Side Story 1: Unaccustomed
Chapter 12
“Heal my wound.”
Woo held out his other hand. His palm was still covered in cuts.
“….”
“Aren’t you going to?”
Woo tilted his head, his face innocent, as I just stared at his hand.
“Can’t you just use white magic, like you did on me…?”
“Ah… I don’t want to.”
Woo chuckled. It was a ridiculous answer, but I sighed and nodded.
“…Okay, let go of my hand. You can’t do it with one hand.”
“Yes, okay.”
He released my hand. I took out the first-aid kit from my suitcase and started applying medicine to his wounds.
“Does it hurt?”
I asked, wanting to break the silence.
“Yes, it hurts.”
Woo answered immediately.
“It hurts.”
I nodded.
I finished applying the medicine and put on a gauze pad. After waiting for a bit, I wrapped a bandage around it.
“Master Woo.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going back to Lohn?”
I blew on his bandaged hand, wondering how long it would take for the wound to heal.
*A week? A month?*
*…Would he still be by my side then?*
The question slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“…Sue.”
Woo’s eyes widened. He called out my name calmly, but I… my heart was sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire. I had finally realized it.
“…Do you want to go back?”
I managed to look up at him, and something started rolling down my cheeks. I realized later that they were tears.
I clutched his bandaged hand, as if it were a lifeline. I was afraid that if I let go, I would never see him again.
“If you like me… tell me. Why are you suddenly acting like this… Why do you want to go back to Lohn… You’re not telling me anything… Why did you even ask me to come to Gemin? To tell me you’re going back to Lohn?”
Hadn’t he been the one who was about to cry? But why was I crying? …I didn’t know. No, wait, Pel had said there was no such thing as “I don’t know,” so there must be a reason.
But I couldn’t even understand why my heart was aching so much.
Woo stared at me, his face frozen, then slowly pulled me into his arms. I collapsed against him, my body limp. His breath tickled my ear.
“I’m sorry. I just… I just thought… I would be a burden to you if I stayed by your side.”
“A burden…?”
“…I’m sorry, Sue.”
He kept apologizing, without explaining himself.
“I shouldn’t have… followed you.”
Ah, I didn’t know. I was sorry, Pel, but I really didn’t know. Why was he saying such cruel words with such a sorrowful voice?
I was comforted by the warmth of his embrace, but his words tore at my heart.
This was unfamiliar. This feeling of my heart breaking, not my body. This feeling of wanting to reveal something to each other. This feeling of wanting to connect with another person through affection.
It was so difficult for us, who had spent our lives hiding our true selves, that we couldn’t even recognize the smallest of wounds.
***
The reason I had impulsively run away from the palace was simple. Because becoming king meant losing even more freedom than I had as crown prince. I had run away because I wanted to feel free, one last time.
It wasn’t that Gemin had freedom, it was the act of running away itself that I believed had freedom. I had persuaded Selena to escape the palace with me.
Of course, I had left a letter, kindly informing them that I would be back in time for the coronation, so as not to cause too much chaos.
I had received a letter from Duke Reeves a few days before coming to Gemin. The beginning of the letter was filled with pleasantries, like how the weather was and how the relationship between our countries was, but he finally got to the point at the end.
[If you find my younger brother in your kingdom, please escort him back to Atlantis immediately.]
His sincerity was evident in his bold handwriting.
To be honest, I got along well with Duke Reeves. We had similar personalities. We both enjoyed seeking out amusement and teasing others.
So thinking about it now, I could understand why Duke Reeves had suddenly sent me a letter asking me to escort his brother back.
He must have expected me to react this way. Just like I had seen through his true intentions. Of course, he would have been delighted if I had actually captured Woo and brought him back to Atlantis.
But enough about Reeves, the problem was his brother. When I had first heard from my servant that Reeves’s younger brother had eloped, I had thought it was a joke.
But it wasn’t a joke, it was true. And the woman he loved was a criminal who had been exiled from the empire. I was so shocked that I wondered if he had lost his mind.
But you know what? I was even more shocked when I saw him in Gemin, after eloping.
His feelings for Sue Byron were genuine. Anyone could tell just by observing him for a bit.
The strange thing was Woo Acrea’s attitude towards Sue Byron.
He had deliberately broken a dish at the restaurant. People don’t usually get shards of glass embedded in their hands from breaking a dish. And I had seen it happen with my own eyes.
He had smashed the dish against his hand the moment our eyes met. Even Selena, who was usually unflappable, had screamed.
‘He doesn’t care about her at all.’
Of course, I didn’t think his actions had been fake. I believed that everything Woo Acrea did for Sue Byron came from his heart.
He had suggested Gemin as their destination for her sake, he had given in to my flimsy threats, he had said he would go back to Lohn for her sake, and he had smashed the dish to make her look at him.
…It was even more baffling because it was all genuine.
A man who had lived his life smiling meaninglessly would naturally become emotionally unstable when he fell in love.
