The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 93

“Sasha.”

 

A shadow fell over their heads before they noticed.

 

“I didn’t expect to find you talking to another man while I was away for a moment.” His voice was smooth and soft, like silk, but his expression was chillingly cold.

 

“Nice to meet you. My name is Nox Wyvern.”

 

Nox stood up and introduced himself. Yet Caleb’s turquoise eyes didn’t even spare him a glance, so thoroughly that it bordered on rudeness, and remained fixed solely on Shailoh.

 

Swallowing hard, Shailoh introduced the man standing before her. “Your Highness, this is Mr. Wyvern I mentioned before. He’s a relative of Mr. Wyson.”

 

“Ah, I see.” Only then did Caleb nod as if he finally understood and returned the greeting. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wyvern. I suppose I don’t need to introduce myself.”

 

“Of course not. Who here wouldn’t know you?” Nox gave a faint nod, barely managing a slight smile. His build was formidable, matching Caleb’s height, but the pressure from Caleb’s broad shoulders was immense. The man before him was a born predator, someone accustomed from birth to dominate others.

 

“I think it’s time we leave, Sasha.”

 

While Nox stood frozen, enduring the oppressive atmosphere, Caleb reached out to Shailoh and helped her to her feet. His hand immediately wrapped around her waist possessively, pulling her close.

 

“Have a good evening.”

 

“Ah, yes…”

 

Without thinking, Shailoh bowed her head, and the two of them left the tavern, leaving Nox behind.

 

* * *

The moment they got into the carriage, hot lips covered Shailoh’s lips. Before she could react, he pulled her onto his lap, grabbed her chin, and kissed her, leaving her unable to move and forced to accept his kiss.

 

“Ah…!”

 

Instinctively, she parted her lips in response to the familiar kiss, and his tongue, which had been thrusting wildly, softened as if in praise, gently wrapping and intertwining with hers.

 

“Mmm…”

 

Caught up in the relentless dance of tongues, she barely had time to breathe through her nose. Gasping for air, Shailoh pushed against his solid chest, but he didn’t budge an inch. One hand gripped the back of her head, while the other wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her as if he might crush her.

 

“Haa… please… stop now!”

 

Only when her vision began to spin did their lips finally part. In dizziness, Shailoh glared at him and fled to the opposite corner of the carriage as if escaping.

 

“Sasha.” Even though she was barely out of his reach, he twisted his mouth in irritation at her desperate attempt to escape.

 

Seeing this, Shailoh, panting heavily, covered her mouth with both hands. “I don’t know about Your Highness, but I want to stop being tormented.”

 

“Yet you didn’t beg me to stop at the end—”

 

“Enough!”

 

The carriage jolted lightly, reminding Shailoh they weren’t alone. She pointed toward the coachman’s seat.

 

Crossing his long legs, Caleb replied as if it were nothing. “Even if I took you here, the driver would have closed his eyes and ears.”

 

“Don’t you have any shame, Your Highness? Do you want the newspapers to blow up tomorrow with headlines about the second prince, the great Duke of West, rolling around with a singer in a carriage?” Shailoh poured out her words in a rush, then tried to calm herself and catch her breath. “…Please, behave with dignity befitting royalty.”

 

Caleb chuckled softly at her trembling like a cat caught by the tail.

 

Once she regained her composure, Shailoh changed the subject. “By the way, did you find her? The woman with the reddish hair.”

 

“She was there.”

 

“So Octavia was telling the truth.”

 

“It doesn’t seem like a lie, but we’ll have to watch a bit longer. I tried to follow her, but she disappeared quickly.”

 

Perhaps the letters between Duke Ferus and the queen contained secret funds for training the queen’s private guards. Surely Duke Ferus, the queen’s right hand, would be aware of that.

 

“That’s good news. If we catch a fatal weakness, things will get a lot easier.”

 

“By the way, what’s your relationship with that man, Nox?” Caleb opened the carriage window, took out a cigar, and put it in his mouth.

 

Shailoh tilted her head, watching the smoke drift away in the night breeze. “Huh?”

