Chapter 114

“I… I seemed to have misunderstood.”

“…”

“I said something inappropriate. I didn’t come here for that.”

“… Do I look that easy?”

Ayla looked at Theon while keeping her cold gaze.

It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who had a hard time all night.

She was somewhat sad, seeing how he had become emaciated overnight; but she gathered herself by recalling the groundless spiteful remarks he had uttered.

“Ah. It’s not like that…”

“Your Highness made me seem like that. You made it seem like it was infinitely easy and promiscuous.”

“…”

“How much do you know about me, to speak like that? Even if I work for you, I am not living such a petty life to receive those insults. What the hell do you know about me… How much do you know!!”

Thick drops of water fell from Ayla’s eyes, who shouted at Theon as if the emotions she had been holding back for so long had burst out in an instant.

Theon’s gray eyes shook incessantly, as if he were bewildered by Ayla’s reaction.

Soon after, Theon grabbed Ayla, who was crying while shaking her small shoulders, and pulled her into his arms.

At Ayla’s resistance, who clenched her fists and hit his chest, as if she didn’t want to be in his embrace, Theon pulled her into his arms a little more strongly.

No calculations or thoughts were needed. No, that’s wrong.

The only thought that filled his mind was that he should hug her tightly, as she trembled.

“I’m really sorry. I’m sorry. Ah. I’m sorry. So don’t cry, please.”

Hearing his honest words, Ayla lowered her fists and cried like a child.

When Theon applied a little more strength to the arms wrapped around her, Ayla quietly closed her eyes in his embrace.

She wanted to get some rest in his warm arms.

***

‘Ah… I’m embarrassed. How can I face him?’

She became a slave to her emotions and burst into tears, but once the situation was over, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

Moreover, this situation with Theon, who was always growling and raising his claws as if he were going to prey on her, was really embarrassing.

Ayla stopped crying after a while. She was sniffling while maintaining her position in Theon’s arms.

Ayla, who was turning her blue eyes in every direction to get the right timing, heard Theon’s low but pleasant voice in her ear.

“Have you calmed down?”

“… Yes. A bit.”

“Ahem, then, let us return to the palace.”

“…”

As Ayla, who had been silent, quietly pushed Theon away, his expression darkened for a moment, and then he remained expressionless again.

In the awkward atmosphere surrounding the two people that were embracing each other, Theon hurriedly got out of the living room looking for Orhan, and she also left, calling Elin with an awkward gesture.

In the empty living room, only the strange atmosphere radiating from the two of them remained.

***

‘Ah. We’re finally here.’

With Elin’s help, she was ready to go to the palace.

Zenia, who had an attractive copper-colored skin, disappeared, and only Ayla Serdian of the Stellen Kingdom existed.

When she came out and found the two horses tied to their reins, her expression quickly hardened.

It was impossible to ride a carriage because she could not be seen.

However, it was also impossible to walk such a long distance; so of course, the only means of transportation were horses.

She was tearing out her hair, silently screaming why she hadn’t learned horseback riding all this time.

She wanted to avoid close contact with Theon as much as possible.

Although it was not her intention, the fact that someone who even has a fiancée saw her crying and hugged her was uncomfortable.

Though she didn’t have a very favorable sentiment towards Princess Ariel, she wanted to do the bare minimum as a human.

No, to be honest, she couldn’t believe herself.

It was difficult to define the strange feelings she had for Theon, so she thought it would be best to keep her distance as much as possible.

But there is no way other than this…

She couldn’t ride a horse, but she had to go to the palace somehow, so she had no choice but to ride together with him.

“Aren’t you getting on?”

Theon, who had no way of knowing that Ayla was unable to ride horses, sat on top of one horse and pointed to the empty saddle of the other.

“That, I…”

“We don’t have enough free time to just chat around here, have we?”

“I… The thing is…”

The more Ayla hesitated, the more Theon’s expression hardened, and his brows reached a point where he couldn’t frown any more.

He was holding it in for now because he was feeling sorry, but Theon seemed to be about to explode at Ayla’s frustrating behavior.

“I… I don’t know how to ride horses.”

“?”

Theon’s expression was clearly telling her,

‘What kind of nonsense is that?’

***