Forgotten Fields - Chapter 295

He looked at her with a wronged gaze.

How could you hit me because of that man?

Whether or not she knew he was sending her such resentful glances, she nervously fiddled with the hem of her clothes and kept stealing furtive looks at Barcas Raedgo Sheerkan.

Seeing her ears and the nape of her neck flushed with a light pink hue, he felt something welling up inside him again and glared at the man.

'Is that really a good thing?'

The man was slowly scanning her with a persistent gaze.

He glanced around with a cold gaze, then spoke in a sharp, accusing voice.

"How was the outerwear?"

"I hung it over there."

The man immediately snatched the hem of the garment, wrapped it around her body, and looked down at her with a displeased gaze as he spoke.

"Do you usually go around dressed like this?"

"I just took off my coat for a moment to wash Khan. Anyway, as long as there is a compartment, no one else comes near."

"There might be someone watching from a distance."

"All those people got a good scolding from Khan."

Thalia, who had been snorting loudly, suddenly glanced at him with an anxious expression. She seemed worried that he might get a bad impression of Khan.

She spat it out as if making an excuse.

"I'm not saying Khan harmed anyone. He just scared them off to keep them from coming near me."

Then, wrapping one arm around his neck as if to protect him, she stroked it affectionately. Feeling his mood instantly relax, he rubbed his face against her neck.

A sudden chill ran through the man's eyes as he looked down at the scene. It was clear he was displeased that his wife was caressing him with affectionate hands.

Eventually, the man lost his patience, snatched her wrist, and pulled her behind him. Before he could even realize it, a low growl escaped from his throat. Hearing the sound, Thalia shouted urgently.

"Khan! You mustn't do that. This person...!"

She suddenly closed her mouth and glanced at the man.

He could easily guess the words she had been unable to bring herself to utter. Suddenly, his heart ached.

This woman firmly believed that he was her dead son reborn. However, she must have assumed that this man would never understand such a thought.

He felt a bitter sensation spreading in his mouth and let his tail hang limply.

She recited the excuses she had made in her previous life almost exactly as they were.

"Khan has always hated men. I guess it's because he still has the memory of almost dying at the hands of soldiers when he was a kid. It's just because he's scared..."

"Let's reserve judgment on this beast for the time being."

The man who cut her off glared at her with eyes as cold as ice. He appeared to be forcing himself to restrain the urge to draw his sword and cut him down at any moment.

He placed his hand on the sword hilt and gestured to her.

"Please go ahead. I will hear the details when we return to the castle."

"Khan, come here."

He turned straight toward her. Then, a man stretched out one leg to block his path.

"No. Please go first."

"Khan gets anxious when he's away from me."

"We cannot keep this beast near Your Highness until it is determined that it is truly harmless."

He glared at the man with a fierce look in his eyes.

Having neglected her all this time, what right do you have to try to separate her and me?

He glared at his past self with eyes filled with hostility, but Thalia grabbed his mouth with a somewhat rough hand. Then, before he could resist, she pried open his mouth and thrust a hand inside.

"Look at this. He doesn't bite even when I do this. He only acts tough on the outside, but he's actually a softie."

He recoiled in shock.

The man, with a pale face, also wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up high.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"...I was just trying to show that Khan isn't dangerous."

He, who had been coughing dryly, raised his head and looked at her.

At the time, he could not see her expression clearly. Seeing her flushed neck and cheeks, he merely assumed she looked flustered. However, her face, seen from the front, held so much more emotion. Her finely trembling eyelashes, the reddened corners of her eyes, and her moist pupils glistening with joy.

Thalia, looking down with trembling eyes at the forearm wrapped around her waist, muttered awkwardly.

"Khan would never hurt me. So stop making a fuss and let me down."

As if he didn't believe her at all, the man took a step back and lowered her to the floor, but he still kept one hand on her waist.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched the man caress Thalia's slender waist over the wet hem of her clothes.

Did he really touch her like that back then?

It was clear that almost the same situation as back then was unfolding, but he couldn't be sure if everything matched perfectly. There were slight differences from his memory.

He narrowed his eyes and retold his long-ago memories. Just then, the man raised his hand to the corner of her cheek.

Realizing what he was about to do, Khan immediately approached them. He simply could not stand by and watch this man so shamelessly lusting after her.

He resolved to do exactly what had happened to him in his previous life and shook his body vigorously. As he did so, water droplets gushed out from his body and covered him.

The man, drenched in an instant, glared at him with murderous eyes. He rubbed his head against Thalia's shoulder as if nothing had happened. Thalia lightly stroked his back and let out a small sigh.

"Let's go back to the castle first, as you said."

***

Thalia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye the entire time she was walking.

Fortunately, there were no visible scars or signs of serious injury on the surface.

However, perhaps because life in the barracks over the past six months had not been easy, he looked a little thinner than before.

She stole a glance at his more defined facial contours and sharp jawline, then lowered her gaze to his long, smooth nape. Like a man who rarely tans, his skin still had a clear white hue, but it seemed to have darkened overall compared to before.

Thalia unconsciously pressed her lips together as she felt her mouth go dry at the sight of him, who had become much more masculine than before.

How do I appear in his eyes?

Thalia, looking down at the hem of her skirt dripping with water, clutched the fabric so tightly that her finger joints turned white.

During the months she waited anxiously for his return, she imagined the moment of their reunion countless times, but she never once pictured herself greeting him looking like a drowned rat.

'My hair must be a mess, too.'

She quietly ran her hand through her hair and felt that the strands she had carefully styled were a mess. Her makeup must have been almost completely wiped off, too.

She crossed the passageway, swallowing a sigh rising to her throat. Then, she took a towel from the maids and hurriedly dried her hair. She would have liked to go straight back to her room and change her clothes, but she couldn't just leave Khan alone.

She went into the kitchen and gestured toward Khan.

“Come here.”

Khan ambled into the kitchen and sat quietly with his feet together in front of the fireplace. She carefully rubbed and dried his wet fur with the towel she was holding. She hoped that Barcas would look at Khan kindly, even just a little. She felt extremely uneasy because, like the other soldiers, he also showed clear signs of being wary of Khan.

She ran her fingers through her damp fur and glanced toward the doorway. Then, the sight of him slowly crossing the hall and entering the kitchen caught her eye at the edge of her vision.

Thalia quickly lowered her head and pretended to be intent on drying Khan. However, all her attention was focused on the dark shadow cast over her head.

He reached over her head and snatched the towel from her hand.

"Leave the servants to take care of this wolf, and please go up to your room now. I would like to hear Your Highness's explanation of what has happened."

Thalia looked up at him, her shoulders stiff with tension. Barcas had a face so cold it seemed there wasn't even a needle's eye to fit in.

Previous                    Next

Support Novellate!