The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 138

The last card was gone. There were no hidden cards left, either. With the road ahead laid bare, Shailoh had reached the point where she no longer had any reason to hold back. Her reason had gone numb, and only despair was driving her toward the edge of the cliff.

 

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.” Shailoh had not even expected him to do it. She had simply blurted it out on impulse. With a scoff, she turned her head away.

 

That was when it happened. Caleb, who had seemed like a man who would never break, slowly lowered himself and knelt on the floor.

 

“Wha… What are you doing…?”

 

“Forgive me, Sasha.”

 

“…”

 

With both hands resting on his knees, Caleb looked up at her with an anguished expression. Only then did Shailoh properly look at his face. His cheeks had grown even more hollow, as though he had lost more weight in the time she had not seen him. A bluish shadow ran along his jaw, as if he had rushed over without even having the chance to shave properly.

 

“Losing you is the same as telling me to die. Please…” His voice was composed, but filled with desperate emotion. “Forgive me, and love me again.”

 

Shailoh shook her head and backed away. An unbearable wave was surging before her, growing larger and larger as it approached. “…Do you… Do you know what you did to me, Your Majesty?”

 

“Sasha.”

 

“You ruined my life.”

 

“…I know.”

 

“You used me as a tool to bring down the Diponz ducal family… As if that wasn’t enough… you told me to become your political rival’s mistress.”

 

“…I did.”

 

“Until the very end, you used me, toyed with me like I was a plaything, and had your way with me. And in the end…” She wanted to remain composed, but her throat kept tightening. Even so, Shailoh finished her words clearly. “You offered me the position of the second queen as though you were bestowing some great mercy upon me. As if someone at my station should be grateful even for that much. And yet… now, after all of that… you’re asking me to forgive you?”

 

“Sasha.” As her words continued, Caleb’s expression twisted further. Finally, he squeezed his eyes shut as though he could no longer bear to listen.

 

At that very moment, a strange sense of exhilaration took hold of Shailoh. This proud, noble, arrogant man was kneeling before none other than her, begging for forgiveness and pleading for her love. It was like seeing an iceberg she had believed could never melt finally dissolve, or watching a towering mountain that hurt her neck simply to look up at collapse before her. The shock of it was overwhelming. The realization that she was the one who had brought him to this point sent a shuddering thrill through Shailoh’s body.

 

“How shameless.”

 

Shailoh spat the words coldly and approached Caleb one step at a time. The closer she came, the more Caleb looked up at her, drenched in thirst like a man desperately yearning for sweet dew. Soon, Shailoh stopped one step in front of him, bent down, and grasped his chin.

 

“If you want it that badly… fine. I’ll give you exactly one chance.”

 

A strange glint passed through Caleb’s eyes. Unlike in the past, when his thoughts had been impossible to read, his emotions were now laid bare before her as clearly as though the past had been nothing more than an old dream. Shailoh curled the corners of her lips upward.

 

“Remain as my guard, just as you offered yourself to be, and serve me. From the lowest position, in the most degrading manner. Let yourself be used by me. Like a male dog.”

 

It was revenge for the times he had treated her like an obedient bitch.

 

“Sasha…”

 

“If you still feel the same way after all that… then I’ll reconsider.”

 

Even while she was driven mad by how much she hated him, the face of the man she had loved so deeply was still handsome. Though haggard and shadowed by madness, his features looked as though a master craftsman had carved them with painstaking care, and Shailoh found her gaze drawn to him despite herself. Her hand passed over his short, rough stubble and caressed his flawless, bisque-doll-like cheek.

 

“If you don’t like it, then it can’t be helped. I’ll never see you again.”

 

“…”

 

“If you’re willing to take me even as an empty shell, then do as you please… Ugh!”

 

Caleb caught her hand and bit the tip of her finger. He bit gently enough that it did not hurt, then brought it to his mouth and began licking it with his tongue. Shocked by the soft, hot sensation, Shailoh froze in place.

 

“A-Are you crazy?”

 

“You told me to serve you like a male dog. So I tried acting like a dog.”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“A male dog’s job is to lick, isn’t it? So I tried it. You don’t like it?”

 

“You’re not in your right mind…”

 

Shailoh pulled her hand back and stepped away. Caleb smacked his lips as though disappointed and tilted his head.

 

“Sasha. Why are you saying something like that all of a sudden?”

 

“…”

 

“We’re both crazy. That’s why we have to go together, even if the end of this path is the abyss.”