 

“You two looked pretty close.”

 

“Close? I already told you what kind of relationship we have. I happened to run into him at Mr. Wyson’s office.”

 

“Is that really all there is to it?” Caleb, who hadn’t even looked her way, pressed on relentlessly. “You seemed pretty natural touching his arm.”

 

“…”

 

It seemed he had seen her instinctively grab Nox’s arm to sit down. Shailoh just blinked quietly. Then an even more outrageous comment came flying.

 

“I told you to seduce Albert, not some random man.”

 

“What did you just say?” Shailoh frowned deeply and raised her eyebrows. Caleb was treating her like some loose woman going around hitting on every man she saw. “Are you out of your mind? Do I look like that kind of wo—” Just as she was about to deny it outright, a conversation with Anna flashed through her mind.

 

“The baroness knew that Baron Cal was actually the prince, and she suspected that ‘Sasha Griche’ was you. So she sent several letters after your debut, but she never received a single reply.”

 

“Is that… really true?”

 

“Of course. I sent them myself.”

 

“Are you really that curious about what kind of relationship I have with him, or what I think of him?”

 

Instead of answering, Caleb slowly turned his head toward her from looking out the carriage window.

 

Shailoh met his steady turquoise eyes and suggested, “If you give one thing, you should receive one thing. That’s only fair, right?”

 

“…I suppose so. What are you curious about?” Caleb surprisingly accepted it without resistance and asked back.

 

As if waiting for this, she spoke clearly and distinctly. “Did Baroness Kildare ever send me letters?”

 

“…”

 

“Did she ever try to contact me in any way?”

 

His previously impassive expression faltered slightly. Grinding the cigar out against the carriage floor, Caleb asked instead. “How did you find out?”

 

“You bastard!” Shailoh lunged at him with a scream, grabbing him by the collar. “You’re truly a hopeless son of a bitch! You know how much I relied on Baroness Kildare! You knew I worried constantly about disappointing her, that I didn’t dare contact her in case I caused her trouble!”

 

During the two years she spent at the barony, the baroness had cared for her like a real grandmother.

 

“There’s no place for you even in hell. Even the devil would reject someone as wicked as you! If I could, I’d strangle you myself.”

 

Shailoh’s ragged breaths echoed through the carriage. The fact that she alone was this furious and shaken made her even angrier. It was always Caleb who wielded power over her. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. She couldn’t bear the overwhelming fury.

 

“You knew… how important the baroness was to me… and yet… how could you… Haah…”

 

“Sasha.”

 

Only one man filled her sapphire-blue eyes completely. Caleb was quietly satisfied by that.

 

Three years ago, the reason Caleb persuaded Shailoh, who was in turmoil, not to contact the baroness, and even cut off all the letters she had recently received from her, was simple. She was overly devoted to the baroness. The person Shailoh trusted, relied on, believed in blindly, and loved should only be him.

 

A large hand wrapped around Shailoh’s hand as she clutched Caleb’s collar. “Enough with the insolence. Now, you answer me.”

 

“…”

 

“Do you harbor impure feelings for Nox Wyvern?” His piercing gaze was like a dagger.

 

Shailoh quietly steadied her breath. What faced her were eyes like a beast lurking in a dark cave, waiting for its prey to come inside. One wrong word, and she would be dragged away, devoured without leaving a trace of flesh or bone. Her instincts screamed in fear for her to shake her head and say no immediately, but her frozen reason was astonishingly calm. How could she make that composed face twist with a single word? She wanted to return even a fraction of the pain she had received.

 

“Answer me.” Caleb stared at her like a snake.

 

Shailoh responded slowly. “I like him.”

 

“…What?”

 

“I said I like him. I like Mr. Nox.” The tense air inside the carriage froze instantly. In the chilling atmosphere that seemed to freeze even her lungs, Shailoh drove the wedge in. “I haven’t seen him that many times, but I started to like him. I like Mr. Nox as a man. That’s how it turned out.”

 

She let go of the other end of the tightly stretched thread. It was like her saying that she would let go of this harsh faith. And that he is no longer her god.