Chapter 9
It took Selene a long time, but she finally ate her share of apples, all but the bones. She was full, even though she had only eaten one, given how big the apple was.
It was time for her to go back to her room, as she had come to eat apples with him.
Selene glanced at the blunt man who hadn’t kicked her out at this late hour but sat next to her. The first thing she saw was his broad shoulders, which were well above mine.
Beyond them, she could see a jaw harder than a crocodile’s, lips set in a tight line, and jewel-red eyes staring back at her from a casually upturned gaze.
Eyes that had been staring at me for who knows how long, eyes that hadn’t even moved since they met.
“You must go.”
Selene blushed at the impure thought and stood up, straightening her clothes.
Barath blinked in confusion, but didn’t move as he watched Selene get up and leave the room.
If she hesitated, or if she started to move first, the woman would not be out of this room until tomorrow morning.
For several minutes, some long and some short, she struggled with superhuman patience not to move a muscle.
Now he doesn’t even know. He’d been prepared to treat her like the object of his desire if she’d run away, and he’d been prepared to lose his temper if she’d run away when he’d handed her the apple and giggled.
When he exhaled the breath he’d been holding, his nose vibrated with a sweet smell, like sugar dangling from the tip of a spoon.
He went to open the window for ventilation, only to find it closed and a cloak lying beside it.
He realized that if he didn’t open the door quickly, the woman would turn back, so he acted without thinking.
The smell of her sugar seemed to be escaping through the slight opening, so he closed the window.
He returned to the fireplace, doing the exact opposite of what he had done for ventilation, and lay down on the seat where she had sat.
Now he didn’t know what the hell he wanted to do with her.
Back in her room, Selene briefly wondered if the book she’d come in with was The Monstrous Grand Duke: when she’d first walked in and looked in the mirror, she’d fit the description of the book’s heroine, and the next day she’d seen Barath, and his appearance had been a perfect match.
But why. Why on earth.
It’s been three nights already, why hasn’t the book started?
She couldn’t understand why there was no sign of her confinement beginning.
At first, she was fine with it, she thought it was more considerate of her to delay her confinement.
But a day or two. As the days continued to pass, she grew restless.
Isn’t it possible that he just doesn’t find her attractive?
Selene’s character doesn’t get much development in the book. Of course, it’s a romance novel.
Maybe the original Selene wasn’t as timid as she is in the book and had the bubbly charm of other romantic comedy protagonists?
Was she the kind of charmer you can’t learn without locking her up and eating her to death?
If so, he was screwed.
The mood tonight had certainly been one for kissing, but ‘You must go’?
Had he really not felt any of that?
Anything that made me want to hold his hand, let alone kiss him, or hug him, or even…
What kind of feeling was it that only came to me?
She wanted to get along, she thought they could get along, but she didn’t know how to start.
Selene’s eyes fell on the shoes she had received as a gift.
In Korea, there’s a saying that if you give a shoe to a lover, the recipient will run away. She doesn’t think it was meant for her to run away because she doesn’t think she’s right for him.
[Day 5]
Barath, who had been lying in the same spot where the woman had sat all night, turned his head and looked at the fireplace. The fire that had given off a warm glow had gone out, revealing black charcoal, ashes, and charred grey stones.
It looked just like him, with all that was left was a dirty mess.
From the ante-chamber that led to the bedroom, Zart crossed, his face gaunt as if he had spent the night awake.
No, Zart’s servant, Augustus, would not be so groggy after only one night’s sleep.
“My lord, I found a young man last night.”
Barath didn’t respond, his eyes full of so what?
Zart swallowed hard and pursed his lips several times before he spoke.
“He’s from a town called Chimerlin City in the southwest, and he’s here because his fiancée, Selene, has gone missing and He’s looking for her.”
Barath pondered what Zart had just said, and his heart sank at the sight of his lord in such a state. It was barely spring, and she had a lover.
