Chapter 219: Side Story 11

Startled, Sabina turned around.

Tristan stood by the door, waving a crumpled piece of paper.

“You should have taken better care of something so precious.”

I did take good care of it!

But Sabina couldn’t say that.

Recalling last night’s events, she remembered falling asleep with the note in her hand.

Being left alone on a stormy night, even with her strong survival instincts, she couldn’t completely erase her feelings of anxiety.

‘I think I held onto it for comfort…’

No, that must have been the case.

That’s why Tristan ended up with the note.

Sabina bit her trembling lips and finally said,

“…Give it back.”

She tried to sound calm, but couldn’t completely hide her shaking emotions.

Worried that Tristan might tear the worn and tattered note.

His voice was desperate, trembling with unease.

“Is this note the reason?”

“For what?”

Sabina asked, focusing on the piece of paper fluttering in his hand.

“The reason you said you would make me give up on you, even if it means killing me.”

“Speak clearly.”

“I’m asking if this note is what gave you that look in your eyes, what breathed life into your will to live.”

She couldn’t understand why he was asking that.

“The will to live?”

Did ‘he’ give me the strength to live?

Hesitant, Sabina replied while still fixated on the note.

“Maybe… it might be.”

She wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t been by her side.

‘I can’t be sure since it didn’t happen, but yes.’

That person was her mental support, her only pillar during her childhood.

Perhaps without him, she might have withered away day by day in the Valois family.

Or maybe she would have accepted her fate as a sacrifice and willingly agreed to Tristan’s proposal.

“It’s not the note itself, but the person who wrote it that’s the cause.”

“So, the person who wrote this note is your true love?”

Only then did Sabina look at Tristan.

The demonic Grand Prince had a twisted, unfathomable smile.

He seemed quite displeased.

‘True love?’

Why would he mention that all of a sudden?

She was so flabbergasted that her expression hardened, unable to even muster a hollow laugh.

What nonsense. Why would he think that…?

‘Ah. Maybe it appears that way to others.’

Sabina recalled the contents of the note.

It was the last letter from that person.

She had read it over and over until the paper was worn and tattered.

◊◊◊

To my dear Sabina,

If you are reading this, it means you have safely found my note.

I’m glad as your knight that you remembered the secret spot I mentioned in passing.

I’m relieved not to be remembered as the rude one who left without saying goodbye.

My lady, did you know that if you ride south for a fortnight, there’s a port?

And from there, you can take a small boat to the trading city of Naphta.

I’m heading there. My old friend Garnet will tell me which trade ship to board.

I trust you remember my friend’s story, as clever as you are.

Of course, it would be troublesome if people knew I was there, so I’ll rent a space in the cargo hold.

My lady, I don’t know where I’ll settle.

But wherever it is, it will be the land we dreamed of.

There, you and I can be anything.

In the land of dreams, my lady, Sabina, I will wait for you.

With love, A.

◊◊◊

Sabina had endured physical and mental abuse yet remained intact, all thanks to A.

A. Allen. The middle-aged knight who had protected Sabina all her life.

He influenced her in everything – her reliance, thoughts, dreams, beliefs, knowledge, speech, lifestyle, and attitude.

It was Allen who taught her swordsmanship.

He was more of a father to her than her own absent father.

‘But then, one day, Allen suddenly disappeared.’

Without a word to Sabina.

It happened three years ago when she was fifteen.

She resented and missed him, then suddenly remembered the secret spot he had mentioned in passing.

Rushing there, she dug under the largest zelkova tree and found a note.

Along with the note was a small cloth pouch containing several small jewels.

It was funds Allen had prepared for Sabina.

‘Since then, I’ve been waiting for a chance to escape…’

Her attempt to flee failed, and she ended up at the Valentines.

Allen said he would wait for me in the land of dreams.

‘It’s been three years since then. I wonder if Allen is doing well.’

She believed he was.

He was like her, or rather, she was like him.

So he must be alive.

She sighed and looked quietly at Tristan.

‘If I tell him I have a true love, would he give up?’

Even if Tristan wanted to marry her to have an heir, he was a man with emotions.

What if the woman he was to marry was deeply in love with another man?

Would he let her go out of pride if he knew she planned to elope with her love?

That thought crossed her mind.

After a moment of silence, Sabina, as if troubled, averted her gaze and said,

“Then?”

“…”

“Before coming to Valentine, I was planning to run away. I wanted to spend my life with him in the land of dreams.”

Leaving out the part about a true love, it was all true, so she could brazenly say it without blinking.

“The day I forget him will never come in my lifetime… Can you let me go?”

“Ahh.”

Tristan nodded as if he understood.

His surprisingly compliant response caught her off guard, but then,

“I forgot one thing.”

He neatly folded the note and placed it in her hand, saying,

“Give up your love as well.”

Of course, it was to be expected.

She wasn’t surprised.

Sabina glared at him with fierce eyes and shook off his hand.

“How many times do I have to say it? If you try to make me give up, I will kill you.”

Tristan, barely holding back laughter, firmly grasped her escaping hand and said,

“I’ve said it too. Make it as painful as possible.”

Their eyes met in the air, raw with unhidden emotions.

Sabina glared at him with burning anger and hatred.

At that moment, she thought she saw something flicker in his seemingly void of humanity, pitch-black eyes.

Before she could take a closer look, the trace of it vanished.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“How about a bet?”

A bet?

The devil proposing a bet was never a good sign.

She wanted to decline, but she wasn’t in a position to be choosy now.

‘After all, what could be worse than the current situation of having a child and dying?’

Sabina shook off his hand again and crossed her arms as if to challenge him to speak.

Tristan looked down at his now warmth-deprived hand and said,

“It will take a month to prepare for the wedding. The one who breaks the other’s will first during that time wins.”

“And if I win?”

“If you win, I will let you go freely. I’ll ensure that the Valois family cannot harm you even after annulling our engagement.”

It was an offer Sabina couldn’t see any harm in.

‘Actually, the conditions seem suspiciously favorable.’

Tristan didn’t need to propose such a bet.

Even if she resisted, he could ignore it and proceed with the marriage to get what he wanted.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“You can’t harm me physically or torture me in any way.”

“…I don’t know how badly you think of me, but alright.”

He seemed quite confident.

Sabina couldn’t understand where Tristan’s confidence came from, but she had no choice but to accept.

“If I win… well, you know what it means.”

This time, Tristan respectfully took her hand, pressed his hot lips on it, and said,

Sabina’s fingertips twitched.

But she didn’t avoid his gaze and stared back at him.

“It’s a bet. Sure.”

“Hmm, yes.”

His light laughter and breath tickled the back of her hand.

“When you give up everything,”

He said with a smile, revealing a childlike innocence yet blatant madness, like a child plucking the wings off a butterfly,

“I’ll take everything you are for myself.”

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