Incompatible Interspecies Wives chapter 199

199 – Ner’s Choice (3)

How long had he been sitting in the master bedroom?

“…Bergh?”

When he looked up at the sound of someone calling his name, it was Arwin standing there.

“…”

Until just recently, it had seemed as if Ner had been by his side…his mind felt twisted.

He must not have known how time passed in his ongoing dilemma.

“…Have you eaten?”

He had no appetite, but he didn’t want to talk about it.

“…I did.”

So he answered with a lie.

“…That’s a lie.”

But Arwin immediately saw through the lie on the spot.

I lost my words and stood there stiffly.

Arwin hesitated at my reaction, tried to approach me, and then sighed softly.

“…Rest, Berg.”

And then he turned away and left.

I looked around.

The night was getting deeper.

Even a cold wind was flowing through the open window.

That’s when I turned my head and noticed the empty bed.

At some point, sleeping alone in this large bed had become awkward.

Cien’s empty spot.

…And Arwin and Ner’s empty spots.

The time we spent together here was long.

I glanced at the empty bed and thought back to the situation.

I had pushed Ner away when he tried to comfort me on bended knee.

It was a reflexive defense mechanism that arose from my restless heart.

My assumption was that it would have been difficult for both of us if I hadn’t acted that way.

From No ble mt L dot c om

It hadn’t changed despite the fact that it couldn’t continue any further.

No matter what Cien said, the fact never changed.

“…”

But maybe, just maybe, I might have crossed the line during that incident.

I hadn’t forgotten the fact that Ner was putting his life on the line to treat the plague.

I also knew that many people were saved thanks to him.

I knew that he was trying tirelessly, day and night, for the ailing Cien.

Maybe it was a mistake to treat her so coldly.

It was all because I didn’t want to give her hope.

As a newly emerged family that had no choice but to cater to the royal family’s wishes, we couldn’t embrace them under the new law.

“…Sigh.”

But there was definitely a part where I needed to apologize.

Maybe even this was prompted by Cien’s words.

My wariness towards Ner and Arwin had somewhat dulled.

I decided to be a little more honest with my feelings.

I stood up from my seat and started walking.

As Ner’s room was right next to the main bedroom, I knocked on her tightly shut door.

-Knock, knock.

“…Ner.”

No answer came back.

It seemed that she was quite angry about this situation.

It was only natural.

And it only strengthened the fact that I had to apologize.

-Knock, knock.

“…Ner. I’m coming in.”

When Ner was upset about something, she often had no response and simply hugged her tail.

The fact that I knew even these trivial details was proof of the time we had spent together.

“…?”

However, nobody was in Ner’s room.

Just like my room, only the chilly air flowed.

Where could she have gone at this time?

Could she be continuing to take care of the patients?

I blinked for a moment and moved my steps up to the upper floor.

I briefly knocked on Raon Blackwood’s door.

-Knock, knock.

“It’s Berg.”

Not long after saying that, Raon’s door opened.

-Creak…

The appeared Raon looked at me and asked.

“…What’s the matter at this time…?”

Like Ner, her yellow irises shone in the darkness.

Feeling an oddly familiar sensation, I asked her.

“Do you know where Ner is?”

“…Ner?”

“I was asking in case she’s still tending to a patient.”

Laan looked up at me with a stern expression and nodded her head.

“Ner finished her work early today. She’s probably in her room, making medicine. She’s been working hard to create something that will help Master Sien.”

“…”

Laan seemed not to know Ner’s whereabouts either.

At the same time, the information provided by Laan pricked my conscience again.

I seemed to have hurt her so much, even though she was working so hard for us.

Regardless of our past relationship, this time it was truly too much.

“Did Ner disappear?”

I replied to Laan’s question.

“…Yes. I’ll go look for her.”

I turned around and went back down the stairs.

“…Riker Gong.”

At that moment, a voice rang out from behind.

