104. Khalid’s Return

The thunderous sound made everyone at the wedding glance around in surprise.

Clatter — bang!

A chair toppled loudly.

It was Belia.

Pale-faced, she didn’t care that rain was falling; she bolted outside.

“Your Highness!”

Rachel called after Belia and chased after her.

“Hah… hah…”

Where is he? Where should I go?

Where did the guards shout from?

The heavy rain made it impossible to know.

Belia hurried toward the main gate, scanning the surroundings and not even feeling the rain soaking her through.

Those still at the wedding peered out and watched her.

At the sight of Belia, so desperate and frantic, everyone fell silent as if moved in the same way.

“Huk… sob. Khalid… where, where are you?”

Tears streamed down Belia’s rain-drenched face.

She ran toward the main gate, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Had she imagined the sound?

“No …”

She darted the other way. She remembered there was a small gate on the west side as well.

Crossing the little bridge over the moat, one of her shoes snagged on a stone and flew off. It was awkward to run. She kicked off the other shoe and ran barefoot toward the west gate.

She didn’t care if she felt like she might vomit from the exertion.

“Your Highness!”

Rachel’s voice called from far off, but Belia kept running.

Running on the stone-paved ground barefoot, her soles were scraped and stung.

“Ah!”

Her legs finally gave out and she fell.

She tried to get up, but could only gasp for breath.

The rain had mussed her hair and blurred her vision; she could barely open her eyes.

Where on earth should she go?

“Ah…”

At that moment, the rain that had drenched her stopped.

A shadow fell over her, and Belia, calming her trembling heart, slowly turned her head.

She felt like her breath stopped. The world seemed to stand still.

“I’m back, Belia.”

There he was — the one she had waited for — smiling gently at her.

Khalid carefully reached out and helped Belia to her feet.

With his large, warm hand he wiped the rain and mess from her face.

“Why were you running like that?”

“Khalid.”

“Oh my. Your feet are all injured. Your hands are hurt, too.”

“Khalid…”

Belia repeated his name like someone in a dream. Khalid’s expression flickered as if he were holding something back, then smoothed into a practiced smile and hugged her tightly.

An umbrella fell with a soft thud.

Rain began to fall on them again, yet it didn’t feel as cold as before.

“You waited a long time, didn’t you? I’m sorry.”

It had been so long since she last heard his voice.

Belia could not find the words; she kept swallowing her sobs.

It felt unreal that he was holding her.

“You’ve gotten so thin. You were already slim, but why…”

Khalid, stroking Belia’s frail back, choked on his words and buried his face in her neck. She could feel the tremor of his emotions throughout his body.

It had been only three months.

Short if counted, but to Belia it had felt like an eternity — days of torment she had endured like hell.

Belia carefully wrapped her arms around Khalid.

She felt his warmth.

This isn’t a dream…

She could see him, touch him, feel him.

This was real.

Khalid stepped back a little and studied Belia’s face closely, then leaned in and brushed his lips to hers briefly.

A tear slipped from the corner of Belia’s eye as she watched him, but the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.

“I’m glad you came back safely.”

Her voice was muffled by sobs, but her meaning came through.

“Mm. Thank you for waiting.”

Khalid looked affectionate and kissed the back of her hand several times with a smile.

Belia watched his hand for a moment, then, without hesitation, seized Khalid’s lapel.

Khalid’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden action, but Belia paid no mind. With tearful eyes she tilted her face and kissed him.

For them, welcomes had always been sealed with a kiss.

The return of the supposedly dead Second Prince and his knights, and Marquis Caprie with him, on the day of the First Prince’s wedding was already sensational enough. But the image of the Second Princess running through the rain — her dress soaked, shoes kicked off — toward the Second Prince left a deep impression on everyone’s minds.

All the suspicions and vile rumors about Belia vanished in an instant.

From now on, everyone would talk at every gathering about how Khalid and Belia became lovers and their romance.

Elin, thinking along those lines, bit her lip and fought back tears.

“…It was my wedding.”

On the terrace of the second floor, staring blankly at the banquet hall where the party took place, Elin muttered.

Nothing had gone the way she had hoped.

Although the formal procedures were carried out for Raul and Elin’s wedding, the overall atmosphere had been chaotic.

By the time the ceremony was nearly over, after the archbishop had finished the marriage vows, everyone’s attention turned to the Second Prince.

Raul’s expression was sour.

When the party began, Raul disappeared.

With the groom gone, Elin — the bride — was left alone to face the guests in the hall. It was explained away as Raul having urgent business since the Second Prince had returned.

