Chapter 75: Chapter 75

Khailis’ eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was fire. It was night time, but the fire burning before her was so huge, it might as well have been noontime.

Weakly, she tried to climb the piece of wood that she had been clinging on to in an attempt to heave her freezing form out of the water. However, the plank was too thin, and thus, it cannot support her weight. She was almost thrown into the bottom of the sea as she struggled to get on it. After a few minutes of scampering, she gave up on her attempt and rested her weary head on it, just like she had initially done so.

For how long she had been there, she didn’t know. It could have been for a couple of hours now or probably days. The last thing she remembered was being aboard a ship, but she was haphazardly thrown down at the sea as she lashed out on the incoming enemies when the ship tipped into one side.

Khailis struggled to find a place to latch herself while fighting for her dear life at sea. She was good at many things, but she was absolutely terrible at swimming. She didn’t know such skill would be vital to her one day. If she survives this, she swore she will really learn how to swim well that she’ll even beat the mermaids at it.

That is, if she survives...

She looked at the big, burning thing once more and felt that it was the end for her. How can she survive with just this thin piece of wooden raft? Already, she’s feeling lightheaded and terribly thirsty. Her limbs felt numb and wrinkly from being submerged at the cold ocean. She looked everywhere frantically, but she couldn’t find anyone or anything aside from the burning ship at the distance. She hoped in her heart that Langrion, Shia, and the rest of the gang survived...

There was only one thing she wanted to do in the entire world before she dies though... She wanted to see Gavil.

Ah, how can she forget it? Gavil did say he would come to her if she wanted to, right? This was the time then. He should come to her at least before she passes away...

Slowly, Khailis retrieved the flute he had given her from her neck. She had hung it in there, holding on to it until the day they would see each other again.

Gavil was really naive and childlike... How can a small flute bring him back to her? He was miles away from her. He had probably forgotten all about her by now...

Still she wanted to see him. She blew on the flute. It made a faint, shrill sound. She blew it one more time, but the sound was even fainter. Perhaps it was because a tear had already been caught on her throat, but she was just too dehydrated to cry out.

Just like she thought, the flute didn’t work. No Gavil had shown up. She was terribly alone... Her last wish could never come true, just like her wish to be with him forever could never happen...

She didn’t feel good after using her last energy to blow the flute. A throbbing headache was starting to make her feel so sleepy. Khailis closed her eyes. This was it... She was really dying after all...

Khailis had already lost consciousness for quite some time when up ahead, the cry of a colossal, bird-like creature resounded.

Khailis rolled her eyes several times before she was able to half-open it. She could hear the faint crashing of the waves against the shore. She must be in a fit of delirium by now, but wow, how beautiful does the sea sound! If Gavil were here, he would have liked what she was hearing too.

“Khailis...”

Indeed, this was such a nice dream. She could even hear Gavil calling her name. She didn’t want to wake up from this at all. It was nice hearing the soothing, exotic voice of his beloved calling her name as such.

“Khailis... Are you awake?”

“Hmm, not yet...” she whispered. Who would want to wake up from a hallucination like this?

“Wake up, Khalis...” A pair of soft lips descended on her eyebrows. Wow, can her dreams be any more real? She had actually felt his ticklish kiss brush against her face.

Another kiss descended on her closed eyelid, and then another on her cheek. She smiled. She was positively in heaven.

A pair of arms grabbed her shoulders gently, and she felt a light bite descend at the edge of her left shoulder. Okay, that one felt too real.

“Ah, what are you -...”

Whatever it was that Khailis was going to say had been lost to the wind. She fully opened her eyes and saw that she was sleeping close to the lovely face of Gavil, who was a little busy biting at the raw skin in her shoulder.

“Khailis, finally!”

Gavil hugged her even fiercer, his ripped muscles crushing her chest in the process. She coughed violently several times before he consented into releasing her from his steel-like grip.

“I’m so glad you are finally awake!”

Khalis held his face against her hands. She ruffled her fingers through his black, thick, and wavy hair. She clutched his tanned cheek and kneaded his face like dough several times before she yelped in delight.

He was real, alright! She wasn’t dreaming! It really was Gavil!

“I, uh.. where?” Khailis wanted to ask a million and one questions, so she sat upright in bed. As soon as she did this, the sheet that was covering her body fell down, revealing her white, ample, and bare chest.

“Ahhh!”

Quickly she pulled the blanket to cover her naked body. She got up from the bed, but her feet were as soft as jelly, and she fell back to it again. Gavil stood in fright too, trying to catch her in his arms. As he prostrated himself however, his perfectly tanned and naked lower body was exposed to Khailis. She began to scream even louder.

