Chapter 19.
A Mysterious Experience
Lucent Blackcarson hesitated over what he should say.
Ever since he lost his father at seven and took responsibility for the family, his life had been a succession of hardships.
Even though he had lived fiercely and never once taken his eyes off his path, life had flowed in the opposite direction of his father’s words.
‘The fact that I am the son of the gangster Marcus Blackcarson will never be erased.’
He loved his father dearly, yet that very father became a stumbling block that caught at his every step, making it exceedingly difficult to overcome.
Even so, he had never once resented him.
To Lucent Blackcarson, he had been a perfect father beyond compare.
He had buried that truth in his heart and endured until now.
Of course, he never imagined that Applin von Hafen would discover his harsh past in this way.
Being born low was not his fault, yet he had always trembled with shame and suffered from an inferiority complex.
And now Applin von Hafen had opened the trash bin of his emotions.
He was unprepared, so it would have been proper to grow angry and push her away, yet instead he felt glad.
It was as if someone had appeared to empty the bin that had long been filled to the brim.
‘Have I finally found someone with whom I can be at ease?’
Someone to whom he wished to show even his weak and wretched self.
Until now, such a person had never existed for him.
He had always believed he must be strong and pretend to be composed in order not to be disregarded.
Now he felt that perhaps he could show Applin von Hafen his bare self.
Perhaps even this was nothing more than an illusion created by memories buried deep within his mind.
Yet Applin von Hafen poured over his frozen heart like spring rain.
Even if this mysterious experience were entirely an illusion, the feelings he had because it was her would not change.
‘Should I ask if she saw everything?’
He wished to say something to her, yet no sound came from his mouth.
Was it a trick of God?
Though Applin von Hafen waited desperately for an answer before his eyes, he ultimately could not utter a single word.
Soon her form began to blur little by little.
He wanted to shout for her not to disappear and leave him behind, yet not even his own body moved as he wished.
He had to call her…!
A fierce anxiety tore painfully through Lucent Blackcarson.
He had endured a harsh life alone, but if Applin von Hafen were to leave now, what would become of him?
He was as precarious as a sandcastle about to collapse into pieces.
Driven to desperation, Lucent Blackcarson gathered all his strength and called out her name.
“Applin!”
In that instant, Lucent Blackcarson’s eyes flew open, and the harsh sunlight stabbed into his vision.
The figure that had wavered without focus gradually became clear.
“Are you conscious?”
Applin von Hafen’s voice trembled in the sea breeze.
Wearing her flowered bonnet, Applin von Hafen looked down at Lucent Blackcarson with swollen eyes.
‘Did she cry a lot?’
The violent storm that had seemed capable of tearing the island apart had apparently passed, for he heard the faint crash of waves and saw seagulls crying in the distance.
With a bewildered expression, he tried to grasp the present situation.
He had swum with Applin von Hafen to the island and eaten wild apples together, then his mind had grown hazy and he had lost consciousness.
After wandering through a brutally painful dream and calling her name, he awoke to find Applin von Hafen before him.
So in the end, it had been a dream.
There was no other way to explain it.
Yet something even more astonishing remained.
“I’m relieved, Lucent.”
Applin von Hafen called him pitifully and threw her arms around him.
“…?!”
When Applin von Hafen embraced him, Lucent Blackcarson felt as though he were a lover reunited after a long separation.
Until before coming to the villa, even meeting eyes or brushing a fingertip had been awkward, yet now she felt familiar and dear as though they had known each other for years.
The violent beating of his heart was stronger than the storm that had swallowed the island.
The unfamiliar and difficult feelings vanished without a trace, replaced by a powerful longing, relief, and joy that enveloped those emotions and shook him senseless.
Still, one thing was certain in his memory.
He had undergone a mysterious experience that might have been a dream or an illusion, and he had met her there as well.
The emotions from that time were so vivid that it felt unjust to dismiss them merely as a dream.
Nor was that all.
When he finally returned to reality, the lingering feelings did not fade but swelled like a massive snowball until he could hardly contain them.
