One Day, My Fiancé Brought His First Love Along - Chapter 80

“Well, at least all we’ve had to do is ride like crazy. That’s a relief.”

Piel plopped down with a sigh, reaching for his canteen. Aileen held back her own complaint about her backside being sore from all the mad galloping.

“Just imagine if we’d run into a beast. What a nightmare. Covered in blood, stinking, sticky, ugh.”

It seemed Piel was particularly sensitive about cleanliness.

“I’m not scared of dying, just scared of getting something gross on me.”

“You’re not wrong.”

As they exchanged idle chatter, the time for rest settled in.

The knights had formed small groups, arranging themselves in loose circles for sleep. Carlisle, placing Piel between them, set up his spot next to Aileen.

The three of them—and a handful of others—camped slightly apart from the rest. All of them shared one thing in common: they were among the most elite in the subjugation unit.

Aileen, realizing that, paused to reflect.

Carlisle wasn’t the kind of man who flaunted rank or authority. He’d always been the type to work alongside his subordinates without complaint. So why was he now choosing to sleep away from the rest?

While it wasn’t uncommon for squad leaders to reserve more comfortable or separate spots for themselves, Carlisle—being of common birth—had never shown such tendencies. It was part of the reason why he had earned such deep respect from the Sel Order.

Aileen thought she understood what his actions meant now, but she pushed the thought aside, brushing away the creeping emotions. She shifted her gaze to the ink-black sky, trying to anchor her mind there.

Carlisle, meanwhile, watched her sleeping face in silence.

The campfire crackled softly, casting flickers of warmth that danced across Aileen’s peaceful features—clear one moment, hazy the next.

Carlisle had volunteered for the first watch of the night—their first camp since departure.

Especially after the incident earlier with those lowly knights, he intended to stay alert until morning. He trusted no one else—not even Piel.

Though he knew Piel to be sincere and good-hearted, when it came to Aileen, Carlisle couldn’t bring himself to fully let down his guard. Still, Piel’s attentiveness to her did lighten his burden somewhat.

If only his situation were different, he would’ve taken the spot right next to her. That way, he could’ve protected her more easily.

He committed every detail of her sleeping face to memory—even the soft, fine hairs on her cheek.

These moments, when she slept, were the only times he could look at her freely. He had to make the most of it… if he wanted to remember her for a long time.

Carlisle slowly curled and uncurled his hand. Lately, pain shot through his palm so fiercely that even gripping a sword had become difficult.

His dark eyes deepened, sinking into memory.

—

“Carlisle Avergue, I curse you. For the hatred and fury you’ve brought upon us, you will die—slowly, painfully, and utterly alone.”

The northern tribe’s shaman, even as he lay dying, had laughed and spoken those words with terrible joy.

“The woman you love… the one from House Revart. Unless you steal her life force, you will not survive. Remember—your only way to live is through her.”

Even as they cursed him with such malice, Carlisle kept fighting.

The northern warriors threw themselves at him in waves, their sole goal to complete the curse. Carlisle, soaked in their blood, didn’t even bother wiping it from his eyes. He focused on cutting them down.

Still, in the end, he failed to stop it.

There were simply too many. It was as if the whole world had turned into a battleground just for him.

“Let the one who can live only by draining the life of the woman he loves feel the depths of despair—feel the agony of such existence before you die like a worm in the mud.”

The curse had been real. Twenty members of the Tanil tribe—known for its shamans—had offered their lives to ensure it took hold.

Carlisle didn’t realize how true those words were until he returned… and tried to embrace Aileen.

He’d been gone for so long. And when Aileen rushed into his arms, exposing her shoulder as she reached for him, he had instinctively touched her skin.

What he felt then struck like lightning.

The sensation of something foreign rushing into him—an energy he hadn’t known was fading—suddenly returned the moment he touched her.

As if her life force had surged into him.

The realization was instant. He recoiled from her as if burned.

