she wouldn't be so useless in this world. 

"Gale, I—about your curse—mmfh!" Swan was silenced with a kiss, but once it was done, she kept insisting on it until Gale couldn't bear it anymore.

"I… can sacrifice—"

"SILENCE!" Gale roared as he continued touching her wet lips down there. He wanted to numb her with pleasure, so she stopped thinking about such ridiculous things, but he had underestimated Swan's stubbornness. 

Swan's heart jumped, but she repeated, "I can be—"

"I SAID, SILENCE!" Gale roared again, this time, it was louder, and everyone in the castle must've heard it. 

But Gale couldn't care less. He saw how Swan was absolutely under his control with how she moaned each time he touched her sensitive spots, yet her beautiful ocean eyes showed strong and consistent resolve, pleading with him to listen to her request.

As if she truly didn't mind being a sacrifice, just so she could leave him. 

Gale gritted his teeth. 

He wasn't used to this stuffiness inside his heart, and that gnawing feeling made him even more irritable than before. 

Gale forced her to turn towards him, so they faced each other and he yelled at her, "Your family sent you as the prize of my victory. So you better stop talking about sacrifice and death, because I will never permit you to die!" 

Swan was shocked by his answer. Her tears began to pool at the corner of her eyes as she muttered, "But I just—"

"I order you to stop talking! I don't want to hear about your nonsense!" Gale yelled again, and Swan finally zipped her lips tight, so he thought they could continue with their bed activities.

But the gnawing feeling inside his heart worsened as his wife silently stared at him with tears in her eyes. It made him feel guilty, and he lost his interest immediately.

He finally let her go and got up from the bed.

Gale walked to the window, and stood there, with his back facing Swan. 

"Swan of Holy Achate, I ban you from ever speaking about sacrifice in front of me," Gale said coldly, but he didn't dare to look at Swan, as her tears made him very uncomfortable.

He admitted that he wasn't the best at dealing with women. Two women in his life–his late mother and Jade–didn't give him pleasant interactions, at least not enough to equip him to handle the complicated emotions that women had. 

Nevertheless, Gale understood one thing; 'Swan doesn't want to be with me. She keeps talking about sacrifice. She prefers to die rather than spend time with her mate.' 

Gale clenched his fist, the gnawing feeling was getting stronger, to the point that it made him overly irritable. However, he couldn't blame Swan for it, since he defeated her kingdom, and killed her father in war. Swan must've been holding so much grudge against him. 

Gale was thinking of a way to appease her grudge, and he couldn't think of any. So he needed advice from someone who's an expert in reading people's true feelings–Jade.

Gale looked over his shoulder and saw Swan staring at him with tears in the corner of her eyes. He took a deep breath and said, "I won't disturb you anymore. You can go to sleep now."

With that, Gale leaped from the window and disappeared into the night once more. 

Swan had been zipping her lips shut as per Gale's order. Now that he was gone, Swan let out a relieved breath, and leaned on the bedpost, thinking of what happened just now.

She just wanted to make him happy. If his curse truly needed a sacrifice, then she could be used. He could get rid of his curse while getting rid of her at the same time.

Yet, he got agitated whenever she mentioned sacrifice.

Swan spent her life as nothing but an item people used to hurt and ridicule. So, she found Gale's behavior to be very strange.

"I don't understand you, Gale. Why aren't you happy that you get an easy way out?" 

**

Gale leaped from one balcony to another in the castle until he landed at the balcony of none other than Lady Jade, who was drinking tea in the middle of the night, a habit she picked up after her expedition to the east. 

"We need to talk," Gale said.

Jade put her teacup down, and glanced at Gale with a meaningful smile, "I thought you'd be angry enough not to meet me after I reminded you about your curse an hour ago. Let me guess, you had a fight with one of your insignificant mates?"