“I was worried you wouldn’t wake up.”
“Were you….”
Applin von Hafen had always been gentle and courteous.
Such concern should not have been so surprising, yet to Lucent Blackcarson it struck deeply.
Applin von Hafen, too, felt as though she had briefly visited another world.
When she had barely regained her senses and seen Lucent Blackcarson collapsed, she had been shocked beyond words.
She had always considered him a strong man, yet the Lucent Blackcarson she saw in the dream was no different from herself.
He was merely a human being who suffered as the weak before the world’s injustices and faced countless frustrations.
Her gaze drifted to the apple tree standing some distance away.
‘Did it want to show me?’
Calling it God’s arrangement seemed too grand.
It was, in some way, a mysterious experience difficult to explain scientifically.
After all, inexplicable things happened in the world from time to time.
Lucent Blackcarson felt relieved at Applin von Hafen’s unharmed appearance.
‘Thank goodness. Applin wasn’t hurt.’
Then he was greatly startled by himself for worrying so desperately over someone.
Applin von Hafen felt as though she had always been a part of his body, with no sense of unfamiliarity whatsoever.
A fleeting doubt crossed his mind, but Lucent Blackcarson did not dwell on it long.
Perhaps it was only a temporary emotion born from being stranded on the island and having no choice but to rely on one another.
As the sunset dyed the sky red, voices murmuring could be heard from afar.
“Leon has come to rescue us.”
* * *
When they were rescued from the island and returned to the villa, the first person to run out was Laurel.
Though she burst into tears at the sight of Applin von Hafen safe and sound, she quickly regained her usual cheerfulness in relief.
The servants busied themselves for their master and mistress who had returned, yet Lucent Blackcarson and Applin von Hafen maintained calm composure.
However, they held hands and did not let go.
They savored the warmth and intimacy gathered at their fingertips.
Strangely enough, the villa looked different.
Perhaps because they had nearly died on the island, it felt especially welcoming and cozy.
At that moment, Lucent Blackcarson turned to Applin von Hafen and spoke in a gentle tone.
“Don’t be anxious anymore. We’re safe.”
“I know.”
She had already felt relieved the moment he awakened.
After entering the villa, the two parted briefly to be attended to separately by the servants.
They washed away the salt and sand that clung to them and soothed their hungry stomachs with warm soup.
When Lucent Blackcarson finished his meal, a servant naturally guided him toward his bedroom.
“No, not here.”
Lucent Blackcarson stopped walking and changed direction.
Meanwhile, Applin von Hafen remained silent even as she bathed, dined, and put on her nightclothes.
“My lady, are you unwell?”
Laurel asked Applin von Hafen with a puzzled expression.
“You returned safely.”
Applin von Hafen nodded without speaking.
In truth, the painful image of Lucent Blackcarson she had seen in the dream kept replaying in her mind.
No, it troubled her.
A businessman without blood or tears.
She had thought him a ruthless man who reduced both objects and people to numbers and deemed them useless if they brought no profit.
Applin von Hafen realized that she, too, had held a strong prejudice against him.
Yet while he had grown into adulthood enduring storms that covered the island, she had been nothing more than a flower raised in a greenhouse.
‘I was looking at Lucent Blackcarson through tinted glasses as well.’
At that moment, there was a knock, and the bedroom door opened.
Applin von Hafen reflexively lifted her head, only to find Lucent Blackcarson standing at the door.
“You’ve come?”
Startled, Applin von Hafen pushed aside Laurel, who had been brushing her hair, and rose from her seat.
With a gentle smile, he walked toward Applin von Hafen.
‘What is this, why are they suddenly like this?’
Laurel forced an awkward smile and backed out of the room.
Until recently, they had been awkward and cautious whenever they met, yet now their relationship seemed to have grown suddenly intimate.
It felt as though they were a couple who had dated for years before marrying, surrounded by a tender atmosphere.
‘Was the island that hard on them?’
Well, what of it?
It was far better than a husband and wife growing distant.