From the moment the curse was cast, he’d sensed something was being drained away from him. But the moment he touched Aileen’s skin, he understood exactly what it was—and how the curse worked.

It was terrifying. He could feel it vividly—he was absorbing her life.

Until then, he’d only half-believed the shamans’ ominous words. That moment cemented their truth.

If it had been just a curse that shortened his life, perhaps he would’ve told her the truth.

He had vowed never to lie to Aileen.

But this curse—this horrific magic—meant that in order to survive, he would have to steal her life. The idea of living on like a parasite, draining the woman he loved… was unthinkable.

Not even for one more day.

Carlisle had always wanted Aileen to be happy. Like all those who bore the name of Revart, he wanted to protect her with a love greater than any other. He knew how deeply Aileen loved him—so he had sworn to stay by her side until the day he died.

But this curse…

“…Right. If that’s your decision, then so be it. Aileen is the type who would gladly sacrifice her own life to keep you alive.”

After discovering that Marquess Hessiden might be colluding with the northern tribes, Carlisle finally confessed the truth to Edys.

Edys had remained silent for a long time after hearing it. He even seemed on the verge of tears.

“Still… the Aileen I know… even if she only had a year to live, if she could spend it with you by sharing her life, I think she’d choose that and be happy.”

“I can’t let that happen.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

Trying to lighten the mood, Edys let out a dry laugh and offered a joke.

“Kind of funny, considering I already said Aileen would die for you… but where do you get that kind of confidence from? What if she just tells you to go die on your own?”

Yes. That could happen. But he knew it wouldn’t.

It was long ago, just after they’d both joined the Sel Order. Carlisle had once been severely injured while recklessly diving in to save a fellow knight.

When he finally opened his eyes nearly a full day later, the first thing he saw was Aileen’s face—so pale and ghostly that it was hard to tell who had been on the brink of death.

From that moment on, Carlisle swore that if he ever fell ill, he would never tell Aileen.

“Don’t say things you know aren’t true.”

At Carlisle’s cold tone, Edys merely shrugged and then, more cautiously, raised a concern.

“But… don’t you think pretending to have a fiancée—Judith—is taking it a little too far?”

Carlisle had also explained the plan to stage a fake engagement with Judith while describing the nature of his curse.

That had been Edys’s response.

And Carlisle’s reply?

“Unless I go that far, Aileen will never let go.”

Yes. He had been completely certain.

He had to be. Because of something Aileen had once said to him, long ago—words that still echoed in his mind.

It was on a breezy afternoon. Aileen had lain down with her head resting on his thigh, saying how much she loved the cool air. Then, she had looked up at him and asked:

“Carlisle, do you love me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why does it feel like… you have no attachment to this world?”

“…”

“I want to grow inside your heart faster than anything else. I want to be the reason you stay anchored in this world.”

He’d never known why those words had hit him so hard, but he’d thought about them over and over again.

And he came to a conclusion.

Aileen was right. She had already become his only reason to remain in this world.

“Don’t lie to me. I might let you go if you say you found someone else… but if you die, I’ll never forgive you.”

“You’re the only meaning I have left. Please believe me, Aileen.”

“Let me be clear. If you die, I’ll die with you. So you must never die.”

“Okay.”

Back then, when she said “death,” she’d meant his will to live simply fading away—not death brought by a curse like now. But still, it was then that he made up his mind.

If he ever became terminally ill and his days were numbered, he would extinguish all of Aileen’s love for him before he died.

If love turned to hatred, then at least she wouldn’t follow him into death.

That was the conclusion he had come to after agonizing for so long.

He had made the painful decision to become the villain—to wound Aileen, to harden her heart—just to eliminate even the faintest chance that she would choose death upon learning the truth.

Would the outcome have been better if he had told her everything and let her decide?

It was a pointless question now.

His deep blue eyes, thick with unspoken sorrow, drifted toward Aileen. The tears that had gathered quietly never fell. They simply welled up, forming a still, silent pool.

“Just once before I die, I want to touch her again.”

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