ITETD 02

~Chapter 2~

“Rena, what are you thinking?”

“…”

Calix has been sitting close to me, not leaving me even for a second since he entered the carriage. He looked at me, certain that I was Regina.

I thought hard and opened my mouth. I want to know how he found me.

I lived in silence for as long as five years. The Troxia family was destroyed for treason, but no one knew my whereabouts and so they couldn’t find me. No one even recognized me. But what about Calix?

“…As expected, I think you’ve got the wrong person.”

The response was quick even to the sudden words.

“No way. Do you think I wouldn’t recognize you?”

“Then…”

At this part, I remembered his crazy lie.

“…What does your wife look like?”

My words made Calix put on a sad expression. He whispered with a face reminiscent of the past in an instant.

“Rena had coral hair and green eyes.”

Calix’s face was red as he recalled the past.

“Every time you ran in front of me, your flying hair shone brightly in the sunlight, and whenever I looked at it… I was mesmerized.”

“My hair is black.”

I cut off his recollections and answered with a grump. That was a relief. The last time I dyed my hair was a week ago.

Calix, who quickly returned to reality at my rebuttal, closed his mouth. He murmured stubbornly.

“You could have dyed your hair. The color of your eyes remains the same.”

“I didn’t dye my hair. The color of my eyes is just a coincidence.”

Green eyes were also common.

“Then you might have changed it using magic. You were good at magic.”

“I don’t know how to do such high-level magic.”

“…”

Calix closed his mouth at the stubborn words I uttered as if he were at a loss. I thought he would understand if I talked to this extent, so I asked questions straight away about what I had always been curious about.

“How did you find me?”

Calix’s face lit up at my question.

“Are you admitting that you are Rena?”

“No. I don’t think she lives around here, but I’m just wondering how you knew that I lived in a rural village and therefore came all the way here.”

He soon sank into a depression.

“I was on my way back to the estate after the Emperor’s birthday party, and Lord Warrett had injured his leg. I decided to tie his injury up in a nearby village and asked if there was a doctor, and the village head said there was.”

“…”

“He told me, ’There is a young and talented healer in the next village, so visit her.’”

He made eye contact with me.

“The chief said that the healer knew how to use magic. Wishfully, I asked him what the healer looked like. He said her eyes were green, but her hair was black.”

“…”

“You can change your hair colour as much as you want. But the other characteristics…”

He was desperate for such a small clue. He said, lowering his head.

“I’ve been thinking about it the entire time I was riding on horseback coming here. What if it’s really you? But what if I’ve come running like this, and it’s not you? I’ve had so many flickers of hope and disappointments that followed over the past few years that I felt like giving up. But I couldn’t help but think that you’ll be sad because I gave up on you.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off Calix. I wanted to ignore him, but I couldn’t. I touched and examined his face without realizing it. Calix leaned his face into my hand, glad to see my gaze.

“What should I say when I see you again? I thought about whether to be angry, say okay, or say sorry dozens of times. I thought of tying you up as soon as I saw you so that you would never run away from me again, but when I saw you, all I could say was this.”

He smiled despondently and whispered.

“Rena, I missed you.”

Calix whispered softly and buried his face in my shoulder. I couldn’t bear to push him away as my body became stiff.

‘What do I do now?’

My mind went in circles.

Why I lived in hiding could be roughly narrowed down to two reasons. The first was because I needed to disguise my death because I failed to escape from this world with my death as I had planned, and the second was because I was destined to be executed for treason.

It was not good for it to be known that there was a survivor of the family who was destroyed because of treason. Both for me and for Calix.

He is someone who doesn’t know that. What the hell was he planning on doing with me?

I thought I had been hiding quietly and doing it well, but I didn’t expect to be caught like this.

After hearing that there was a young, female magic healer without any other distinctive descriptions, it was clear that Calix, who ran for her without giving up hope, was not an ordinary person.

My future does not appear in the original work. Because I was supposed to have died on the gallows.

However, if I caught the eyes of the Imperial family while living outside like this, I would be dragged away and sentenced to death. It would be fortunate if I didn’t die in a painful way, as the crimes of running away and repudiation would be added to my sentence as well.

I carefully pushed Calix away, who had been hugging me without moving. Falling in an instant, he made a wounded face.

