Chapter 171
“We promised to survive together, Rzel.”
“……”
“We swore to live through this cursed land together. That’s why, until now, until now, we’ve endured.”
And it was Theogrim’s true heart, something she had never once known.
“Why are you looking at me as if it’s the first time you’ve heard this, Rzel?”
“……”
“Weren’t we… looking toward the same place?”
Theogrim’s eyes were hollow. In that moment, Arzeletta realized that she had inflicted a terrible wound upon him.
But… but how could she have known?
Until now, Theogrim had never given her any promise, any certainty.
Even as flower petals of welcome fell upon Lukwell’s beautiful fiancée, even as she barely managed to hold together her collapsing heart, Theogrim had left her behind, abandoned in the shadows.
“You…”
Arzeletta could not tell what expression she wore now. But she could see only one thing—that Theogrim, as he looked at her, was collapsing irreparably.
Carmen’s words had been right. Transparency was dangerous. A face that revealed one’s heart so clearly did not only wound herself, but helplessly clawed at Theogrim as well.
“You promised… marriage with the Grand Duchess…”
Arzeletta asked, flustered, not knowing what else to say.
The entire world praised the two of them. The dazzling radiance of Impellias was spread before them. They were a picture-perfect pair, like sunlight and moonlight together.
That there was someone who had pledged a future before god, before law and order—it was too solemn a thing for Arzeletta. Even to love Theogrim alone felt sinful to her.
Because of Daphne, Arzeletta had tried to hide even her own heart toward Theogrim within the shadows.
But it seemed Theogrim’s thoughts were somewhat different from hers.
“…Grand Duchess?”
He repeated her words as though he were spitting out a word he had never heard in his life. Soon, his expression turned unbelievably bland.
“Ah. Daphne. That scorpion-like woman.”
“…What?”
“Daphne is mad for Ragnar. So mad that she agreed to be engaged to me, his heir, just to get closer to him.”
“……”
“That woman—if Ragnar desired it, she would burn down an entire city without hesitation. With all the people locked inside the walls.”
Theogrim brushed back his disheveled bangs with careless ease. To Arzeletta, they were words so far beyond reason that she could not even imagine them. Yet above all, it was Theogrim’s calmness itself that unsettled her even more.
“But none of that matters to us, Rzel.”
Beneath the hand that swept back his hair, his eyes shone again—this time far more chilling than before.
“That’s not what’s important.”
Theogrim’s hand touched Arzeletta’s cheek. The feel of that rosy skin, which he had only ever watched from afar, sent a chilling shiver down the back of his neck.
“It only matters that we will never be separated. You and I are bound by an oath of souls.”
“……”
“No obstacle can ever divide us. You know that too well, Rzel.”
The shadow of Theogrim completely covered Arzeletta’s slender body. The long, straight fingers that had been caressing her soft cheek slipped down to her nape.
Her neck, made even more translucent under the pale moonlight, shuddered beneath his touch. The tension pressing down on her was so sharp that even the sound of a deep breath could shatter her into pieces.
“Ah…!”
In an instant, Arzeletta’s body jolted in fright.
Theogrim’s hand, tracing along her neckline, reached the knot tied over her shoulder. His scholar-like, straight and neat fingers tapped over the black knot. It was as if his touch was caressing every hidden corner of her beautiful body.
“So don’t ever say such strange things again, Rzel. Don’t speak Ragnar’s name with eyes that look as though they might melt… You’ll make me misunderstand.”
“Ugh…”
“And what was that you said, Rzel? That Ragnar drank your blood.”
Theogrim whispered beside Arzeletta’s ear.
The man, hunched over her, looked truly like a predator, fierce and burning, fresh from the hunt.
Though his voice was always gentle at her ear, his breath was harsh. Arzeletta shook her head, her thoughts a tangled mess.
She could not understand a single word Theogrim said.
Daphne and Theogrim did not love each other, yet they had promised marriage.
Theogrim had never given Arzeletta any promise, yet he regarded it as natural and obligatory that her soul should belong to him.
And then—
Srrrk.
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