Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 52: Van Merikh Men Do Not Seek Forgiveness, Nor Do They Give It

Chapter 52 - Van Merikh Men Do Not Seek Forgiveness, Nor Do They Give It

Ever since he could remember, Orpheus had never been taught to seek forgiveness from anyone or anything.

The world as he knew it, or rather the version his father had shown him, was no better than a den filled with wolves.

And in a den full of wolves, one had to take what they needed by force in order to survive.

In the Van Merikh tribe, herders and warriors coming from the far northern snowlands of Engaria, the men were taught to never stop their onslaughts until they were at the very pinnacle of power.

And whether they had to trample on each other or anything else in order to gain their wants, then so be it.

The Van Merikh family were tribesmen not born to wealth but rather to strength and cruelty.

Whatever they had set their eyes on had to be acquired at all costs without seeking forgiveness or being remorseful.

So now, how was Orpheus Van Merikh supposed to apologise to a woman for something that was considered the norm for him?

He simply stared at Lady Karina, relishing the sensation of her warm, tender touch as it overwhelmed him.

The man simply couldn't think straight, but he retained enough of his wits to reply.

"Van Merikh men do not apologise for casualties of war, my lady," Orpheus remarked, trying not to let his resolve waver.

And while Lady Karina knew what his answer would be, it was the way he phrased it that surprised her.

Van Merikh men, he said.

So this was something taught and not some cruel law made under his name.

She held his hand tighter, moving up against him so that her sweet, soft, and curvy body was pressed into his torso.

Orpheus nearly lost his mind and he was certain the lady knew exactly what she was doing.

"I have heard you say it before and I am aware that men die in war because that is the nature of it," she said understandingly. "But it wouldn't do you any harm to at least apologise that her family had become a casualty of that violence."

"Do not ask me again for I will not apologise."

He didn't even think his reply through; it was something born from natural instinct.

Lady Karina's gaze lingered on his face, searching for any signs of remorse and when she didn't find it, she distanced herself and moved to sit on the edge of her bed.

Orpheus stood as still as a brick wall, watching every move she made.

Her warmth was gone from him.

"Would you at least have it in your heart to express remorse for her son? He was so very frail and harmless, he could not even lift a rock to throw at you," Lady Karina murmured, steepling her fingers together on her lap.

Orpheus did not sense that the lady was attempting to manipulate him. On the contrary, he realised she was attempting to help him understand something he had little concept of.

And as hard as he might have tried to rationalise her point, it did not make clear sense.

He finally broke out of his stone-like trance and walked to her, kneeling down again and taking her tiny, gentle hands into his tainted ones.

"War has always been my life, my lady." He glanced up at her, tenderly rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "There is no place for the weak and helpless on the battlefield and what has happened to that boy has happened since the start of the warring ages and it will continue in that manner."

Lady Karina regarded him pensively.

"To show remorse for that loss would be no better than laying blame to the clouds for blotting out the son; this is a natural part of war."

Orpheus didn't understand why he kept maintaining the lie of killing Atticus.

In fact, he knew very well why, and in the same breath, he didn't want Lady Karina to come to despise him more than she already did.

So the question was, why maintain a lie that would breed that hatred?

Pride.

The raw desire to instill fear without showing even a hint of mercy was a part of that pride.

It was the one thing that would never leave his mind easily.

And despite that, Lady Karina wanted to understand him.

She wanted to understand the depths of his ruthlessness and all the sources that it had come from.

That crimson glimmer beneath his eyes couldn't have possibly been just because of his magical abilities.

If anything, it seemed to possess the man and make him spellbound whenever he resorted to cruelty.

Lady Karina inhaled a deep breath and her emerald green eyes softened.

"The sun and clouds do not breathe as we do; they are not living in the same way we do," she began, breaking one hand away from his hold to cup his face. "Look at it this way. You have stated your desire to marry me, no?"

"Aye, my lady." Orpheus closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. "That has not changed."

"Have you ever considered that we might have a son? And what if Moonveil was invaded by someone after you who managed to breach it? What if our son and myself were killed and the invaders dismissed us as casualties of war?"

Very slowly, Orpheus opened his eyes but his gaze remained on her lap.

"Would you speak as you do now? Would you accept that?" Lady Karina shook her head, half exasperated and half exhausted. "I do not know why I bother to explain something you are not even capable of understanding."

Orpheus had never seen someone so exasperated with him and hellbent on teaching the opposite of what he knew.

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But he knew he had to put her words into context.

His mind illustrated a scene of an unknown knight driving a sword into her beautiful body.

It made his blood boil with rage.

He thought of the nameless, faceless son they would have—a healthy boy with his mother's lovely features and his father's strength.

He thought of the child as someone took him by the feet and perhaps slammed his head into stone, and with that thought alone, a sharp jab of something unknown plunged deep into his heart unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

Just imagining their nonexistent child kicking and screaming for help as he was put to death.

And then he imagined the moment he would find the child, only to hold his son while he bled out in his arms.

And his angel? He would raze hell if he found her in a pool of her own blood.