Chapter 5. Trophy Wife
The body that had been jolting uncomfortably as it moved somewhere finally settled into ease.
Razel, who had been lost in a deep faint, slowly opened her eyes.
“Are you awake?”
After blinking a few times, she heard a voice.
It was deeper and lower than the one she knew…
Razel, still dazed, snapped back to reality and lifted her head.
Her view was unusually high, and as she raised her head a bit more, her gaze met blue eyes looking down at her.
“…Kylo?”
“Why do you look so surprised? Did the shock make you lose your memory?”
He spoke calmly, then indifferently stared straight ahead. Razel’s view began to shift slightly.
Only then did she realize she was being carried in Kylo’s arms.
‘Was that just a dream…?’
She must have fallen into such a deep sleep that the past she saw in her dream felt like reality.
‘Right, Crombel’s soldiers came to Ephor Castle… and I decided to follow Kylo…’
In the meantime, they seemed to have gotten out of the carriage. Razel’s dry breath escaped in a foggy puff.
She looked up at the person holding her.
His appearance was starkly different from the past she had seen in her dream.
The height that had once been similar to hers was now towering and imposing. His build was solid with defined muscles, and his jawline was sharp yet resolute.
Yet his strikingly beautiful face remained the same.
As did those arrogantly blue eyes that seemed to look down on people in a peculiar way.
“It seems you still can’t believe it. That things have turned out this way.”
He opened his firmly closed mouth.
Razel, who had been feeling a sense of unreality, flinched. It felt like he’d seen right through her.
‘Am I still half-asleep…? I shouldn’t stare so obviously.’
Even though she knew what intentions had brought Kylo to her.
The other nobles around her would have all been purged by his hand.
Razel recalled the white blade dripping with thick blood. The sword that had cut down her maid and wandered near her throat like a snake with its tongue out.
‘For me, he’ll give pain worse than death, not less.’
What she’d seen in the dream was barely a drop in the ocean compared to the things Razel remembered.
She had tormented him, eventually shattering the hope and love he once held.
Because she, lonely and possessing nothing, had hated him and ended up with a vicious longing.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’d trampled and broken everything about him.
That’s why he had spared her.
To vent his resentment, equal to how cruelly she had treated him.
Razel knew her own wrongs better than anyone.
“…Whether I believe it or not doesn’t matter anyway.”
“I didn’t expect your grasp of the situation to be this quick.”
Kylo let out a dry chuckle.
Soon, his steps came to a halt.
As Razel’s moving view stopped, the sound of his boots sinking deep into the snow echoed.
“We’ll be staying here for a while.”
“This is…”
“It’s a tent from the temporary barracks our army used during the war. We’ll spend the night here and move on. You have no choice in the matter.”
After informing Razel, he briefly conversed with a soldier behind him.
Razel looked at the place where she’d be staying for the night.
With snow starting to flurry again as night fell, it seemed rather inadequate for staying in.
Of course, as Kylo said, Razel had no choice.
“Let’s go.”
Having finished his short conversation, Kylo took her into the tent.
He placed Razel on the simple bed inside the personal tent. Then he lit a nearby lamp.
‘It’s bigger than I thought…’
But still, it was a flimsy place to stay in midwinter.
Once Kylo left, Razel would have to battle the cold all night.
‘It’s cold…’
Even indoors, her breath fogged. But in her position, she couldn’t complain, so she just gripped the hem of her clothes with her hands.
It was then that Kylo tossed something at her.
“Cover yourself.”
Startled, she came to her senses and found a blanket in her arms.
Razel looked at him with bewildered eyes.
Kylo was standing by the desk and standing coat rack inside the tent.
And then, right there, he began removing his heavy armor.
“Wh-what are you doing…!”
Razel gasped in shock, but Kylo merely glanced at her indifferently. He even took off his remaining shirt.
Thinking he’d shove her into this harsh place and leave soon, Razel was horrified as he suddenly undressed, but she paused for a moment.
Her gaze landed on his resolute back.
Countless scars were etched across it.
In that instant, Razel felt as if she’d been struck on the head.
‘Scars from the war…’
She couldn’t not know that. Before she’d driven him to the battlefield, she’d seen his body once.
Back then, no such wounds existed.
While she was staring blankly, Kylo put on more comfortable clothes and turned around.
Then, as he approached her, he plopped down into the chair beside the bed.
Razel, flinching, looked at him.
“…Aren’t you going somewhere else?”
This tent was too cold. It didn’t seem like a facility fit for a commander of his level, thought Razel, ignorant of war.
“I’m not going.”
A low, heavy voice replied.
Razel couldn’t understand.
“There’s no need for you to stay with a prisoner or trophy like me, so why…”
“How do I know you won’t run away?”
“…”
Even after getting her promise not to escape earlier. He spoke firmly and stubbornly.
Unable to bear the uncomfortable atmosphere, Razel lowered her gaze.
Was it because she’d seen the scars on his body? Her chest felt even heavier, making it impossible to lift her head.
All those must be wounds caused by her.
As she let out a foggy breath and her shoulders trembled, his voice came again.
“Are you cold?”
“Ah, no… I’m not cold.”
She deliberately avoided his eyes and lied. She just didn’t want to be a burden to him.
Razel didn’t notice that her action caused Kylo’s eyebrows to furrow slightly.
It was then that he, who had been leaning back in the chair, stood up.
In a few steps, Kylo approached her and climbed onto the bed.
“What…”
Razel recoiled in surprise, but it was futile.
His arms wrapped around her in one swift motion and pulled her down onto the bed.
In the bewildering situation, Razel held her breath.
In the blink of an eye, the hard bed enveloped her body. The creaking of the bed echoed unpleasantly through the quiet tent.
Kylo had embraced Razel and lain down on the bed with her.
There was no unnecessary contact beyond that. Just their bodies touching.
Realizing his intention, Razel grabbed his solid arm wrapped around her waist. Kylo’s warmth spread broadly across her back.
“Th-this isn’t necessary…”
“You said you’re cold. Stay still.”
“When did I say I was cold? I said I wasn’t…”
Feeling burdened, Razel couldn’t push him away and only muttered with words.
Did he not find it horrific to be in the same place as her, his former cruel tormentor?
‘…Is he holding me because he suspects I’ll run away?’
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a sharp sigh came. It was chillier than the blizzard that would rage all night.
“You were shivering. Do you think I can’t tell when you’re lying?”
More strength entered his arm holding Razel. As the warmth overlapped further, the cold dissipated as if it had been a lie.
“Why are you so desperate to push me away? Afraid I’ll do something to you all night?”
“That’s…”
Razel trailed off.
In truth, when he’d stripped in front of her and climbed onto the bed, a fear like that had surged up momentarily.
As his trophy wife, keeping her life meant her usefulness was at best that much.
After marrying him, she’d have to give her body whenever he wanted, endure violence in the worst case, and say nothing even if her husband committed adultery—that would be Razel’s fate.
While she silently pictured that unwelcome future, unable to speak. Suddenly, a low scoff that chilled her chest reached her ears.
“To be scared of just that—it’s ridiculous. Haven’t we already seen everything there is to see of each other?”
At his cold words, Razel’s eyes wavered.
It reminded her of her past, when she’d longed for Kylo with her rotten disposition. Her heart thudded as if struck by a hammer.
Suddenly, she felt his hand, which had been wrapped around her waist, sliding lower.
“Wh-what are you…!”
The moment Razel flinched and turned her head back.
A tremendous force grabbed both her cheeks and covered her lips.
