One Day, My Fiancé Brought His First Love Along - Chapter 91

Carlisle’s teeth chattered in the face of this cursed situation. He had never felt so anxious in his life.

This short ride felt like an eternity. His body, weak from fatigue, kept slipping.
His sword nearly dropped from his trembling hand.

What if the truth had come out earlier?
Maybe then,  things wouldn’t have ended in such disaster.

Aireen would never have come to this dangerous place. And even if she had, he would’ve stood by her side like an iron wall.

There’d be no need to lose her trust. No need to send her away.

So why had he done it? Why had he driven a nail straight into Aireen’s heart?

If he couldn’t protect her…
If he couldn’t bring her happiness…
Then what was he even doing by her side?

The regret was so overwhelming it made him wish—truly wish—that he could simply vanish without ever causing her pain.

He had hurt her on purpose.

If he had simply disappeared, Aireen would have come looking for him.
She would’ve wanted to understand why— Worried that he’d been threatened, or forced to vanish, or even killed.

If he had said, “I don’t love you anymore,”
She would’ve fought it.
She would’ve begged him to change his mind.
She would never have let go so easily.

That’s why he chose Judith.
Because that was the only answer a childlike, emotionally stunted mind like his could come up with.

Aireen’s love had been too much. Too pure.
He didn’t know how to accept something so overwhelming.

I hated myself.
I hated every foolish decision. Every arrogant assumption.

If Aireen is still alive… If only I could save her…

Would she let me tell her the truth?
Would she forgive me if I begged like a dog, groveling at her feet?

Would it matter if I told her that everything was a lie—That I deceived her?

There wasn’t a single day I didn’t love you.

At that moment, I could almost hear Aireen’s voice in my mind.

“Selfish child.”

It was as if I could hear her resentment echoing from afar.

“You’ve been lying to me this whole time. So what are you trying to say now?”

Her tear-streaked face, twisted in pain, flashed before him.
Was it a hallucination?
Or a warning of what was to come?

If Aireen was truly cursed, If she could only live by sacrificing herself, Then what should he do?

Carlisle would gladly offer up his life or no, he would give every single remaining moment he had—
to her.

But what if she hides it?
What if she carries the weight of it alone?

He must’ve hated himself for not being strong enough.
Not being a true shield to protect her.

Maybe a part of him even resented Aireen— For keeping it a secret.
But it was such a small, petty feeling.
Like a dust speck drifting through sunlight.

The thought of her dying—alone, with only a year left to live—was unbearable.
Even if it was just a “family matter,”
Even if it was something beyond his control— Just imagining her shouldering that burden without telling him…

It was enough to break him.

But even if he could go back. Even if time rewound itself, Could he really make a different choice?

No… No. If I had known…
If I had known Aireen might vanish— I never would have wasted even a second.

In that blurry instant between life and death, Carlisle’s mind spiraled.

Regret.
Self-loathing.
Panic.
Fear.
It all twisted into one tangled storm of thoughts.

He couldn’t think straight.
His heart was racing.
His logic was gone.

All he knew was that he couldn’t live without her.

“Chief…”

Piel, who had been waiting behind Carlisle, muttered softly, biting his lips in guilt and worry over Aireen.
Carlisle didn’t even recognize the voice. He simply staggered toward the horse.

The Knights of Sel had faced countless dangers across the Empire.
For a single knight to fall behind or go missing—honestly—it was considered a minor misfortune.

No, perhaps it was lucky it ended with just one this time.

Captain Carlisle had always been the calm in chaos.
Even when ten of his knights were isolated or when his soldiers were taken hostage, he never lost his composure.

But now—why was someone like him trembling?

Even if the others didn’t know, the Knights of Sel understood.
His hands and feet trembled faintly, and his face had turned pale.

Today, their leader gave no orders. He said nothing.

But Carlisle no longer cared what the others thought.
He had no time to worry about Piel and his subordinates’ judgment.

Some of the knights who disapproved of Carlisle and Aireen’s return situation sneered among themselves.

Carlisle took a deep breath, his pulse pounding like it would explode.

