Peeking into the Future - Chapter 11

Peeking into the Future - Chapter 11

Ethan couldn't bring himself to speak. Ethan didn't want to talk about the secret time between the two of them even though Rachel was curious. This was a secret that he had to carry to his grave for the sake of their future relationship.

Even now, Ethan felt very uncomfortable meeting Rachel. It was because he kept seeing her appearance overlapped with the figure of a time when she called to him affectionately. His memories, which persistently revived even though he tried to erase it, chaotically disturbed the emotions that had defined Rachel.

"That…… I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be fun if I told you in advance...….”

Rachel hesitated and apologized. Seeing her being intimidated, unlike her usual self, made it difficult for him to stay angry and he lost his energy. His fights with Rachel were always like this. Ethan sighed slowly, thinking he had lost.

“Why did you do such a dangerous thing? What would you have done if I had been locked up in the future forever?”

Ethan gently criticized Rachel, sweeping his black hair back. With Ethan loosening his anger, she glanced at him and softly spoke.

"I would never put you in danger. It was just a hallucinogen.”

"What?"

Contrary to what he had expected, Rachel's words that it was only a hallucinogen left Ethan in disbelief and asked out loud, confused.

‘If it was hallucinations, how was it so vivid and real? Why didn’t I wake up when I realized it wasn’t real? And why did you show me such fantasies?’

Maybe Rachel…

‘…… might like me?’

Ethan's heart was beating so fast that it seemed like it was going to jump out at any moment. There were a lot of things he wanted to ask, but for some reason he couldn't ask a single question. Lips that were tightly closed as if they were glued together them made it impossible to easily release the words inside.

“You recently finished graduating, and your appointment as a knight is not far away.”

“…….”

The words that came out of Rachel's mouth were completely irrelevant to the subject. Ethan took in Rachel’s appearance who had her gaze lowered.

'Oh, I'm feeling strange again.'

It was the feeling that he occasionally felt while in his dream. Ethan felt a ghastly feeling that he couldn't describe in one word, and he waited silently for Rachel to speak.

“This is a secret between the two of us. You have no intention of succeeding the Count, right?”

“…… Yes."

Ethan couldn't give up his dream of becoming a knight, which he had dreamed of since childhood, and he entered the Swordsmanship School with stubborn persistence. It was a secret from his parents, but as soon as he graduated from the academy, he was going to be knighted, breaking his promise to quietly become a head of state.

“But the Count intends to make you his successor.”

Ethan's father, Count Jackal, was a man with a strong will to hand over the family to his son from the time he was just born, and if he found out later, he might be very angry and drive Ethan out of the family.

Ethan was born as the only child in his family, and he has lived a life without lacking anything. If he followed his dreams and became a knight, his life would in many ways become inferior to the life of a count. In addition, it was uncertain whether Ethan, who had received a rather ordinary education among the children of knights, would be able to succeed as a knight.

Others might have pointed fingers at Ethan’s stubbornness for being reckless. However, Rachel wanted to support his lonely struggle.

“You must have told me your secret because you knew I was going to be on your side too, right?”

“…… that’s right."

When he first revealed his secret, she listened to his confession and just smiled quietly while thanking him for telling her. She alone brought him more comfort than any other words of support.

“So that’s why…….”

Rachel grunted to herself. Of course, it was not that she did not understand Ethan's embarrassment. However, seeing him get angry at first without knowing her true intentions made her feel a little sad.

“Ethan, you know. Do you know how many precious ingredients it takes to make one? I had to go to the black market to retrieve it!”

"What? The black market? Your parents allowed you to go to a place like that?"

“Am I stupid? Of course I went secretly!”

“Without an escort? Why are you so reckless...…!”

Ethan was startled by Rachel's bombastic remarks.

The black market dealt with rare and hard-to-find items, and since it is held in the dark, they negotiated a price higher than the market price. For this reason, the black market was always secretly opened only in back alleys with poor security. There must have been a lot of danger lurking there, but she didn't know that the world was a scary place, and went in and out of there as a woman! Ethan's heart raced at the thought that Rachel might have been a target for some of lesser bastards.

"What? I didn’t do anything reckless? Of course, I hired a separate mercenary. Anyway! Do you know how expensive the ingredients were to make it…”

Then, as Rachel bragged about the price, Ethan put a hand on his throbbing head and looked at the unpredictable woman in front of him.

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