Chapter 17
‘You’re hungry!’
Selene blushed at the words that had come out of her mouth. She felt embarrassed by his glare at her, so she averted her gaze and looked out the window again.
She could feel the carriage slowing down and slowing to a stop at a certain point.
A moment later, a knock sounded on the silent carriage, and Zart’s voice came from outside.
“We have arrived at the place you mentioned.”
Soon the carriage door opened, and she could feel him eased himself out.
Suddenly she wondered if Barath had gone off alone to do his business.
With an unreasonable anxiety that the door would close and she would have to walk to the castle alone, she turned to look for him.
He held out his hand to her in the sunlight.
Selene turned away from Barath’s outstretched hand and stepped out of the carriage alone.
Inwardly, he thought he had grown closer to her, but he realized he was mistaken.
It dawned on him that he was the only one who remembered the time when they had cuddled all night and become each other’s heart.
In her drunken stupor, she didn’t seem to remember anything.
As his hand returned to its own place, lost and alone, he felt something small and warm.
It hovered over his palm, then settled between his thumb and forefinger.
Before he knew it, Barath was standing beside her, and he saw her small hand resting on mine.
This was not the behaviour of a lady being escorted; it was more like lovers holding hands…
Lost in thought, he turned his head to face her and slowly lowered his arm, squeezing her hand.
He didn’t pull away, but rather actively clasped his hands together.
It was the most extreme tenderness he had ever experienced in his life.
It felt like something fierce inside his head was exploding.
When he felt the soft thing in his hand stirring, he turned to see Selene, who had the most innocent face in the world.
“Where are we going now?”
Anywhere.
He began to walk slowly, thinking foolishly that he could go anywhere.
Selen took his hand and they arrived at a quaintly decorated restaurant.
As they walked, guided by the staff, she couldn’t stop marveling. Even the candlesticks in the hallway were so delicately crafted that she wanted to steal a few to put in her bedroom.
The two were ushered into a separate room and seated, and it wasn’t long before their meal was served.
A large plate was beautifully decorated with tiny bites of food. The plates kept coming, and Selene was tempted to send a message to her liver by watching the food disappear with a single fork movement.
As Selene ate and sipped her drink, she studied the patterns on the forks and looked around the interior.
Every once in a while, she’d glance over at Barath, and their eyes would meet.
If she rolled her eyes in distraction, her eyes would meet his, which were always fixed on her.
He never took his eyes off her, even as she drank water or chewed her food.
A strange uneasiness filled Selene’s heart as his intense gaze continued. Her heartbeat quickened and her breathing became labored.
She felt like she had to say something, and it had to be about her memory loss.
After gagging for a long time on a piece of meat the size of a bean, Selene gulped down the contents and put down her fork.
She couldn’t take this chance or peek forever.
The reality of having to deceive him in this way was bitter.
They were just getting to know each other a little, and she wondered if lying to him now would affect their relationship later.
She was also worried about ruining her relationship with this man who made her feel so excited.
Still, the thought that her life might be in danger if she couldn’t deceive him made her more and more impatient.
She chanted a spell in her mind.
‘Amnesia. I am Selene with no memory. I have lost my memory. Standby…’
Selene opened her mouth with an innocent expression.
“I have a question.”
At that, Barath swallowed hard and took a sip of water from his chewed food. Gathering her courage as he listened, she spoke the first words that had been on her mind the entire time.
“What are we?”
It was too abrupt.
Barath fiddled with his glass of water, saying nothing.
Selen spoke the line she’d been thinking, wondering if it would work.
“You come to my room at night, and you give me gifts. The location of the bedroom, among other things, makes me think we’re a couple.”
At this point, his expression didn’t change.
Selene, who had trained herself to react accordingly when he looked bewildered or surprised, was a little taken aback, but she tried to feign calm and asked, as if to confirm.
“Am I right?”
He sat stiffly, his expression unreadable, and nodded slightly in response to her question.
Selene felt a twinge of annoyance at his response. She decided to push the envelope a bit, knowing that a little surprise would help her deliver her prepared line.
“So, why aren’t we… married?”
