When A Ghoul Falls In Love - Volume 1 Chapter 154

So, she doesn’t believe him.

Eli looks into her lively hazel eyes. She is watching him with questions. Her body is warm beneath him, distracting him. His wife — rather his husband — is hellbent on testing him thoroughly.

“If they are truly dead, I don’t know what to do,” She mumbles with a faint voice, lowering her eyelashes. Her heart rate is slowing down again as her magic fluctuates again. He realizes that she might go back to her dreams again.

“I will take you there,” He replies loudly, pulling her attention to him. “Don’t fall asleep.”

She might dream again if she falls asleep. He can’t stop her from falling asleep, but he might be able to take away the seal before she remembers everything.

“I guess I will trust you because you have his face.” Sighing, she adds, still gripping the fabric of his robe, “Your golden eyes are beautiful.”

“More than his eyes?” Eli wonders why he is being petty. The boy is dead. Nell has found a new way to agonize him. He can’t help but wonder if he has any importance in her life. If he ever leaves her, she might not even miss him because she is always missing that one boy. They say that love is supposed to be unselfish. But he is selfishly in love with her. And he wants to drag her along with him, even if she doesn’t want to move or forget that one boy. If he could, he would have wiped out Baek Joon Woo from her mind.

Like a stupid man who doesn’t want to give up on a love that is both tiring and hopeless, he is asking her if his eyes are more beautiful, despite knowing her answer well.

“I am a realist.” She says to him solemnly, “Your eyes are more beautiful. If he was here, he would have written a poem on your eyes.”

A smile appears on his lips. Maybe his love isn’t hopeless. “Why don’t you write a poem? You used to write.”

“Me as a writer?” She wrinkles her nose. “Impossible. I want to study business management.”

Eli raises his brows. He didn’t know that.

“Did I not go to college in the last ten years?” She widens her eyes, horrified. “Am I only a high school graduate? What kind of job did I have?”

This is going to be difficult. Eli releases her reluctantly and sits on the floor beside her, watching her quietly. “You did go to college.”

“Thank goodness.” She presses her hand on her chest. “I thought that I had a horrible life.”

“And you studied literature.” He tells her, “You were a struggling writer.”

Eli isn’t someone who understands art or books. But he read her half-finished works. He wouldn’t call them horrible, but they were a little difficult to follow.

“That’s impossible!” She looks at him with disbelief. “I feel like I am in an alternate universe. There is a talking cat, you, and I am a freaking writer. It was supposed to be Baek Joon Woo’s job — not mine.”

And he also knows that she chose to become a writer because of Baek Joon Woo. “When everything is over, you should go back to college and get that degree.”

Why did she abandon her dreams because of that one boy? What would she do if he also dies? He is sure that she won’t go this far. And if something happens to her, he will go crazy.

So, that’s how much she loves Baek Joon Woo. She would rather go crazy for him than face her reality.

“I am envious,” Eli complains. If he doesn’t let her know, she won’t even ask.

“What?” Nell frowns at him.

“I am envious of Baek Joon Woo.” He elaborates, “Someone told me a long time ago that it was better to be someone who was loved more than someone who loved more. Now, I know why.”

Nell purses her lips, bending her head down. Then, she peers at him, turning her gaze downwards again. He sees her biting her lower lip nervously. Eli has never seen her showing these kinds of expressions. It’s strange how she can make him happy without making any special efforts for him, but he has to always make an effort to have her gaze on him.

“Nobody is asking you to love me,” She mutters under her breath.

“Can you stop loving him if you want?” He retorts, irritated by her remark. How can he get over the fact that she doesn’t remember him? She has pushed him out of her memories.

“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

Nell walks out of the room, not bothering to look back. If she looks back, she will feel another pang in her heart. At this confusing moment of her life, she wants answers. He can’t give those answers to her. Instead, he is raising uncomfortable questions.

