Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 73

“Every time I look at His Majesty’s face, I am reminded of the past and it is painful. Still, I tried to endure. Seeing His Majesty being kind to me, I decided to stop suffering with my hate for the man who’d done nothing wrong to me. So, I made a vow to myself every day.”

 

Rachel’s voice trembled softly.

 

Rachel raised her head, and looked at Ian as if she wanted to check his face.

 

“But in the end, I was the only one who was stupid. How long were you going to deceive me?”

“….”

“Why did you change your mind? You hated me so much!”

 

Rachel squeezed her fists so that she wouldn’t show her trembling hands.

 

“How long were you going to lie?”

“…I’m sorry.”

 

Ian apologized with a painful expression on his face, but that didn’t change anything. There were some issues that could be solved with an apology, and there were some that couldn’t be.

 

He’d killed her, she died because of him.

 

Tears clouded her eyes, maybe that’s why she thought Ian was crying like her.

 

“Rachel, I’m so sorry.”

 

Ian slowly reached out towards Rachel, but she just pushed his hand away.

 

“If you are really sorry, please let me go.”

 

But despite her request, Ian just kept his mouth shut. Rachel could tell from that stubborn look that he wouldn’t let her go.

 

She’d said what she wanted. Even though Rachel wanted to leave because she was suffering, Ian didn’t seem interested in what she wanted.

 

He didn’t seem to care about her pain and sorrow.

 

“No, I hate it when you leave me.”

 

After a long silence, Ian’s determined refusal flowed from his mouth, and Rachel smiled coldly.

 

She’d said the same thing to Ian in a different situation. He was the one who’d asked her to let him leave.

 

There was nothing she could do on her own.

 

If Ian didn’t let her go, there was no way she could get away from him. Avoiding his eyes and ears, where the heck could she go?

 

Once again, she realized that her situation was still insignificant and miserable.

 

“Your Majesty.”

“… Rachel.”

“You’re being cruel to me until the end. How terribly cruel!”

 

Was it that hard to ask him to stop?

 

Rachel couldn’t understand and didn’t want to understand Ian. He wanted to kill her as if he couldn’t stand her, but then wanted to hold her with an apology as if he was sad.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Lunatic.

 

“I’m sorry, Rachel.”

 

It felt like all the blood was draining out of her body.

 

“Nothing changes even if you apologize to me.”

“I regretted it a lot. I know what I did wrong, and how hard it must have been for you. I know I was selfish.”

 

Rachel was insanely dizzy from when she yelled at Ian, and her nervous body started to tremble. She was short of breath and her heart was pounding loudly. Rachel’s whole body was shaking and she felt lightheaded.

 

Rachel couldn’t even manage to spit a curse at his face.

 

“I’ll be nice to you. I’ll take responsibility for all the hurt you received. Hmm? You had a hard time because of me, so I’ll take care of everything.”

 

Rachel couldn’t understand what Ian was saying.

 

“So please…”

“If you want to help me, don’t come back again. Please, that’s the only thing I want from you. Please don’t come back again.”

 

Rachel didn’t want to show weakness any longer. She didn’t want to get any more ridiculous than this. If she sat there a little longer she would’ve gone down on her knees and begged him to let her go, so Rachel got up and left the drawing room.

 

Rachel moved quickly, in case Ian decided to follow her.

 

“….!”

 

Rachel left the long hallway behind, and ran into Mike near the stairs to her room.

 

Mike frowned at Rachel, who was crying sadly, and looked back at the drawing room where she’d come out of.

 

He seemed to have just returned to the mansion.

 

“Ray…”

“I’m sorry, I’m going up first.”

 

Rachel walked right past Mike, and went up to her room.

 

Tap Tap Tap

 

Mike should have nothing to do with her. Nothing at all.

 

Ian, maybe that person would avoid Mike and the Duke because of her. She was worried that the people who were kind to her would get hurt or their lives would be made difficult.

 

So, Rachel had no choice, but to pass Mike.

 

In fact, there was nothing to say to Mike. What could she say to Mike about the relationship between her and Ian?

 

At the same time, she wanted Mike to worry about her and to come up to see her. She wanted him to approach her and be worried about her again. Just like when he’d smiled whenever he’d treated her the way a real brother and family member would.

 

Please send her your affection just once. She’ll be careful not to damage it, she was eager to receive it one more time.

 

So that she didn’t feel alone. So that she wasn’t too miserable.

 

It would be sad to think that Mike and the Duke’s smile were only because of Ian.