And Sue Byron too.
…No, she was even worse. She was the real villain.
“…Haha.”
Watching their messy love story unfold, I realized even more strongly that Woo Acrea was a valuable asset, both to Lokor and to me.
***
I had a dream.
I was talking to someone in a small cabin in Patroclus. The person sitting across from me was a woman, and she was much more beautiful and graceful than me. I unconsciously called out her name, delighted by her serene smile and her flowing red hair.
“Aunt Liza.”
My aunt Elizabeth, who had taken six months of my life.
“Sue, we can finally have a proper conversation.”
I realized it was a dream about my second visit to Patroclus, hearing her familiar voice and seeing the familiar surroundings.
“Then tell me your story. I’m curious about who you are.”
My story began the moment Elizabeth put down her teacup. It had been part of the deal, after all. I diligently told her my life story to pay the price.
Of course, it wasn’t “Sue Byron’s” life story, it was *my* life story.
Elizabeth listened patiently, without any surprise. She must have realized at some point that I wasn’t her real niece.
I told her everything, from the moment I was born, how I had lived as “Sue Byron,” the people I had met, and what I had thought about them.
After hearing my story, Elizabeth summed up her thoughts in a single sentence,
“Whoever you are, you’re my niece, and I want you to be happy.”
She had taken six months of my life, but she had understood me, and she was kind.
Before I left Patroclus, Elizabeth hugged me and said,
“Sue, can you be with Woo in the future?”
I couldn’t answer her question back then. She had known that Woo liked me and that I had dragged him on this journey, from our conversation the night before.
Elizabeth stroked my head, as I just swallowed, and said,
“Sue, love isn’t just about responsibility.”
And then, I woke up.
I was lying in a shabby inn bed in Gemin, not in a small cabin in Patroclus.
‘…It was a dream.’
I sat up, taking a deep breath. The dawn light was streaming in through the cracked window.
My forehead was damp with sweat, but my mind was clear.
When had I fallen asleep?
I brushed my hair back, trying to remember. I must have fallen asleep while crying in Woo’s arms. That meant I had slept for almost 24 hours.
But Woo wasn’t in the room. I looked around the empty room several times, feeling a sense of emptiness, but I was alone.
‘Where did he go…?’
I felt like I had been punched in the gut, just by the fact that he wasn’t there.
‘Did he go to see Celine again?’
No, he wouldn’t.
…Yes, he wouldn’t.
I lay in bed for a long time, taking deep breaths, and my mind finally started to calm down. I recalled the dream I had just had.
Or rather, the memory of my second meeting with Aunt Elizabeth in Patroclus.
‘Sue, love isn’t just about responsibility.’
Those had been her last words to me before I left for Lokor. And yesterday, I had heard the same words from someone else.
‘Love isn’t just about responsibility.’
I hadn’t understood why Elizabeth had said that back then. But now, I think I understood.
Love isn’t just about responsibility.
But I definitely felt a sense of responsibility towards Woo Acrea.
The first person in the world to love me. The person who had given up everything and followed me at my single word. I had to repay him. I had always thought that.
And I had unconsciously thought of loving him as a form of repayment.
The responsibility to love him, not the uncertainty of whether I would love him or not. I had traveled with him for six months, carrying that heavy burden.
But we hadn’t achieved anything in those six months. As time passed, I couldn’t even figure out my own feelings, let alone love him.
Woo had also pretended to be fine, but he couldn’t be. His pent-up emotions must have been piling up like a mountain. Whatever they were, they were definitely complicated.
…But if Woo went back to Lohn, things would be different. If he went back to Lohn and ended up with someone else, I would be free from the responsibility that bound me to him.
Woo would also be happy, forgetting about me, who was playing with his heart.
“….”
But strangely, it hurt. The thought of him not being by my side gave me a headache, and I didn’t even want to think about him being with another woman.
If he said he loved me, couldn’t he just… love me forever?
…If this was responsibility, couldn’t I just… take all the responsibility? For his feelings, for everything?
“…Haha…”
I chuckled, feeling a sense of emptiness and absurdity.
I finally had to admit my true feelings.
From a distance, it was nothing. It had only been three days. Just a small incident that had happened during our travels, making a new friend in a new place, being apart for a while.
…It was really nothing.
I rolled up my sleeve, revealing the silver necklace I had been wearing. It was a gift from Woo, back in Lohn. It was still shining brightly on my wrist.
Why had I been hiding it?
I chuckled, pondering the question I had asked myself.
…It was just a habit.
Hiding things from others was our chronic disease.
“….”
I stared blankly at the brightening dawn sky.
What had I wanted to say to him that first night in Gemin, when I had grabbed his sleeve?
I think I could finally answer the question I hadn’t been able to answer back then.
‘…I probably didn’t want to say anything.’
Maybe I just wanted to stand there with him, as if time had stopped.
…No, not “maybe.”
That was the answer.