Chapter 157: Chapter 157

TRISTAN:

I looked at Kaist Lyon as he tried to stop me from slapping sense back into Samalah once more. I can’t believe what he just told me.

“Don’t touch her! She is my mate,” he repeated.

I wanted to laugh.

I would have believed him right then and there if he didn’t tell me the same thing before I seduced Dahlia into marrying me and leaving him on the altar.

“So what,” I blundered. “I know you’re just trying to rescue her, but that wouldn’t work!”

I looked at Samalah, and tears were still streaming down her face, but she looked equally confused as I was. If I didn’t know her so well, I could have been tricked into thinking she was really in a pitiful state.

“No! Don’t you dare hurt her again!”

Just then, we heard the sounds of boots coming towards us.

“What are you doing?”

It was the man from last night, the one who offered me a drink after the healer took Dahlia in. He came towards Samalah’s side, who was still clutching her left cheek.

“Why did you raise your hand on her? She’s with child!”

The shocked looked on my face and on Kaist’s face were enough to send anyone laughing hard.

So Samalah was pregnant? Was this why she fled away and left Dahlia to the vampires and rogues?

I could only guess that the father of her child was any of those rogues she had been with this past month…

Although Samalah maybe in a very sorry state now, I still cannot help but resent her.

If she did not leave Dahlia to the hands of those rogues… If only she didn’t run away and leave her, all of those things wouldn’t have happened…

“I-It’s nothing. It’s not his fault… This was all just a misunderstanding,” Samalah mumbled.

Normally, she would have already used an opportunity like this to trick everyone into thinking I was a monster, and she won’t be wrong. I really hated her for leaving Dahlia behind while she ran away from the very people who brought hell to us!

“Young man, from this day forward, you are forbidden access even in front of this gate. Go and set yourself towards the mountains! We will send word to you about your wife’s condition via messenger pigeons,” Thesla declared.

“No, please, have mercy,” I immediately pleaded. If they make me separate from Dahlia further, I would probably really lose my mind at this point. “Please… I’m sorry for hurting her!… Just don’t take me away from my wife!”

I would do anything to stay by Dahlia’s side. I would kiss the ground if they command me to do it!

“Thesla… It was just a mistake. He didn’t mean to hurt me,” Samalah said.

Why was she helping me? Was it out of sheer guilt?

“I agree. You must let him in,” Kaist butted in.

“And why should we listen to you? What authority do you hold over us?”

Kaist pulled out a signet ring bearing the Royal Seal of Talandor from inside the pocket of his clothing.

As soon as the guards and the man beside Samalah realized who Kaist was, they fell down on their knees.

“Y-Your Majesty, Prince Kaist… I-Is it really you?”

Of course the prince’s light blonde hair and light violet eyes, which were unique in all the Kingdom of Talandor, should have given his identity away even without his official signet ring.

“Grant us access inside the village. We want to see the patient, Dahlia Hurst.”

It was the first time in a long time that the prince before me was exercising his power towards his subjects.

“B-But sire, this man threatened to harm the village yesterday, and as you have seen, he threatened a woman whom we have pledged to watch over,” the man named Thesla said.

“It’s alright. This man is with me. And as for this woman…”

I could only watch as he put his arms around Samalah’s shoulders. “From now on, she stays with me so that I can be sure she’s safe.”

Was it really true? Is Samalah really Kaist’s mate?...

Fate must truly work in such mysterious ways.

Despite knowing that they must be mates, I can’t help but stare at how protective Kaist seemed to be over Samalah… Arthur growled maliciously inside our shared consciousness.

Samalah, on the other hand, did not protest. She simply lowered her eyes to the ground.

She was acting very suspicious…

“V-Very well, Prince Kaist. Please come this way…”

I was busy observing how Samalah would steal a look at me and how Kaist’s grip around her body would tighten when she does this that I had almost did not realize that the procession has halted.

“This is Sir Morland’s house. The woman you seek is inside, but we must wait here a while until Sir Morland has finished.”

My heart began to beat anxiously in my rib cage. I had almost forgotten that Dahlia was here, and she was in grave danger as I was momentarily distracted by the faint smell coming from Samalah’s body.

I didn’t know how it happened, but just now, she smelled a bit like Dahlly…

“How is the patient’s condition,” Kaist asked Thesla.

“She has a very weak pulse when the master took her in, but the master is using all his skills to help her. I think he will succeed.”

Tears started flowing down from my eyes uncontrollably. “Thank you,” I muttered.

Kaist began praising the Moon Goddess. I looked up to see something strange though.

I thought for sure that I would see Samalah fret at the news of Dahlly surviving death. However, it was not as I had expected…

“Praise the Goddess, she’ll be well,” she said, her face lighting up as if a great burden has been lifted from her.

I know Samalah was good in acting, but I didn’t know she was this good. She had never hidden her true feelings about Dahlia before – all her hate and jealousy of her. Why then is she putting on this act now?

Is she doing this because of Kaist? Was she happy that he had pronounced her as his fated mate?

And why on earth does Samalah smell like Dahlia? Was that also part of her trick?

Although I don’t know what had really transpired during the days I was gone, there was one thing I knew for sure.

Samalah’s trickery is at its finest… I must never get caught up in her lies again, and more importantly, I must keep Dahlia safe from her, even if it meant I had to hurt my former lover, ally, and friend…