Chapter 23
Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Juni
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Doyoung finally realized who Gamal resembled.
Codename "Archduke (ANTIAIRCRAFT)." He was the ringleader who had run the Luas terrorist group "SN," which had terrorized the world until just recently, and had been captured and imprisoned three years ago.
The moment he heard the name, Gamal flinched noticeably. Doyoung hadn't known a person's face could drain of color so quickly. Gamal's face actually turned deathly pale.
"Kunis...."
He muttered it like a groan.
His terrified eyes turned ashen, as if the color was leaching out of them. Doyoung furrowed his brow.
"Kunis? That's the guy's real name?"
The higher-ups might have known it, but Doyoung himself hadn't been aware of the Archduke's real name.
Doyoung scanned Gamal from head to toe.
"No way... is it really because of that guy? The reason you won't leave this island?"
Gamal opened his mouth. Then he drew in a breath. But the sound of that breath was far from normal.
Gamal clutched his mouth and collapsed. He couldn't breathe. It was hyperventilation from panic. Tora immediately threw aside his moisturizer and rushed over.
"Matty!"
He began treating Gamal right away, as if this wasn't unfamiliar. When he couldn't find anything suitable nearby, he cupped his hands over Gamal's nose and mouth and blew air in. It wasn't the work of a first-timer.
"Matty, breathe. Come on."
Finally, Gamal exhaled sharply and gripped Tora's arm painfully hard. His fingertips dug into the young man's flesh, laced with desperation, fear, and a silent scream.
Doyoung pried that hand away.
"Lieutenant Colonel."
Tora spoke sharply, but Doyoung ignored him. He looked only at Gamal and asked,
"What did that guy do to you?"
In his wide-open pupils, a terror intertwined with despair flashed by, as if it had happened just yesterday.
"He killed me."
***
"He killed you?"
Doyoung scowled.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Kunis was born with me. Inside Matty's belly."
Gamal had suddenly become calm, like a different person. But his red eyes, still pallid, stared at Doyoung.
"Kunis was kind. Everyone loved Kunis. The people, the women too."
***
"Gamal's still too young!"
Kunis shouted. Then Tawa said,
"What do you mean too young? She's already eighteen. Girls her age all have at least three kids."
"Other girls are other girls, and Gamal is Gamal. What does that guy know about marriage anyway?"
Kunis didn't back down.
"Adawi loves Gamal. He got down on his knees and begged for her. That's not easy for a warrior like him."
Tawa spoke in a firm tone that ended the discussion.
"Above all, he said he doesn't care about the Rantu thing."
Gamal, sitting outside the tent and listening to the conversation, looked down at her own knees.
She had been married off to a neighboring tribe last year. The reason it was "had been" was because her groom, Rantu, had gone out to relieve himself before entering the bridal chamber after drinking at the wedding feast, only to be found drowned in the lake.
Everyone called it a tragic accident—what could they do about it?—but it was true that the way they looked at Gamal wasn't quite the same as before.
"That idiot slipped and drowned by himself—why are you all blaming Gamal?"
Kunis, usually gentle but quick to anger, argued violently from inside.
"Kunis. That's not how you talk about the dead."
The mild-mannered Tawa gently scolded his son. Kunis sighed.
"I'm sorry. But bringing up marriage again so soon after that...."
Gamal stood up at that point and went down to the lakeside.
She sat on the grass and gazed at the lake. The harsh midday sun beat down on the water's surface, making it sparkle like schools of fish leaping up.
Adawi was kind.
She wasn't sure about love in the romantic sense, but being with him put her at ease. He was a strong warrior, but unlike other men, he wasn't brutish, so Matty had said he made an excellent husband prospect just for that.
Gamal thought so too.
He could have been a little more handsome, though.
Other people said Adawi was plenty handsome. But Gamal wondered if her eyes were strange—she didn't find the burly, rugged look that others called manly all that attractive.
"Gamal."
A familiar voice called, and Gamal turned.
"Adawi."
Adawi sat down beside her.
"I heard your twins are against our marriage."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
Adawi muttered.
"What about me doesn't meet their approval?"
"They're probably just sad to see me go."
"Yeah, you two have always been so close."
This was another thing that set Adawi apart from other men. He didn't raise his voice insisting his opinion was right or challenge someone to a duel out of the blue.
A peaceful silence flowed between them. Being able to share silence like this was another of Adawi's strengths. So far, the only other man she'd known who enjoyed silence was Kunis.
"Is Kunis not getting married?"
At some point, Adawi asked. Gamal shook her head.
"I don't know. Guess he hasn't found a girl he likes."
"Well, finding someone prettier than him would be tough."
Adawi muttered as he looked at Gamal.