This is going to ruin everything. Calm down.

It felt like a speeding carriage had slammed into his chest.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, something brushed his palm.

It was the jewel Edys had given him.

If you recite the spell on this jewel, you’ll know where the other person is. Use it only when you truly need to find each other.

There was no time to hesitate.

Carlisle gripped the jewel tightly and spoke the incantation in a steady voice.

A blinding light enveloped him. When the purple glow faded—he was gone.

“It hurts more than I thought.”

Aireen moved slowly, limping with care but staying alert.

I don’t know where this is…
It must be a hidden part of the Hanilom Mountains.
The trees here are unusually dense, even for this range.

Even though it didn’t feel like a typical forest, she pressed on, using the trunks for balance.

After being dragged off a cliff by a monster, she had blacked out.
She’d only regained consciousness to birdsong.

The sky doesn’t look that different… It must not have been long.

If I’d stayed unconscious too long, the monster would’ve gotten me.
Even now, I can still hear it crying in the distance.

“At least I still have a sword…”

Thankfully, the sword had been tossed aside nearby.
She rose to retrieve it—then stopped.

Her ankle burned.

It’s probably twisted… No wonder I can’t walk right.

I shouldn’t strain it, but I can’t stay here either… it’s too exposed.

Any moment, a monster could charge from the trees.

Despite her pain, Aireen moved with care, leaving subtle marks on the trees as she passed.
Only she would recognize them later.

Even disoriented and wounded, she focused—
Analyzing the monster that had tried to take her.

The beast’s tail was strong enough to endure even the edge of her sharp sword. Normally, monsters lacked intelligence. They attacked blindly, without interest in keeping their prey alive—let alone toying with them.

But this one was different. Despite being stabbed multiple times, it didn’t die. And strangely, it didn’t kill her either.

She couldn’t ignore the black smoke that coiled around its tail—almost as if it were guiding the monster to her.

As far as she knew, no magical creature could control black smoke. That could only be sorcery.

“I figured it would be better to throw myself off the cliff,” she thought. “It looked like they were trying to kidnap me while I was still alive. I have no idea what those northern savages would do if I became their hostage.”

“It’d be nice to find a cave or something. I need to recover from my injuries… just enough to make it out of here.”

Though there was no one to hear her, Aireen muttered softly as she forced herself to move. If she didn’t, she feared her entire body would collapse from the anxiety.

No one had seen her fall from the cliff. And if they searched only for traces of the monster, they’d never find her—even if they died trying.

“Still… shouldn’t we send a search party?”

She was a precious knight of the Diert Empire, the daughter of House Revart. But in the face of such monstrous invasion, even knights found themselves helpless.

Aireen shook her head fiercely. “Negative thoughts only lower the odds of survival,” she told herself.

At that time, I was moving carefully between the sparsely spaced trees, choosing my steps so I could duck behind cover at a moment’s notice.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

A dreadfully ominous sound echoed through the trees.

“Ah… is it already that close?”

I immediately knew it—the footsteps of a monster.

Pressing her back against a tree, Aireen shut her eyes tight in despair, then opened them again with resolve, gripping her sword firmly. The heavy thuds grew louder, closer.

Then, at last, when the sound was nearly on top of her, Aireen leapt from her hiding spot behind the tree, striking like lightning.

“Asleep,” she whispered.

There were three monsters in total. She managed to eliminate one with a surprise attack.

But the real problem lay with the other two. One was at least five times her size, and the other—though smaller—was just as quick as she was.

“Of all things… I had to injure my ankle.”

The pain from her twisted ankle made it impossible to deal with the larger beast and just as hard to avoid the smaller one.

“Am I really going to die like this…?”

Just as despair began to take root, she kept swinging her sword with everything she had—half resigned to her fate.

Suddenly, a deep blue light surged from near her collarbone. Within an instant, it enveloped her completely, blinding her vision.

“What in the world is happening?”

A brilliant flash of light erupted around her, scattering her scream into the air.

Then, through the haze, a familiar, trembling voice called her name.

“Aireen.”

In that moment, as the light vanished, standing before her was Carlisle.

Support