historical

Her fingers flinched as her body responded to the tingling sensations. Whatever thoughts that occupied her mind had soon vanished into the air. And the way that their tongues sloppily intertwined, while he intrusively devoured every corner of her mouth, betrayed his outright lusts for her.

After giving a suck on her tongue, he pulled his lips away as he belatedly let go of hers. Eugene had then hazily stared into his face through her feebly opened eyes.

Kasser wrapped around her face with one hand and rubbed across her sodden lips with his thumb. Then, a sudden feeling of uneasiness choked his throat. Fear crept over him as he found the woman, who lay sprawled beneath him, dearly endearing.

He reflected on his insolence for thinking he could ever feel the Sword King’s pain. He dared not to imagine the Sword King’s grief. He didn’t think he could live through the years of sorrow like the Sword King did after his wife’s death.

Unwittingly, he muttered to himself.

“I’ve made a mistake. That day was never too late to go back.”

He felt suffocated just by the thought of arriving at the Holy City on the morrow. On the day they made a stop at the Slan Kingdom’s castle, he reflected that perhaps it was too late for him to turn the procession around. But now that he thinks of it, it was never too late for him to return to his kingdom.

“Shall we leave this instant? No one could ever come after us if I ran away with you in my arms.”

“..Where to?

“To the castle. Our home.”

Eugene’s eyes flickered in an effort to comprehend his words. Gradually, her eyes were brought to a focus as she belatedly realized that this was the extension of their conversation from yesterday.

Yesterday, the two of them had a good long conversation late into the night. Eugene shared the things she heard from Gemma while Kasser told her about the things he learned from his conversation with the Sword King.

It was rather casual than a serious conversation, almost as if they were talking about the things from their everyday lives. More so, as he didn’t mention otherwise today, Eugene had thought that the conversation ended as of yesterday.

Eugene fixed her gaze and stared into his eyes for quite a while. Soon, her eyes widened with surprise when she read his anxiousness somewhere deep within his eyes.

She stretched out her hand and placed it across his cheek. “If we leave now, what’s to happen afterwards?”

“...”

“You know more than well that running away wouldn’t solve the problem.”

“..You’re right. I wasn’t thinking straight. Forget what I’d said just now.”

Just as the Sword King mentioned before, Sang-je possessed an absolute power, the so-called ‘God’s divine will’ as his weapon. It surely wouldn’t be wise to turn their back against Sang-je without any justifiable reasons as that would likely make the whole world turn against them. He wouldn’t have minded if it was only him alone, but he couldn’t bear to drag her into such a devastating situation along with him.

“No need to worry, Your Majesty. I would never end up like the queen of the Slan Kingdom.”

Kasser’s eyes flickered as Richard’s advice, which he didn’t tell her yesterday, flashed across his mind.

[In the end, I am the one who’s really to blame for my wife’s death. I cared only to create a different form of relationship in my marriage as opposed to my parents. So, I regret that I had failed to give her enough trust as a man, for she was only a woman, before she was an Anika. That’s probably why she had hid her pregnancy from me and had rather gone to seek advice from His Holiness. I just hope that you won’t make the same mistake as I did once.]

As their conversation came to an end, the Sword King made his last comment.

[Keep this in mind, Desert King. Sincerity is of utmost importance in a relationship. No vicious scheme could ever overpower one’s sincerity. The same goes for loyalty, friendship, and love, as they all share the same root of trust.]

To show one’s sincerity was easier said than done. No one tells beforehand if they speak truly out of their heart or if their words were only full of lies. Somehow, everyone in this world pretends to hold sincerity in their word and behavior to some degree.

Kasser went on in a hope that his words would convey his sincere feelings to her heart. “Eugene.”

“Yes?”

“I believe in you.”

“Pardon?”

“No matter what happens, just remember this. I believe in you. It doesn’t matter whatever kind of mistakes you made. So don’t ever be distressed on your own. “

Eugene’s eyes trembled greatly upon his remark. Feeling hot behind her eyes, she slowly blinked open her eyes.

“I..” Eugene broke off for a moment as she felt the lump in her throat. “My memory might come back to me when I get to the Holy City. Perchance, I might have done awful things to you. I might even have deceived you badly.. around the time we got married.”

“That wasn’t your doing. It’s not of concern.”

Eugene flinched momentarily. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t take me wrong. I don’t mean to deny your past self. I only intended to suggest that we should regard whoever you were before your memory was lost, a completely different person. So, whatever you did in the past doesn’t matter anymore.”

Kasser embraced her body tightly into his arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck. With that, he resolutely muttered that he would never let go of her no matter what happens.