 

* * *

The following day, the atmosphere in the castle changed drastically. The castle residents, who had been watching Kianan and Shailoh with intense interest, were thrown into confusion when Kianan was suddenly dispatched far away. They exchanged uneasy glances with one another.

 

“What happened? Weren’t Sir Kianan and the young lady getting along well?”

 

“I know, right…? To suddenly send him away on a business trip. And near the mountain range, no less. It’s dangerous.”

 

“Since it’s Sir Kianan, won’t he be fine? Surely His Grace wouldn’t send his cherished aide on such a dangerous path, right?”

 

“Still… wouldn’t this mean His Grace doesn’t see him as a suitable match for the young lady?”

 

“Probably…”

 

After putting their heads together and pondering the matter, they reached the conclusion that ‘the Duke, dissatisfied with Sir Kianan as a potential husband for his sister, had sent him far away.’

 

“What a shame for the young lady… To be separated from the person she loves like this.”

 

“I know. I heard she’s had such a difficult life until now…”

 

While everyone was looking downcast, one person offered a different opinion.

 

“Why are you all being so pessimistic? You never know. Perhaps His Grace has given Sir Kianan a chance.”

 

“A chance?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“There are plenty of men who want to propose to the young lady. Even the king had his eye on her, didn’t he? Though for some reason, he eventually let go after leaving only one guard behind. Besides, how many nobles do you think are proposing to the young lady right now? No matter how powerful His Grace is, marrying her off to Sir Kianan simply because he’s his close aide, without any title or proper justification, wouldn’t exactly reflect well on him.”

 

“That… means…”

 

Those listening swallowed nervously.

 

The man lowered his voice. “So, I’m certain he’s putting him through the ‘Trial of the North.’”

 

At the same time, everyone drew a short breath and exchanged glances.

 

The Trial of the North was a trial undertaken by an unqualified suitor in order to gain the right to make a legitimate proposal. The task was to climb the rugged mountain range and capture a ferocious beast known as the ‘Gorgon.’

 

“But… that was banned roughly a century ago.”

 

“It was. Because no one who attempted it ever came back alive. Besides, no one even knows whether that beast actually exists. A lion the size of a house that eats humans? That’s just… a monster, isn’t it?”

 

“You never know. Maybe it really does exist. Otherwise, would the story have been passed down through generations?”

 

“That’s true… Ah.” While they sat together chatting about this and that, one of them spotted someone in the distance and stood up abruptly. “I was actually on my way to run an errand, but I got too caught up talking. I’ll be going first.”

 

At his words, one or two others began leaving as well.

 

“Me too.”

 

“See you later, then.”

 

The man who had been leading the conversation also stood up and was about to head off to work like the others.

 

Caleb, who had been watching them from a distance, approached him. “Wait a moment.”

 

At once, the man’s face went pale. “S-Sir…?”

 

If there was one person in the castle whom its residents found most intimidating and uncomfortable to deal with, it was this man.

 

“What is it, Sir? If you mean what we were just talking about, it was only—”

 

“The Trial of the North. What is that?” Caleb cut him off and asked seriously.

 

The trembling man, who had been bowing his head, cautiously raised his eyes. “Pardon?”

 

“What you were just talking about. I’m asking what it means.”

 

“Th-That’s…” He wanted to say that it was nothing, merely a baseless rumor they had heard and tossed around in conversation. But the turquoise eyes staring back at him gleamed like those of a madman. Realizing there was no way out, the man squeezed his eyes shut. Then he began explaining in detail. “It is a legend passed down through several generations of the Declen ducal family. It began when a foreign wanderer fell in love with the duke’s daughter and fearlessly asked for her hand in marriage.”

 

“And what happened? Did he get cut down?”

 

“They say the young lady and the wanderer were in love with each other. The duke, unwilling to hurt his daughter, gave the young man a task he believed he could never accomplish. He ordered him to capture the ferocious beast known as the ‘Gorgon,’ which lived in the mountains, and bring back its pelt.”

 

“What is a Gorgon?”

 

“A beast resembling a lion, with a body as large as a house, that preys upon travelers passing through the mountains.”

 

“And what happened?”

 

“The young man succeeded. Several months later, he returned to the ducal estate with the pelt. He and the young lady lived happily ever after.” A strange glint appeared in Caleb’s eyes. Sensing something ominous, the man hurriedly added, “B-But it’s nothing more than a legend.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because aside from that young man who began the legend, not a single suitor ever returned. They either wandered through the rugged mountains and fell to their deaths, or perhaps they simply fled.”