“Ahhh, Gavil! Cover it up!”

Confused, he replied. “Cover what up?”

“Cover that – that thing!” Khailis scampered about. She was able to see a pillow beside her, and she quickly threw it at Gavil’s manhood.

He skilfully caught it, and using it like a shield against his member, he sat next to Khailis again, whose whole body had now turned as red as a beet.

“D-don’t go near me!”

“Why? Did I do something wrong?” he asked innocently.

“Yes! You are naked!”

“Oh, but you are naked too.”

“Yes, that’s why! This is wrong! Why are we both naked?”

“I stripped your clothes.”

“You stripped what?! Why did you strip them?”

“Because they were wet when I saw you, and you had a fever.”

“Why didn’t you put new clothes on me? And why didn’t you put any clothes on yourself?”

“You didn’t want to. You said we can stay like this.”

If one’s eyes could only pop away from one’s head, hers would have been rolling around the floor already. What in the world was Gavil saying?

“I-I’m an honourable guard of the empire! I wouldn’t ask you to strip!”

“But you did. You ask me to strip and lie next to you yesterday, and the night before that, and two nights before that too...”

Khailis couldn’t breathe. Gavil must have lost his mind! Why on earth would she say those things to him?

Gavil came nearer towards her, patting her back gently.

“That’s alright, Khailis. We are linked now. You don’t need to feel bad about getting stripped.”

“L-linked?” Somehow, Khailis didn’t like the sound of that word. “What do you mean by linked?”

Gavil paused for a moment, thinking of the equivalent word of what he wanted to say in the Human Tongue. “We are... married now.”

Married... Did she and Gavil really get married? How the hell did that happen?

“You blew the flute. That means you agreed to marry me,” he said, his face lighting up with joy.

“The flute? Did you mean the flute that you gave me, on your birthday at the debutant ball?”

“Uh huh,” Gavil nodded. “Since we already kissed at your party, it means you like me enough to be your betrothed, right? So I gave you my flute, and because you accepted it, that means we were engaged... So now, after blowing on it, we had become married. You finally accepted me. I couldn’t be any happier!”

Khailis’ jaw fell. “B-but you said I should blow on it if I find myself in a predicament. You didn’t say anything about getting married!”

“Yes, I did. I can only find you if you accept me as your husband and blow the flute. Now that we are linked, I can find you anywhere!”

The whole time that Gavil was explaining about the flute, his face did not change at all. He looked so naive and childlike that it was so hard for Khailis to accept that he had cheated her into a marriage she didn’t consent to.

“No... T-this isn’t happening... You’re making a joke, right? I-I didn’t know I was marrying you when I blew on that flute! This is wrong...”

He hugged her tightly. “Khailis, are you... Are you angry with me? I’m sorry I didn’t explain about linking very well. I thought you will be happy now because we are husband and wife...Do you hate me now?”

He parted his face away from her, and he began to caress her hands and kiss it. He looked so pitiful that Khailis had a hard time maintaining her anger.

“Argh, okay! Just get me my dress, will you?”

Gavil vigorously nodded. He stood up immediately without covering his body. Khalis was once again exposed to his long and dangling private part.

“Ahh, cover yourself up!”

“Right, right, I’m so sorry,” Gavil said, scratching his head and grinning sheepishly. He speedily picked up the pillow she had thrown earlier at him and covered his frontal part, but he walked away and turned around from Khailis, leaving his behind all exposed for her to see, so she resorted to partially covering her eyes.

By the gods, did Khailis really marry someone so naive like him?

While his back was turned away from her, and he was busy retrieving her dress from a large, wooden drawer, Khailis was struck with another thought.

“Gavil, uh, by any chance, did we?....”

“Did we what, my wife?”

She couldn’t bring herself to say it. “While we were naked... Did we... Did we do something?”

Gavil turned his head around. “Something like what?...”

“S-something like... Something obscene... Did we do something obscene?...”

“Obscene like what?...”

“Argh, never mind! Just bring me my clothes.”

Looking at his child-like frame of mind towards marriage, Khailis doubted it. She and Gavil wouldn’t have possibly spent any intimate moments together, right? There was just no way that those could have happened, right?

Now that she’s married and had even stripped in front of her lover, Khailis wondered how she could face her very strict and uptight parents once she gets back to the Capitol... She felt like all the pride and dignity in her had dissipated all because she blew a small and shrill-sounding flute without fully knowing the repercussions of her actions.