Chapter 23 - It Was Very Docile

Chapter 23 – It Was Very Docile

She knew she couldn’t hide it forever, but she didn’t expect that he would call her by that name as soon as he saw her face.

“Renna… Renna.”

“…”

Called by her past name, Ashia widened her eyes in surprise and looked down at him. On the other hand, Kaligo wasn’t at all surprised.

‘Even though you really knew… you knew everything but you pretended not to know anything.’

As her eyes narrowed, Kaligo smiled silently and added a word.

“…My wife.”

“……”

Ashia’s eyes, which had narrowed at the sound of his low voice, quickly grew bigger. The deep blue contained in it became a rippling wave. “…Are you crazy? Did you really hurt your head?”

“No way.” Kaligo looked at his embarrassed companion and gave a small smile.

She looked down at him with a puzzled face. “Did you just smile? Are you smiling like that now?”

“Ashia… Ashia.” Kaligo’s laughing voice called out Ashia’s name several times as he supported himself with his elbows and raised his upper body halfway.

“…Are you okay?”

“…”

Kaligo’s face and red eyes were full of vitality to the extent that she thought he wasn’t a person who just came back from almost dying. No, it was bliss rather than vitality. His eyes were filled with joy for some reason.

After looking at Ashia for a moment, he tilted his head and slowly moved his gaze downward, then opened his mouth. “Are you going to keep sitting there?”

“Huh?”

Following his gaze, Ashia’s head also turned downward, and Ashia realized where and on whom exactly she was sitting.

“Ah…”

“It seems that you are in a very bad place to have a conversation.” He smiled. “But it’s fine if we stay this way too,” he muttered.

Contrary to his attitude, she looked down at him with her big eyes and blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I will get up now…”

Kwaang!

A roar shook the entire forest. Their heads turned in the direction of the sound.

“Luke!” Astonished, Asha jumped off Kaligo’s body and ran out of the tent.

It was as if a huge explosion had occurred somewhere in the forest, quite far away. She could see Luke flying busily through the puffs of smoke.

‘That guy, what’s making so much noise…?’

She looked at Luke and shook her head slightly.

After a while, Kaligo followed her out of the tent and stood next to her. “It’s divine.”

Ashia looked up at him once more, then turned back to Luke. “…Maybe it is.”

“Maybe?”

“I couldn’t find a divine beast that looked like that no matter how many books I searched. And I never said that it was a divine beast.”

“…”

“It’s just that, based on its actions and abilities, I’m willing to believe that.”

“Is it sealed in the Manastone?”

“It’s not really a seal. I think he was living in it in his own will.”

“…Own will.”

Ashia grabbed her necklace. She continued talking while gently rolling the magic stone that had lost its light in the middle with her thumb. “Just as there are a lot of things I can’t tell Luke, there’s a secret that Luke can’t tell.”

Kaligo’s gaze, looking at her, also turned to Luke. “…You called it Luke.”

“Yes. The name of the god who was sitting on the right shoulder of the god Khan was Luke.”

The god Khan was one of the gods outside the book.

‘Khan’ had a divine beast on his right shoulder, and the name of the bird that sat on his shoulder and looked down at the world was Luke.

The being who had been sleeping in Ashia’s mana stone woke up accidentally, and as soon as she saw it, the name Luke came to mind. And so she gave it a name.

“As you know, the new ‘Khan’ is the guardian deity of the Duchy of Edmund…” Ashia quickly shut her mouth. In this situation, mentioning the family of her ex-husband was practically affirming her identity. Biting her lip, Ashia gently raised her head and looked at him. ‘Ah…’

‘I’m finished…’

His lips were already drawing soft curves. He looked down at her with an expression of immense joy that the memories of Renna that had come out of Ashia’s mouth were about his family.

“Yes, that’s right. As you said, the name of the guardian deity was ‘Khan’.”

“….”

His eyes softened. “You still… remember.”

