Chapter – 03
Similar encounters continued a few times. The first was a coincidence, and the next was to repay the borrowed money. Every time she parted ways with that man, Nadia racked her brain to come up with new excuses. Sometimes it was to offer her thanks, and other times she lingered in the streets, feigning a chance meeting.
Whether it was truly a coincidence or whether he also wished to see Nadia, whenever she wandered near the alley where she had recklessly met Asil, the man would appear from somewhere. He would ask if she was traveling alone again and, warning her of the danger, would volunteer to act as her escort. Every single time, her heart would pound uncontrollably.
Asil treated her with a polite and thoughtful demeanor—so much so that it was now incomprehensible to her that she had once been afraid of him. Without realizing it, Nadia found herself becoming “soft,” completely soaked in the pure kindness offered by a man who did not even know her social status.
It didn’t take long for the subtle attraction that had been there from the start to blossom.
As their meetings repeated, there was no way Asil hadn’t noticed how she struggled with shyness every time their eyes met. Nadia was experiencing the exact same things described in the novels she read. When she faced him, her heart felt like it would explode, and she grew breathless. It was difficult to hold his gaze, and seeing his smiling face made her breath hitch.
Her face would flush at any given moment, and she began to stay up all night agonizing over what stories she should tell to make him laugh a little more.
As the frequency of their meetings increased, it felt as though the emotions Nadia felt were seeping into him. She could sense his vaguely distant attitude changing. His eyes, which had been kind as if looking at a young sister, were eventually dyed with the same hue as hers.
Even though it was her first time experiencing it, Nadia was certain that the warmth lingering in Asil’s eyes was love. It was a sweet rain soaking into parched, cracked earth.
“I like you.”
Asil’s whispered confession was pure ecstasy. Nadia was so happy to know he felt the same way that she didn’t know what to do with herself. Like a person dying of thirst, she drank in the pouring emotions frantically.
By the time she came to her senses, she was drenched in the love he softly showered upon her. It was a natural progression for the two, having confirmed their feelings, to become lovers.
Today was a day they had an appointment. Since they hadn’t been able to meet for the past few days, this meeting felt even more special. From a distance, she spotted the man pacing back and forth, waiting for her. Unable to hide her excitement, Nadia ran toward him like a naive child.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“No.”
A soft smile spread across the man’s lips. Nadia, catching her breath, rushed into his arms. A giggle escaped her lips involuntarily. Asil, lightly catching the woman who had lunged at him to hang onto his neck, wrapped his arms tightly around her waist before letting go.
Though it was a secluded alley, Nadia always tried to be careful, knowing how things could turn out. Her heart often fluttered so much that things didn’t go as planned, but in those moments, Asil would be the first to let her go.
Falling in love with him felt like an inevitable destiny.
Nadia believed this was fate. Just like a scene from the romance novels she loved to read, a knight appeared to save her in a moment of crisis. He might not actually be a knight, but he was enough. Nadia knew in her head just how reckless this was.
She was the lady of the Ingram family, one of the seven dukedoms that supported the Empire. Currently, her father, Duke Ingram, was busy calculating and weighing options, so she didn’t even have a fiancé yet; however, within a year or two, she would surely be married off to a powerful family as if she were being sold. This was an unchangeable future.
If it were ever revealed that she had been maintaining a relationship with a man of uncertain identity, she could easily imagine the disgraceful labels that would stick to her and the things she would lose in an instant.
Status, honor, and the protection surrounding the family name—which she could clearly feel even if she didn’t want to. She knew all of it could vanish at any moment like a dying ember. Yet, she could not stop this flame-like encounter.
Asil. The man with burning red hair and fresh green eyes had a surprisingly handsome face, but he was tall enough that she had to look up for a long time, and he had a long scar running from his cheek to his jaw.
When they first met, she had been too busy trembling—once at the large sword at his hip and once at the scar on his face—but now she knew. She knew how that man’s face, while pretending to be indifferent, could hold such a boyish smile, and how his large hands, covered in callouses and small scars, could hold hers so warmly.
The two walked hand-in-hand through the outskirts of the forest where people were scarce, and sometimes sat by a lake deep in the woods, sharing trivial conversations while watching a flock of swans swimming on the sparkling surface.
“I don’t want to go home.”
