Chapter 75 – I missed you (2)

Translator: SKAIS Editor: Dict Groiler

I could tell someone was behind me. And obviously, I was correct. I could hear him, feel him, but for some reason, he didn’t feel like a person.

My mind flashed back to the letter with a beautiful handwriting, and a friendly tone that was sent to me sometime ago. 

“Iana, did you miss me, too?”

“I…” I hesitated. Should I even grace him with an answer?

I could hear him breathe out, without opening his mouth. And at that very moment, an enchanting fragrance flowed through the air. It was faint, but definitely a good scent. 

And it came from this man.

The only pleasant scent I’ve ever smelled in this prison was from Ricdorian. And this man felt completely different from Ricdorian, who had a pure, sour fragrance, dashed with a hint of subterranean air smell.

But why would I think of Ricdorian now?

Maybe because he’s the only one I’ve interacted with this much all this time.

After I took a deep breath to calm myself, I finally managed to make a proper response this time. 

“Oppa.” when I spoke, when I called him that, the hand he splayed on my back stilled before I could feel slight vibrations.

Perturb.

He was shaking. The man’s body was trembling greatly. He seemed quite surprised I would speak with him, it seemed. 

“…oppa?” He whispered in disbelief, “Iana. You…” He trailed off… 

So far, his voice, which had been slow and relaxed all this time, had been suddenly cut off. He was suddenly flabbergasted.

Was it so surprising? Did Iana address him differently before? Was there a problem?

He called himself my brother in the letter, but should I have called him differently after all? Would calling him by his name be enough instead? But I didn’t mean to call him that, I just didn’t know how else to address him.

True, I’ve been called many things before. But surely it would be believable that she had changed. I’d been in prison after all.

Worse comes to worst, I could always feign memory loss, not too big, just something small. It would prove to be the least problematic solution too.

“You’ve forgiven me?” his voice finally asked, the slight tremor evident with his breaths. Listening to him would prove dangerous in the long run, but right now, I was simply fascinated by it.

Forgive me. I didn’t know what I did wrong. It was a matter of course.

Soon, I held his hand slightly.

“Time…” That’s it. As soon as I started talking, I raised my head. 

Rumbling.

Not far away, I heard a rumbling sound from the grass. It was the sound of people approaching. And not long after I heard someone talking.

No, not talking, it was someone shouting. Loud enough I could even hear it. 

“Is he there?”

“I don’t think he’s here either!” 

“Search thoroughly!”

“Yes!”

The busy footsteps erupted all over, there were shouts heard from all sides, gradually getting closer to where we were. I could tell it was only a matter of time before they would finally reach where we were.

For some reason, it seemed like the hand of my ‘brother’ who grabbed me, had suddenly gained a lot of strength. Even at that time the sound was becoming clearer every second.

The man behind me took a deep breath, as if he had made a decision. He was sighing, taking deep breaths in, and then out, then in, then out, in, out…

I could tell he repeated it until he was calm enough.

“Iana, I’m glad because you look fine.” he finally spoke. I mentally shrugged in agreement. I certainly feel safe.

“If he touched you…I wasn’t going to let it go this time.” he growled lowly, and before I could even answer, his other hand moved so abruptly…

They now rested against my throat, tightening up. I could hear the shouts grow frantic.

“Did you find him? Look everywhere and at every corner!”

“I don’t see him yet!” 

He gave one final squeeze, and finally let go. Then I noticed there was something soft in his hands. I still couldn’t see anything, but it felt something like a cloth.

“Iana, I’m going to pull your release date.” His voice sped up, contrary to his tone earlier.

“How long do I have?” I asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” he told me, I could feel the promise behind his words.

I haven’t even had a proper conversation with him yet, but what I can tell so far was that his voice was really great. My hesitation to ask didn’t even last long because I had been distracted by my enjoyment of listening to him.

“Why are you suddenly pulling the release date?”

If he was going to pull the release date, he would have mentioned it once in his letter, but I couldn’t recall him mentioning that.

“Because I miss you.” he said in a very low voice. “And I think I can arrange a place where you are no longer in danger.” He explained further.

Of course I couldn’t understand at once. The lost memory could only make me assume the context of what he was trying to tell me.

At one point, his voice became even lower.

“My little sister, forgive me, for doing it. I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.” His hand fell slowly, detaching itself from me. “Just wait a little bit, Iana.” he pleaded, before he removed what was covering my sight.

As I opened my eyes, everything seemed to blur around me for a while. Probably because it was blocked for some time now.

While I was too preoccupied with blinking, a soft touch grazed my cheeks.

Stroke. 

Surprised, I opened my eyes wide. And a voice whispered for a moment.

“I’ll pick you up.”

The sound from behind gradually faded away. Instead, the sound of the footfalls approaching steadily gradually grew louder.

When I turned around, I could see the back of the head of a man moving away from me. The only thing that could be recognized about him was that he was wearing a brown robe, a tall man, and his silhouette was as sturdy as a beast.

“…and it’s been a long time.” were his parting words.

He had an outstanding back, if I do say so myself. Suddenly the bushes in front of me rustled, as a man burst through.

It was a guard. A senior guard. 

“Here! Oh, hello.” he greeted me as I continued to blink.

“Yes, hello?”

I saw this face once. He was with me on a walk with Ricdorian. The man was silent because of the awkwardness between us, and it showed plainly on his face.

“Where were you going?”

“Dining room.” I blurted out suddenly.

Actually, this was the way to the underground cell, but it still wasn’t fixed. 

Looking back, the guard was looking at me with this strange expression because he saw me between the bushes but within a few seconds, he seemed to have interpreted it as something with a plausible explanation rather swiftly. Maybe he thought of Lenag’s order which was to allow me everything that I wanted to do. 

Sigh. 

He gave me a light salute, and then glanced around. He seemed to be looking for something.

“Then, Iana… have you seen any other person around here?” he asked me warily.

“Someone else?” I asked as I tilted my head, feigning ignorance. “You mean a prisoner?” I continued to ask.

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