“Belia Ronnica. It’s all because of that woman. If she hadn’t been here…!”

Elin had witnessed Raul kissing Belia and had confirmed that Raul still had feelings for her.

That alone had pushed her over the edge. And now even her wedding had been ruined.

“His Highness is to be the Emperor someday. Even if your feelings are hurt on your wedding day, you must endure it.”

“Father…”

Duke Kanterif approached the trembling Elin and spoke coldly. But Elin could no longer hold back.

Her fist trembled as she clenched it; she could not contain her fury.

“…I’m so angry. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Elin.”

The duke warned her by calling her name, but she did not stop.

“Kill that woman for me. I want her gone from this world. Send her somewhere I’ll never see her again, or kill her! Please, Father, don’t let me be miserable because of that woman.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes. I mean it.”

Elin’s eyes flashed dangerously.

She couldn’t bear the sight of the Ronnica royal family walking about with their heads held high.

This was not Ronnica; this was the Ingot Empire. The Kanterif dukes must show their superiority here.

“Don’t let them use that petty hometown name to look down on us. Father, I want you to use your power.”

“…Since we have already allied ourselves with the First Prince, we cannot help but make an enemy of the Second Prince. Fine. I will grant your request.”

“Thank you.”

Elin drank a sip of champagne with a cold smile. After briefly watching the hall — where the groom was not present — she turned and walked toward the First Prince’s palace, which would be her new home.

After the First Prince’s wedding, the imperial banquet hall was in full swing with the party, but Khalid quietly carried the badly scratched and barefoot Belia back to the Second Prince’s palace.

“…”

“Speak.”

Khalid sat in a chair holding Belia tightly, but she remained silent. Growing anxious, Khalid urged her again.

“Belia.”

“…What happened with the Duke of Errington?”

“Haha. Of all the things to bring up first, you ask about another man?”

Khalid tightened his hold on her.

“I thought you were dead.”

His voice was cold.

“I hoped you were alive, but what if you weren’t? What if, as everyone said, you were dead… I could hardly bear each passing day.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you had your reasons. You wouldn’t have hidden away without cause. But I truly…”

Belia bit her lip, unable to say more. Khalid buried his face in her neck and apologized again.

“I’m sorry.”

She had not asked for an apology.

She only wanted him to know how much she had suffered.

“Your sword came out from under the fallen mountain.”

Belia shuddered as she said it.

“…You were there?”

He nodded slightly, and she felt it against the skin where their bodies touched.

“What happened?”

“You saved my life. You saved mine, my knights’ and the marquis’s.”

As expected, Khalid told her the bracelet made through Habisa had saved their lives.

Thankfully, they had not gone deep enough into the part where the mountain collapsed; after deploying a hastily formed defensive barrier using the bracelet, everyone could evacuate.

“Everyone is grateful to you.”

Khalid spoke calmly.

He added that some had insisted on crossing the mountain that day.

“Raul insisted we must pass through the Shupel region that day.”

“If it were you, I would have suspected him.”

“Yes. I wondered if someone had ambushed us along the way. But who would have thought a landslide would occur.”

If someone had come to harm them, they might have welcomed it — it would have been a perfect chance to expose the First Prince’s weaknesses.

So even though they suspected a trap, they followed the action.

“Truly, if you hadn’t given me the bracelet, we would never have met again.”

Khalid planted a string of kisses along Belia’s neck.

“Khalid.”

“Hmm?”

“Raul is regaining memories of his past life with me.”

Khalid froze at Belia’s words.

“He called me Empress.”

At Belia’s small, scoffing laugh, Khalid’s face hardened.

“It was Raul who put you in danger; he knew a landslide would be triggered. The sudden union of the eastern nobles and their consolidation of power was his doing as well.”

“…He regained his memories?”

Belia turned from leaning against him and looked up at Khalid.

He looked frighteningly grim.

Belia reached up and stroked Khalid’s cheek.

Thinking of how he had fretted that she might go to Raul, she smiled faintly and said,

“It’s okay. I won’t go to him, and he hasn’t recovered all his memories yet.”

She offered a reassuring kiss.

“Belia.”

At his low voice, she looked up at him.

“You have no idea how long I wandered to have you.”

Khalid turned Belia to face him squarely.

His eyes were heavy and sunken.

“Do you know how I felt when I lost you?”

“What do you mean?”

Belia asked, puzzled.

Khalid brushed something from his face and then spoke in a weighty tone.

“…I killed Raul.”