At her sudden grumbling, Asil smiled silently and stroked her hair. As she rested her head on his solid thigh and looked up, the sunlight filtering through the leaves was dazzling. Asil raised his hand to create a shade over her face as she winced. In the shadows, she saw his face, looking troubled as if he didn’t know how to respond.
“I wish we could stay together forever.”
“Me too,” the man answered in a low voice that felt as sweet as melted sugar.
It hadn’t been a long time. Only a few times a week, for just a few hours. All they knew about each other were the names Asil and Nadia, but spending time together allowed them to guess a few facts.
Nadia could easily tell he was a commoner and that his profession involved using a sword, which led her to the guess: ‘Is Asil a mercenary?’
He must have also realized she was a noble. No matter how simple her clothes were or how few accessories she wore, such things could not be hidden.
Though they were attracted to each other from the start, it wasn’t as if they had no reservations about developing this kind of relationship. At the very least, Asil had warned her several times how dangerous such meetings were for a noble lady.
“I told you, you have to be careful.”
“I don’t come to see you every time because I don’t know that.”
“Still…”
The man, his face clouded with worry, tilted her wide-brimmed hat a bit more so her face wouldn’t be exposed. It became harder to look up at Asil’s towering face, but Nadia quietly accepted his touch, knowing well what he was worried about.
Asil had even suggested stopping these meetings a few times. It wasn’t because his feelings had cooled. Nadia’s heart, which had plummeted, only found some peace after seeing the man’s pained expression as he forced the words out.
He was still worried. If anything, it was Nadia who clung to him. She wondered where such boldness had been hiding inside her.
She had once thought she would never have anything to do with someone in a rough, seemingly undignified profession like a mercenary, but she only realized anew that there is no such thing as “never” in this world.
He was a commoner, but he wasn’t excessively subservient, he wasn’t vulgar, and above all, he didn’t look her up and down as if judging her. Nadia felt it instinctively. When she was with him, she wasn’t an ‘Ingram,’ but simply Nadia in love.
It was a feeling she had never experienced before. In a colorless world, only he shone. She looked forward to tomorrow. When she was wrapped in his broad embrace, she realized, ‘So this is what it feels like to be loved,’ and ‘I’ve lived my life until now without knowing such a cozy and happy feeling,’ to the point where tears almost pricked her eyes. Through loving him, Nadia realized her own emptiness.
However, when she thought about a future with him, she saw nothing. Their future would flow toward an ending regardless of their love for each other. Nadia was the only daughter of a Ducal house, which meant she was one of the assets to be used in marriage business to expand the Ingram family’s influence.
Her parents were not the type to soften their hearts just because Nadia did things she hadn’t done as a child—like throwing tantrums, crying, or rolling on the floor.
A marriage across different social statuses was impossible. They would probably look at her with incomprehensible faces and suggest that if she liked him that much, she should just keep him as a paramour.
Should we run away together? Murmuring words that would only remain as thoughts, Nadia put on a deep purple veil that could cover her entire face.
Another country, another continent. A place where no one would recognize them. If she sold all the jewels she owned, it would be a significant amount, so they wouldn’t have to live a hard life.
Even if that didn’t work, he used a sword so he could hunt, and Nadia was quite good at embroidery, so they could at least make ends meet. The impossible imagination made her happy for a moment.
“I’ll go alone, so don’t follow me out.”
Dismissing her maids, she hailed a hired carriage instead of using the one bearing the family crest.
Even if it was an era where it wasn’t a flaw for a married person to have a paramour in noble society, it wasn’t a concept naturally tolerated by the public.
Even then, it was a freakish occurrence that only happened in the capital, and it certainly didn’t apply to unmarried people. It was even harsher for women; even if both parties cheated, the punishment for the woman was far heavier. If anyone were to catch wind of this relationship, she would be perfectly poised to be ostracized from noble society.
No one would pay much attention to a young lady in simple clothing on a crowded street. However, it was better to be cautious in advance. Nadia knew this relationship was reckless enough, and she had no intention of adding more recklessness to it.
Turning calmly into an alley, she twisted her path several times, turning corners even though no one was following her. As she got closer to the meeting place, she became more cautious.
Reaching the point where she only had to turn one more corner to reach the back alley of the general store where they agreed to meet, Nadia suddenly froze. She could hear voices, though they were small. Like a frightened rabbit, she pressed her body against the wall and carefully peeked around it….
