Chapter 583: Desire

Liam had an idea about what Rachel was getting at. It honestly would have been impossible not to realize it.

Amber was pushing for the two to remain alone, and Uriah was letting it happen without his usual shouting. Liam had even confirmed that Rachel wasn’t playing with him, and he understood the kind of image she had projected in public.

There had even been a one-sided agreement to talk more openly once the parents couldn’t interfere, but Liam wasn’t exactly eager to tackle it. Still, he had never been one to dodge those troublesome matters.

It would even be hypocritical to start dodging problems after having scolded Rachel for implying cowardice.

"Fine," Liam stated. "You said you’d tell me why you trusted me."

Rachel wore a strangely mature smile, looking down at herself while pulling at her robe’s edges, the motion revealing more of what it already failed to hide.

"Am I not beautiful?" Rachel asked.

"So?" Liam asked. He couldn’t deny that, but it didn’t necessarily have any relevance to him.

"I’m one of the most beautiful women in the Kingdom," Rachel boasted, looking up at Liam, her cheeky grin broadening. "Considering that I’m likely the youngest, I am the most beautiful."

Real age had little value when bodies didn’t physically show it, but Liam knew better than to contradict an incomprehensible woman who got horny at his threats. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Due to my parents," Rachel continued, "I have had marriage offers ever since I was born. Once the news of my beauty spread, even Princes from different regions came to visit the Dark Heaven Tribe in the hope of claiming me."

Rachel took a step forward, almost getting in Liam’s face, taking her throat in her hand.

"But you had me in your grasp," Rachel whispered sensually. "Powerless and enslaved, yours to act on your foulest desires, and you didn’t even look at me."

"Is this pride?" Liam wondered. If Rachel truly trusted her beauty so much, her interest could make sense.

"Pride?" Rachel scoffed. "I’ve seen pride. Almost every man I rejected called upon it, as if their forces or what they achieved through them somehow made them great. They were small, all of them."

Rachel tried to get closer again, only to stop at the glare Liam mustered. Still, her eyes brightened at that feral refusal, desire invading her small smile.

"But you," Rachel continued. "You might wear this skin, but I’ve felt the beast underneath, the hungry creature small men can’t tame."

Liam diverted his gaze. Rachel’s evaluation had been strangely on point. Despite how she acted, her observation skills were no joke.

"You made me obey you," Rachel stated. "Without second-guessing or thoughts of escape. You conquered me like beasts take mates."

Desire had invaded Rachel’s voice. She sounded ready to start panting, drawing Liam’s eyes back to her.

"No one had ever treated me that roughly," Rachel revealed. "Everyone went through my parents, promised me riches and thrones, or vowed futures brighter than the desert at noon, but you stripped all that away, awakening the most basic instinct of all."

Rachel’s face grew serious, gaining the sharpness her mother occasionally wore as she added her last piece. "The weak submits to the strong."

Liam crossed his arms, wanting them to act as a barrier while he reviewed the matter. He had met too many crazy characters in the cultivation world to make appeals to sanity, but it sounded odd that he had been the first to catch Rachel like that.

"Don’t think me cheap," Rachel said, as if reading Liam’s mind. "I felt nothing before experts at my noble Father’s level. If it were just about power, I would have stopped fooling small men long ago."

Rachel brought her hand to her chest, tightening her grasp, as if wanting to grab her very heart.

"It was an instinct," Rachel explained. "Before I knew it, I had let your poison flare, yearning for a reminder of your mark. I was no prized jewel or beautiful flower in your ruthless hands. I was just prey who had learned her place and had to devote herself to her superior, addicted to the sweet pain he inflicted."

Liam truly had to thank his experience with crazy characters. He would have never understood that part otherwise.

As Amber had said, Rachel had lived a sheltered life. She was nothing short of a princess, treated as such her entire life, white gloves always covering the hands that tried to approach her.

Instead, Liam was a ruthless barbarian who cared for nothing, not even Rachel’s shocking beauty. The way he treated her was in no way good, but it might have felt liberating for her, like a taste of the real world she had never gotten the chance to experience.

"Of course," Rachel sighed, relaxing her grip. "I wasn’t at liberty to devote myself to you right away. I carry my Tribe’s weight, so I had to observe you first. My body might yearn to be in your rough grasp, but my heart is with my Tribe."

That was actually praiseworthy. While smitten, Rachel had refused to act on her most basic desires because she understood her value to her Tribe.

"I lived all my life among great experts," Rachel explained. "So I immediately knew you were great, but you are even beyond that, aren’t you?"

Rachel grinned, pointing at the many cuts on Liam’s body. "Treating level three magical beasts as training dummies, disregarding branching experts as a rooting expert, using a fellow newly advanced cultivator to test your abilities, and handling rank 3 resources as if they were common currency."

When Rachel put it like that, even Liam had to admit that his recent exploits might have gone overboard, at least by the cultivation world’s standards. He had always wielded an edge, but the branching stage had brought it to another level.

"Even if others were to believe me," Rachel giggled, "They’d think I was talking about some legendary demon. But I’ve seen your loyalty, your care for those you consider your people. Even with me tempting you, you kept seeking your partner’s voice."

Liam had to hold back a gulp. That was beyond mere observation skills. Rachel had truly put him under scrutiny, understanding way too much.

"I also confirmed that our minds were similar," Rachel continued, stepping back to sit on the bed. "The rules others abide by have no value in our eyes. We are free and unburdened, you more than me, living the true freedom I always dreamed I could live."

Rachel sat straight, her stance enhancing her ample curves, which her hand ran over before sliding down her waist and, eventually, her thigh.

"I have been a proper daughter," Rachel panted. "I upheld my parents’ expectations, suppressing my curiosity all my life so as not to lose value. But I’ve found my match now. I can submit without restraint to the one who conquered me."

All the desire Rachel had suppressed since acknowledging her attraction to Liam seemed to explode now, everything about her body radiating it so clearly that he would see it even if he closed his eyes.

"So, Dark Wanderer," Rachel called. "Claim me for good. Take me as your wife. I will fulfill every desire you harbor and obey your every command."

Then, a dangerous glint flashed in Rachel’s eyes, as if her core ambition was finally leaking through.

"I will give you the Dark Heaven Tribe," Rachel announced. "And together, we’ll live however we want, free from artificial constraints. We’ll take it all without ever asking permission, laughing in the faces of those who try to oppose us, until the entire Great Quiet Desert and beyond belong to us."