Chapter 91
After moving far away from the people, Lynette stopped and turned back to face Sillian, who was only a short distance away.
“When were you planning to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“You’re hiding something from me.”
At her words, the man wore a troubled expression and tilted his head slightly.
“What do you mean…?”
“You said we should go to Calles, didn’t you?”
Even after she went that far, he still said nothing. As if it had never once crossed his mind that Lynette might have discovered his true identity.
When she stared at him silently, the man gave a slight shrug.
“If you dislike it, we can go elsewhere.”
“Sillian.”
“Yes?”
“You have a surname, don’t you?”
At those words, his lips pressed shut.
Surnames were borne only by royals or nobles. Or, in rare cases, by families that had prospered greatly, like Eshar’s, who had taken one upon themselves. But without official recognition, such names were never accepted among the nobility.
“Is that important?”
“By any chance… is that surname ‘Albérna’?”
“…”
Sillian answered with silence.
Lynette gazed at him steadily.
Realizing there was no point in hiding it anymore, he closed his eyes tightly then opened them again.
“Yes. Sillian Albérna, that is my name.”
“When were you planning to tell me?”
“I intended to reveal it after leaving this place.”
“You told me you weren’t a noble.”
“I am not a noble.”
It was wordplay. Whether royal or noble, it was all the same.
When Lynette frowned, Sillian gave her an apologetic look.
“Either way, to you it must seem no different.”
Then he let out a bitter smile.
“Why…”
There were too many questions pressing on her. She didn’t know which to ask first.
The man gave a short sigh and spoke.
“No matter how you discovered it, It’s true that I am of Calles’s royal blood. To be exact… I am a prince, the son of the current king.”
‘Prince.’
Hearing it from his own mouth, Sillian suddenly felt all the more distant. Everything made sense, yet she couldn’t accept the feeling that weighed down her heart. How could she express it?
“The reason I came here was to find my fate.”
He gazed steadily at her.
“And in doing so, I met you.”
“How did you know you would meet me here?”
“Does that matter?”
Sillian gave a faint smile. At that sight, Lynette clenched her fists, then opened it again.
He had not existed in her life before the regression. If he had, he would have found her without fail. He had that pendant, didn’t he?
And she had lived in the Imperial Castle for years. He could have wandered its halls as a guard. They must have crossed paths at least once. And with his striking appearance, she would never have forgotten if they had exchanged even a single word.
Her thoughts tangled into knots.
Perhaps reading the flickering emotions across her face, or perhaps simply knowing he could hide nothing from her any longer, Sillian took a step closer.
“Lynette.”
He lowered his head slightly and brushed back the loose strands of her hair.
When she turned her head away to avoid his touch, he gave a bitter smile.
“Are you angry?”
“If you were me, Sillian, wouldn’t you be angry?”
“Yes.”
At his plain answer, Lynette pushed against his chest.
“If there’s anything else you’re hiding, tell me everything.”
“Don’t you also have things you’re hiding from me?”
There was only one thing she had kept from him. That she had regressed, but that was something she could never say.
When she silently held his gaze, Sillian let out a soft laugh.
“You truly wish to know everything about me?”
“You said we were bound by fate.”
“You still don’t believe it?”
“Because I haven’t awakened yet.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
“When I do awaken, then there’ll be no room for doubt.”
He took her clenched hand, carefully uncurled her fingers, and held it in his.
Watching his face relax in clear relief, Lynette found herself unable to pull away.
“Whatever the reason, may I take your curiosity about me in a good sense?”
“A good sense?”
“You wish to know because you have interest in me, do you not?”
Sillian gave a faint laugh.
She cut him off sharply, saying there was no such grand meaning, but he only smiled.
“With you, I find myself always saying things you cannot believe.”
“Things I cannot believe?”
“You’ve doubted everything I’ve said so far, haven’t you?”
That was true. She had no retort.
From the beginning, this man’s very existence had been riddled with questions. He had suddenly declared her his fate, spoke of an unknown family, of legends she had never heard before.
“…Ha. In the place I come from, these things are taken as the most natural truths. I’ve only now realized how hard it is to make someone else accept them.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“When I awakened, I dreamt. Many times.”
“You dreamt?”
“Yes. I dreamt. In those dreams… I saw this Imperial Castle.”
Lynette looked at him with a complicated expression. He himself admitted it, but truly, he was a man who said far too many things that sounded like grasping at clouds.
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