I Want To Be Your First – R19 - Chapter 93

Rustle.

After finishing the letter, Berthwald stuffed the letter back into the envelope insincerely.

Just as he was about to head to bed, he met Ariel’s eyes, which were glistening in interest, and pondered over how he should react, before asking her directly.

“Do you want to know what the letter is about?”

“No! It’s not like that. It’s just, well, just…”

Ariel twirled her fingers and shifted her gaze away before continuing her words.

“I’d never seen your father at our wedding. I was just wondering if he’s doing well.”

With his eyes narrowed, Berthwald recalled the scene of their wedding.

‘Did my father come?’

After pondering over it for a while, he realised that he had only told his parents three months before the wedding that he was getting married soon, but he didn’t tell them the wedding date.

“…Oh, so is that why he sent me this letter?”

It’s no wonder that the letter’s contents were strange and atypical of his father. Well, he didn’t think that he’d be disappointed over such trivial matters, but it seems that he’s a little disappointed. Ariel spoke indirectly at Berthwald, who was thinking while sweeping his chin.

“How has your father been? I heard that he isn’t in good health.”

“Ohh… Health. Yes, that’s the case.”

“I heard that the reason for your hasty succession to the County was because he wasn’t feeling well. Where is he now?”

“Currently, he’s probably… Was it Nedik? He should be living at the Northern coast of Rach.”

“Wow, isn’t that quite close?”

“It’s close geographically, but the mountain range blocks a direct path, so you have to leave Pahar and circle around. In any case, it’ll take three days to arrive.”

Her gray eyes glistened conspicuously. Her shoulders flinched and her wriggling hands moved even more busily. Although her mouth didn’t move, her whole body was expressing that she wanted to go.

Looking at her tiredly, Berthwald took a seat on the bed and tapped on the position that’s next to him.

“Do you want to meet my father?”

“Yes!”

“…The contents of the letter are similar. I think my father wants to meet you too.”

“Oh gosh, is that true?”

Contrasting with her excited response, Berthwald replied with an unwilling expression.

“Yeah… it isn’t hard to travel there, but personally, I’m against the two of you meeting, as my father is quite a hot-tempered person. Would that be all right?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ariel nodded.

“I really want to meet him. I’ve been wondering what kind of person your father is. Does your father possess blond hair, like the Count does?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Uh, in that case, eyes that are like the dark sea, like the Count’s?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“A splendid appearance like the Count?”

“Definitely not.”

“…Height! Perhaps you’re similar in stature…”

“That’s… that isn’t it either. My mother is tall too, so it’s a misunderstanding to say I resemble my father.”

Faint displeasure could be detected from his firm tone.

‘Does the Count hate his father?’ Ariel changed her question while breaking out in cold sweat.

“It seems that the Count resembles his mother.”

“Who knows. I may have inherited a lot of physical traits from my mother, but my mother isn’t a dignified person like me.”

After murmuring words that anyone would find funny dryly, Berthwald held Ariel’s waist as she paced before his eyes. With that, he opened the blanket with a rustling sound and laid on the position he made with Ariel in his arms.

Suddenly lying down, Ariel looked up at him with a puzzled expression. Even so, Berthwald hugged her curled up body tightly and planted a kiss on her crown.

“Let’s stop talking about my parents. I’d like to ask you something else.”

The strange man that they had met earlier, and Ariel’s reaction.

Wizard… Curse…

While he had many questions, there was something else that was bothering him the entire time. After much deliberation, Berthwald started with the question he was most curious about.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to have a baby after your eyes have gotten better? I had just assumed that you wanted to meet the baby unashamedly after getting rid of your disability.”

He moved his upper body back slightly and made eye contact with Ariel. The dim night and the yellow light of the lamp were reflected in her clouded eyes, creating an odd colour. Berthwald brushed his thumb on her lower lip.

“The curse that that person spoke about earlier.”

After a momentary pause, he continued in a subdued voice.

“What does it have to do with a baby?”

A hint of embarrassment flashed past her drowsy face. As expected, Berthwald thought, as he clicked his tongue.

The Ariel he has observed thus far, was a woman who held a strong affection for children and animals. He found it strange for such a woman to reject having a baby just because she couldn’t see,

His speculation that constantly felt incompatible, became certain soon as he heard it was a curse. Berthwald looked at Ariel with a gaze urging her to respond.

With a troubled expression, Ariel looked at his chest and began to speak feebly.

“When I was young… the shaman grandfather. I heard something that was quite similar to what I heard today.”

If she gives birth to a child, the child will suffer the same curse.

Ariel continued to confess calmly that while others dismissed that as nonsense, for some reason she felt uncomfortable and couldn’t forget that memory.

Listening to her words quietly, Berthwald brushed the messy hair off Ariel’s forehead and said, “Is that so?”

Her long locks of ebony fell onto her milky white neck.

