The Gap Between You and Me - Chapter 162

[I love you.]

A warm breath touches his cold cheek.

‘It’s not real.’

It’s just a false illusion that he unconsciously created because he kept constantly yearning for it.

‘It’s not real, it’s just fake.’

Nothing more, nothing less.

‘Even if it’s real, I can’t turn back now.’

Edwin clenched his teeth.

‘It’s already too late.’

His flowing tears flowed together with the water that swallowed him. Because of that, he didn’t even know he was crying. There was a sharp pain in his frozen heart.

[So please, Edwin.]

The dulled senses began to revive little by little. Little by little, his limp limbs gained strength, and his fingertips twitched in convulsions.

A soft touch fell on his lips. A nostalgic scent like the fresh scent of spring tickled the tip of his nose.

He really wanted to live with her.

[Please come back to me once more.]

If Herietta allowed him, he wanted to share his life with her.

A fire was once again kindled in Edwin’s heart. And at that moment, someone grabbed his hand. The power that lifts him to the surface.

Edwin, weighed down by the weight of an eternity, slowly opened his eyes.

* * *

Edwin opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Like a man who has been submerged for a long time and could finally stick his head out of the water.

The first thing he saw was the light. It was dazzling enough to make him frown, and white enough to make his head sting a little.

The cold air hit his skin together with a buzzing in his ears. He felt a tingling pain, like his paralyzed limbs started to have blood flowing in it. It felt like needles were prickling him.

“…….”

Edwin blinked slowly. Could it be because he stayed in the thick darkness for a long time? Everything around him seemed hazy and foggy.

Where on earth is this again?

“Oh dear, that bachelor over there has woken up!”

“Oh my God! He has really woken up!”

“What? He’s not dead?”

A bustling sound came to Edwin’s ears as he lay there blankly and breathed erratically. It wasn’t just one person’s voice, there were of different genders and ages.

“Ah, what a relief. The maiden can take a breather now.”

‘…… Maiden?’

His blurry vision gradually became clearer. One, two, color was added to the objects that were blurry, and the outline came to life. Edwin soon realized that someone was standing beside him. The moment he turned his head to see who it was, she carefully cupped his cheeks with both hands.

Flutter. Long hair like thin willow branches flowed down the side of his face. A faint tremor passed through her hands. He did not reject the touch and turned his head slightly to the side as the other person led him.

Fine eyes, nose and mouth on a white face. Wavy brown hair.

Edwin looked into the eyes of the woman sitting next to him. His image was reflected in the dark brown eyes that shook with anxiety.

Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. The watery eyes were so transparent that they looked like clear marbles. The woman’s face was distorted in a mess, on the verge of bursting into tears at any moment. The moment she realized that Edwin was looking at her, her expression slowly began to change.

The corners of her teary eyes curled and became a pretty crescent-moon shape. The corners of her mouth lifted, revealing the neat white teeth hidden beneath her red lips.

Like leaves budding in the warm spring breeze on an early spring day. Like a butterfly flapping its wings after hibernating under the frozen ground all winter long.

A soft and warm spring flower bloomed on the woman’s face.

Yes. Just like the very first time he fell in love with that smile of hers.

“Welcome back. Edwin.”

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Herietta was his everything. She greeted him with a smile more beautiful than anything else in the world.

* * *

A small kingdom in the southwest of the continent, Anarran.

There was a village in Anarran. A village that is not marked on any map, is nestled in the middle of a remote forest. It was unknown to most travelers, even many Anarrans were unaware of its existence.

It was a very small village with only eight hundred inhabitants. And most of the residents are natives of the village, who have settled and took roots there for generations. Having been together for a long time, their bond was bound to be deep.

What the neighbors had planted in their backyard this year or the condition of the farm equipment stored in the shed were, of course, essential information for anyone to know.

Someone looked at them and called them rotten water. It was because they did not go out of the village at all, and they did not tend to communicate actively with other people.

It wasn’t like that on purpose. It’s just that they haven’t felt the need to communicate with the outside world since they had been living isolated in a remote place for a long time.

Occasionally, there were people who were dissatisfied with such an idea and left the village to go to a bigger city, but it was a very small number. The people of the village, whose way of thinking about life were so simple that it seemed strange, were content to live in the place given to them.

Like their parents, and their parents’ parents, they were born in the village, grew up, built a family, and died there in time.

It was a peaceful life at best and a boring life at worst.

Then one day. As always, there was a big story between the villagers who lived a small life. It was for the first time in a long time that two outsiders came in from outside the village.

They were a young and beautiful couple. Although their origins were unknown, the couple had a noble and hard-to-reach atmosphere.

The couple made a very strong impression on the villagers. The villagers were impressed by their sculptural good looks, especially on the husband’s side. But what impressed them even more was the way they treated each other.

The husband loved and cared for his wife very much. And the wife also seemed to respect and love her husband a lot. They were so enamored with each other that the villagers wondered how the couple came to love each other that much.

The villagers unanimously said that ‘inseparable relationship’ would be the term used to refer to a relationship like those two.

Their relationship was like a model of the perfect couple that would appear in textbooks. Such a relationship that receives the envy and jealousy of many people.

However, there was something a little strange about them who looked perfect. The most notable among them was the title the husband called his wife.

Her husband called his wife by adding ‘Miss’ to her name. Also, he showed respect and courtesy when with her. As if he was standing lower than her, rather than looking at her from an equal position.

He faltered at his wife’s every word, and would give his heart and soul all if she wanted to.

Perhaps, they might be a noble lady and a servant who secretly ran away from the family due to forbidden love. Or maybe it was a knight who gave an oath of allegiance to a noble lady who caused trouble in society.

The villagers made many guesses about the relationship between the two. But in the end, no one was able to figure out what the truth was.

This is because the couple was kind and friendly, but did not cross the line, and were sincere and honest, but did not reveal their private lives. Even when someone couldn’t stand it and asked directly how the two were related, they just smiled silently.

Time passed just like that. A day passed, a month passed, a year passed. One year, two years, and three years.

Even after the couple settled down in this village, time continued to flow and the years piled up. People thought that the couple would leave the village within a year, but their expectations were wrong. When asked how long they plan to stay here, the couple laughed and replied, “A very long time if possible.”

There was a small house on the eastern outskirts of the village. It was a house built by the two people to make it their home after coming here. A large zelkova tree in the yard. The two of them put a long wooden chair under the tree, which provides cool shade in summer and creates a spectacular view with the tree wearing white snow clothes in winter. Then, from time to time, they would end the day sitting on that bench and watching the sun go down.

The sky is finely dyed with golden twilight. A twilight light gently fell on the heads of the two people who were sitting still with their bodies attached to each other.

The wife lying in a comfortable position on her husband’s lap, and the husband caressing her hair, as if the wife couldn’t be more lovable than this. The deep affection towards each other was felt from the way they held each other’s hands tightly.

The villagers no longer called the couple outsiders. Instead, they jokingly teased them, saying that they were a very good couple with a good marital relationship, or that they were an unusual couple who were blinded by love.

And the teasing continued for a long time. Because in people’s memories, the two were always, always together.

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