Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mora must have been incredibly tired from the long journey because she had slept a deep and dreamless sleep. When she woke up, she couldn’t tell the time because the windows were so high up. She lay down, blinking blankly before quickly tossing her blanket aside. She remembered what had happened last night with Regnart. But she sighed in relief when she saw that she was wearing a white chemise dress, it looked tasteless, but at least she was clothed.

She got out of bed. She couldn’t find any shoes on the floor, so she walked around barefoot.

Mora looked around. In the middle of the plain bedroom was a big and fancy bed that didn’t fit with the rest of the room’s decor.

Then, as she was about to open the door to the hallway, she heard a man’s voice.

“Where are you going?”

As she turned, she saw that the door to the right of the room was open. Regnart standing in the doorway.

“Is this your room?” Mora asked carefully.

“In a way,” Regnart answered. “Come here.”

The room on the other side of the door was both a study and a drawing room. There was a sofa and a table on one side and a long table and bookshelves on the other. It looked as bland and dreary as the bedroom did.

He motioned her to sit on the sofa. There was food on the table before them which made Mora hungry.

She quickly sat on the sofa and picked up a slice of bread. Then, she stopped herself. “It’s okay for me to eat, right?”

“Yes. Eat as much as you want.”

She bit into the food and started to swallow her food without much chewing. It was a little hard, but it was fine if you ate it with soup. She looked at Regnart. “What about you? Have you eaten?”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Just eat.” He picked up a book beside him and started to read.

They sat far apart from each other, but Mora was still nervous. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing at him between bites.

She sat on the edge of the sofa and finished the food quickly. She ate three loaves of bread about the size of a fist and then chugged as much soup as she could. As she looked around for water, he pushed the kettle towards her. The tea was cold and a little bitter, but Mora was so thirsty that she drank as many cups as she could.

“You eat well.” He glanced at her as she sighed satisfyingly and spoke. “Has it been that long since you last ate?”

Mora looked sad as she answered, “Yes, I think I haven’t eaten for two days. I ran out of emergency rations and there were no towns on the way here, so I couldn’t get anything.”

“Yet, you somehow survived.”

It was honestly a miracle that she had gotten here alive. Of course, she did use a magic gate, but she still had to walk six days through a snowstorm from there to the fortress. If she didn’t have divine power, she would’ve starved or frozen to death.

“I won’t die so easily.”

“Don’t be so full of yourself,” Regnart snorted. “There is no power without consequence.”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

He frowned. He didn’t like the way she hadn’t objected to his words.

“Ren, I have to ask,” Mora said. “Did anything happen last night?” Her eyes were trained on his face, trying to decipher how he felt from his expression.

He put his book down and answered, “I can’t say nothing happened. I washed you and slept with you.”

“Pardon?”

“We’ve become husband and wife, you and I.”

None of what he was saying made any sense. He was telling her that they had just had sex, that didn’t mean they had to get married. Sex didn’t lead to marriage.

Of course, this wouldn’t be the strangest thing he had done so far. He had ripped her clothes off and sullied her in front of the guards when she arrived so that the staff would gossip and the news would reach Kirkalas.

But not that knights weren’t with them now, there was no reason for him to say this to her.

“Ren, don’t joke about this.” Her voice trembled in confusion. “Nothing happened, right?”

Even though she didn’t have experience sleeping with men, she knew that she should have felt a little worse the morning after, her body should have ached or there should have been marks left behind. Of course, she could have recovered quickly because of her divine powers, but she knew that wasn’t it. That couldn’t be it.

“You know, you and I aren’t the type to joke around,” he scoffed. “At least that’s what I think.” He stood up, leaving her looking as confused as ever. “Someone will come and clean the room this evening, so, if you need anything, tell them. As long as it’s not anything dangerous, you’ll have it in a few days.”

“A few days?” Mora froze. “I’ll still be here in a few days? Will I not be leaving?” She chased after him as he left the room, ignoring her calls. “Wait! Ren!”

Mora flinched when he stopped and turned around. They were so close to one another.

“What?” he spat. His voice was cold. “Do you have more to say?”