Berthwald looked at Ariel and let out a soft sigh that she wouldn’t hear. Deep lines formed on his forehead without his knowledge.

‘She’s afraid that the baby she birthed won’t be able to see what’s in front of her. That was what she was worrying about.’

‘That’s why she didn’t want to have a baby…’

‘That’s why…’

‘Just because of that…’

It felt like the invisible edge of his chest had shattered into a million pieces.

It was already beyond her ability to take care of herself, but why was she denied the happiness that others seem to take for granted?

She was born as a Duke’s daughter even though she couldn’t see, and only after traversing all kinds of thorny paths did he manage to reach her. But here, once again. Whether it’s a curse or something strange and absurd, it popped up and trampled on her hopes to have a child.

…Why in the world?

Was Ariel the only one that should go through such absurdities?

Both anger over this situation and despondency that life was like this rose at the same time, rendering Berthwald speechless. He bit his lips and kept his silence.

Silence ensued. Moonlight penetrated between their breaths, slightly dulling the odd silence.

After a moment, Berthwald, who had collected his emotions, spoke in a low tone.

“To be honest, the stories from earlier. Curse or something like that… I can neither understand nor believe it.”

Berthwald believed that invisible and intangible things were falsehoods. But…

“But… if that curse is really the cause of my wife’s distress.”

With his index finger, he brushed against Ariel’s eyes. Her heavy eyelids closed slowly with his gesture. When he gently brushed against her black eyelashes, her closed eyelids trembled.

“I will lift that curse at all costs. I’ll make sure that Ariel is able to see.”

“……”

“So those baby shoes. Until then, don’t ever lose it.”

As he caressed the edges of her eyes, he recalled the shoes that he had bought today. A beautiful pair of pale lemon-colored baby shoes with lace in the shape of stars.

In order for Ariel to conceive their cute baby without restraints, Ariel had to open her eyes. With her own two eyes, she had to look at the baby she birthed and place the baby’s little feet into the shoes.

Without letting it decay, and without throwing it away due to uselessness.

He hoped that until then, he could continue to embrace that pair of shoes and hope in his heart.

Ariel’s head was lowered, and her shoulders shook. Soon after, she clung to Berthwald with everything she had. Her fingers that were akin to dry twigs, gripped his firm shoulders tightly.

“I won’t lose it, until you keep your promise.”

With her extinguishing whispers, Ariel’s shoulders shook greatly. She didn’t want to cry, but her heart ached and she couldn’t stand it.

As she bit her lips, Ariel hammered his words into her mind for eternity. The words he had just said, was the most beautiful and glorious confession she has ever heard in her life.

══ ⋆♬⋆ ══

Rather than saying the Rach Free Market, where all kinds of things are gathered, was a market, it’s actually more like a place where auctions are conducted on the spot. The items that are moved from a ship would find their owner instantly and be transported to another ship, while other items are sent to an empty spot to wait for a new owner.

Harsh shoutings resound, and are constantly accompanied by the sound of a cart moving items. It isn’t until the market has dispersed with the arrival of the setting sun, would silence descend.

However, just two blocks away, Ratak Street, more commonly known as the bourgeois street, was very quiet, unlike the market that’s like a battlefield.

The well-maintained streets and the shops that exuded extravagance vaguely revealed the fact that the main consumers of the street weren’t ordinary people. At the end of the street, there was Fionia, the most famous shop in Rach.

Fionia, a high-end club that one wouldn’t dare to step into unless they’re a business magnate or an aristocrat of high status.

While the high-class clubs in the capital Drandel were exclusively for aristocrats, Fionia differed from them in the fact that it catered to the wealthy from all over the continent.

Private rooms lined with luxury items, and waitresses with perfect manners. Fionia was like an oasis in the desert for busybodies that wanted a secret place to share information. The value of the information exchanged by the guests in these closed rooms was too important to be valued.

As this was a place where sensitive information was exchanged, Fionia paid the utmost attention to the structure. Since the seven entrances hidden in the basement were directly connected to each room, most of the guests used the underground entrance. The only people that used the front door were waitresses, contractors, and vendors, and one other person.

“Master, there’s a visitor outside.”

The waitress called for the attention of the master that was folding napkins at the counter, and pointed outside. At the somewhat impatient tone, the Master raised his partly whitish eyebrows and looked out of the terrace.

‘Fionia del Chahav’

Underneath the scorching sun, pieces of beautiful peonies were inlaid in a white marble sign that shone white.

A shadow flickered under the white light. The shadow grew darker, and a tall man wearing a hooded robe that was whiter than the sign entered the store.

Afterwards, a large man and guards of the city hall followed in a row. After the hooded man muttered something to the guards that followed behind, they stepped out of the store with a slightly stiffened expression.

The door closed with a chime, the man pushed the hood backwards slowly.

In the absence of the hood, a man with a gorgeous appearance, which couldn’t just be described as handsome, appeared.