Chapter 11: Sharing the Poison
Clint realized that if he hadn’t chosen to seek the presence of Ailea, she’ll end up waking on that cold staircase and bruised too.
No one was there for her.
“Lawrence, what the f*ck is he doing?” Clint muttered in an angered mood, unconsciously sweeping up Ailea’s platinum blonde hair.
Ailea opened her eyes to the act which was done out of pity. She saw Clint’s golden eyes and his figure sitting on the edge in amazement.
Surprised, she screamed.
“W-wait… hold on! It’s me! Don’t you remember me?” Clint said hurriedly.
“Get out! Get out now!”
Afraid, Ailea threw her pillow and anything at Clint without mercy.
There was a sound of thump echoing.
“I was going anyway! I wasn’t here to hurt you!” Clint said, blocking the things hurling towards him with his arms.
Ailea had woken up, surprised to see a man she didn’t know sitting on the bed.
Not knowing what to do, Clint looked around. He then picked up the candle on the table at the thought of confirming to her who he was.
He approached her and asked, “Don’t you remember me?”
Fire.
Ailea hurriedly drew back as red embers neared her.
“…Please put it out…” she said, softly.
Was she afraid of fire?
Clint backed away at her words, thinking the reason she was afraid of fire was that she was a fine, delicate woman who’d grown up in the Imperial City all her life.
It was only when the fire was far away that Ailea breathed a sigh of relief.
She realized that the man was Clint, but still, she was wary. Looking at him more, her eyes suddenly locked onto his left hand which had turned a deep black as she wondered why he came to her bedroom.
Then, her heart sank.
‘No way….’
“Um… what’s wrong?” Clint asked.
Ailea walked to Clint as if she was possessed by a ghost.
“Oh, right. I apologize. But I saw you sleepwalking and you fell. A gentleman like me had to help you out. There’s also a cut on your knee…”
“It’s not that! What is this? What’s wrong with you…? Why did you get close?! Is it because of me? Did you… get this from me…?”
Tears soon gathered in Ailea’s eyes.
“…Is it because of that kiss you had with me?”
Ailea’s hands trembled. Her black spots never spread to anyone, so she believed she wasn’t contagious, but now her mind said otherwise. She never had skin contact with anyone since she became ill.
And… it was her first kiss too.
She thought she had ruined Clint’s hand.
Clint grabbed her hand urgently seeing her unable to breathe properly.
“No, it’s not infected! Absolutely not!”
“Then…”
“I did a spell. I saw strong evil energy spread through your body. The only thing I could do was decrypt the basics, so I couldn’t take everything out of your body. We’ll be sharing these black spots for a while.”
Ailea’s eyes shook at his words. She murmured blankly, “…You took it out?”
And now they were sharing it… sharing the poison…
“Are you crazy?! Why would you do that? Do you… do you know what will happen…?!” Ailea exclaimed in a disarray.
“Jesus, calm down! It’s better than taking on the burden all by yourself! Besides, I forced a kiss on you, so this is just me paying for it!”
“But… why this..? Don’t you know how painful it is? People…”
“People?”
“They’ll say you’ve been cursed…” Ailea continued in a quivering voice.
Why did she come back to life two years in the past? She should’ve died and burned to death.
“I can’t afford to care about that, I’m a busy person,” Clint said as an excuse to the despairing beautiful woman.
Beautiful woman? Did he think that? Well, she’s kinda pretty… and cute.
“What… do you mean?”
“I’m going to the battlefield soon. I’ll be taking with me twenty knights and a thousand soldiers. We’ll end up dead. For sure.”
“Why? Why would you…”
Clint, who was about to say Lawrence sent him, quickly shut up. He thought Lawrence sent him to the battlefield in exchange for kissing Ailea.
If she knew she was the cause of it, she would have never uttered a word to Lawrence that Clint kissed her.
It was why Clint was surprised at her unexpected reaction.
Regardless, he came here to apologize, not to place blame.
“Don’t worry. We’re just drawing lots,” Clint said playfully and lied through his teeth.
Ailea could see right through it.
She tried her best to stop crying.
Looking at Clint’s captivating face, she parted her lips and said, “Clint… aren’t you the chief knight? Knights of Order…”
“You know me?”
“I know. Many swear that there’s no woman in the castle you haven’t touched.”
“Err…” Clint scratched his head awkwardly. “Let’s make this clear. I didn’t approach them, they did.”
“You should’ve refused.”
“Don’t nag at my not so good choices.”
Ailea looked at the captivating young man quietly.