CH 92

*******

“Now you are of some use.”

A satisfied smile appeared on the lips of Deltinus, who lifted Rena’s slender chin. Her cheeks were still burning after being beaten by him, and she unwittingly added a little pressure into her forehead. Deltinus couldn’t miss it. He grabbed her chin as if to crush it. She groaned briefly.

“When I tried to give you a prize, did you dare make that kind of expression?”

“Sorry. I wasn’t doing that on purpose…”

“You’re arrogant despite not being able do simple tasks properly. How useless.”

Deltinus clicked his tongue in displeasure. Rena’s head hit against the wall as he let go with a flick of his hand, but she didn’t frown or let out a moan. If she had done so, it was clear that Deltinus would torture her again.

“When I think about it, looking at Canaren’s condition, you should have been able to do this earlier. Why didn’t you do your best?”

Rena’s prediction was wrong. Deltinus was a human being who could wield violence by snatching her up no matter what she did.

Deltinus raised his hand. He was a shadow over her face. If she had to get hit like before, he would have to hit the other cheek this time. Rena thought so, closing her eyes tightly and turning her head away from him.

But after a while, nothing happened. Rena slowly opened her narrow eyes and was startled by the scene unfolding before her.

“What is this?”

Muasa, who had vanished at will, saying he wanted to meet Canaren, was holding Deltinus’s arm. Judging by the harsh tone he spit out without sincerity, he must have thought of Deltinus as Yulif.

Considering Muasa’s words and actions, there was a high possibility that he did not even know that the emperor and the duke were twins. Rena tried to stop Muasa from being rude to Deltinus any further, but Muasa was one step quicker.

“What are you, human? Are you trying to hang out with this girl for a second like you should with Canaren? But why are you beating her? What did she do wrong?”

“Stop it! this person is…”

“Damn, if I had known you were such a bastard, I would have made the town give a verdict!”

Muasa murmured while grinding his teeth and threw a fist at Deltinus. His powerfully extended fist could not reach Deltinus’ face, which he was aiming for, and his hand was caught in the middle.

Muasa felt a strange sense of discomfort for a brief moment. Because the hand, which had gripped his own fist, was covered with crude, hard calluses.

‘Isn’t this guy a wizard? Aren’t these a swordsman’s hands?’

The hands of the two facing each other in the air trembled in a tight contest. Deltinus’ serpentine eyes quickly ran through Muasa from head to toe. He paid particular attention to his ears. The ears, which were covered by his indigo blue hair, were not as elongated as Canaren’s, but the pinna was covered with feathers. He was a Hwira.

‘Are you Canaren’s older brother?’

Blood related or not, it was certain that he had a close relationship with Canaren. He seemed to have met Yulif in the village.

The village. What the hell did Yulif do when he went to the Hwira village? Would he have taken Canaren and gotten permission to marry her?

‘You make a lot of noise once in a marriage.’

Deltinus snorted. Muasa thought it was a sneer at him, so he screamed as he put a barbed wire around his neck.

“Do you laugh? Canaren’s life is ruined for fun! Same goes for this woman! But what’s so funny? Is it fun?”

“It can’t be fun. Things like bugs crawling on the floor that are struggling to survive.”

Muasa’s red eyes blazed with anger. Reason half-lost, he was not at all interested in the fact that the man in front of him was speaking without hesitation what Yulif would not have said.

Muasa clenched his fists. Deltinus didn’t lose, and he gave his hand a strong grip, as if to break his fist. Muasa clenched his teeth and quickly twisted his body, kicking Deltinus in the side.

“Ugh!”

The gripped fist was released. Deltinus grabbed his flank after being beaten and staggered. Rena clung to Muasa, who was about to run into him and grab him by the neck.

“No!”

“How can you leave him alone? Let go! Let me go!”

While Muasa was fighting to push Rena, Deltinus ran down the stairs. Muasa burst out in anger as he saw his back disappearing from sight quickly.

“Damn it, you too! What is it about such a person that you’re quiet even when he hits you? Did you not hear what that man said? He told us that we’re worms, not humans. Bugs!”

“That person is not Duke Rubius.”

“You’re crazy. Are you even telling such a lie to cover up for that man?”

“I’m not lying. The duke and the emperor are twin brothers. They have the same face and voice, so much that it’s hard to tell them apart.”

Rena explained calmly as she pulled out her arm that had been held tightly. Muasa recalled the discomfort he felt when his fists were clenched. A swordsman’s hand, not a wizard. And a simple attack that got through. There were a lot of strange things about that Yulif.

However, even if the man who had just disappeared was the emperor, there was still an unresolved question.

“Then if that is the emperor. Then why is the emperor trying to beat you? Do you even know the emperor? Why did the emperor come here in the first place? To see you?”

“That’s because…”

Muasa’s questions poured in. Among them, there was not a single question that Rena could answer. Canaren, who had gone away crying her suppressed cries, caught her heart. She must have firmly misunderstood that the duke did such a thing.

Rena was asked why and didn’t answer, ignoring a dissatisfied Muasa, and looked anxiously in the direction Canaren had disappeared. But she did not dare to stand before Canaren to clear her misunderstanding and she was not worthy of comfort. All of this seemed to have been decided from the moment she accepted Deltinus’ proposal.

Rena put her hand on the cheek that was struck by Deltinus and sighed.

*******

It’s like walking in a dream. Not a happy dream overflowing with joy, but a nightmare full of pain and suffering. There was no end to the terrible nightmare. It didn’t seem like it would fall off until her death, no, maybe even after her death, clinging to her.

No matter how much she walked, no matter how much she flapped her wings, her blood froze in the bitter despair that she would never be freed.

The wings, which were taken out haphazardly, drooped and looked like a dead bird. Canaren roamed the castle like a ghost. Without even the servants walking through the hallways following her today, there was no one to extend a hand to her trapped in her nightmare.

She had all five senses. As soon as she bumped into her wall, she changed her direction and stumbled down the stairs without looking at her steps. She wasn’t sick. It hurt like death. Her shattered body misunderstood her senses. In fact, even moving was a miracle.

Her aimless feet were once again blocked by the wall. She reached out her hand and patted in front of her. A hard, cold wall stood there. The motionless, emotionless wall felt warmer and more affectionate than Yulif.

Canaren restlessly rested her forehead against it, then turned her body. She had to go back. She would have to come back. But where? She had nowhere else to go in this castle.

She never knew before. How painful it would be for her to live as a duchess in name only. She thought that if she lived, she would be able to change Yulif’s heart by staying together in the castle and talking to him face to face. She thought that Yuliif loved the Hwira woman so much that he couldn’t open his heart to her because he had yet to forget her.

That it would take time. She thought she could open the locked door and go inside.

It was arrogance out of ignorance.

Yulif did not forget that person. It wasn’t that her existence was so great that his affection for her was so deep and deep that there was no room for accepting others. He just didn’t have a place to give himself to.

Canaren was no longer confident. He didn’t seem like he would take care of himself anyway. Three months. He said he would return her to the village if she endured it for three months, but there was really not much time left, and she was scared to think how many more times this would be repeated in the remaining time.

If it was going to be like this anyway, it would have been better to stay in the Imperial Palace. In the Imperial Palace, she could hate and detest Deltinus to her heart’s content. But now… She couldn’t just hate Yulif. She still liked him. Her own foolishness, leaning on the faint tenderness of the time that he had shown, and holding on to the thin string, was tormented.

“I finally found you.”

The hairs all over her body stood tight at the sound of her physiological disgust. Canaren raised her head sharply. A man with an unpleasant fishy smell that could not be hidden with a friendly smile was blocking the front. The emperor! It was the emperor.