Chapter 34: 33

***

“Noah, I……….”

I finally gave it all up and cried.

Noah’s face was getting blurred. My eyes dove under my eyelids towards the far gray ceiling. It became pitch black in front of my eyes like the dark curtain of a stage going down. My consciousness was scattered and flying in the distance.

“We met a long, long time ago that the princess cannot remember.”

I felt gentle hands embracing my body as I collapsed helplessly.

“So it doesn’t matter if you lied. Please, please stay close to me, even if you have to use me, because I need you.”

I could hear Noah’s lonely voice as he conveyed his sincere heart, but it was fading away.

“Diana, you are the only one for me.”

***

I passed out for a while, as if the circuits in my head had been completely cut off, and then I woke up. My whole body felt hot, and I barely grasped my woozy spirit again.

I felt a sense of relief and even excitement at the fact that I was seeing him again, and my cheeks and forehead didn’t hurt. I couldn’t quite remember Noah’s last words that I heard in my blinking consciousness.

I barely managed to open my torn lips and called out his name.

“Noah.”

“Diana.”

There was someone in front of me, answering my pleading voice. It was a very sweet reality. His frosty hair, which used to be dazzling in the moonlight, was now black. The black hair was beautiful too.

I stayed in Noah’s arms and nuzzled my face into his chest, feeling his body heat and scent that I had missed so much. I don’t know if I died or if it was a dream. So for the first time in my life, I acted like a child to him.

“It’s so hard here. Can you take me back?”

“I’m going to do that. Even if you don’t want to, I have no choice but to do it.”

The words sounded hauntingly sad. Noah buried his face into my neck and a sad breath came out. He added it with a sigh.

“I like being with you.”

He placed a handkerchief on my forehead and he took my hand and pressed it directly.

“I thought you were dead, princess.”

“No way. I must have fainted.”

Noah, holding me carefully in his arms, walked away from the cell. Behind his broad shoulders stretched a long, dimly lit corridor.

A few guards were scattered breathless here and there behind the path we had taken together, reminding me of hell. It looked like a passage to death in exchange for freedom.

I don’t know, it doesn’t matter.

Noah kept his mouth tightly shut and didn’t say anything. Every once in a while, his shoulders would raise up and down, and there would be a small break in his breathing, like a sigh.

I squeezed the collar of Noah’s uniform urgently.

“Noah, I don’t hate it. I want to be with you.”

At my belated answer, he paused and walked forward again. Noah’s chest, which was going up and down quickly, as if he tried to say something, but I heard a sound of swallowing it hard.

It was a low sigh, repeated loudly as if he was out of breath. I noticed that his collar was soaking wet, so I checked his neck with my palm.

Red blood soaked my entire palm. It wasn’t the guards’ blood, it was his blood. It was not a situation to enjoy the excitement of reunion.

“Please put me down.”

I didn’t need to be a Princess in this situation. Enough with the pampering. Now I had to walk by myself. He had fought his way here against a multitude of them, and there was no way he was not injured, so I staggered a little and stood up straighter with more strength in my legs.

“The princess is injured.”

“You’re the one who got hurt. I just fainted a little. You can count on me.”

I imagined for a while the romance of passing out in his arms and waking up in a bed with the sunlight leaking brilliantly, but he was a person, and this was reality.

We were both in pain. I forced myself to put Noah’s arm around my shoulders and walked. I was actually embarrassed to say that I was helping him because he was still stronger than me. So, I just walked with my arm slightly raised, as if I were hugging his shoulder.

The firecrackers, which had been like gunfire, gradually faded away as the fireworks display reached its peak.

“I killed him quietly, but it seems he’s already found out. They’ll be following us soon.”

He talked about a serious situation very calmly. He raised the arm around my shoulders and grabbed my hand. I looked around and followed Noah into the back of a quiet building.

A black car with a lid was parked in one corner. Noah, in the driver’s seat, looked out front for a moment and grasped his right arm. His face was expressionless, but his dark blue eyes had narrowed badly.

