We're Married, After All - Chapter 84
“How… did you find this place?”
“Hah… now you finally ask.”
Laurea’s body swayed dangerously. Alarmed, Danel rushed forward to support her, but her legs had already given out, causing them both to sink halfway to the ground.
Danel gently lowered himself to the floor, placing Laurea on his lap. As he adjusted their position, Laurea placed her hand over her swollen belly, cradling it protectively.
Only then did Danel notice the unmistakable roundness beneath her clothing. He had been too focused on her upright posture to realize how close she was to giving birth. She should have been resting in a soft bed, not riding a horse all the way out here.
“Laurea…”
“It took me a long time… to figure out where you’d be.”
Laurea cut him off, gripping his wrist tightly. She placed his frozen, stiff hand against her belly, where fierce, almost ominous movements stirred beneath his palm.
“I don’t know you well… I get why you left, maybe even why you were ready to die… But I couldn’t figure out where you’d go. So, I thought about you, slowly… starting from the papers you left, back to our wedding day.”
“…”
“Then I remembered… the unfinished drawing you left behind…”
“You should see a doctor, Laurea.”
“No… I’m fine, really. I’m just… angry with you.”
Laurea stroked her belly as if soothing the restless child within. Watching her, Danel carefully placed his hand over hers, gently tracing the shape of her swollen abdomen. His touch was clumsy, far from what a husband expecting a child should be.
To his relief, the tension seemed to ease, and Laurea rested her head against his chest. Beads of sweat glistened on the back of her neck beneath her brown hair.
“I felt the same way when I went to see Petios… I didn’t intend to kill him.”
“…I thought you were going to save him.”
“There was no reason to… It doesn’t matter what happens to him—as long as you’re not the one killing him.”
“What difference does that make?”
“I just didn’t want you to…”
Laurea’s voice faltered, her small lips struggling to form the words she couldn’t quite bring herself to say.
Meanwhile, Danel watched her lips with quiet intensity.
Was it because the human mind blurs anger and desire? Or perhaps because it had been so long since he’d sought her out… Or maybe it was simply because Laurea, alive and moving before him, stirred something visceral within him.
His trousers grew uncomfortably tight, the pressure impossible to ignore. Ever since she’d admitted attacking Petios, he’d felt on the verge of release.
So when Laurea finally managed to speak, choosing her words with care, he almost lost control while holding her.
“I just… didn’t want to become the kind of person who’d kill family just to eliminate Petios. He’s not worth that.”
“But you are.”
“Like you said… If Petios comes back, I could lose you as my husband. But I… I want to live with you.”
“…Why?”
Danel barely suppressed the shudder in his body as he met her gaze. Most of Laurea’s words left him puzzled, but this… This was beyond his understanding. It felt almost unreal.
“Were you really planning to get rid of him… just so you could stay with me? Why? You’re free now. Everything I inherited would have passed to you anyway.”
“I thought I already told you… I don’t care about that.”
“Then why…?”
“Are you… disgusted that I nearly beat Petios to death just to remain your wife?”
“…”
“Do I scare you… the way Petios used to be scared of me?”
“No.”
Danel answered without hesitation.
“I’m… glad. Happy. Satisfied, to the point where I wish this were all just a delusion… So much so that…”
He gently tucked a strand of Laurea’s hair behind her ear. Dried blood flaked away in the wind as his fingers brushed her temple.
“I can’t help but find you… achingly beautiful.”
“I see.”
Laurea’s lips curled into a faint, knowing smile.
“That’s why… I think I like you too.”
A loud crash echoed behind them as the fire consumed the second floor, causing the support beams to collapse. The entire roof caved in with a thunderous roar.
But Danel didn’t look back. He kept his gaze fixed on the pair of brilliant green eyes before him, waiting for her lips to move again. This moment was so far beyond anything he’d ever dared imagine that waiting seemed like the only thing he could do.
Finally, her beautiful lips parted, and she spoke.
