Secret Love Affair between a Former Saint and a Dark Hero - Chapter 52
Her mind was a blur. Iora was in a strange state, not quite awake but not fully asleep either. She heard footsteps approaching, along with a deep sigh and the sound of a tongue clicking.
‘I wasn’t going to get involved with this. …It’s awkward. It’s so awkward.’
Somehow, hearing that voice seemed to ease the tangled emotions. As warm tears gathered in her eyes and rolled down, the owner of the voice took a deep breath. It felt as if he might have wiped the corners of her eyes with his hands.
‘Please don’t cry, and destroy the one who made you cry. Live fiercely. That’s what makes life enjoyable, my little squirrel.’
She felt a sensation in her body. It felt distant, like she was floating on clouds. The person who mumbled something seemed to have put something in her hand.
“…Huh?”
When she opened her eyes again, Iora thought she had a strange dream. If her whole body hadn’t felt sore, and if she hadn’t felt a dizzying pain at the back of her head, she might have thought so.
‘I was hit on the head and fell. How did I escape from being kidnapped with Arcanda?’
Iora’s eyes widened as she realized what was in her hand.
It was a triangular cylinder-shaped thing with a very peculiar glow to it, like the horn of some kind… Iora stared at it, lost in thought.
‘Could this be the horn of a red boar? Why do I have this…? Shouldn’t Ovid be presenting this to Arcanda?’
However, she couldn’t dwell on it deeply. The door creaked open, and her father rushed in with an anxious expression. When their eyes met, a faint joy crossed Iora’s face. It seemed her father was desperately searching for her.
‘Could it be, Father? Father rescued me. Me.’
The thought brought tears to her eyes. It warmed her heart. It was her father who had saved her, and she didn’t have to give up hope of being cherished by her family.
“Father, you saved me…”
Iora weakly tried to hold her father’s hand with her own trembling fingers. She was about to tell him that it was all a misunderstanding, that she would explain, and that they should understand and love each other now, too. She was about to say that.
Until her hand was slapped away with a loud smack. It hurt terribly.
Rubbing her stinging hand, Iora said stupidly, “Ah, Father.”
Wasn’t it my father who saved me?
But he didn’t seem to notice Iora’s swollen forehead, the trickle of blood along the nape of her neck, or her pale complexion.
He glared fiercely and shouted, “Where on earth were you! No, were you peacefully sleeping in the mansion!”
“…What?”
“Huh! This was a ritual our family was in charge of! If you knew who all this was for, you shouldn’t have acted like this! How dare you!”
Slowly, the words started to make sense. The invisible silver thread snapped. Expectations turned into dust and crumbled away. It wasn’t them who saved her. Iora’s family didn’t even know that she had been kidnapped….
“There was a kidnapping during an event hosted by the House Ribandt! Indeed. If only you had been kidnapped, things wouldn’t be so complicated! What were you doing, you pathetic thing!”
Her heart sank with a thud. How could he say such things?
How could he say such things to his daughter?
Her heart and soul shattered. All her hopes vanished.
“How can you be so stupid as to follow me out here and then sleep like a baby! What do you think would have happened to our family if Prince Ovid hadn’t brought Arcanda back to safety! You should have stuck close and protected her!”
“Father, I–”
“Shut up, I don’t want to hear your excuses!”
It was Ovid who had saved Arcanda. If he had rescued them together, there was no way her father wouldn’t know. So that meant neither her father or Ovid was her savior.
‘Arcanda probably knew I was kidnapped with her. Did Arcanda… not know?’
Iora sat blankly on the bed, letting tears silently flow. She endured a torrent of harsh words as her father spat out all kinds of abuse until he was out of breath. She didn’t even want to follow him as he stomped out of the room. Her whole body shivered with fear.
“Sniff, sob…”
No, she didn’t even want to call that person her father.
“How could he be like that?”
Iora didn’t know if she was better off without parents.
“I’m his daughter. I’m his child. How could he… How could he be so angry…”
How could they have not looked or wondered? Did they even consider the possibility that their daughter could be kidnapped and in danger?
“Ha, really. Really. Such a hopeless case. How foolish am I to make such an absurd mistake? Father, that Father saved me. Huh, how ridiculous of a misconception is that….”
In the dimly lit room, she laughed for a while. She couldn’t stop laughing.