It looked like he had been shot in the arm or badly injured. I quickly got out of the passenger seat and quickly opened the driver’s door.

“I’ll drive.”

“Can you drive?”

He meekly got out of the driver’s seat at my gentle touch and asked. I sat down in the driver’s seat and answered confidently.

“I’ve never done this before.”

I’ve never driven a car here. I’ve seen them driven a few times, and they seem similar, and I had one regular license, so I guess it was okay.

In the distance, I could hear the shouts of people chasing us from between the alleys. After quickly starting the engine and changing the gearshift, I pressed down on what seemed to be the gas pedal and the car began to drive at a fast speed, emitting a powerful sound.

I heard the sharp sound of bullets hitting the body of the car ricocheting and dislodging along with the sound of gunfire. The bullets did not pierce the car, but they bounced off?

And this car was a four-wheel with a lid. It was a car that should have been commercialized some years later.

I turned the steering wheel recklessly and drove between the dimly lit alleys, avoiding the chase as I glided along. The car was fast, and I was a reasonably good driver, so I easily overtook the cars and people that were chasing us.

The car we were in drove fast along the straight and quiet coastal road. I even felt free, as there was nothing to disturb the spacious front lying in the middle of the blue sea.

“Diana.”

Noah, who was quietly sitting in the auxiliary seat, catching his breath, suddenly called my name. That tired and weak voice sounds so bizarre. I’m pretty rotten to think such a thing when we’re both in a messed up situation. My head got hit and I think I was insane.

“You know how to drive, but you didn’t run away when you were in my mansion.”

“I didn’t intend to run away from the beginning. Sadly, I had nowhere to go.”

He stroked my swollen cheek carefully. His touch was gentle and affectionate.

“You don’t really hate me? I thought you went back because you didn’t want to be with me.”

I stopped the car for a moment and looked him straight in the eye.

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“Noah, I’m good at lying. It was just a way to survive.”

“It’s okay. Even if it’s a lie, it’s good. It’s enough to make me believe it’s real.”

“I always plan to escape. I asked you to take me home, but I didn’t actually want to leave. I’m happy to be with you.”

It was a calm confession. He let out a lazy laugh. His hair, dyed a beautiful night color, swayed a little in time with his low laugh.

“Diana, we’re still dating before we get married, right?”

A relationship that I missed very much and desperately wanted even though we were not in love. I was dragged by lies and adaptation, so I wanted to get to know the feelings that I had not yet confirmed.I suggested calmly to Noah, who was sitting against the blue night sea.

“Let’s start over from the beginning. This time with sincerity.”

Noah tilted his head at my suggestion, a look of incomprehension on his face.

“The beginning?”

“Yes. Let’s start at the stage where you were the kidnapper and I was the hostage.”

I thought that perhaps the relationship had started with a lie. Besides, I didn’t want to leave our relationship as a case of criminal glorification, of assimilating and falling in love with a criminal. Noah leaned back in his car seat and laughed.

“So now we start as an escaped prisoner and an accomplice who helped you escape?”

Yes. That’s a little subtle, too, and I’ve run out of things to say. Aren’t we supposed to be romantic, like normal people?

“I just want to be… normal.”

“Well, let’s put it this way. We were engaged to be married even before we were born. That’s why I went around looking for a kidnapped princess. It’s like a fairy tale, right?”

“Is that really possible?”

I asked back, not knowing much about this body’s past and with a suspicious look on my face as he spoke as if it were a fact. He lightly touched my swollen lips with a mischievous expression.

“I suppose you could say that.”

Noah, who answered simply and clearly, got out of the car and opened the driver’s door and reached out his hand.

I’ll drive now. You don’t know how to get there.”

“Doesn’t your arm hurt?”

“I’m fine to drive.”

