Predatory Marriage

Chapter 192. Mystery Man

Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan

“I will forgive your discourtesy,” she said. “I will pretend nothing happened–”

“Mistake?” He interrupted her generous words. His face was expressionless. “I have never been mistaken. Not once, from the first moment I met you until now.”

Leah was silent. She should call the guards to punish this intruder, but she kept hesitating. She didn’t want to.

“Remember me, Leah,” the man said seriously, and she looked at him, bewildered because it sounded as if he were asking her to remember moments that didn’t even exist rather than this moment now. The voices of attendants suddenly broke the tense, eerie silence between them.

—Princess! Princess!

The voices were approaching. Frowning slightly, the man handed her the umbrella, and Leah took it automatically. He grabbed the tip of her chin.

“I’ll give you the first clue.” He said arrogantly. “I’m Ishakan, the King of Kurkan.”

“……!”

Leah’s eyes widened.

“Remember me,” the man with golden eyes whispered again. And as soon as the words left his mouth, he disappeared.

Startled, Leah looked around, but he had disappeared in a blink; there was no trace of him anywhere. The only proof that it hadn’t been a dream was the umbrella in her hand.

She felt as if she were waking up from some strange possession. Holding her umbrella in the pouring rain, she stood unmoving before the fountain for a while before she finally set off. She came across one of the attendants after only a short time, and he ran toward her with a worried expression, grabbing her umbrella.

She couldn’t help looking regretfully at it after he took it from her. There were many similar umbrellas in the palace, but for some reason she wanted that one.

Walking toward her palace, she thought of the man who had called himself the King of Kurkan. She couldn’t remember him, but he acted as if he knew her very well.

Not much was known of the Kurkans. But Leah was a public figure. Anyone could act as if they knew her, if they gathered the details about her already available. But what would be the point of doing that?

The Kurkans had been invited to the wedding. They knew that Leah was to marry the King of Estia. There was no reason for him to act that way, and his emotions had seemed too intense and genuine to be feigned…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the person waiting for her in front of her palace. Standing in the rain without an umbrella was Blain, with several attendants waiting with him.

“……”

Looking into his cold blue eyes, she walked slowly toward him, and he waited like a statue until she was close enough and then embraced her roughly, burying his face in her neck. She felt slight revulsion, but it was tolerable.

His body was cold. He must have been waiting in the rain for a long time. But while she was in his arms, Leah thought of another man, a man whose body had been so very warm…

After he had held her for a long time, Blain lifted his head to whisper.

“Please say you love me.”

There was a hint of fear in his broken voice. She didn’t know what he was afraid of, but she knew the answer he wanted.

“I love you,” she answered quickly.

Blain hugged her tighter in the rain, and only when she began to shiver with cold did he speak again.

“…Let’s go inside.”

Kissing her forehead, he grabbed her hand to lead her into her palace. She followed behind him as if she were being dragged, and looked back.

The rain was falling harder. Leah looked back at the garden, obscured by rain and a faint mist, and kept walking.

She was still thinking about golden eyes.