CH 81

Who is the Fake Bride? (23)

“Don’t be ridiculous, Roelin. You seem to think it’s funny that you’ve already escaped from that fog once……”

“I don’t think so. I know that I just got lucky back then.”

“But are you even aware of it when you say that?”

“Kergel, I’d like to move on with you.”

“……!”

Kergel shut his mouth at Roelin’s words. She looked down at her own trembling hands and then at him once again.

“Wait for me. Right here, at this very place.”

“……”

“I’m still stuck in the past. I’ve come all the way to Seroif to get away from it, but I’m still not completely free from my past at all.”

Roelin wanted to stand tall in front of him. She didn’t want to be ashamed in the eyes of the man who said he loved her.

She knew that it might be a rather dangerous impulse. Nevertheless, she took courage.

“I was afraid of everything in this world. I want to face that fear and tell you the truth. I’m no longer afraid now. So, please let me go from here on out.”

Kergel, who was listening to Roelin, relaxed himself from her hand. It was a tacit permission. She then raised the corners of her mouth once again. As she turned away from the path, she could hear Kergel’s voice.

“I believe in you.”

“……”

Roelin stopped just at the end of the path. His voice continued to be heard behind her.

“I’m letting you go because I trust you. But if you somehow can’t return, I’ll pick you up no matter how.”

“……”

“And if that doesn’t work, we can just get trapped together. Well, that wouldn’t be so bad either.”

His voice, which added a joke, was eventually subdued with tension. Roelin stood there for a while before she looked at the fog again and moved on.

The fog soon enveloped her whole. And the image of her that had just been in front of Kergel disappeared.

He slowly clenched his teeth as well as his fist.

* * *

Roelin looked around. It was similar to last time. A cold bedroom with only one tightly closed window.

But the other thing was the fact that she hadn’t been the only one in the bedroom.

“What’s all this? The history of the Cesan Continent? Political process theory? Aesthetics?”

A sister who looked just like her was laughing at her as she dropped the book on the floor. Then she continued while still mocking her.

“Why are you reading these kinds of books when you’re just a fake anyway? Do you think this will do you any good? What are you gonna do with your own status? It’s not like finding out the history of the continent can change your life when you can’t even get out of this Separate Palace anyway. Politics? Can you even understand such a thing? What about these aesthetics?”

Erita smirked at Roelin. Roelin could only look at the books that had fallen onto the floor. They were all just the basics. But even that was not easily allowed to her.

Roelin picked up a book while looking back on her memory. Erita then made a sharper sarcastic remark as if she didn’t like her reaction.

“Take a look at your own place. Don’t you know that our Royal bloodlines are the same? You should be so thankful that we even let you live…”

“It’s always been like that.”

“What?”

Roelin interrupted Erita and spoke calmly. Then, Erita looked at her with a frown. Roelin continued while facing her twin sister.

“It’s true that my self-esteem has gone down every time I hear that. Maybe it’s only natural since I’ve been told that for all those years. And not just from you, but everyone else as well.”

You were an ominous being.

You were just a shell.

So, she didn’t possess many things. She had never been greedy and she never really dreamed of the future too.

She thought that it was not allowed for her. She felt rather sorry for that, but she just lived on with resignation.

But…

“But not anymore.”

Roelin placed the book that she had picked up on the old desk and looked straight at Erita.

They were sisters born in the same boat, but they were never a family. Roelin spoke emphatically to her, who was no different from anyone else at all.

“I’m not sad anymore.”

She had a family now. She even had someone she loved now. And she also had a man who told her that he loved her too.

Kergel.

Roelin was clearly aware that all this had all been an illusion now. She didn’t mistake fantasy for reality like back then.

It was all because he would be waiting.

She did it because she knew where Kergel was waiting and so was reality.

“What nonsense are you talking about now? What’s going on?”

Erita shot back nervously. But Roelin turned away from her and looked around the bedroom.

A dark and stuffy space.

She would never have to visit this place ever again.

“Hey! Are you ignoring me?”

Roelin turned around as she listened to Erita screaming like she was having a fit. Then, she moved towards the bedroom wall.

She was not afraid any more. It didn’t even hurt.

She murmured to herself. And at the same time, Erita’s shrill voice disappeared and the bedroom wall began to collapse altogether.

And at once, the surrounding landscape changed. She was now standing in a forest full of silver trees. Roelin watched the fog that had let her go and proceeded to move on once again.

She didn’t know where the trail was, but somehow, she had been so sure that she could find it.

‘If I can’t find it… he will definitely pick me up.’

It was just a groundless belief. Roelin laughed quietly since she thought that he was funny for being optimistic without a measure.

How long did she walk?