She sat with her knees drawn up, head bowed, her glossy black hair cascading down and shimmering in the sunlight. Even the tips of her toes peeking from under her long skirt were lovely.
Years later, as a vampire, Gamal possessed an otherworldly, surreal beauty unlike anything on this earth. But as a human, she had the pure, iridescent glow of a freshly plucked pearl from the sea.
At that time, Gamal emanated the presence of a lamb who had committed and would commit no sin.
Feeling his gaze, Gamal lifted her head. Adawi's eyes shone as he looked at her—the eyes of an admirer in awe and a man harboring pure desire.
Gamal asked,
"You really don't mind about Rantu?"
Adawi shrugged.
"The guy got drunk and missed a step. It's unfortunate, but blaming you for it would be ridiculous."
"I'm sorry to Rantu. If you hadn't married me, he wouldn't have gone to the lakeside that night."
As Gamal muttered, Adawi let out a short laugh.
"Married or not, he's gonna go piss anyway."
Then he stroked her hair with his large hand.
"Don't blame yourself. Sometimes things just happen in the world that are nobody's fault."
Gamal reflected on her earlier thought that Adawi could have been more handsome. How could a face matter for someone this gentle?
Their eyes met. Adawi still had his hand on her head, making the mood turn strange.
"Gamal."
His voice calling her was low. Rantu had been decided as her match without her even seeing his face properly, so she hadn't known, but she realized anew that men used this tone in such moments.
It was a little scary, but more like fear of the unknown than anything else. Realizing the man before her clearly wanted her wasn't a bad feeling.
Adawi leaned in slowly. Their lips touched. It was a tentative gesture, careful not to startle her.
When he pulled back slightly, Adawi looked embarrassed in a way that didn't suit his build.
Just then, Gamal felt a gaze and turned. Someone disappeared behind a tree across the lake.
"Kunis?"
It seemed like Kunis, who had seen them and quietly withdrawn.
When their eyes met Adawi's, he smiled. Somehow, Gamal felt it would be okay. A future with this man.
***
A soft glow emanated from beyond the tent.
Adawi wiped his feet and entered the bridal chamber. Gamal, dressed in the white bride's gown the Satadi tribe considered auspicious, sat on the wooden bed.
"I barely drank, in case you needed to relieve yourself."
Adawi said with a smile.
"I'll make you happy."
Gamal looked up at him calmly. A cold, ruthless gleam, oily and gleaming, flickered in her beautiful black eyes.
"You? You think so?"
Before he could flinch, the knife plunged up, stabbing precisely into his throat.
"......!"
Adawi clutched his neck. Blood gushed instantly between his fingers.
"You...."
Adawi staggered back, forcing out a raspy voice.
Gamal—no, Kunis disguised as Gamal—stood. Even in women's clothing, he didn't look like a woman at all. It was those eyes.
Adawi flailed for support, grabbed a post, and collapsed. Blood soaked his body in an instant, slick enough that he couldn't rise.
A black shadow fell over Adawi. Kunis loomed above, his pale blue eyes gleaming down.
"No way... last time too, it was you...."
Adawi realized it. Rantu had been killed by Kunis as well.
Kunis sneered.
"Both of them—you brought death on yourselves. You dared to covet Gamal?"
Then Kunis stomped down on Adawi and stabbed the vital point in his throat once more, precisely.
Adawi breathed his last with eyes still open.
Kunis rose. His face was impassive, showing no emotional excitement like a killer who had just finished the job.
Murder stirred no feelings in him. It was simply something he could do for a purpose—a means, nothing more.
Kunis opened the large clothing chest in the corner. Inside, Gamal slept in her bride's gown.
Her skirts spread out, she lay deeply asleep as if wrapped in white waves, adorned with elaborate jewelry of threads and gems befitting a bride, her makeup done.
Even bare-faced, she was more beautiful than anyone, but today she was enough to make the goddess Anat jealous.
"Gamal."
When Kunis gently shook her shoulder, Gamal, who had been drugged with narcotic herbs, woke. Still dazed, she mumbled with hazy eyes.
"Kunis...?"
"Get up. We have to go."
"Where...?"
Gamal mumbled and tried to clear her head.
"I'm with Adawi...."
Then, over the edge of the chest, she spotted Adawi collapsed in a pool of blood on the floor. The moment she opened her mouth to scream, Kunis clamped his hand over it.
The strength of it startled her to her core. His face was still so similar to hers, but that power was a man's. And Kunis's gleaming eyes... were strange.
She thought it was the light, but an eerie sheen made them seem inhuman.
The instant Kunis loosened his grip slightly, Gamal tried to scramble out of the chest and run over.
"Kunis, this is bad! Adawi...!"
Kunis grabbed Gamal as she lunged toward Adawi and spun her around hard enough to make her rebound from the force.