CHAPTER 60
The Chosen One Is Gabriel
“Am I one of them?”
“No.”
The moment he heard the answer, relief settled into the previously tense eyes of Reke.
“I’m glad.”
“G-glad…?”
“If I were such a dreadful person, you might subconsciously reject me, Ehilie.”
His gentle voice made Ehilie feel strange.
Why does he love me this blindly…
Ehilie finally brought up the last thing she needed to tell him.
“In the original story, there was something called a fated partner. A bond chosen by a god, something absolute and inevitable that humans couldn’t go against.”
“Who was Ehilie’s fated partner?”
“…Gabriel.”
Crack.
Something broke.
Reke’s body tilted slightly. When Ehilie quickly turned her gaze, she saw his hand had sunk deep under the armrest of the sofa.
“Reke! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Reke pulled his hand out from between the torn leather seams.
“Yes. It seems the sofa is quite old.”
“What? It’s only been a month since we bought it…”
“It’s defective.”
“You were the one who ordered it, through Herond.”
“I’ll have a word with Herond later. If you had been sitting here, you could have been seriously injured.”
“No, it’s fine. We can just replace the sofa, so don’t scold him.”
“Very well. By the way, where were we?”
“U-um, my fated partner was Gabr—”
Crunch!
This time, the elbow Reke had leaned on caved in.
Veins bulged on his clenched fist.
Reke casually lifted his arm and spoke.
“The sofa really is quite old.”
It’s not the sofa… is he just that strong?
Ehilie was flustered.
Thinking back, there were times when Reke displayed unexpectedly immense strength.
Even today, when dealing with the holy knights.
Maybe Reke isn’t as weak as I thought…
A strange suspicion arose.
But resolving their conversation was more important than voicing that thought.
“Reke.”
“Ehilie.”
Their voices overlapped.
“Ah, you go first.”
“No, you should speak first.”
“No, it’s fine. Please, you go ahead.”
After a brief hesitation, Reke asked in a low voice.
“Do you wish to follow fate?”
Ehilie shook her head hurriedly at his trembling voice.
“No, no! Not at all!”
She had been hiding precisely because she wanted nothing to do with the male leads.
Gabriel, Mihail, and even the as-yet-unintroduced sub male leads—she wanted nothing to do with any of them.
“I want to stay here with you, Reke, living quietly and peacefully. That’s what I was about to say.”
The reason she brought up the fated partner was simple.
She feared the world might try to bind her to Gabriel under the name of “fate,” just like in the original story.
“After meeting Mihail, I realized something. No matter how much I try to hide, I can’t completely avoid them.”
In the novels she had read in her past life, it was always the same.
The heroine tries to escape the original plot, only to get swept into events and end up tied to the male lead.
“I might get involved with them again in the future. That’s why I wanted to tell you.”
Even if fate tried to bind her to Gabriel, she wanted Reke to understand.
“Even if a fated partner is an absolute bond chosen by a god, the person I like is you, Reke. That will never change. So please… trust me.”
***
Steady blue eyes.
Her clear, unwavering voice resonated in Radenberg’s heart.
“Ehilie… do you wish to follow fate?”
No matter what answer she gave.
Radenberg had no intention of letting her go. Even if she chose fate, he would find a way to keep her by his side.
Yet what returned to his twisted, possessive heart was salvation too precious for him.
At that moment, Radenberg was the happiest man in the world.
And at the same time, the most miserable.
The one Ehilie loved was the weak Reke, not the ruthless Demon King Radenberg.
It was ironic.
In the end, both were him, yet only half of him was loved.
All of this was his own doing.
Even now…!
For a brief moment, Radenberg hesitated.
Should he also reveal the truth to Ehilie, who trusted him and spoke sincerely?
But in the end, his lips did not open.
He feared that the moment her affectionate eyes met the truth, they would be filled with fear and disdain.
No… I’m afraid.
He realized it then.
He had always been afraid.
Having never longed for anything, he had never feared loss.
But now…
He feared losing Ehilie.
Her body. Her heart.
Once again, he chose cowardice, hiding behind the guise of Reke and burying the truth.
“I feel the same.”
“Ehilie, I love you. That will never change.”
“To protect my beloved wife, careful planning is necessary. Especially how to prevent that man from discovering your divine power.”
He smoothly shifted the topic.
“Ah, right! I was just about to talk about that too. What should we do? I can’t think of a good method…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already thought of one.”
“Really? What is it?”
Ehilie leaned toward him, her eyes sparkling.
Without realizing it, Radenberg pressed his lips to her forehead.
Her eyes instinctively closed at the touch.
She didn’t know that he had never once closed his eyes when kissing her forehead.
Nor how deeply his burning gaze revealed his desire.
When she opened her eyes again, she glared at him.
“This isn’t the time for that. Tell me your plan.”
“Yes, Ehilie.”
Radenberg did not know.
That one day, he would come to deeply regret this choice.
And that this would be his last chance to reveal the truth and seek forgiveness.
***
At the Luminas Grand Duke’s residence, servants hurried about preparing for the banquet.
Guests began gathering in the hall one by one.
Mihail leisurely drank tea in his room, gazing out the window. Despite his relaxed posture, his mind was entirely focused on the woman he was about to meet.
To think she tried so desperately to run away.
Her efforts looked clever, but to him, they were like the futile struggle of a mouse caught in his palm.
“It won’t matter. The saint will never escape my grasp.”
He recalled the sensation he felt when meeting the “real” one.
The shiver down his spine. The pounding of his heart.
A sublime sensation only the true saint could evoke.
“Ha…”
His grip tightened around the teacup.
Crash!
The cup shattered, scattering tea and fragments.
Ignoring the stained carpet, Mihail held his trembling cheek, his gaze lifted upward with madness gleaming in his clear eyes.
“My lovely saint.”
Claris had not yet been informed about Ehilie.
He had no intention of letting the true one be taken by a fake.
“Saint, who is that man?”
His smile vanished instantly.
Cold eyes narrowed as Mihail tilted his head.
The man who dared to impersonate a saint’s partner.
“Reke… was it?”
Mihail had a sharp sense for detecting aura.
He recognized Ehilie as the true saint because of her divine power.
But from Reke… he felt nothing.
As if he were a lifeless object.
Still, he wasn’t some mere brute relying on physical force.
Those striking red eyes.
Eyes that looked down like a predator ready to eliminate anything that touched what belonged to him.
Mihail recalled Kane’s words:
“That bold woman seduced a man, and that man—”
Could he be a demon?
But a demon should radiate demonic energy.
No matter how well hidden, such energy could not be completely concealed from Mihail.
Then…
“…The Demon King?”
He knew the current Demon King was exceptionally powerful.
But beyond that, all information was hidden.
Even so, before divine power, he’s nothing more than an insect.
The gods were always on his side.
He had no need to worry about such a trivial matter.
Mihail toyed with the holy grail prepared for his beloved saint.
The moment Ehilie’s divine power was proven through it, she would belong to him.