There was something about this man that made me feel guilty and sympathetic. There was a little blood on the cloth I had tied around Noah’s injured arm. I looked embarrassed, but without further stubbornness, I grabbed Noah’s hand and staggered out of the driver’s seat and into the passenger side.

Noah, who knew the way to Progen, would have to drive. Changing seats and sitting in the driver’s seat, Noah shifted, put one hand on the passenger’s chair, and began to back up skillfully. It was a scene I would have completely fallen in love with if only I had the right way of words.

I stole a glance at his profile and neck in the slanted reflection and finally turned away. The dark and gloomy form of forest was passing by outside the car window. We were driving endlessly along a straight forest road when Noah broke the ice.

“Princess, we can’t go back to Progen.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve had my title, my house, and my land confiscated.”

“What?”

“I disobeyed the Emperor’s order and escaped. If I’m caught, I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

He spoke plainly, like he was  telling a really boring story. It was as if he was describing a ‘skipped school’ level situation.

“Hey, what the heck!”

My voice suddenly rose at his calm voice in a serious, deadly situation. He had deserted his position during the war, and the maximum penalty for breaking the Emperor’s orders would be shot to death.

He was so calm to describe it as “I’m in trouble.” So that was why he dyed his hair black to get out. I let out a deep sigh. So now we have a true villain couple.

“I’m not rich anymore, is that okay? Princess have to eat meat every day, so you must marry a rich man.”

It was then that he finally made a slightly sad voice. I spoke to him in a gentle voice.

“It’s my fault. I have nothing, and I’m sorry that you had to throw everything away. But I’m not disappointed at all.”

I had a lot in my original life, but now I had no regrets. There was no emptiness that was always ubiquitous, unfulfilled no matter how much I poured into it.

What I desperately wanted at that time was just one kind person, someone who would stay by my side without purpose. So it didn’t have to be special.

I was an heiress since I was a little girl, and I desperately wanted to be normal to the point of greed. Perhaps specialness was a shackle and a prison, and mediocrity was more like liberation.

“It’s freedom. You and I both.”

Noah’s lips, which had been tightly shut, lifted at my words. He turned his head toward me and spoke as if he was determined.

“But I can still buy you meat.”

“No…I don’t have to eat meat.”

He laughed pleasantly, and his low chuckle was sweet. Noah, who was staring straight ahead, thrust one hand in my direction and asked quietly,

“Well then, since we’re going to date again, why don’t we go ahead and hold hands?”

Instead of answering, I placed my hand on top of his. His warm, large hand wrapped gently around mine.

We took each other’s hands as if we were allowed a mundane freedom. The car parted the unmade road and drove forward, seemingly aimlessly.

I didn’t even ask where we were going. It didn’t matter. I was just like a small boat on the ocean heading somewhere, without a sail pole, being pushed by the waves of fate. My future was unknown, but I felt at ease. I seemed to have reached a level where I was free from all thoughts and thought that it would work somehow.

“It looks like we’re going on a trip.”

“I’ve never traveled before. That sounds interesting.”

Noah responded to my sentimental words as if he had just changed his mind. I didn’t dare ask him back, as it seemed quite romantic to wrap it up as going on a trip even though we were running away.

The moonlight passed Noah’s pitch black hair. The hair was jet black, making the peculiarly languid atmosphere even more mysterious.

“Noah. Black hair looks good on you.”

“Did you fall in love?”

“Yes.”

His impression seemed even colder, but no less seductive. The sexy atmosphere became even darker. Why does he look so seductive? His eyes were always red and wet, and his lips, his voice….

While I was trying to figure out where the source of his deadly sensuality was, the car we were in was driving aimlessly through the dark forest roads.

Noah would occasionally turn his head to look at me, joy in his eyes. It was the eyes that looked like it found something it had lost for a long time.

“We’re going to Medea. I don’t actually want to take you with me, but I don’t have a choice in this situation we’re in.”

Unlike me, who dreamed of a romantic unplanned journey, that man had a plan for us.

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