I stopped going down the stairs and looked up at Laan.

She said:

“…I hear Incubi can love multiple people at the same time?”

For a moment, she asked a question about our racial traits.

I didn’t have a proper answer to give her.

Because it was not a lie.

I had already loved Ner and Arwin at the same time in the past.

“…”

In response to my silence, Laan continued.

“…Then, can’t you just love Ner too?”

I looked up at Laan.

For some reason, I found myself explaining to her.

“…It would only make us both miserable.”

Laan was silent for a moment after hearing that and finally whispered to me.

“…Isn’t it already miserable to not receive love from the person you love?”

“Especially…when rejected by the one you love.”

“…”

Soon after, Raan seemed to regret what she said and bit her lips tightly.

Then, she bowed her head slightly in a gesture that looked like an apology, and turned away.

Before closing the door, she whispered her last words.

“…I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to interfere.”

“…”

“I just…I hated Nero, but I didn’t want to see him so miserable like that.”

-Thump.

“…”

In the darkness, I mulled over Raan’s words.

Even the person who had hated Nero thought that being too harsh on him was too much.

With a sigh, I moved on.

Before I went to find Nero, I stopped by his room for a moment.

It was cold outside, so I wanted to find some clothes to give to him.

This action, too, felt surprisingly natural.

Though the feeling was different, I might have been following my habit of often looking for her when she went out for a night walk.

“…?”

At that moment, I found a piece of paper on Nero’s desk.

The paper was lying quietly beside the book Nero had been writing.

Something was written in a neat handwriting.

I picked up the letter as if mesmerized.

‘I’ve organized everything I know.’

That single short sentence.

That was all that was written in the letter.

“…”

Below the letter were countless books that Nero had used over time.

Upon opening them, I found that they contained information about the production of medicine, symptom relief, precautions, the history of the plague, and so on… everything was organized.

“…”

But that was not what I was focused on.

The letter began to make my heart race.

A sentence that I wouldn’t have taken seriously if someone else had written it.

But when Ner wrote it, my heartbeat quickened for some reason.

Perhaps it was because I could infer the feelings she must have had while writing this sentence.

Or maybe it was because the sentence conveyed an ominous emotion.

I took my steps forward.

Crumpling the letter, I stepped outside.

At first, I headed towards the backyard.

It was the place where Ner always waited for me when she went out for a night walk.

She always sat in a spot where I could easily find her, gazing at the moon and waiting for me.

Approaching her and quietly sitting beside her, holding hands, or joining her by embracing her from behind, that had been our daily routine.

“…”

But I couldn’t find her anywhere in the forest that existed in the backyard.

The more I looked, the more anxious I became.

I left the forest in the backyard and headed towards the center of the village.

There were still many squad members going around the village with their torches.

I grabbed one of them and asked, “Have you seen Ner?”

“Th-, the captain?”

“…”

“N-No, I haven’t seen Lady Ner.”

I passed by the squad member who didn’t know and threw the same question at another squad member.

They all continued to say they hadn’t seen Ner.

She had vanished without a trace momentarily.

The more I couldn’t find her, the more excessively strange concerns filled me.

It felt like the feelings I was holding back towards her were resurfacing.

I headed towards the outskirts of the village.

I asked the gatekeepers who were guarding the entrance of the village, “Have you seen Ner?”

The gatekeepers answered with a slightly uneasy expression.

“Yes, we saw them leaving the village quite a while ago.”

“…Where did they go?”

“Towards the forest over there…”

I looked at the forest the gatekeepers were pointing at.

It was a forest where thieves had been appearing frequently, causing problems.

As I frowned, the gatekeepers hastily offered an excuse.

“W-well, Chief, we thought Ner would be back soon. It seemed like they had an ongoing meeting in that direction before…”

I wasn’t going to blame them.

If there was anyone to blame, it was rather myself.

Without responding, I quickly headed toward the forest.

