CH 18

It went against Callie’s will and accelerated further.

When she was young and her father was still alive, Callie often rode a horse and tried to speed up, but it was the first time she ran this fast.

She couldn’t do it anymore. Callie pulled hard on the reins.

The more she did, the more her body twisted. 

Callie, almost falling off the horse, squeezed her legs and arms tighter and bent down.

Instead of riding her horse now, Callie seemed to be holding on to the galloping horse.

What should I do? The horse won’t stop.

I don’t think I can take it any longer.

Callie was overcome with fear when she intuited that she wouldn’t last long at the speed that was too difficult to handle.

To make matters worse, raindrops started to fall on her.

That time, the car carrying Brandon pulled into the villa.

Lisa came out with the servants and greeted him.

Brandon wasn’t the only one who stopped and got out of the car.

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Lisa looked at the two with a hawk’s eye on Callie’s behalf, who had been missing since morning.

Brandon, who got out of the car first, opened the door next to him, and a woman stepped out. Judging by her appearance, she was a noblewoman.

Who is she?

The lady wearing a sea-colored dress, a puff skirt, and a narrow waist was a rare beauty at first glance. She was a beauty that any man would fall for.

Brandon, who returned after a week, was greeted by the servants and looked over the people who welcomed him. When he noticed someone missing, he asked, “My wife is nowhere to be seen. Did she not come out to meet me because she wasn’t happy to see me back?”

Since Callie wasn’t there, Brandon turned to Lisa for answers.

When she got up in the morning and went to the bedroom, Callie wasn’t there.

She probably went out for a morning walk, but since Lisa didn’t exactly know, she hesitated, and Billy answered instead. 

“It looks like Madam went out on a ride with Calix.”

Brandon’s expression harded.

“What? Did you say she went out with Calix?”

Calix was a difficult horse to tame, so the owner gave it to Brandon at a bargain last year. He was so wild and unruly that no one had ridden Calix except Brandon.

He was a very tricky horse. He would only let Brandon ride him, and would thrash around if anyone else tried to mount him.

Callie rode out on such a wild horse?

“Why did you hand over a guy who wasn’t properly tamed!” Brandon scowled and raised his voice.

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“I didn’t offer it, but when I came out in the morning, I couldn’t see Calix. Seeing as the saddle I put away last night was also missing, I wondered if Madam took him out for a ride.”

It wouldn’t have been easy just to even get on the horse, but if she somehow managed to do it, riding on Calix wasn’t the only dangerous thing. No matter how good she was at horseback riding, she was prone to falling off horses.

What if she fell off the horse and got hurt?

The more he thought about it, the darker his expression became.

“How long has she been gone?”

“W-well… When I came out, Calix was already gone.”

“When was that?”

“I think about forty minutes ago.”

“Bring me a horse immediately. You guys, too, scatter and look for them.”

“Yes.”

Brandon jumped on the horse Billy hurriedly brought and slammed the reins hard.

“I–rya!”

The horse Brandon rode quickly ran out of the garden.

If she had gone on horseback to take a look around the place, she would certainly have run around the lake.

Brandon ran at full speed to find where Callie might have gone. 

Soon, one or two drops of rain began to fall on his head. 

“D*mn it! It’s raining. Callie, where the hell are you?”

Brandon rode faster.

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The raindrops falling on his head were getting thicker and thicker.

Then, he heard a galloping sound from the other side.

Brandon’s eyes widened.

“Callie! Stop! Slow down!” Brandon screamed at the top of his voice when he recognized the white horse in the distance.

Fortunately, despite the distance, Callie heard Brandon, and she answered back, “I can’t! It’s not listening!”

D*mn, I knew it.

Brandon remembered when he first rode Calix, he almost fell off the horse because it wouldn’t stop running at full speed.

According to Billy, it had been more than forty minutes since Callie rode Calix, but her stamina would have been almost exhausted if she had been holding onto Calix running at that speed.

If she lost her strength and couldn’t keep up with the horse’s speed and fell off… She was running so fast that it was clear that she would be seriously injured. Plus, he was worried that if an agitated Calix stepped on Callie if she fell…

Thinking the worst, Brandon screamed again, “Hold the reins tighter and lean down as far as you can! You have to hold out until I reach you, Callie.”

Brandon nudged his horse faster.

Callie was relieved when she saw Brandon through the rain to get closer to Calix.

She believed he would help.

“Callie!”

“Brandon…!”

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“How did you come out alone on an untamed horse?”

“How should I know? He was an incredibly gentle horse until I rode him.”

“I can’t believe Calix acted so docile.”

“Are you going to keep blaming me? Do something quickly. I can’t stand it any longer.”

Was this a request or an order?

Even at this moment, Callie was far from being panicked. Instead, she boldly demanded Brandon to do something, and Brandon didn’t find it annoying or repulsive. Oddly enough.

“Pull forward a little more and sit down.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll ride behind you.”

“No way. That’s too dangerous. What if I fall?”

“Isn’t this the time to worry about me?”

He was right.

Callie had already held the reins for nearly an hour, and she was out of breath.

“Then do as I say.”

When it seemed like there was no other way, Callie nodded her head relentlessly.

“You have to be careful.”

“I know. I don’t want to die from falling off a horse trying to save a bride I didn’t even have my first night with.”

“Is it the time to be talking about the first night?!”

“If I save you from this danger, will you let me sleep with you tonight?” 

In the midst of all this, Brandon never forgot his joke.

He laughed at his absurdity, but Callie didn’t know if it was his own consideration to ease her nervousness.

“One, two, three and I’ll get on it,” Brandon, who was speeding alongside Calix, shouted with confidence.

He gave her a reassuring look.

Callie nodded in response, and he began to count.

“One, two, three!”

Brandon threw himself off the horse with a loud cry and climbed onto Calix.

He sat on top of Calix safely, but Brandon stumbled and lost his balance because Calix ran so fast.

Callie’s body, which had been leaning forward a little further, staggered with the recoil.

Thinking that Brandon was falling, Callie urgently exclaimed, “Brandon!”

Fortunately, with his natural motor nerves, he kept his balance and sat upright behind her.

“It’s okay, stop screaming, wife.”

Phew, when Callie heard his joking remarks, Callie let out a sigh of relief. 

Brandon put his hand on Callie’s reins.

“I was surprised when I thought you were falling.”

“It’s nice to hear you were worried about me.”

After climbing onto Calix, Brandon skillfully pulled the reins and tightened his legs on the horse, and Calix, recognizing its owner, slowed down.

It was only then that Callie’s grip on the reins, which she held like her lifeline, loosened.

Quickly recognizing this, Brandon grabbed the reins with one hand and wrapped his other arm tightly around Callie’s waist.

“Now that you’re done, lean yourself completely against my chest.”

However, the arm wrapped around Callie was just below her chest.

Her chest moving up and down along the rattling beat of the horse touched his arm.

Callie’s face flushed as she felt the tight, muscular forearms beneath her chest.

Was Brandon feeling it, too?

However, she pretended not to care because she figured it would be more strange to take his arm off her body.

In the meantime, the rain got thicker and it was getting harder to properly open her eyes.

Calix seemed to be tired of running in the rain as well.

Then he lifted his front foot and lifted his body backwards, causing the two bodies to lean back together.

“Ack, Brandon!”

“Hold on tight, Callie!”