Chapter 61
‘Can’t believe I’m talking about this…’
But since she hated lying or hiding things, Dalia—after a moment’s hesitation—gave a brief, compressed version of her miserable marriage.
As her story went on, Khalid’s face darkened with alternating anger and concern.
“…That life is long over, so there’s no reason I’d still have any lingering attachment to him.”
The moment she finished speaking, Khalid pulled her into his arms. Her hands and feet had grown cold from recalling memories she would rather forget.
“If you need me to explain anything else…”
“It’s enough. You don’t need to push yourself to talk more.”
His voice was rough and tight as he stopped her gently.
“Don’t worry about anything now. I won’t ever let something like that happen to you again…”
Hearing his vow—his promise that he would never let anyone hurt her again—Dalia smiled faintly in his arms.
“Yes. Anyway, as Aaron suspected, I’m not married, and I would never lie or use you. So don’t worry.”
“…Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me for something so obvious. You’d do the same, wouldn’t you?”
Dalia slipped out of his arms and looked up at him with eyes full of affection and trust.
“….”
Khalid opened his mouth but closed it again, only managing a stiff nod. His eyes were shadowed, heavy with anger at what he’d heard of her past.
Dalia tilted her head at his strange behavior, then brushed it off and asked the question that had been nagging at her.
“Anyway, that’s all about me. Now, it’s your turn.”
“…My turn for what?”
“You’re going to tell me why you were acting so strange earlier. Stop looking like you’re carrying the weight of the whole world alone.”
She had told Mary she’d consider other men just to calm her down—but she’d never meant it. Dalia had already decided long ago that she wouldn’t leave Khalid’s side no matter what.
And today, she was determined. This time, she would hear the whole truth from him.
‘If my visit to the temple had been delayed, yesterday’s incident might’ve just been swept under the rug.’
If she hadn’t realized that he was hurt and frightened by Mary’s reaction, Khalid might have simply avoided her out of worry.
And if that had happened, she would’ve been left wondering why he was avoiding her, thinking all sorts of things.
‘I would’ve worried that maybe his feelings for me had faded… and Khalid, for his part, would’ve doubted whether a mere human like me truly loved him after reading Aaron’s letter.’
If those misunderstandings had deepened and they’d drifted apart…
The thought alone was unbearable.
But judging from how shaken he’d been last night, and how hesitant and anxious he still was just moments ago, it was entirely possible that things could have gone that way.
“I’ll listen to whatever it is with an open heart. I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us.”
“…Some things are better not to know.”
His reluctant reply only confirmed her suspicion.
‘I knew it. He’s hiding something.’
The moment Khalid saw the look on her face, he realized his slip and quickly shut his mouth—but it was already too late.
“So you are hiding something from me. For my sake, right?”
“….”
“There’s something you can’t say, isn’t there? Please, don’t do that.”
“But, Dalia…”
He tried to steer the conversation away, but she was unyielding.
“I don’t want any more misunderstandings between us.”
“….”
No matter how she pleaded, there were things he could never tell her.
How could he, when she was this kind-hearted? When she still claimed to love him despite everything?
Khalid had made up his mind while she was away: he would live as if her power had never existed, as if he knew nothing of it.
After all, his eventual reunion with his kind—through the dimensional gate—was an uncertain, distant promise.
And if another human with such power never appeared again, then he could simply pretend nothing had changed since the day before.
It hadn’t been an easy decision. First, he had to face his own shame.
‘I should’ve realized it immediately. But blinded by greed, I dared to entertain a foolish thought…’
He could barely look her in the face.
And what if, in her ignorance of divine power, she tried to help him—tried to give up her strength for his sake?
Maybe the worst wouldn’t happen. But this was the woman who had risked her life to save him once already. It wasn’t impossible.
Even if he refused, she might still insist—claiming she wouldn’t suffer any side effects—and rush to the temple. There, bound by their contract, the priests would feed her power to the “Gate.” Unless he locked her up, there would be no way to stop it.
Khalid shut his eyes tightly and finally spoke.
“I was worried you might be scared of how I really look.”
“…What?”
“You’ve never seen my true form. And when I heard from that maid, Mary, how much it startled her, I thought it must’ve been worse for you than I realized.”
“….”
That was… only half true. Compared to his later fears about her power, it was a small issue—but still real enough that Dalia accepted it without suspicion.
“Alright. I didn’t bring it up earlier because I was busy reading Aaron’s letter, but actually, that’s why I came here.”
“…?”
At her sudden declaration, Khalid looked puzzled.
Dalia’s expression turned resolute—more than ever before.
“Let’s do it now.”
“…Really?”
He stared at her blankly, caught between fear and hope, unsure what face to make.
Dalia grabbed his hesitant hand.
“Yes. I mean it.”
“…Alright.”
“Do you need to prepare something first? Or should I… um, start by taking something off?”
Having never faced a dragon before, she was all courage and no idea what she was doing.
When her hand reached for his clothing, Khalid flinched and pulled back.
“….”
“What? I’m not going to eat you.”
“No, it’s just… uh.”
Khalid groaned under his breath.
Even the smallest of her gestures brought back memories of the night before, and he couldn’t help but overreact.
“Anyway… I think that maid might be shocked.”
“Mary? She’s resting in her room. Poor thing was so frightened. I managed to calm her down, but she still hasn’t woken up.”
Khalid winced. After a pause, he admitted in a low voice,
“I… actually cast a sleep spell on her.”
“What?” Dalia nearly shouted.
“No wonder! That girl’s always up before dawn, but she didn’t even get out of bed today.”
As expected, her reaction was exactly what he’d feared—an endless stream of worried questions.
“So Mary’s suffering side effects now? She was talking fine earlier… there’s nothing seriously wrong, right?”
“Uh… no major side effects. A sleep spell’s harmless.”
“How do you know that? Your idea of normal and a human’s are very different. Humans don’t recover like you do! Just because she’s breathing doesn’t mean she’s fine—”
Feeling responsible somehow, Dalia’s face crumpled with worry. Khalid gently tried to calm her.
“It’s the weakest spell there is. She’ll be fully awake by tonight. I didn’t erase her memory or anything.”
At that, Dalia lifted her head sharply.
“Wait a second. Why didn’t you?”
“…What?”
“If you’d erased her memory, you wouldn’t even have to worry about this. You erased the memory of that man Hanson who kidnapped me, didn’t you?”
Indeed, if he’d wiped Mary’s memory, that would’ve been a far more logical solution than just putting her to sleep.
Avoiding her eyes, Khalid murmured like a guilty man,
“…It could’ve caused serious side effects. It can mess with other memories, too.”
Thankfully, Hanson hadn’t suffered much from it—he was dull-witted to begin with.
“So the sleep spell’s side effects are really just… lingering drowsiness?”
“Yeah. I’m sure of it.”
Khalid nodded quickly. Dalia narrowed her eyes at him, then sighed and nodded too.
“Well… thank you for not erasing her memory. Of course, I know you’d never harm Mary on purpose. I overreacted because I was worried.”
She smiled softly, relieved.
But when Khalid bit his lip instead of replying, her expression changed again.
“…Don’t tell me—”
“No! I just—just imagined it for a second.”
“….”
“I just didn’t want you to hate me. But doing something like that would only make you hate me more…”
And as he spoke, another wave of deep shame washed over him—for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
