The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 18

Yulania opened her eyes in a pure white space.

‘Again.’

Similar dreams had been repeating for the past few days. Strangely, when she woke up, she couldn’t remember anything about the dream, and only when she was in the dream did her previous memories return.

She looked around for the golden light in the space that had become familiar to her. She didn’t know what this dream meant, but she always felt the same thing instinctively.

‘I have to catch that light.’

Today felt a little different from the dreams she had before. Originally, as soon as she became aware that it was a dream, the golden mass would immediately come into view. But today, it was hard to spot.

Yulania waved her arms in the space where she felt nothing but light. It was a creepy feeling because there wasn’t even the sensation of cutting through ordinary wind.

Just as she thought she had taken a few steps forward, a small light caught her eye at the edge of her vision.

‘Found it…!’

The golden light, which was unusually far away today, but shining even more intensely, was visible. She ran towards it. Or, she thought she ran.

An irresistible belief that she had to reach that light dominated her.

But today, too, she couldn’t reach the light.

Blink.

As her eyelids slowly moved, a familiar gray ceiling came into view.

Yulania woke up with an unsettling feeling, as if someone had stolen a handful of memories from her head.

‘I definitely felt like I was desperate for something.’

She clenched and unclenched her hands for no reason, trying to feel something.

Soon, she remembered the disgraceful behavior she had shown a while ago, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Yulania, who had regained her reason, felt like a fool for crying and complaining in front of Santia.

‘…I can’t believe it.’

Many servants tried to stop her, and even the knights who had just returned were watching. She couldn’t understand why she had poured out her emotions so much.

Yulania, who didn’t know about the side effects of the medicine, was simply unfamiliar with the erratic emotions that ran wild.

She had worried that she would be embarrassed to face her husband, but it was a pointless thought. Since that day, it had become difficult to even catch a glimpse of Santia’s face.

For the first few days, she thought he was busy with the demon problem. But it was impossible not to notice when he repeatedly left while she was asleep, without even saying hello.

Santia was avoiding Yulania.

As a result, the stuffy feeling that had been building up since the capital accelerated. Even the routine morning and evening greetings were implicitly omitted after the miscarriage.

According to the servants, it wasn’t that he wasn’t coming in. He was just coming in late at night and leaving again at dawn.

When that continued for more than a week, Yulania couldn’t stand it anymore. She waited until late today to face Santia.

It was late at night when a white crescent moon rose high in the sky.

Just as her eyelids were getting heavy and yawns were escaping her lips from the faint sounds of the night, she heard footsteps outside.

Yulania, who had been waiting on the couch in the first-floor lobby, immediately got up.

“Santia.”

“Aren’t you asleep? It’s late.”

Santia flinched when she put her face in front of him, but there was no further reaction. He indifferently turned away from her.

But Yulania had no intention of backing down easily after waiting this long. She approached him, who was avoiding her eyes, and said firmly.

“Let’s talk.”

“…Does it have to be now? Tomorrow during the day-”

“Liar.”

“……”

“You’ll say that and leave early in the morning, like you’re running away.”

“I’m going because there’s something going on with the demons right now. Do you think I’m going out to play?”

Santia couldn’t help but get angry at her last remark. No matter how strong he was, he wasn’t immune to fatigue.

He was driven by the mental shock he was experiencing for the first time, and he was driven again by the tiresome battle with the demons. For him, the best thing to do was to keep Yulania safe in the castle and not give her any more shocks.

The demons lurking beyond the walls, the king whose intentions he couldn’t figure out, were all harmful to her. He was faithfully following the doctor’s advice.

Santia barely managed to control the emotions that were trying to burst out and said in a low voice.

“Go in now.”

And the moment he turned his back on her, a voice with a slight tremor stopped his steps.

“Our child.”

Santia, who couldn’t take a few steps and stopped, quietly bit his lip at a topic he didn’t want to deal with.