Looking back, I had been ignoring them all this time.

Since I had already found some happiness with Cien, I might have been ignoring Ner and Arwen.

From the beginning, I tried not to think about either of them because of the betrayal I felt at the time.

I tried not to think of Ner’s situation or Arwen’s situation.

I hoped that our parting would lead us to find happiness separately.

I hoped that Ner would find her destined partner.

I hoped that Arwen, a short-lived race, would break off the bond with me and find freedom.

That was the future I had envisioned.

From No ble mt L dot c om

Although partly fueled by anger, I thought that it might have been the right path once emotions cooled down.

For a while, it felt like I was being pressured by my thoughts.

Ner had said she couldn’t love me for a long time. She disliked everything- the fact that I was a human, having the ability to love multiple people, being a mercenary… Our relationship was stitched together through political marriage.

Arwen’s lifespan didn’t match mine as I belonged to a short-lived race, and she longed for freedom. Our political marriage had been the last hurdle to her freedom countless times.

Despite forcibly denying those thoughts, their stories seemed reasonable.

That’s why when I was betrayed, I hitched my thoughts on their reasoning.

I had no more excuses and just let things go the way they wanted.

“…”

But maybe, we weren’t like that.

Perhaps everything had ended from the moment we got together.

Maybe, when separated, we couldn’t be happy anymore.

From the moment we were bound by marriage, we should have existed together.

Contrary to their initial claims… we built countless memories over time.

“…haah…haah…”

Before I knew it, I was breathing heavily in the forest.

“…Ner.”

With my hand on the handle of the sword on my waist, I called Ner’s name.

‘Ner… Ner… Ner…’

My voice echoed throughout the pitch-black forest.

As the tension intensified, my worry for Ner grew endlessly.

Ner’s letter felt as if she had given up.

I was afraid that she might have thrown away her life.

From No ble mt L dot c om

I became anxious that she might have impulsively chosen a foolish path.

I was the reason she reached that point.

I knew that fact.

Considering her actions so far, my behavior was even comical.

But I did the same when it came to Sien.

When I thought I had fully let go of my feelings for her… my body moved on its own upon hearing that Sien was in crisis.

And once again, in a similar situation, I realized I might not have been right about dismissing Sien’s words.

‘…It’s a lie. You… once you let someone into your heart… can’t let go.’

Maybe I was denying that fact.

I quickly began to run towards where Ner could be.

“…Ner…!”

I called out her name a little louder.

Despite the full moon in the sky, the forest was still dark.

As I walked through the forest, memories of the past came to life.

Even here were traces of memories with Ner.

Although it became a place riddled with thieves… up until the moment we were married, it was a lovely spot for a stroll.

We shared warmth and laughter here. It was also a place where we exchanged silent trust.

Her traces were visible everywhere I looked.

Eventually, I arrived at a spot in the center of the forest, where it seemed a hole had been created, devoid of any trees.

The moonlight shone down, making it brighter than anywhere else.

This was also a place where Ner often sat.

I thought if she were anywhere, she would have come here.

“…”

But Ner wasn’t there.

Only an empty lot quietly revealed itself.

I slowly walked to the center.

Where on earth did she go?

As the growing anxiety filled my heart, my feelings for Ner became more vivid.

-Tadadak!

At that moment, someone hurriedly dashed towards me from behind.

I instinctively turned my body while gripping my sword at the sound.

But seeing the fluttering white hair in front of me, my body stiffened.

“…Ah.”

-Thud!

The moment I froze in that awkward stance, she embraced me as if to topple me.

With the unstable posture I had stopped in and the relief upon finding her, I fell backward.

“Ugh… UH…!”

Ner, who climbed on top of my lying body, cried out while shedding tears.

“This…!”

“…”

“This is… your heart, isn’t it…!!”

She said.

Finally, I found Ner.

I couldn’t say anything in return.

I just stared at her, her reflection shimmering white in the moonlight.