Aya Ran Away - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 25
Nahal’s gaze moved slowly across Chifor’s and Aya’s faces before he drew a breath and spoke.
“I suspect you both understand that the situation has become complicated.”
Chifor’s lips pressed together.
She assented through silence, and Aya’s eyes rolled sideways.
‘Complicated how, exactly?’
Watching Aya’s confusion, Nahal opened his mouth carefully.
“I never intended to become king.”
At this startling admission, Aya’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t known he harbored such thoughts—not when the Temple and the nobility gave him such powerful backing.
When she glanced at Chifor, her sister’s mouth hung open in shock as well.
“My original plan was to have the Crown Prince installed as the next king, but……”
Nahal tapped slowly against the table.
She watched his eyes close and open again deliberately.
He seemed to be suppressing acute frustration.
“He failed to grasp this intention and disappeared.”
Biatan.
Aya recalled her half-brother, the Crown Prince.
They’d had almost no contact, so she struggled to articulate what she knew of him.
One thing was certain: he was timid and cowardly by nature.
It seemed his very weakness had caused everything to spiral into chaos.
With matters standing as they were, to leave the throne empty and allow factional strife between houses to destroy the realm was unthinkable—Lebat still had multiple conflicts unfolding across its territories.
Above all else, no one could predict what Argarit would do.
For all these reasons, Nahal was the only man fit to take the throne.
After all, hadn’t the rebellion been justified by the very claim that ‘Nahal is the prophesied king’?
Whether or not the nobility liked it, they had no choice but to accept him as king.
“This is what has brought the question of your futures to the fore.”
Had Biatan become king, the princes and princesses might have lived in similar circumstances to before, if somewhat diminished.
But now that Nahal was king, the children of the deposed monarch were nothing but obstacles in his path.
It seemed Chifor had only now grasped this truth—that circumstances were tightening like a noose around their necks. Her face went ashen, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Your maternal family sent word that they would follow my decision, but this……”
“Are you saying you’ll have us killed?”
Chifor couldn’t wait for him to finish and cut him off with the question.
“……Whatever you may think of me, I am not a murderer. I have no intention of killing you.”
Nahal laughed as if the very notion was absurd.
Aya waited for him to continue.
If not killed, then perhaps enslaved?
She’d heard that was the usual way of such things.
Aya readied herself to hear whatever came next with equanimity.
She imagined becoming a slave, or perhaps being locked away alone in some forgotten palace at the edge of the realm.
She thought she could bear either fate, at least to some degree.
But Nahal spoke of something entirely different.
“You will become my wives.”
‘What?’
Aya’s large eyes blinked slowly.
‘I think I misheard that.’
His words made her doubt her own ears.
Chifor seemed to be in a similar state of disbelief.
“Pardon?”
Her voice sharp with incredulity, Chifor exclaimed aloud.
“That’s impossible—I’m already betrothed!”
Nahal raised one eyebrow slowly, as if gauging something.
“The Wiride family—you can ask them yourself. It was settled long before I was even born.”
Ah.
As if only now remembering, Nahal nodded and opened his mouth.
“The Wiride family sent word that they will not honor the betrothal.”
“That can’t……”
Chifor seemed genuinely shaken—she’d had a rather good relationship with her betrothed.
Aya had no betrothal to speak of, so she felt no such shock, but the mere fact that she would simply become Nahal’s wife left her completely stunned.
Nahal let out a small sigh at the sight of Aya’s dazed expression and continued speaking.
“There is no difficulty in this. During our marriage, I do not intend to demand that the princesses fulfill the role of wife. In time, once circumstances stabilize, I will help them marry whomever they wish.”
It was not uncommon for a king to bestow his concubines upon others.
Even “that king” had once granted one of his concubines as a reward to a nobleman.
“Since haste is preferred, I have ordered preparations so the ceremony may take place before the season turns.”
Aya counted the days.
They were now in the plowing month, and if the wedding was to happen before the season changed, barely two months remained.
It was far too soon.
‘Why?’
Aya was no fool, yet despite Nahal’s courteous explanation, she could not fathom why he would take them as his wives.
‘Why, exactly?’
Nahal was a general possessed of youth and striking features, along with exceptional ability and the gift of command.
And he had become the new king.
Chifor, at least, came from a powerful maternal family and was beautiful.
But Aya was nothing.
Her mother, the late queen, had been a priestess, and Aya herself was a mute, limping creature with an ugly face marked by rumors of inherited madness.
Everyone spurned and avoided her.
Had not all the palace deemed her the most unfortunate soul within its walls?
By Aya’s reckoning, he had no reason to make her his wife.
Unable to comprehend, she looked up at Nahal.
While confusion clouded her expression, Nahal appeared composed, as though the matter were perfectly natural.
‘I feel dizzy.’
Heat crept into her cheeks.
“Is… is that all you have to say?” Chifor asked, her lips pressed firmly shut until that moment, as she suddenly rose to her feet.
Through Aya’s eyes, she saw tears glistening at the edges of Chifor’s eyes.
“Yes. If you wish, you may retire and rest.”
Before he had finished speaking, Chifor bolted from the room as though fleeing.
‘Because of her betrothal…’
Aya had thought nothing of it when she heard the news, but Chifor seemed to bear a grievous wound.
A pang of pity stirred in her as she sat thinking, when suddenly a ring appeared on the table before her.
‘What?’
When Aya lifted her head, she met eyes dark as twilight.
Whether from the wavering shadows of the firelight, or something else, the lips of Nahal—whose face had remained impassive throughout—seemed to relax in some subtle way.
“I have returned to keep my promise.”
The plain words fell like a stone into still water.
Aya studied him quietly as he spoke.
For a moment she did not understand what he meant, and then she remembered the promise he had made when he received the ring.
In that instant, something surged up from deep within her chest.
It felt as though she had been waiting an eternity to hear those words.
Without speaking, she found herself clutching the hem of her robe between her fingertips.
She had thought that before she died, she wanted to see him once more. Now, face to face with him at last, her heart trembled with something she could not name.
She had expected to leave the Underground Prison and meet death, yet not only had she escaped that place, but now she had received a promise of marriage from Nahal.
So much had happened in a single day.
Her thoughts spiraled, and her mind spun dizzily.
“Because of this ring, I received great…”
Nahal paused, as if searching for the right words, and drew a short breath.
“…help. I am grateful to you.”
‘Help?’
Curiosity lifted its head at his words.
‘Specifically, what…’
Aya wanted to know everything about it.
“I shall return it to you now.”
But he seemed to have no intention of explaining further, and merely pushed the ring toward her.
Aya shook her head vigorously in refusal.
‘There is no returning what has been given.’
I won’t accept it.
Aya narrowed her eyes and glared at him, shaking her head firmly.
In doing so, her breathing faltered slightly.
When Aya coughed softly, Nahal leaned forward with concern etched across his face.
“Are you well?”

A mere cough, yet such concern—Aya felt a flush of embarrassment creep up her neck and waved her hand frantically to dismiss the worry.
But Nahal moved faster than her protests could reach him.
He placed his palm against her forehead.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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