“…The child is dead. Is there really nothing to talk about?”

“…I’m looking into it on my own. Just take care of yourself.”

“Don’t avoid it. This isn’t something you can quietly solve on your own. The child left my body, and it’s also related to Father.”

Yulania wasn’t a fool either. No, as a member of the royal family who was educated and raised, she had exceptional thinking skills. No matter how much Santia tried to hide it, she couldn’t help but notice the signs.

“So, that’s why it’s not okay. It’ll get more complicated if you get involved.”

“…Get involved? You’re talking as if I’m not involved at all.”

But her husband’s blunt tone scratched her firm heart.

“I wish you weren’t. So please, let me handle it. I’ll let you know when there’s a result.”

And at the following indifferent words, Yulania finally poured out her true feelings.

“I’m also a person. Not a doll, but a person with thoughts and feelings.”

At the sudden outpouring, Santia shut his mouth and looked at her silently. His face seemed to ask what she meant.

“…We made a contract.”

“……?”

“A husband’s duty includes protecting his wife. If you want to protect me, you need to know what you’re doing. So talk to me properly.”

Yulania tried to speak calmly and pronounced each word clearly. But the emotions that had been spilled were exposed rawly.

“No one tells me what you’re doing every day in the land of demons with the knights, what kind of investigation you’re doing, how you’re doing it.”

“That’s!”

“I’m the person involved, but I feel like I’m being interrogated when I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“…You’ll find out eventually. I’m just asking you to wait a little longer.”

Santia was also having a hard time controlling his rising emotions. He gathered the last of his patience and recalled Joel’s advice.

“You don’t know how I feel at all. How frustrated I am, how anxious I am!”

But as Yulania continued to complain, Santia’s voice changed its tone and became rough.

It was only a matter of moments before the two people’s voices turned sharp.

“Yeah! I don’t know. But so what? Isn’t it the same for you not knowing how I feel?”

“You always talk in such a twisted way! How am I supposed to know when you avoid talking?”

“Seriously!”

The next moment, Santia’s voice grew louder at once. Yulania gave strength to her trembling legs so as not to be pushed back by the momentum.

“It’s ridiculous. What kind of emotional game is this now? Now?”

“……”

“Please don’t try to know anything and just stay in the castle quietly. Please listen to me.”

Santia pleaded with a face that looked like he was about to cry. He roughly swept his face with his hands. Perhaps because of the accumulated fatigue, his even more ferocious impression was directed at Yulania.

Yulania, who was intimidated by his fierce momentum, opened her mouth a beat late.

“…If you keep doing this, it’s a breach of contract.”

“Yeah, but do you know what? There was no penalty clause in our contract.”

Yulania slumped down helplessly as she watched Santia leave with those cold words.

She had clearly tried to resolve the situation by talking calmly, but the more they talked, the more tangled their emotions seemed to become.

Santia strode away, messing up his jet-black hair.

A little while ago, trying not to provoke Yulania had gone wrong and ended up provoking her instead. What he had intended to calm the situation had produced the opposite result.

He was going crazy in his own way.

For Santia, who had never had a real family, blood ties were very special. But for the first time, he had his own bloodline, and he learned about the news of the baby’s death before he even knew she was pregnant.

Although he had had an obligatory relationship with Yulania, he had never thought about the life that would actually be created in the process. He had never brought up the story of such an affectionate family with her.

The couple were both clumsy at expressing their emotions, and above all, they didn’t believe that such a dreamy future would come to them.

No one had taught him what to do in this situation. They were a miserable couple who couldn’t even grieve together.

He was disgusted with himself for not shedding a single tear even though he had lost a child. It was as if it was proof that he was not allowed to have a family, and he was furious.

He was annoyed by the sight of Yulania, who was already weak, languishing, and he was angry at the situation where he couldn’t freely harm the demons.

He just didn’t like everything. Everything was tiresome and annoying.

‘What do you want me to do?’

He just wanted to die.

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