Incompatible Interspecies Wives chapter 171

171 – The Flow of Time (3)

Arwen left the capital alone.

Fleeing from an unbearable pain of parting, she moved without explaining to anyone.

Without a word to the soldiers of the Celebrían family, she ran endlessly towards the west.

She tried not to think too much while on the move.

Whenever she began to think, the thoughts of Berge were the only thing that came to her mind.

Right now, she was simply trying to run away from the unbearable pain.

Stopping for a moment felt like she would merely burst into tears.

The unchanged reality seemed too painful for her to bear.

So she kept moving, just to catch her breath.

Arwen was free.

The freedom she had waited all her life for was finally granted to her.

After spending 160 years of her 170-year life being tortured, she finally escaped.

There was no chain holding her back anymore.

…Since her ties with Berge had ended, she was free to travel as she had always dreamed.

She didn’t realize that could be the reason she was heading west.

Instinctively, she was directing herself towards the place she most wanted to visit among numerous destinations she found in books.

A place that every traveling elf would surely visit.

She had dreamt of this moment for so long.

A place with a beautiful landscape created by a lake and towering snow-capped mountains.

She hoped that being there, might soothe the pain in her chest.

With the wiliness to ignore her exhaustion, she continued her journey.

She started acting in fear that she might actually die before reaching there.

Every night, Arwen lit a small campfire and set up a camp.

Not an appropriate act for an Elf noble.

However, this was an act she always wanted to try once she got her freedom.

“…”

If there was something unexpected, it was the difficulty of making a fire.

And the fear of the night without Berge was more than she had thought.

She felt cold without his warmth and wept without hearing his voice.

-Thump…

Without realization, she was constantly thinking of Berge.

Arwen forcibly wiped away her tears and tried to change her thoughts.

It was too painful to think about Berge alone.

…However, when she forced herself to divert her thoughts, to think of something other than Berge.

She only got numb.

No excitement of heading toward the places she had dreamed of for 170 years existed.

-Sheesh…

As she sat there, hugging her knees absent-mindedly, the neglected fire was dying down.

Only then Arwen realized how cold her body had become.

On a night filled with starlight, she sat alone in the vast plain, engaged in a battle with her loneliness.

…It was a loneliness that she did not feel when Berg was with her.

She remembered the past, the day when she and Berg were camping alone.

Back then, she was so engrossed with his warmth and embarrassed by it that there was no room for loneliness to intrude.

She was neither scared nor cold.

But with Berg gone, all that surrounds her at once.

She finally realized how much of a strength his dazzling existence, like a flower, was to her…only after he disappeared.

Arwin buried her face in her knees.

The night was deep, but sleep was not coming.

That was the same even as the days passed.

During the day, she traveled on horseback.

She did not forget to feed the horse water and weeds as Berg had taught her.

She also gave it adequate rest, managing not to let the horse collapse.

Perhaps she was taking careful care of the horse more than she was focusing on herself.

As she headed west, she encountered many sights.

Open plains. Sparkling and flowing rivers. Flower gardens of various colors.

None of this felt beautiful to Arwin.

Nothing could move her frozen heart.

…Maybe it’s because the aesthetic value has dropped absolutely.

Thinking it would be such a reason, she continued to head towards her destination.

Night always arrived at the same time.

And with every passing night, the absence of Berg was felt more deeply.

During their married life, they slept together every other day.

This was a principle that never changed.

But now, days passed and Berg did not come to her side.

Her side of the bed was always empty.

One night, the reality of not having Berg by her side was so suffocating, she had once screamed out loud.

She yelled in his direction, along with her screams.

She raised her voice defensively saying she would live fine without him, that he would regret leaving an elf like her, that he will not find another being as special as her.

But in the end, she couldn’t go far and ended up crying as she missed Berg.

And the deeper her longing grew, her pain grew as well.

All the positive influences that Berg had given her became clearer over time.

Her curiosity for him, her obsession, continued to grow.

She spent more days looking at the leaf of Berg’s world tree.

The most precious treasure she possessed.

She hung Berg’s leaf on the necklace of the world tree leaf necklace that Berg left behind.

In doing this, at least the leaves of her and Berg were together.

It felt like looking at their past bustling relationship.

