Chapter 13

You are not a hunter... Did that mean I was in his way? Or he simply wanted to protect me?

After all these, I still did not want to hinder him. I still wanted to help him. I even risked my entire family to help him. How pathetic. When would you wake up, Liana? Why did you still trust him unconditionally? Was it worth risking your family?

It's no use regretting when I was already on the carriage to Coral Cliff. At the end of the day, I still trusted him unconditionally. When he said he would protect my family, I trusted him. I left my family and came all the way here. He had resources, it's much better than me hitting around blindly.

(To be quite honest, it's all a lost cause when Mother heard about that. She literally packed my suitcases and pushed me into the carriage.)

And I really doubt there was something Sebastian could not do when he had already set his mind on it. That's why in the end I agreed to (or was forced to) come along.

What I didn't expect was him coming along.

"I thought you weren't coming along..." I asked Sebastian who was sitting right across me on the carriage.

"I have something to do there. I will return after staying a few days," he replied without looking up from his documents.

"Ah, I see."

Then it was followed by silence, which wasn't a surprise. I had already gotten used to Sebastian's style silence. I took out the novel I had prepared for the journey and read all the way to the inn.

We were on the road for one week when we finally arrived at the pier. During the entire trip, it felt like I was back to when I had just been married to him. We traveled in the same carriage and dined together. Surprisingly it didn't feel awkward, I even felt kind of relaxed. I didn't have the pressure to keep thinking what to say as I knew Sebastian did not expect me to entertain him. However, when I saw something interesting and shared it with him, he would reply in his short curt manner.

This made me realized something, did my hatred and depression blind me? I had this firm believe that I suffered a lot during my entire two years living with him. But now that I looked back, in the first year of our marriage, before the famine had started, before the gossips had circulated, before I had found out that my family's death was not an accident, before Sebastian had refused to help me, we had gotten along pretty well. Kind of like this.

I felt relax staying by his side. He knew quite a lot of things. Like that time when I saw a tree with some pretty blossoms, he could point out what kind of tree that was immediately.

But even if we did get along pretty well, that did not mean I would not break my engagement with him. The betrayal and depression I felt when he refused to help me find out the truth could never be wiped away. Those feelings would forever be a thorn in my heart.

I didn't hate him now, I knew he had his reason. The famine, the droughts, the gossips, the traitor... he had his own kingdom to save. But understanding his reasons was one thing, that did not make his betrayal hurt less. I was his wife. He could have promised to help me find out the truth after everything was solved. Not treating my pleading like a joke.

I had a headache just trying to sort out all these mess. We would reach Coral Cliff tomorrow. I heard that the beach and the sea was stunning. I believed I needed a well deserved holiday.