Chapter 251
Valen braced one hand against the carriage roof and bent his upper body inside. Only after tilting his head slightly could he see Roseline clearly. The skin around her eyes was stained red, and her feverish face was completely flushed.
“What’s… why… are you oka…”
Her pupils, brimming with moisture, widened. Her voice, spilling out incoherently, was soaked with tears.
“H-heuuk.”
It ended in a sob. When her eyes met Valen’s, the teardrops welling up in them fell with a splatter. Roseline quickly raised her arm to hide her face. As if trying to suppress the sobs that kept bursting out against her will, she bit her lip with her front teeth.
The wet cheek revealed beneath her trembling arm, the downturned corners of her mouth, the abused lip, the intermittent, hiccupping breaths.
Valen’s expression hardened gradually as his eyes traced these signs.
He guessed Roseline must have been crying for quite some time.
Her original purpose for going to the temple was likely related to Valen himself. She was quick-witted and perceptive, so she must have wondered what the time written in the letter meant. Priests, despite serving the gods, weren’t all-knowing, so they couldn’t have had the answer. She had a sly side, but also a streak of naivety.
So why was she crying like this?
“Come here.”
He reached his hand into the carriage, but Roseline didn’t move. She seemed not to want him to see her crying. No, it seemed she wanted to stop but couldn’t, and was growing intensely frustrated, hanging her head and pinching the back of her own hand.
Valen considered the necessary steps. He could ask the reason later, but first, he needed to calm her down. She’d probably need water too.
It was just as he was straightening up to withdraw his hand, intending to issue an order to one of the knights.
“…Are you… o-okay?”
Roseline grabbed his index finger. Her hot body temperature, her touching concern—these were enough to unsettle him, but what caught his eye more was the faint, visible mark on her palm. It looked like a mark dug by a fingernail. Why had she done this?
What was the reason for her crying so desperately she could barely breathe? What emotion was so overwhelming that she had to dig into her own flesh to endure it? Nothing was clear. The thought that there was a Roseline he didn’t know was utterly unacceptable.
It was frustrating and unsettling. But he scraped together his habitual patience.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Giving a belated answer, Valen pulled on Roseline’s wrist. Roseline, who had been about to ask if he was hurt anywhere, let out a gasp, her wet eyes widening comically. Hic!
Seeing her startled expression from the corner of his eye, he scooped her up into his arms. Roseline’s reaction was predictable. In a muffled voice, she repeatedly begged to be put down, but Valen didn’t reply and just started walking. Roseline couldn’t stay still for a second, squirming and struggling.
“Turn around.”
As he gave the order, holding Roseline tightly, the knights standing guard turned around in unison.
“That’s enough.”
“N-no, Your Highness, hic, n-not, not y-yet… H-hic!”
“I can’t hear you well, Roseline. Catch your breath and say it again slowly.”
Valen didn’t stop walking as he gently rubbed her heaving back. Roseline stopped squirming too. Just as he said, she slowly breathed in and out, steadying her breathing. The warm breath scattering against his neck made the back of his head, which he hadn’t even known was hurting, begin to throb achingly.
“Your Highness, you are still a patient. Please put me down.”
Her voice came through clearer than before. The military boots treading the ground halted for a moment. All his worries were momentarily forgotten, leaving only her previously slurred pronunciation ringing in his ears. He laughed silently. It was probably because she wasn’t in her right mind enough to choose her words carefully, but it was the first time he had ever been treated like a patient, or called one.
“I thought you were squirming because you didn’t know.”
“……”
“If you know, then will you stay still? If you move like that, it’s difficult for me since I’m still unwell.”
Only then did her movements stop. Roseline went limp, the strength draining from her body. His kiss to the top of her head, as if in praise, was brief.
Apart from the endearing nature of her docile response, a thread of suspicion began to bloom. Why?
The reason for her near-wailing sobs, her sudden visit to the temple, and the meaning of her reply letter all seemed different now. Another futile thought occurred to him. Did someone tell her it was over?
It was a slim possibility. The steward’s and Merrick’s reports had been consistent. They said that while he was unconscious and helpless, Roseline had stayed by his side the entire time, and there had been no sign of anything else. Then why?
Valen’s expression hardened. He pressed the back of Roseline’s head firmly against his shoulder, sorting out these impure, intrusive thoughts.
He looked back at the steward standing at the entrance, ordered him to bring water, and then moved his steps toward the nearest drawing-room.
When he sat on the sofa, Roseline, with a complete lack of shame, began to squirm in his embrace. Since he had sat down while still holding her, she was now seated on his lap. Valen, who had no intention of letting her go, wrapped his arms tightly around her slender waist.
“No matter what you do, I have no intention of letting you go, so stop wasting your energy and tell me.”
“……”
“Why were you crying?”
“……”
“I’m not telling you to stop crying. I need to know so I can comfort you.”
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