Chapter 46
Bjorn felt grateful for a moment toward Allen, who rejoiced as if it were his own matter instead of complaining about all the unnecessary trouble. Soon, however, Allen’s voice became tinged with concern.
“Then… now you must tell that young lady everything that has happened.”
In other words, he’d have to tell her every single one of the lies and deception so far. At the same time Bjorn’s heart also grew heavy.
“It goes without saying that I intend to confess everything. From deliberately showing her a pathetic side of me, to the lie about having debt and the excuse of a physical defect. Even the trivial lies as well… all of it.”
Allen groaned with a pained expression almost equal to Bjorn’s.
“We only did it to make her give up, but looking back now, what in the world did we create… Goodness, she really is remarkable. How could she not give up on you after all that, Vice Commander?”
That part was also a mystery to Bjorn. However he decided he would no longer doubt or question Leila’s affection. He resolved not to try to understand it, but to simply enjoy it freely, like the last treasure God had hidden for him.
“You worked very hard, Sir Allen, yet in the end everything ended in vain.”
Bjorn spoke with slight self-mockery and self-reproach.
“I can’t seem to wrap my head around it, really. A woman who refused marriage for so long and only waited for my safe return…”
And also with admiration and pure joy toward Leila.
“So from now on I thought I should be honest. I will tell her everything and start a new relationship.”
Allen sincerely supported the firm resolve he expressed.
If he said he wasn’t afraid it would be a lie. But now, Bjorn trusted Leila. Hope for happiness gave him courage. What she showed him could only be the unwavering love he had long desired.
He had finally realized his true feelings. He wanted to fully enjoy that love now, and return it in kind.
Until today, he dismissed her affection as mere obsession and refused to acknowledge it because he denied that such fortune could ever come to him.
Because he couldn’t love himself, he doubted even her love. He even made himself a trial for her, putting her to the test. A fool who feared losing that love beforehand and thus never accepted it in his hands.
But now, everything had changed. From the moment he decided to trust Leila he felt completely reborn. It was like the moment a stray dog, wounded deeply and rejecting human touch, finally opened its heart. Something he thought would never happen to him.
Even after returning to his quarters Bjorn remained intoxicated by the afterglow of that change. His mind was filled only with Leila’s face. Perhaps because he had thought of her so much, he wanted to see that clear and gentle face right away.
He wanted to run to her regardless of the late hour, yet at the same time he no longer wished to behave rudely toward her.
Left with no choice, he waited for dawn, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about Leila. Naturally, sleep would not come.
Once tonight passed the two would advance into a special relationship. They would begin as lovers, but Bjorn couldn’t be satisfied with merely that.
Having confirmed their feelings, he wanted something firmer and deeper. A recognized bond that death itself couldn’t separate, lasting and binding.
In short, Bjorn wanted to marry Leila. Of course it was only possible if she permitted him that sacred union.
At this moment Bjorn’s heart was filled with hope and optimism. From the Leila he had seen so far, she seemed certain to forgive his mistakes generously.
She would surely accept his proposal as well.
He was grateful to her for allowing him to believe in the future. For the first time in his life, Bjorn, who had denied himself all his life, affirmed himself. He would now become Leila’s husband and live the new life granted by her.
The future that held no expectation until yesterday was now dyed in rosy colors. Bjorn offered a prayer to the Lord who arranged for him to enjoy this happiness.
* * *
But there was a being Bjorn overlooked in his joy. It was Nubelius, the god of wind and contradiction, the younger twin brother of Benignus, god of the firmament and fate.
By nature, life grants new despair at the moment of greatest carelessness.
The time had come to pay the price for his past deception, a work that could truly be called the collaboration of fate and contradiction.
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.