BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53: I Would Rather Not Look At The Tree I Can’t Climb
"Stop being rude," she nudged again. She had been saying that again and again. She only did this when she thought the other person was good. It was true that Luc was a good person despite his dumbness. Perhaps she felt he would mind.
"Teach your husband some manners, Blue. I\'m telling you- he is two-faced. See that innocent smile he\'s giving you, when he turns to me that turns into a creepy one," Luc said.
She chuckled knowingly. She had seen it herself after all. To be honest, I did not like to be near anyone other than her. Everyone disgusted me. All they wanted was power and the fake warmth they gave- they were like poisons that would slowly kill someone.
It was only her who was real with me. I had brought her myself so I could have her all to myself, the only thing I truly could have. All the power, fame, wealth- they were nothing but a nuisance. If a day would come when I would be able to leave all this behind and just have my wife, I would be the happiest person.
She always made me feel relaxed and comfortable. Not even some time ago, I could not think of letting my guard down and trusting someone, yet I wanted to trust her. I had let my guard down in front of her completely and there was not an ounce of doubt I had for her. She was the one who would never betray me.
"We\'ll leave then, Luc," she smiled.
"Please visit again. Don\'t bring this man with you though. He keeps disturbing. We can chat a lot, you know," Luc said.
\'Should I just kill him?\'
"Haha, I will try to visit sometime," she said.
"I didn\'t know he was marrying such a great person like you. That guy didn\'t even invite me to the wedding," Luc said.
"Really?" she asked in disbelief looking at me.
"He needed to make the necklace for you," I said.
"You forced me!" Luc protested.
"What forced? I simply ordered and I\'m the king. You have to obey me," I smirked. At times like this, it felt good to use the power of a king. Anything was right in the case of a king. Even my wife did not have any word to argue with me.
"You must be hungry now. Let\'s go."
"Yeah...," she muttered. "We\'ll leave then, Luc. I\'ll come by again."
"Sure, sure. Just remember not to bring..."
"Utter another word, half of your tongue will be gone," I threatened.
It seemed like we came here only to get not too good news. Now I was getting truly worried about the full moon night. She was just a human- there was no way she would be alright. Yet she did not seem to care.
"Are you still thinking about the full moon?" she asked.
"... Yeah. You know it\'s..."
"We\'ll be fine. Don\'t worry," she said and squeezed my arm.
"I hope so," I muttered. "But, my wife, aren\'t you provoking me?"
"What? No, what provoking?" she asked. "Don\'t tell me... No, I\'m telling you."
"Why not? We can do it anywhere," I smirked.
"No..."
"Give me a reason."
"Anyone can come," she said.
"That\'s not a problem. I told you before too. I can sense it quickly before anyone comes," I said.
"No, that\'s... I\'m hungry! Yes, I\'m hungry, really hungry!" she said earnestly.
\'You want to escape that much, huh? How adorable!\'
"I can\'t keep my wife hungry of course. Let\'s go eat first then," I chuckled.
As always she was taking way too little food in her mouth. I always liked this sight. For some reason, I found it cute the way she chewed on her food.
"Your aunt invited me to have some tea with her tomorrow," she said suddenly. Thankfully, she did not look at me, or she would have found me gawking at her.
"Did she send a letter or something?" I asked.
"Hmm," she muttered. "It came this evening. She invited me tomorrow afternoon."
"If you ask for my opinion, I don\'t want you to go. That woman is not a good person. She is all about evil schemes. She tries to humiliate anyone she doesn\'t like," I said.
"She doesn\'t like me," she said.
"... It\'s not your fault," I said. I did not deny it as it was the truth. There was no point in hiding it when she was the one who needed to deal with it. If I hid it just thinking about her feelings, that would do more harm to her than good.
"I know."
"She doesn\'t like me. His son couldn\'t be the king because of me. I don\'t understand. My father is the eldest son. So it\'s natural for his son to be the next king. And moreover, I\'m older than Isaac.
Yet his parents are being unreasonable. They hate me because of that. And as you\'re my wife, they don\'t like you that much as well."
"Not just that, I\'m also a human, but suddenly became the queen. I heard that your uncle wanted you to marry a princess."
"He told me that. But I refused. They knew clearly that I had no intention of marrying anyone other than the person I chose, yet they kept doing so. He even brought me a list of the high-ranked women\'s names. It was frustrating."
"Women wanted to marry you too," she said. I glanced at her. She was not angry or anything. She was simply chatting with me just like we usually did.
"Where did you hear that?" I asked.
"Maids were telling me this. I mean, I asked how your life was before. Then they told me that you received a lot of love letters and proposals for your hand in marriage. And there was even a princess who visited the palace only to make you accept her proposal," she said.
"... That\'s true," I muttered. "But it\'s all in the past now. I\'m married now after all."
I was afraid if she would get sad or something like that though she did not show any sign of that yet. She was good at keeping her real feelings hidden, so I did not want to make sure she knew that there was no way these things would happen again.
"I know," she said calmly.
"Are you... okay?"
"Of course. I don\'t have any reason not to be," she smiled. "I actually don\'t blame the ladies. There are two reasons- they either wanted to marry you for power and wealth or because you\'re handsome. None of the reasons are pointless. I understand them.
If we talk about handsomeness, you\'re the most handsome man I\'ve ever seen. So it\'s natural for anyone to fall for you pretty quickly. And so pursuing you is no surprise. Anyone would do that."
\'Anyone, huh?\'
"What about you?" I asked.
"What about me?"
"Would you pursue me too if we had met before?"
"No," she replied without hesitation.
"No?" If I said I was not hurt even a bit, it would be a huge lie. "Don\'t you like me?"
"It\'s not that. I liked you after we married. I never met you before. The night we met, yes, I was captivated by your handsome features. But handsomeness alone is never enough to make someone like the other person, at least it\'s like this for me. And besides, I didn\'t know you had good intentions that time," she said.
"And if I met you before, I would surely be charmed by your handsomeness, but I would rather not look at the tree I can\'t climb."
"Even if you want to?"
"That\'s right. I don\'t want to get hurt," she said.
I smiled. Why did I even get hurt hearing the \'No\' only? I should be proud. She knew what she could have. A strong and smart reasonable personality- she was the most interesting person I had ever met.
"Thank you," I said.
"... Why?"
"For telling me the truth and not lying for my sake," I said.
"You know I always speak the truth with you," she said.
"Of course. That\'s why I like you this much," I said.
She looked at me with her eyes widened. I knew why she was behaving like that. There were countless times when I told her that I liked her and there was not a single time when she did not react like this.
But I did not want to see this reaction. I wanted her not to react at all like this was a natural thing. It would take some time for her and I understood why. But I was waiting for that day when I told her that I liked her, she would just smile or say- \'I know\'.
"So what are you planning?" I asked to ease the tension. And besides, I wanted to know her decision as well. "Will you go tomorrow?"
"You don\'t want me to go," she muttered.
"It\'s your life. The final decision should be yours. Well, yes, I don\'t want you to go, but you should do what you want to or what you think is right," I said.
"Then I\'ll go."