Chapter 72
His words trailed off for a moment. His eyes twitched wildly.
“What are you saying now….”
“Weren’t you the one who caught Elysia running away with Master Rashid that night, brought her back, and forced her to die?”
Contrary to her expectations that a boy would solve everything, the child she gave birth to was a boy with unusually blue eyes. Just as the chaos caused by the Basques was beginning to settle down, the Quat tribe was shaken up once again.
It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been babies with light eyes or hair before. They had been inadvertently mixed with blood when the Lysa ruled the land. The problem was that all of this had happened after Rigaina had been kidnapped.
The elders burst into a fit of rage, believing the story that she was pregnant with Riga’s child to be false. As the atmosphere grew more and more hostile by the day, Elysia decided to take her baby and run away. She decided it would be better to leave everything behind and go into hiding with her baby for the rest of her life.
But her escape was eventually discovered by Calante. A long rope was dropped in front of Elysia.
“Better die. Prove your innocence by dying.”
If Elysia escaped, the blow would fall on Elder Calante. He was the one who had told her to wait until Riga’s child was born.
If he did nothing, the child would be killed. He needed an outlet somehow, and he found it in his daughter’s self-determination. Though he loved Elysia in his own way, Calante was a harsh father who valued his family’s honor more than his child.
In the end, Elysia chose to end her life after receiving Calante’s promise to raise her baby well. She had no choice.
“Isn’t it funny, Thelma? I received a string as a gift from my father and my husband, but their meanings are so different. My husband asks me to live with him, and my father asks me to die for everyone.”
[T/N: The string from her husband is the same ribbon that Rashid keeps.]
It was a snowy night. Elysia watched the flakes fall and laughed in vain. Staring into the white, glistening snow, she named her baby. A noble name for the only son of Ark, the God of Light.
That was the last night. The next morning, Elysia was found hanging herself.
“So now,” Thelma said, “stay out of Master Rashid’s life no more. I caused the late Riga’s death, and you, Elder, caused Elysia’s death. We have no right to force anything on Master Rashid, for we are both sinners before him.”
Elysia’s death was for Master Rashid’s sake alone, without a care in the world, so I will never forgive anyone who makes him unhappy. Even if it’s Elder Calante.
“Don’t you think Master Rashid has one too? Something to live for?”
What has he ever had? The heavy-duty of chieftaincy, the responsibility to not make the same foolish choices that his father had made and put the tribe in jeopardy, and now he has only one.
Calante glared at Thelma in disbelief, but said nothing. Eventually, he shut up and left the room. After he was gone, Thelma leaned helplessly against the wall.
“You must live, Thelma. Live and pay my son for what you have done to me. Then I will forgive you.”
Thelma clamped her hand over her mouth, remembering the last words she had spoken before she died. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks.
***
Allen’s face contorted with anger as he listened to the lengthy explanation.
“And you’re telling me that you just walked out of there and said, ‘Yes, I understand,’ without even trying to negotiate?”
Fertan shuffled backward.
“I- It wasn’t the right atmosphere to try something like that. If I stayed there any longer, I think my head would get blown off first….”
“Even if your head was blown off, you should have held on for dear life! Is now the time for you to be thinking about such things?”
Allen’s anger finally boiled over. Fertan watched as he closed in on him, fists shaking. No way, he’s not going to hit me in front of all these people, is he?
But he soon changed his mind when he saw the look in Allen’s eyes.
This guy is crazy, isn’t he?
“Ro, Rosie, you stop him!”
He ran over to Rosie and hid behind her back. Rosie rubbed her forehead and let out a long sigh. Allen wanted to hang the idiot hiding behind his sister’s back from the castle wall right now. If Rosie wasn’t here, he certainly would have.
“Calm down, Allen. I think we better leave this place quickly.”
She gestured to the soldiers on the ramparts. According to Fertan, Nazar Quat had thrown away the blank contract and ordered them to leave immediately, and now the soldiers on the ramparts were watching their every move closely.
“Maybe they’re not just threatening to attack us if we don’t leave within a day. Let’s get away from here first. We’ll talk again when we’re completely out of sight.”
Allen gritted his teeth. Rosie was right, there was nothing to do but pretend to leave for now.