Feelings might come, but people choose what they want to do with those feelings. What if her body likes him because he has Baek Joon Woo’s face? Nell thinks about his touch. Ghosts of his kisses burn her skin. Maybe she is being super conscious about it.

She hears the sound of footsteps. Even without looking back, Nell knows that it’s Eli. She curls her fingers, rushing ahead anxiously. How did she recognize his footsteps? Her ears are used to his sound; her body is used to his touches, and even the taste of his lips isn’t unfamiliar to her. She finds herself craving for him again.

Not for Baek Joon Woo. But for him.

How is this possible?

How long does it take to fall in love with someone? She doesn’t know the answer. How long does it take to fall out of love? It can’t be less than a second.

When she sees the cat walking toward her in the corridor, Nell takes a deep breath. She is not alone with the ghoul anymore.

“Oh, you are here.” The cat stops in front of her. “That healer is looking for you. The antidote is ready.”

“Where is Mr Krauss?” Nell asks the cat.

“He is brooding in the room.” The cat turns around and walks ahead of her. “Both father and daughter are the same. They play the game of self-blame wonderfully.”

Nell doesn’t know what to say. She still wants to believe that all of this is a dream, and everyone is alive.

***

Ark looks at the white building. So, they are here.

He has been wondering where Eli could hide that human. They couldn’t have gone far from the Sanguine Mansion. After wandering through the district for a while, Ark has come across this lab that belongs to Healer Amachi.

Everyone who knows Eli also knows that Amachi and Eli are close friends. Ark has always been observing Eli silently, although he couldn’t get close to Eli.

Ark has always been distant to his family members except for Lady Nilora and his father. When it comes to Eli, he has complicated feelings that originate from jealousy and grief. He can’t get closer to Eli as his elder brother, but he can’t see him in a crisis either. Eli might hate him because his mother has tormented Eli the most, and he is a hybrid.

Ark lets out a heavy sigh. The Crown Prince is looking for Eli and Nell. How should he warn his brother?

Eoin will also find out soon. Honestly, Eli’s hiding place isn’t smart.

After contemplating the pros and cons, Ark decides that the quickest way is to go in and reveal it.

In the Sanguine mansion, Duke Balthier Sanguine drops the letters in the fireplace. He knows where his son who is always up to no good is hiding.

“A sorcerer is fine.” Duke Balthier exhales, “Why is she a promised companion of a fae?”

An envoy of the Ember Fae King is in the court, and he is demanding to see the human.

The King has given permission to the marriage between Eoin and Ophelia. The Crown Prince is also pleased. In the eyes of everyone, the Sanguine family is openly supporting the Crown Prince.

But the Crown Prince won’t give up on Eli. The ritualistic engagement stops the Crown Prince from getting married to Eli, especially since Eli has taken Nell as his husband with the blessing of the goddess. The royal family still needs to marry a v.i.r.g.i.n. If Eli has lost his v.i.r.g.i.nity to Nell, the Crown Prince will come up with another plan.

Since the envoy is here, it’s also an opportunity to send away the human. After the ritualistic engagement, the Crown Prince will never let her stay with Eli.

The Highmore family is also plotting against them. But they don’t know that the Sanguine family can’t be taken down by the likes of them.

“Maybe I gave them too much importance,” Duke Balthier murmurs casually. The support of the Highmore family would have been good for Eli. Since it’s not possible anymore, Duke Balthier Sanguine has no reason to play nice.

He hasn’t forgotten how the eldest son of the Highmore family treated his youngest wife in front of all the nobles.

The Highmore family is also against the Crown Prince since the Crown Prince has mortally wounded Carmine Highmore and killed the son of Marquis Pian.

Eoin isn’t someone who will support the Crown Prince. His second son is too ambitious and vile for that.

And Eli won’t give up on the human. It would be highly difficult to gain support for Eli after what happened at the engagement ceremony.

In any case, the likelihood of the Crown Prince taking the throne is too low. The next king will be a Sanguine.