CH 80

Who is the Fake Bride? (22)

“Roelin. Roelin. Roelin…”

“Stop calling me over and over, Kergel.”

Roelin was embarrassed by Kergel who was repeatedly calling out her name and grabbed his arm that was holding onto the reins. Then, she heard a laugh from Kergel, who was seated right behind her.

“I’ve officially come to know your name. No wonder the name suits you better and it was really true.”

Kergel murmured her name again as if he had truly liked it.

Roelin. Roelin. Roelin.

Had she ever even heard of her name being called so many times before?

Roelin was sitting on a horse and suddenly thought of it. It was a name that she had never even heard from her own flesh and blood. However, this man kept on calling out her name as if it was precious and cherished.

His attitude warmed her heart. And it was a little bit childish, but she was flattered.

She felt like she had already become such an amazing person.

Roelin unwittingly stretched her shoulders and raised her head straight. Then, she suddenly looked around and opened her mouth.

“We’re here.”

“I know. I called out your name a few times, but you arrived quickly anyway.”

He eventually tugged the reins. Then, the horse that was carrying them soon stopped. Kergel softly lowered himself down the horse and stretched out his arms towards her.

“I can get off by myself.”

“It’s hard to think that this horse is similar to you. This guy has a temper.”

At that moment, the horse neighed as if he noticed that Kergel was currently looking at him. Roelin stroked the mane of the horse and then, she smiled softly as she surrendered her body to him.

“Look at it. It’s because I’m not normal, huh.”

Kergel knew Roelin so well that he had already gotten off her horse and repeatedly insisted that he was still right. She smiled awkwardly, but didn’t give any response.

After confessing their feelings to each other, his attitude changed to be more friendly. He used to be sweet, but…… even the wall between them now seemed to have disappeared as well.

“By the way, I don’t really know if I’m allowed to go out like this.”

“It’s okay. I already told Lucy before I left. Besides, I’m going out with my wife, who’s gonna stop it?”

“……but still.”

“Don’t worry about nothing, Roelin. The fact that you are my companion will never change. Honestly, I don’t even need to come here right now… I’m just here because I think you’re paying too much attention.”

Kergel said while looking at the silver forest in front of him and the mist that rippled like a huge sea. Roelin looked back at him and spoke.

“Thank you.”

“I’m grateful… There’s nothing you can check anyway even if you come here. We already had a companion ceremony back then.”

“When I had the ceremony, I pretended to be my twin sister, not myself.”

He still didn’t mean to do anything now. Anyway, the companion ceremony was just a formality.

It was just… the fact that she had deceived him at that time and had the ceremony, so she begged him to visit here.

Roelin recalled the memory of that day. She vividly remembered the guilt and tension she had felt because of the only fact that she was deceiving him.

And after the ceremony, the cries of the wolves……

She paused unconsciously at the thought that came to her mind.

A wolf.

Roelin looked carefully at Kergel’s side profile.

Wolves. What did this man have anything to do with wolves?

She couldn’t ask that of the guy who said that he would tell her later. Roelin was forced to press her curiosity down, then exhaled a little bit.

At that moment, Kergel’s voice could be heard.

“Shall we walk side by side this time? It’s a little narrow, though.”

“……Yes.”

Roelin stared at Kergel’s hand and nodded. As she looked at his hands that inched towards her, she felt much better than from her own complicated mind.

Either way, her feelings for this man would always remain the same. And this man’s heart…….

Kergel’s voice, which had confessed his love to her, still lingered in her ears.

Roelin eventually felt warmth in her earlobe while holding his hand as she pretended it to be nothing. Then, she stepped off towards the foggy forest path.

* * *

The fog fluttered as if it could swallow them at any moment. Kergel walked with Roelin’s hand firmly in his own as he practiced caution.

“Be careful. If you stray out of the way, you’ll be trapped in a fantasy like last time.”

“……”

At that moment, Roelin stopped walking. He looked back at her, who had suddenly stopped, and tilted his head.

“At that time, the fantasy that I saw was me being trapped in a Palace back in Rakain.”

“……”

Kergel paused at what she said and looked at her with serious eyes then. Roelin felt that he began to hold her hand even more tightly and smiled before she continued.

“A fireplace that was long after the lights went out. A cold bedroom with no one at all. I wondered if it had all been just a dream the moment I met you. I must have been in Seroif, but I still thought that it was all a dream.”

“……”

“It was terrible. I didn’t want to believe that it was just a dream of mine to get out of the Separate Palace and feel liberated for the first time and I was devastated to think that I would be living back in that prison again. As if I can no longer stand up one more time……”

“……Roelin.”

“Fortunately, then, you grabbed my hand and pulled me out of that illusion.”

“I was lucky. If you had gone deeper, I wouldn’t have been able to save you.”

Kergel shook his head as if he didn’t want to imagine it after all. Roelin stared at his figure and slowly opened her mouth.

“I’d like to get out on my own this time.”

“……what?”

He shook his head as his face stiffened. Roelin said that repeatedly while facing straight into the golden pair of eyes that were gazing at her.

“I want to face that fear head on. And I want to come out on my own.”

“No way, are you going to enter that fog all on your own?”

Kergel’s face became distorted as Roelin nodded. He laughed in astonishment and went on again.