“…”

At this point, it was close to impossible to deny that she was Renna. She didn’t want to be sloppy, so Ashia turned around with her mouth shut, but Kaligo hurriedly grabbed her hand.

“…Ashia.”

“…”

As his hand grabbed her, she slowly turned towards him again, meeting his emotion-filled eyes.

‘Why…’

She didn’t know why he was looking at her with such a sad face. It was her who was abandoned unfairly, but it was Kaligo who had such an expression.

“Don’t we… have something to talk about?” Kaligo said, holding her hand tighter.

“…”

“Renna.”

“….”

Perhaps he didn’t know what she remembered whenever he called by that name. Even after ten years, he didn’t know what kind of memories invaded her dreams.

Asha looked up at him with a calm gaze. “There is no one here named Renna…”

“……”

Her denial made Kaligo’s eyebrows furrow.

“I hope Your Excellency the Grand Duke is not so foolish as to be caught up in the past and confuse it with reality.”

A fool who is stuck in the past.

Kaligo seemed to know that the word was referring to him. He couldn’t say no, but it was foolishness and yet not foolishness, for it brought her back to him and confirmed that she was still alive.

“Aren’t you curious? Am I the only one wondering about you? How did I… live here…?”

“This conversation.”

“…”

“We can do it anywhere, anytime.”

“…”

“But do we really have to do it here?”

“Renna,” Kaligo called her again.

Ashia took a step back from his grip on her. “I am Ashia Bliss, as the Grand Duke is called Kaligo Etos.”

“…”

At Ashia’s firm answer, Kaligo couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. She would pretend not to know him as long as she hid her face, but he would easily be pushed away if she shook off his hand. But even though she’d already made up her mind like that… she couldn’t help but feel sad.

“Kaligo.”

“Yes.”

“I know you want to talk. After this, I have no intention of escaping either. However…”

The chance to run away from him was already gone – from the moment she knew he was the Grand Duke but didn’t run away, from the moment she set foot in the Grand Duke’s office.

“The stories we are going to share… won’t be easy to hear.” Ashia looked around slowly and continued speaking, “This makes me nervous. It makes me miss home and it makes me feel lonely. In a situation like this, in a place like this… I don’t want to talk about the past.”

“Yes, I know what you mean.” He crept closer to her. “I’ll wait. Until the day you can talk whenever you want, wherever you want.”

“…Thank you. It won’t take long.”

“I understand.”

Again, an awkward atmosphere lingered between the two of them.

Ashia coughed as she walked towards the tent. “First, let’s start with medicine. That seems to be our priority now.”

“…Medicine?” Kaligo followed her to the tent.

She walked in and started taking out the production tools she had brought.

Kaligo looked at her and turned to the place where the monster was tied. There were no traces of the monster left.

“Perhaps the main body’s core was destroyed. Luke is good at finding those,” Ashia said.

“…Ah.”

“By the way, the potion…”

“The tools aren’t perfect, so I can’t make a lot. I’m just going to make a small amount.”

“What kind of potion is it?”

She raised her head.

Gathering materials was never an easy task. They had to travel many distances and collect dangerous items. They would not be able to eat properly and would have to fight the harsh cold. The condition of the man’s body, which had to sleep in the same bedding as her, seemed unusual.

“The potion that I drank. Is it a potion that Ben made?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“Why are you like that? Did something go wrong?” After resting for a while, Ashia continued speaking, listing the tools she had pulled out on the simple table. “I think the potion doesn’t seem to work at all.”

“What…?”

“Earlier, when I was sitting on it.”

“…Yes.”

“That thing under your pants.”

“…That?”

Ashia turned her back on him and took out a small piece of cloth and began to polish the tools on the small table to a glossy finish. “If you drink the medicine and it still happens, it means that the potion is not doing its job.”

“…”

“Using the same bedding while the medicinal effect has gone down may cause unpleasant things, so I think I’ll have to make one here as soon as possible…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, um… So…”

‘How to explain…’

Kaligo opened his mouth first. “It was very docile, though.”

“…That?” she said incredulously.