Sensing that the momentum that had seemed to be building up to a breaking point had been completely sapped, Fertan quickly slipped out from behind his sister’s back, and before Allen could change his mind, he gave a quick order.
“We’re heading back to Basque now. Turn around!”
They began to retrace their steps back the way they’d come, not worth the trouble of coming here. Allen whispered quietly to the knight Iselle had assigned him.
“Go to Sir Iselle now. Tell him that the negotiations have failed and that we must move on to our next plan.”
The knight gave a quick nod. He turned his horse in a different direction from them as soon as he was away from the castle walls.
Allen turned his head back to look at the high walls. He couldn’t believe they’d come all this way and now had to turn back without even going inside.
How she must be suffering right now, not being able to sleep or eat among those savages.
My poor dear princess….
Allen’s heart sank with bitterness.
***
Rosetta ate again today, wolfing down the food on the table. Seafood, which was unfamiliar to her at first, was no longer available.
As she ate, she suddenly realized that Rashid hadn’t been paying attention to her since earlier. He had stopped eating and was staring at her.
“…Are you thinking about the wolf you used to have again?”
He felt like he was going to get a punch in the face if he said yes, so he quickly shook his head.
“No, I was wondering if you needed anything else.”
“I see. I have enough food, and you’re being very kind.”
Rosetta smiled softly in response. She’d actually noticed him, but she’d been thinking to herself that she needed to eat. She could feel herself gaining weight since coming here.
But it was so delicious.
In Lysa, she spent most of her time in her room. The only time she ventured out was to the library, and then only in a carriage like beans in a drought. But now that she was here, she practiced riding every day, and lately she’d been helping with the dyeing. Not only that, but she’d been drawn to Benny and Sika, and had experiences she’d never heard of before. Like crawling on the ground to sneak a peek at the soldiers training, like the last time.
With this sudden increase in activity, I’ve been eating almost twice as much as I did in Lysa. I know I should be restraining myself, but when the food is in front of me, I can’t help but eat it.
But I can’t afford to gain any more weight here, so I’m going to have to really try to restrain myself.
Rosetta stopped picking at the meat with her fork and switched to a salad with fruit. Her lips tingled as she popped the sour fruit into her mouth.
Rosetta groaned, and Rashid’s eyes immediately widened.
“What’s wrong, is something wrong with the food?”
“It’s not that…. This is all because of you!”
Rosetta clamped her hands over her mouth and glared at him.
“You keep kissing me, and it’s making my lips hurt.”
He kissed her lips so many times a day that her delicate flesh couldn’t take it. On top of that, he would nibble his lips as if he were eating something delicious, which made them tingle and hurt.
“So stop biting now, unless you’re going to eat my lips!”
Rashid looked stunned for a moment at her heartfelt protest, then burst into laughter. Slapping his hand across the table.
Not again. This is serious.
“Ra….”
Rosetta was about to protest strongly at that, when he spread his legs wide and slapped one thigh.
“Come here.”
Rosetta opened her eyes and glared at him.
“You want me to sit on your leg and kiss me again, do you think I don’t know?”
“I won’t kiss you. I promise.”
There was that fox tail wagging behind him again. This man’s nickname must have been a mistake. He should have called blue-eyed fox, not blue-eyed wolf.
Even though she knew it was a trap, Rosetta got up and walked toward him. Rashid sat her down on his thighs and wrapped his arms around her waist. He cupped her chin with his fingers and examined her lips closely.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Rosetta’s cheeks flushed for a moment at the meltingly affectionate tone of his voice. Rosetta shook her head in embarrassment.
“Oh, it’s okay. It doesn’t hurt that bad….”
Rashid gently stroked her lips with his finger. Then he lowered his head and ran his tongue across her lips.
“I thought you said earlier that you won’t kiss me…!”
“Innocent girl. This doesn’t even count as kissing.”
He licked her lips again, just a little. Rosetta protested again, her eyes opening and closing tightly.
“Again, my lips are not for eating.”
“I thought you were the one who tried to eat my lips, not me?”
Rosetta was about to say what the hell that meant, but suddenly the memory of the banquet, which already seemed like a distant memory, came flooding back. How she’d seen his lips in her drunken stupor and said, “There’s a strawberry here.”
Rosetta’s face flushed bright red.