 

Now she was afraid that she would realize that all their words about family were just lies.

 

Therefore, Rachel hoped Mike cared about her, even if it was just empty words.

 

She wouldn’t be too greedy, so she hoped he’d do it just once.

 

***

 

At a rather late hour.

 

Someone knocked on Rachel’s door.

 

“Rachel, can I come in for a second?”

 

Mike asked in a quiet voice.

 

He’d asked permission as if he knew that Rachel wasn’t asleep.

 

Rachel wiped her dry eyes once more and opened the door for Mike, who had come to see her.

 

The door opened and Mike appeared with an expressionless face. Rachel made room for Mike to come in, he sighed softly and moved into the room.

 

“You must have cried a lot.”

 

Mike’s voice was filled with sadness. He reached out and wiped at Rachel’s eyes slightly.

 

Rachel, who was relieved by the careful and friendly action, bit her lips with all her might because she didn’t want to cry.

 

Mike took his eyes off her face, and walked away because of Rachel’s stubborn behavior not to show tears.

 

He sat in a chair and shortly afterwards Rachel, who had finished taking a deep breath, sat in front of him.

 

“May I ask what’s going on?”

 

Mike asked quietly. He seemed ready to wait no matter how long it took.

 

Mike opened his mouth again after hearing the ticking of the clock for quite some time and the sound of night coming through the open window.

 

“Did you have a fight with His Majesty?”

“I don’t want to be here any more.”

 

Rachel opened her mouth with difficulty.

 

“I don’t want to be in the capital.”

 

Even though she kept her mouth shut for such a long time so as not to cry and kept Mike waiting, Rachel began to shed her tears.

 

Mike walked over to Rachel, who was still weeping even as she tried to stop crying, and held her in his arms.

 

“Yes, let’s do that.”

 

Mike gently stroked Rachel’s hair.

 

He didn’t know what happened between Ian and her, but Rachel was struggling a lot.

 

To be destroyed so quickly, he wondered what happened to Rachel and what happened to His Majesty.

 

If Rachel doesn’t want to talk. If all Rachel wanted from him was to just leave here, then that was it.

 

If there was something he could do, then that was it.

 

“Let’s leave tomorrow. So, don’t cry too much.”

 

Rachel wept like a child in Mike’s arms.

 

Mike uttered more words afterwards, but Rachel didn’t understand. She just liked the feeling of his arms, how warm and large they were.

 

She liked the feeling of his touch as he patted her shoulder, as if it would all be okay.

 

Rachel cried as if she was relieved that he was still caring towards her.

 

Mike silently held Rachel, who fell asleep in his arms after she’d wept for a long time.

 

***

 

“Older brother.”

 

Rachel stared blankly at the busy employees and grabbed Mike’s sleeve to draw his attention to her.

 

“What is this….”

“You said you wanted to leave.”

 

As Mike said those words, he lightly stroked Rachel’s hair. He was still worried about Rachel, since she was speaking in a much slower tone than usual, but Mike didn’t outwardly show that concern.

 

“But why is brother’s luggage…”

 

Rachel tilted her head and asked as the servants loaded Mike’s luggage on the carriage along with hers.

 

“I don’t have to stay here if you’re not here.”

“Ah…”

 

Rachel couldn’t understand why they were putting their luggage on the same carriage, so she just nodded.

 

“Father will like it.”

“…What?”
“He misses you a lot.”

 

At Mike’s words, Rachel quietly frowned. She had no choice but to do that.

 

Mike’s words made it sound like they were going to the Oates estate.

 

“Is this carriage going to the Oates estate by any chance?”

“Yes, why?”

“Me too?”

“Was there another place that you wanted to go to?”

 

Mike asked, and tilted his head.

 

She’d just said that she wanted to leave this place, so he didn’t know whether she had a set place in mind.

 

“No, it’s not that…”

 

But Rachel was still hesitating and struggling.

 

“Rachel, what’s wrong?”

“…I was just wondering if I was still Rachel Oates.”

“…What?”

 

Mike frowned a little. Somehow, he seemed a little angry.

 

“No, it’s not that.”

 

Rachel bit her lip when she saw Mike’s face, which had stopped smiling. She hadn’t intended on offending him.

 

“I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

“Rachel, what are you talking about?”

 

But Mike persistently asked again, as if he had no intention of letting this matter go.

 

“What do you mean by asking if you are still Rachel Oates?”

“That’s…”

 

Rachel bothered at her fingernails in front of the hardened Mike.

 

***