“No one ever cared… My former fiancé ran away, terrified… Yet you… you’ve always looked straight at me, as if I were the most beautiful thing in the world…”
Laurea’s brow furrowed slightly, as if struggling to find the right words.
“I’ve always wondered what you were thinking… What you wanted… what you were trying to do… No, you—I’ve always wondered about you.”
Danel exhaled sharply. His chest felt unbearably tight, his breath shallow as hope and fear warred within him.
But he endured. The faint flush around Laurea’s eyes made him dare to hope.
“I must have fallen in love with you… That’s the only explanation.”
“…”
“Because I love you… I’ve started to wonder about things I never cared about before… And because I want to be with you… I’ve even forgiven things I could never accept from anyone else.”
Laurea’s right hand traced over Danel’s chest. The warmth of her touch made his heartbeat pound even harder.
*Thump. Thump-thump. Thump.*
“So… I can’t just stand by and watch you fall into hell alone.”
“……”
“If you’re going to crawl into hell… then I’m coming with you. Even if it makes you despair.”
“…Are you telling me… to live? By your side?”
“Yes.”
“Even if I ruin your life?”
“Yes.”
Lauréa clenched the front of Danel’s shirt. The force of her grip pulled him down until their eyes were level.
“Then apologize. For everything you’ve done to me… For trying to die without saying a word. Apologize sincerely… so I’ll keep living with you instead of confessing that I killed Petios and dying a more miserable death than you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Danel lowered his forehead onto Lauréa’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Lauréa. For everything you want me to apologize for. I’ll repent however you wish… So please… stay with me.”
“Alright.”
Lauréa cupped Danel’s cheeks. When he finally lifted his head to meet her gaze, her face had returned to its familiar, unreadable expression.
“From now on… tell me everything about you. What you’re thinking, what you’re feeling, what you want… *Everything.*”
“Is that… enough?”
“For now.”
Laurea pulled Danel’s face toward hers. Her warm, flushed lips pressed firmly against his pale, trembling mouth.
She kissed him as he had once kissed her — fiercely, as if she were stealing every breath he had, exploring every corner of his mouth with relentless intensity. Only after soaking his parched lips with her warmth did she finally pull back.
Her green eyes stared directly into his, unwavering. They flicked from Danel’s face to the burning ruins of the charred cottage behind him, then to the bloodstained spear lying discarded on the ground… before returning to meet his gaze.
“I want to live with you, Danel.”
Behind him, the last remnants of the cottage collapsed into ash. Dark smoke spiraled into the dawn-streaked sky, now faintly glowing with the first light of morning.
Watching it rise, Laurea spoke again.
“So… erase it all. Make it like *none of this* ever happened.”
Gnfjfjfj
Abi translate ile uğraşamam direkt türkçe anlatacağım. Bu iki manyak beni delirtti. İkinizinde amk. Adamı hasta ettiniz lan. Sadece finali için okudum yemin ediyorum. Bu iki salak sonunda birbirilerini boğazlayacak mı diye bekledim kaç bölüm. Ve evli mutlu çocuklu mu olacaksınız cidden? Bu yüzden sosyallik önemli ikisi de başka insanlarla arkadaş olsalardı bunlar başlarına gelmezdi. İki içe kapanık asosyal gerizekalı bir araya gelip böyle mal mal işler yaptılar. Kız bir seviyeye kadar normaldi sonra o da manyadı. Bir de çocuğunuz olacak ya sizin…. O çocuğa acıyorum iki ruh hastası ile büyüyecek. Ve ikisinin de anne baba dürtüsü yok. Daniel ztn sosyopat ama Fl’de de yaşadıklarından dolayı o çocuğa karşı gram ilgisi yok. Siz nasıl çocuk büyüteceksiniz? Orataya nasıl bir ruh hastası çıkar Allah bilir. Ben bile tek başıma sizden daha iyi çocuk yetiştiririm.
Gnfjfjfj
I feel sorry for the baby. He’ll grow up with two maniacs.