“They haven’t had a formal ceremony, but they’ve promised to marry each other…”
“These days.”
Barath interrupted. He looked up, slowly considering something.
“The ground is melting these days, isn’t it?”
The ground, which had been frozen solid all winter, was now thawing. It had been a month since spring had begun.
Barath nodded and muttered that it wouldn’t take much strength to dig. He would bury it without a second thought.
“My lord.”
Barath heard Zart call him out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t going to make it out of this castle alive.
How he does it, and how kindly he does it, I must decide.
He continued to think to himself, unconcerned with Zart, who searched his face anxiously.
He knew it. It’s true. What’s pretty in his eyes is pretty in other eyes.
It’s okay. Whether physically or emotionally. It didn’t matter if they had children. It’s his sin that he discovered late, not her.
‘…’
But he has to see him at least. No matter how blinded by love. What is this place?
He must see the face of the man who carries such a large liver in his belly.
***
Robin, unconscious, slowly opened his eyes. He lay on the cold stone floor, looked at the cage that held him, and closed his eyes again.
The last thing he remembered was the sound of his own voice in a northern castle, asking the armored guards if they knew a woman named Selene.
He knew Selene’s father was a nobleman. But it was the words that came out of his mouth one day as he was doing odd jobs in the house that stunned Robin.
She was married to a great man in the far north.
He knew better than anyone that a life of graceful tea-drinking in a wealthy house with flowers in the garden suited her.
Still.
He just wanted to see her once. He doesn’t care if she’s rich or not.
He wanted to ask her if she was happy now, and he traveled all the way to the North, where he’d never been before, just to hear the answer.
Selene was the kind of woman you don’t forget once you see her, especially with that wispy, pale blonde color.
So when he set out to find her, he knew he would find her quickly.
***
Barath stepped into the dungeon, studying the files on Selene’s past.
The man behind the bars looked like he’d traveled a long way to get himself together. His coloring was dull and grizzled, but his smooth face made him look like a woman’s favorite.
The man slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times. Then, sensing someone’s presence, he jerked up and tried to get closer to the bars.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Barath and went rigid, as if tangled in an invisible spider’s web, and averted his gaze with a gleam of fear in his eyes.
Barath saw the familiar reaction and instructed Zart.
“Go ahead.”
Zart ripped open the bars and began to tie Robin to the chair.
Robin screamed, her face a mask of panic and fear.
“W-what, are you doing to me, what is this! Ugh, let me go!”
Soon after, Zart pulled a small, long-necked glass vial from his arm. Inside was a purple-tinted liquid.
Seeing it, Robin squirmed even more violently.
“Ha, don’t do it! Don’t do it! Ha, don’t do it!”
Robin screamed, terrified of what was about to happen to him, and Zart grabbed him by the cheeks, pressed him down, and put the spout of the vial into his mouth.
The drug he’d given him was avelanon, a drug that would cause him to temporarily lose his senses, forcing him to tell the truth under hypnosis.
There was no need for Barath to discuss anything with Robin; he had only to ask him one question, leaving him to tell the truth.
Barath looked into Robin’s dilated eyes and asked.
“The town of Chimerlinsea in the southwest. Were you and a woman named Selene there, a bonded pair who found each other’s hearts?”
Robin stared blankly into space with unfocused eyes, responding to the name Selene.
In his hypnotised mind, a beautiful blonde woman smiled at him.
He blushed, and said to her in a voice so low no one could hear, “I want to live for you.”
“I want to live for you. I will work hard all my life for you and the children that will come between us.”
It was an unassuming confession from a man who had nothing.
But sincerity had come through, and she had smiled and thanked him.
“Selen and I love each other,” Robin said, his voice filled with longing as he reminisced.
“Selene and I love each other, and we promised to be together forever.”
Barath was seized by a strange sensation as if the ground beneath his feet was giving way. He bent down to check the floor. There was surely a solid stone floor supporting his feet, so why did he feel like he was falling?
