The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 125

“…What?” Declen’s brows shot up, as if he couldn’t trust his own ears. “What did you just say?”

 

“Exactly what you heard.” Caleb glanced down at the shattered glass on the floor, then leaned back comfortably against the chair. “I’m going to make Lady Yesiol my queen. I came to propose.”

 

“I refuse.” The moment those words left Caleb’s mouth, Declen stood up coldly and rejected the proposal.

 

“Why?”

 

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?” At his flat reply, blood rushed to Declen’s head. He glared coldly at Caleb. “How can you say something like that now, when you know everything?”

 

“If anything, it’s a relief. That she’s Lady Yesiol.”

 

“How shameless. You used my sister.”

 

Shailoh might only be his half-sister, but she was still his blood. With their house having no collateral branches, she was also Declen’s remaining kin.

 

Since coming here, Shailoh had, bit by bit, spoken about her past. Even with all the parts she left out, Declen could still faintly sense the pain she’d gone through. If the man in front of him weren’t Caleb, his oldest friend and his king, Declen would already have taken matters into his own hands.

 

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

 

Declen’s voice was glacial as he turned away, about to walk off. He’d barely taken a step when the answer came.

 

“Used her?”

 

“…”

 

When he turned back, Caleb was looking up at him, head tilted slightly in puzzlement. Lounging with his legs crossed and his back easy against the chair, he threw the question back. “Sasha and I had a relationship that benefited us both. You call that one-sided exploitation?”

 

“Whatever your intentions were, it doesn’t erase the impure motive you had when you approached Shailoh.”

 

Snapping back the moment Caleb finished speaking, Declen let his anger spill over. “You used Shailoh’s feelings and turned her into a piece on your game board.”

 

“…”

 

Declen suppressed his emotions as much as he could, but his anger didn’t subside. On the other hand, Caleb remained silent, as if seriously pondering something.

 

Taking a deep breath, Declen barely managed to regain his composure. “Your Majesty… I have no intention of giving my sister to be your wife. Please take a woman from a more noble and politically beneficial family as your queen.” Returning from a long-time friend back to a subject, Declen politely declined Caleb’s words once more.

 

Caleb rose to his feet and grabbed Declen by the collar.

 

“…Your Majesty.”

 

“And if I call it an order?”

 

“Becoming the queen’s family is one of the greatest honors in this kingdom. To defy that is treason.”

 

And treason only ever ended one way: with the annihilation of a house. Intuiting the omitted final words, Declen bit his lips instead of answering.

 

The North might be fiercely independent and closed off, but there were reasons they had never actually fought a war of secession. First, the oath their ancestor had sworn bound their feet. Second, his people, dulled by too many wars already, held him back. Both sides would bleed, but the land that would be trampled directly was the North. Once ruined, a territory took a long time and immense effort to recover. No one could compensate the commoners for the suffering they would endure in the meantime. Before he was a brother, he was the lord of this region, the duke who had to lead and protect his people.

 

“Are you saying you’ll drag Shailoh away by force?” Even so, Declen couldn’t just meekly hand over the sister he’d finally found. With the resolve to fight to the death at least as a man, he forced the words out between his teeth. “Are you so desperate that you’d forcibly take a woman who refuses to be your wife?”

 

It was the kind of remark that could easily cost him his head for lèse-majesté. If anyone else had been in the room with them, they would have drawn their sword on the spot. Even Caleb, who had remained unruffled until now, showed a crack in his composure. A faint line formed between his brows.

 

Declen drew in a tense breath, bracing for cold steel at his throat. What came instead was not a furious curse, but a low chuckle.

 

“How could that be?”

 

“…”

 

“Duke Yesiol, it seems you’ve misunderstood. I’m not some brute. I came here to propose, not to kidnap and threaten her.”

 

It was not the reaction Declen had expected. At a loss for words, he simply stared at Caleb. Caleb left no room for argument against Declen’s distrust.

 

“This is your territory. I’m not going to secretly abduct your sister and take her away without your permission.”

 

“…Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty.” Though uneasy, Declen bowed his head in courtesy.

 

The air between them, taut as a drawn wire, loosened a little. Belatedly remembering his manners, Declen bent at the waist in a proper bow.

 

“Please forgive me for failing to recognize Your Majesty at once and for treating you discourteously. I’ll have a separate room prepared immediately and order a welcome banquet.”

 

It was just as Declen was about to call the guard waiting outside the room with a relieved heart.

 

“That won’t be necessary.”

 

“Pardon…?”

