Chapter 159: Chapter 159

DAHLIA:

This is driving me crazy!

I’m sure that only fated mates could distinctly recognize the scents of their destined partners. Even when I had been engaged with Kaist or exposed to a handful of men in the Capital, their scents were never really unique to my nose, not unlike that of Tristan’s…

So why then can Kaist recognize my scent?

“Prince Kaist, if I tell you something insane, is there a possibility you will believe it?”

He only looked intently towards me. I cannot distinguish whether he was suspicious of me or not.

“Go on… What is it?”

I held his hand. “Kaist, it’s me… Dahlia…”

We looked for each other for a really long time. I held my breath as it all happened.

“Which part was the joke in there because I didn’t really get it,” he said a bit sarcastically.

“Kaist, you never told anyone except me about it, but when you were little, you sleep in the closet for almost a year because you had a bad experience with assassins… You liked frogs so much that you were able to name all the frogs at the manmade lake of the main palace, and you can even recognize their individual faces… You started shifting at thirteen, but you were able to talk to your wolf way earlier than that. And the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done was -”

He put a hand against my mouth, stopping me for further spilling the secrets I had come to know in his nineteen years of existence.

“Whud yud melib me nahw,” I tried to ask with my clammed lips.

“Dahlia, h-how did this happen,” he asked, finally easing his grip against my mouth.

“I don’t know exactly… I think I was cursed… Samalah and I seemed to have switched bodies after I had agreed on something she said.”

“Then that other woman, she’s Samalah?”

I nodded. “I think so…”

Just then, Kaist wounded his arms around me tightly and started to burst into tears. “Dahlia! Thank the Goddess! Thank the Goddess you are well!”

I started to cry as well. “Yes. My baby and I are alright. Most of my memories had gone back, and I got to see you again. I’m really so happy!”

“Your baby? Then, only your outward appearance had changed, right?”

“I believe so,” I said.

Kaist began telling me what had happened to him and how Samalah had met an accident. He also filled me in about the king’s passing and how Tristan had been rescued from the collapsed cave.

“Thank the Goddess you have escaped from those devils early on, Dahlia! You don’t know how anguished I had felt to think that I was the one who had caused you to be in such a state…”

“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry for causing you grief, and I’m sorry for seeing Samalah in such a state… By the way, Kaist… How on earth did you recognize my scent?”

It was the burning question inside my head. I’m sure Kaist had a good explanation for this. Maybe it was because we’ve been together for a long time, and he really had a keen sense of smell… If that was the case, I do feel a little guilty that I couldn’t distinguish his own scent just as he did with mine.

“Dahlia, there’s something I have to honestly tell you,” he whispered, and before I could agree, he came into my lips and kissed me just like how he did back in the now collapsed cave.

“K-Kaist,” I said, breaking the intimacy between us with a jolt.

“Your scent - a mixture of cherries, milk, and sweet honey… It has been etched in my memory ever since,” he whispered again.

“What?... W-Why?”

“Dahlia, we are fated mates. I am your mate.”

If my jaw could have dropped even further, it would have reached the bottom of the underworld. “H-How long have you known this?”

“Since we were fifteen. Cruz identified you our mate on your birthday. I thought you’d recognize it when you come of age, so I never told you…”

I looked at Kaist’s agonized face. All this time, he knew we could be mates, but he didn’t even tell me!

“B-But Eva…”

“I know. There’s still no spark whenever I kiss you, right?…”

My hand drifted unconsciously to my lips. Kaist’s kiss didn’t have the giddy feeling I shared with Tristan whenever our lips touch each other. Even Eva isn’t affected by his presence at all…

However, looking at Kaist’s eyes, I knew there was no way he would lie to me about something like this.

Could this possibly be an anomaly made by the Moon Goddess herself? Can a wolf have two fated mates at the same time?

Is it possible not to distinguish one’s fated mate even if that person was standing in front of you?...

I knew the answer to the last question… Yes, it’s highly possible with magic.

It had happened to my fated mate mark with Tristan before. It faded the moment I discovered he had lied to me all along…

Then, does it mean that even now, Tristan was also using his magic to deceive me and keep me by his side?

We have made love in the woods when it happened. I had given myself to him, but who was to say he did not use sorcery for the mark to appear again?

Fool… I’m still a fool who had loved and trusted him again even after being duped several times…

Maybe that’s the reason why he couldn’t recognize me right now when I appeared in front of him. Despite having Samalah’s face, shouldn’t he have recognized me if we were truly fated mates?

A lot of things were still swirling inside my head when Kaist spoke. “Have you revealed this secret to anyone else, Dahlly?”

“No,” I said, swallowing the emotions that threatened to spill out from my chest. “I am not sure yet whether I have really switched bodies with Samalah or if this was something else. If I try to undo this magic now that I am pregnant, I’m not sure that my baby wouldn’t be affected by it… Plus, revealing the fact that the red ruby is still inside me can put my child in danger.”

“But if you don’t tell them, they won’t know it’s you… Count Abell also doesn’t seem to recognize you at all,” Kaist said.

“I know… For now, I think it’s better to keep it that way.”

I didn’t want to tell Kaist I suspected that Tristan used his Shadow Rune magic to tamper with our fated mate bond. I don’t know what he will do if he ever finds out…

“Then, will it be alright for us to keep on pretending that we are mates while you are still in Samalah’s body?”

I pondered on this thought. It wasn’t a bad plan actually. If I stay beside Kaist, we could figure out what the hell had really happened between our fated mate connection.

“Alright… Until Samalah regains her consciousness, and we can ask her what happened, let’s do it. Let’s stay as mates.”

“Thank you, Dahlly,” he said, hugging me again. “Thank you for believing me…”

“No, Kaist… Thank you for recognizing me beyond appearances…”

If Tristan had really tampered with our bond through his magic just so he could take his revenge, I swear I would never forgive him even if I get burned into the depths of hell!