I avoided his eyes with guilt. I bowed my head and imitated the innocent face of a country girl.

“As expected, I don’t think I am the one you are looking for. My magic skills are insignificant, my hair is black, and I’ve been stuck in the country all my life.”

“You’re lying.”

“You seem to have a lot of money and a high status, so don’t waste your time. I think you’d be better off going home now.”

“Don’t lie.”

Calix pressed his lips. He looked as if he was about to burst into tears.

“You can’t say that if you think about how hard it has been for me to find you.”

“…”

“I don’t know if you’ve really lost your memory or if you’re only pretending to lose it… …but please, Rena.”

I cut off Calix’s words, who was trying to gather compassion.

“Then how did I end up living in the countryside?”

“What…?”

I asked him in a defiant tone with a puzzled face.

“I heard I married you. How did I end up living in the countryside?”

“That’s…”

He clenched his teeth, closed his eyes slowly, and opened them. His eyes were red when we met.

“That’s because I couldn’t protect you, Rena.”

He spoke painfully, pronouncing every syllable.

“It’s my fault.”

I eventually turned my head away from his eyes.

‘It’s not that Calix couldn’t protect me, I ran away.’

I didn’t have the confidence to be indifferent when I saw Calix in such pain.

Somehow I had lost my temper. There may be no way to get away from him now since we met again like this; if only I ran away without being caught until the end… It was just best to be prepared for the future.

Turning my eyes to look outside the window, I opened my mouth quietly.

“…But I don’t think I would have married you.”

“…Why?”

“Your face is not to my liking.”

“…”

He looked really shocked this time.

***

The place where Calix took me was the village where his party was supposed to stay overnight. It was a place I had been to a few times because it was the neighbouring village. It was not unfamiliar to me because I had been asked for help a few times when someone was injured or sick.

The village head who recognized me looked happy.

“Oh, I told him that there was an outstanding healer in the next village, it’s good that he found you and brought you here.”

“Haha, yes…”

I didn’t want to blame the chief because he said it out of kindness. I’d just have to blame my bad luck.

“This is Lord Warrett.”

Calix clasped my hand and introduced me to Sir Warrett. I could see the knights of the ducal family waiting for him, their eyes expressing concern, but Calix shook his head briefly to block all the questions.

I pretended not to know and went to Lord Warrett to examine the wound. It seemed to be broken.

“How did this happen?”

My question was answered by Sir Warrett, who struggled to rise.

“I was chasing a rabbit while camping, and I fell off a small cliff.”

I could hear the knights waiting next to him each adding their thoughts.

“Why weren’t you being careful?”

“That’s why I told you to stay alert.”

“From now on, I’m not going to send you on a night hunt. I’m going to get worried sick.”

Most of them were affectionate quarrels.

A simple healing spell was performed to attach the broken leg together and a splint was applied.

“Still, it’s better to be careful so that you don’t die”

Sir Warrett bowed his head and said thank you. I bowed my head and answered that it was nothing, but there was a sudden hand that wrapped around my waist.

Even though it was not an unfamiliar touch, I was surprised and jumped. I saw the faces of the flagship knights.

When I turned my head to the side, I saw Calix’s face, which was close by. We were close enough that our breaths mingled. For a moment, my legs almost turned into jelly.

Calix whispered into my ear in a captivating voice.

“Then shall we go up to the room?”

“Room?”

“We’re going to stay here today.”

“But why me as well…?”

“Why not?”

Calix interrupted me and smiled.

“It’s natural for a couple to use one room.”

Without a moment to say anything back, Calix dragged me up to the inn room. The knights seemed to be shocked by their Lord’s reckless attitude. Calix ignored them all.

As soon as I entered the room, Calix, who closed the door tightly, turned toward me.

“Now it can just be the two of us.”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something…”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”

“I am not the person you are looking for.”

“Ah, are you talking about that again?”

Calix smiled. It was a smile, but it didn’t look like a smile that was genuinely happy.

As he approached me, I had no choice but to step back. I was too focused on the face of Calix, who was approaching me, so I couldn’t look behind me enough. When the bed touched the back of my legs, I naturally collapsed.

Calix leaned over me as I sat down. At close range, he opened his mouth.