 

“I came here as ‘Cay,’ the escort of Baron Gardin. As long as I’m here, I intend to remain in that role.”

 

The words entering his ears were clearly his native language, yet Declen found them difficult to comprehend. Stiffening up, he slowly asked. “What… you mean by that?”

 

“Exactly what I said, Duke.” As he brushed past him, Caleb drove in the wedge. “Unless I say otherwise, don’t call me alone like this. And don’t treat me as king in front of others.”

 

“That is…” Declen worried that someone who didn’t know Caleb’s true identity might unknowingly commit some act of disrespect. To be punished for treason without even understanding why would be no different from being struck by a natural disaster.

 

“Don’t worry.” As if he’d read Declen’s mind, Caleb flashed a grin and added, “Any disrespect shown to me while I am ‘Cay,’ I have no intention of punishing later as king. It’d be unfair.”

 

“Even so, Your Majesty—” No matter how he turned it over in his head, this wasn’t right. Declen hesitated, about to voice his objection, when the door behind him opened.

 

Before Declen could stop him, Caleb stepped out without so much as a farewell and left the room. The guard posted at the door watched his bold stride, waiting silently for orders on whether to seize him or let him go. Declen roughly raked a hand through his bangs and shook his head.

 

“More importantly, when Kianan wakes, tell him to come to me at once.”

 

“As your command.” The guard bowed respectfully and walked off.

 

Listening to the sound of his footsteps fade, Declen let out a deep sigh and dropped heavily onto the couch. It felt like he’d lost a giant snake inside the castle. His heart refused to calm.

 

* * *

All the while the baron’s party stayed in the castle, they neither approached her nor even showed themselves. Little by little, Shailoh began to relax.

 

“Milady1 Good morning.” Rose, a bit more high-spirited than usual as if something pleasant had happened lately, swept open the curtains.

 

“Mmm…”

 

“Did you stay up late reading again last night? You look tired.”

 

“My dreams haven’t been great lately.” At some point, Shailoh had started speaking completely informally with Rose. She gave a long stretch.

 

“Your dreams? What kind of dreams are you having?” Rose’s eyes went round as she sat down at the foot of the bed.

 

“Why are you so curious? They’re just dreams.”

 

“They might be nothing but superstitions to you, Milady, since you’ve lived in other regions. But people in the North take dreams very seriously. Depending on the case, we see them as visions of the future.”

 

“Vision… of the future?”

 

“Yes. That’s why we have dream interpretation, too. My grandmother taught me a little. If you tell me, I can interpret it for you.”

 

“Well…” Faced with such a serious answer, Shailoh fell silent, thinking it over as she searched her memory. “I don’t remember it that well… I’m walking in a garden, and I start to feel more and more like someone’s looking for me, that kind of anxious feeling. I keep getting chased, and the moment they reach for me, I wake up. And today… someone grabbed my hem. I turned around, and that’s when I woke up.”

 

The more Shailoh spoke, the paler Rose’s face became.

 

“What kind of dream is that supposed to be? What is it foretelling?” Alarmed by Rose’s expression, Shailoh pressed her, her own face tight with anxiety.

 

“Well…” Rose bit her lip and looked away, her expression clouding.

 

Startled by the ominous look on her face, Shailoh grabbed Rose’s hand. “Tell me.”

 

After a moment’s hesitation, Rose slowly parted her lips. “The dream you had… isn’t really a good one. Being chased in a garden probably means that the person you’re afraid of is looking for you. And… it’s the last part that bothers me most.”

 

Tension coiled in Shailoh’s chest. She swallowed dryly.

 

Rose wavered over and over, clearly torn about whether to say it. In the end she gave in to Shailoh’s insistent gaze. “Being caught means… the person chasing you is already somewhere near you, Milady.”

 

The moment she finished speaking, the peaceful air in the room froze over. Shailoh clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to work out her rising fear. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t strange that she would have such a dream. Caleb’s envoy, Baron Gardin, and his party were still staying in the castle. She tried to brush it off, but Rose’s next words closed like a hand around Shailoh’s throat.

 

“By any chance, when you turned around in the dream, did you happen to see who it was?” At the same time, Rose found herself staring into Shailoh’s terrified face.

 

The hazy memory that had been like groping through fog suddenly sharpened and flashed through Shailoh’s mind. The person she had faced… was Caleb.

 

“Can you tell me more about what it means?” Maybe dream interpretation wasn’t such a harmless superstition after all. Swallowing hard, Shailoh seized Rose by the shoulders.