Chapter 195
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
His hand that was spinning me hesitated.
“Why? Am I wrong? Ah!”
Just as I turned to look back at him, he suddenly pulled me close from behind. Startled by the sudden move, a flurry of kisses rained down on my right cheek.
“Mrs. Ackroyd… Mrs. Killian Ackroyd…”
He murmured my title slowly as if savoring it. It was a natural title, yet I didn’t understand why he seemed so moved. Anyway, I hadn’t brought this up to get a surprise kiss.
“Then why did you say Lovridge when I asked for my name?”
I misunderstood, thinking we weren’t really married because of that.
“Just…”
“Just?”
“Because I like your name.”
He was so happy hearing me say “Mrs. Ackroyd”, but he was so happy with my maiden name though it didn’t even hint at our relationship. When I didn’t understand, he explained,
“There’s love in your name.”
His eyes held that love too. Maybe that’s why I kept avoiding his gaze. Meeting those loving eyes, the carefully maintained mask I’d built over days completely crumbled.
I spun around and grabbed his cheek, pulling him close. Just as he was about to bite my lips,
“…Huh?”
I felt a steady vibration underfoot. He noticed too, and his eyes narrowed sharply. Listening carefully, a faint ominous noise began to emerge. An engine.
“A truck.”
No one in this rural area would own a car. It was the military. He whipped his head around, grabbed my hand urgently, and pulled me along.
I practically slid down the embankment beside the road, clutching a basket in my hand. The cherries we’d picked earlier spilled down the slope. No time to pick them up—the sound of engines and soldiers’ voices grew louder.
“This way.”
We hid behind the thick bushes, carefully tucking in our belongings so nothing was visible. Then we pressed ourselves flat to the ground, holding our breath.
‘Please don’t stop and just pass by…’
Already, my heart pounded noisily in my ears as I strained to hear the approaching truck.
“The distant land I wander will become your home! Wherever you breathe life, that will be my home!”
The familiar lyrics echoed loudly from the truck passing overhead.
‘Wait, that’s…’
It was a poem he had written. He looked as bewildered as I was.
‘Why is the enemy’s poem being sung as a military march?’
* * *
Though momentarily shocked, the day passed without incident.
As the sun began to set, we started wondering where to spend the night.
“There’s nowhere comfortable.”
We passed two farmhouses with smoke rising from their chimneys and complained. We had enough money to stay at an inn or a farmhouse for a night. But in the countryside, being seen by others felt dangerous. So we sought discomfort rather than safety.
If only there were abandoned buildings, we could shelter from the night dew there—but today, luck wasn’t on our side.
So we decided to camp by a stream in the woods, far from any house but not too deep in the forest.
We gathered firewood and built a small fire to light our surroundings, though not so large as to attract attention. For dinner, we ate cherries picked earlier and crackers from our bag.
After that, all that was left for me was to sleep.
This was important, too. We had to leave at first light tomorrow, so we needed to sleep early. More than anyone else, I needed rest.
He stood guard while I slept. When I woke, he had only a couple of hours before sunrise to rest himself. That was his entire break.
So I had to sleep early and wake early.
“Why aren’t you going inside to sleep?”
I didn’t enter the tent he’d made from sheets and branches. Instead, I spread a thick blanket beside him.
“It’s too hot.”
He probably figured out my excuse the moment I laid my head on his thigh, because he didn’t say anything more about going inside.
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