“Good.”
Finally getting the reaction she wanted, Selene stood up and walked over to him. She was going to pat him on the back, as if she were worried.
But the moment she touched him, the sight of his broad shoulders and the feel of his hardness against her fingertips made her feel so embarrassed that she could only make a fumbling gesture.
He closed his eyes slowly and asked in a low voice.
“I need more explanation of what that means.”
Selene’s eyes twinkled behind his back, and her voice was plaintive.
“I’m sorry if I startled you, but I… I think I’ve lost my memory, so I’m going to…”
***
As he listened, he realized why she was telling him this.
She seemed to be racking her brains in the carriage, and the last thing she came up with was that she had lost her memory.
She did. If she were to be discovered as a witch, she would be unable to fulfill her purpose, whatever it might be, so she would have to hide it somehow.
Barath decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
As soon as she had made up her mind, she asked the question she wanted.
“Then why aren’t we… married?”
“Huh.”
The word he hadn’t expected-no, hadn’t dared to imagine-came out of her mouth, and his mind seemed to go blank.
‘What?’
The voice in his head kept asking him what they were doing, and he shuddered at the suddenness of her approach. ‘Why is it tickling me so much,’ she said, her hand twitching behind his back, ‘that I’m going to fall on my stomach again?’
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm the storm of shocking stimuli, and then, as naturally as he could, asked her what she meant.
The answer was exactly what he thought it would be, and he could practically feel the effort this small, cute woman was putting into it.
‘Yes. I’m up for your antics. I’ll give you whatever you want.’
Barath pressed the corners of his eyes and said tiredly.
“I think we should go and sit down.”
Selene, behind him, moved slowly, as if her feet wouldn’t fall off, and sat down across from him again.
As he caught his breath and his head started to spin, he felt a little bit unfair.
She hadn’t shown any sign of it, even though she knew she’d have a hard time breathing whenever he was near.
Part of him wondered what he could do when he was the one being possessed, but the way she was teasing him, making demands, was getting to him.
He decided to agree with her for now.
“For now, we’re a lovers.”
Selene cheered inwardly, relieved that her plan had worked.
She pinned the corners of her mouth that were about to rise and looked as unconcerned as she could, narrowing her eyes as his first question came.
Luckily, she anticipated his question and had her answer ready.
“Where do you remember it from?”
After a long pause, Selene cautiously answered.
“I don’t know the exact date, but it was at night and you were tidying up the curtains and telling me to go to sleep.”
She studied his expression as she spoke, but couldn’t tell if he’d realised she was referring to the first night or not. Selene decided to be a little more explicit.
“When I woke up the next day, you were in my bedroom, and when I went out for a minute, you came back in and… spilled blood on the bedding.”
Barath clenched his fists in silence. The day she was talking about was exactly the right day. It was the moment that confirmed his suspicions.
He nodded slowly and said what he knew she wanted to hear.
“I see when it was, and I take it you’re saying you don’t remember anything before that, am I right?”
Her little head nodded. It was a flimsy lie, full of holes, but the look on her face as she nodded was enough to keep him from laughing.
He lifted the glass in his hand and gulped down the water.
“That was the day of our wedding.”
Selene let out a small ‘ah’ and covered her mouth with her hands, looking surprised.
He was looking forward to seeing how amazing she was going to act in front of him.
Barath’s red eyes glittered.
“I think you were wondering earlier why there is no conjugal relationship between us…”
As panic began to creep into her feigned surprise, she calmed down.
Barath decided to take advantage of her memory lapse.
“We had an arranged marriage.”
Selene could only nod in confusion; unexpectedly, instead of letting her know that he had paid for her, he was offering her something called consideration in the guise of an arranged marriage.
But his words didn’t end there.
“For those of you who don’t know, we were supposed to be married ten days after the ceremony, which of course you don’t remember.”
Selene’s eyes began to flutter rapidly as she counted the days since the ceremony.
The hand covering her mouth slowly lowered, and her act was over.
Barath drove a wedge into her eyes, which looked as if they would scream lie at any moment.
“And tomorrow is exactly ten days.”