She was able to look at that necklace all day.

She would imagine how Berg was living and observed the subtle changes in his condition.

If the leaves wilted even by a bit, she felt the pain with them, and if they slightly improved, she wondered what was making him happy.

She grew anxious wondering if the saint was helping him.

After about 10 days of journey, she finally reached her destination.

The clear, cold air wet her face.

Her breath broke up in the morning chill.

A vast lake. High mountains existing behind it.

Flowers and trees freely surrounding it. Countless birds and animals.

A place untouched by the breath of war.

She had finally reached the place she had been dreaming of for decades.

“……….. Ah.”

…And at the same time, Arwin realized.

She realized that the space she had so much anticipated delivered no emotion to her.

…now, without Berg, nothing else has meaning anymore.

She wasn’t seeking freedom anymore.

Arwin unconsciously glanced to the side.

The place where Berg should have been.

‘…pretty.’

It seemed as if she could see the afterimage of Berg who would have said that with a smile.

Tears welled up in Arwin’s eyes.

In this deserted place, she whispered to the illusion of Berg.

“… It was because of you.”

****

Gibson let out a sigh and looked for his daughter’s room.

Like always, Nehr Blackwood was quietly staring out the window.

Since she ventured into the forest to make a soul bond with Berg, since the mournful cries that resonated from the forest was heard.

Nehr somewhat contained her tears.

She didn’t shed any tears anymore.

She no longer sobbed.

“…”

But Gibson knew that wasn’t a good sign.

He, who had lost his wife Silin Blackwood, had been through the same thing.

Now everything inside his heart had become ashes.

She had neither the strength nor energy to shed any more tears.

She had given up everything and was just withering away. He understood that.

“…Nehr.”

As Gibson who knew the feeling of losing a partner, he couldn’t leave his daughter like that.

Nehr didn’t move at the call of Gibson, instead, she asked in a whisper.

“…Did the reply come?”

Her voice was hoarse.

Why did it feel like a flame about to die out?

“…He didn’t come.”

Gibson couldn’t offer any words of comfort to her.

For the last few days, Nell had been sending letters to Berg every day.

She shared her feelings to her ex-husband endlessly.

Each letter was fairly thick.

Gibson somehow intuited that each letter was filled with different content.

But no response came from Berg.

Gibson understood that this was Berg’s consideration in his own way.

“…”

Nell bowed her head faintly at the news that no response had come.

“…Then I have to send it again today.”

And she could only whisper quietly.

Gibson let out a short sigh.

He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t say anything.

Maybe because he understood that nothing could be of comfort.

Moreover, a rumor was going around Berg Riker.

…Exactly, the rumor of reuniting with the former saint.

Of course, Gibson knew that it was just a rumor, but considering the stories about their relationship before the war, it was natural that such a story came out about Berg, who took the saint as his teritory.

They used to be close childhood friends.

There were also stories that they were each other’s old lovers.

In addition, as soon as the war ended, the saint suddenly resigned her position and Berg even divorced his wives.

It was just a rumor… but it might be seen as a matter of future.

Of course, as Gibson who knew Berg, he knew that there was still time.

Berg would not impulsively reunite with the saint.

But would it really require a long time?

It might not take a long time for love that was severed by war to flare up again.

And the love that flares up again was sure to last, just like wood turns into charcoal.

So in fact, Gibson knew.

As of the time when polygamy was abolished…and the time when divorce took place.

The relationship between Nell and Berg had ended.

The only person who couldn’t accept this was Nell.

Gibson couldn’t decide whether to tell her this straightforwardly…or to give her slowly more time.

He just wished for his daughter to rise up again.

Gibson opened his mouth, searching for something to say.

“Nel-“

-Thud!

Then, someone seized his shoulders firmly.

Turning around, he saw Gidi standing there.

“…”

“…”

Gibson caught eyes with his eldest son for a moment.

Gideon blinked momentarily, asking Gibson for understanding.

And then he spoke.

“…I’ll have a talk with her.”

Gibson decided to trust his eldest son for a moment… His recent actions towards Ner had instilled faith.

So Gibson left Gideon in Ner’s room and walked away.

He could only hope that Gideon could reawaken Ner.