/

Chapter 25




Chapter 25 – Mark Your Territory
1STKISSNOVEL. DO NOT STEAL MY TRANSLATION!
The first morning dawned in the Fairy Forest.
“Hnng…”
She turned her body with difficulty as she opened her eyes in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable bed. When she turned her head, a man’s face came into her view, another thing that was unfamiliar to her.
‘Heok!’
Startled, Ashia swallowed the scream down her throat and covered her mouth.
‘Right, I came to the Fairy Forest… with this person.’
That wasn’t the only thing—she had revealed her face to this person on the very first day. And then…
Renna.
It was also the day that she confirmed he was her ex-husband, Kaligo.
‘…Kaligo Edmund.’
His arms were folded while he slept facing Ashia.
“…”
Ashia’s eyes quietly traced his face. They traveled over his smooth forehead to his thick eyebrows, his black hair softly falling between them. It didn’t take long for her gaze to reach his straight nose bridge to his tightly pursed lips.
‘Have I ever looked at him this close..?’
She tried to rummage through her memories, but there seemed to be none of that nature. She wasn’t given the chance to properly look at her husband’s face. there might not be another chance like this in the future, so she stared at every inch of him slowly.
‘Tch…’
She pouted when she concluded that he was undeniably handsome.
“…Do you like it?”
“!”
Ashia was taken aback, half-thinking that it was her inner thoughts. Unfortunately, she couldn’t run away that far with only four-person bedding.
His closed eyes opened slowly. “You should’ve liked something about it.”
“…”
Blinking, Ashia coughed and stood up from the bed, Kaligo’s eyes following her movements. “Let’s eat something first if you have woken up.”
Ashia then walked over to her bag, brushed her messy hair, then took out some simple food and handed it to him, who came from behind. Kaligo took it put it in his mouth with a slight smile.
Though she didn’t answer his question, he thought that her reaction seemed like a positive answer.
“We’ll be going faster today than yesterday, so… be prepared.”
“Whatever you want.”
The two people who simply satiated their hunger set out for the fire attribute forest.
 
On the second day, the atmosphere in the forest was quite different. The forest monsters who were hiding from Kaligo were now attacking him openly.
Tak~
Kaligo grabbed a part of the monster’s body that flew towards him.
“…”
As if he had already gotten used to it, he destroyed it by accurately stabbing the hidden core deep inside its body.
Looking at the scene from behind, Ashia clicked her tongue and said, “Why were you acting like that yesterday when you caught it very well today?”
In response to her question, Kaligo wiped his hands. “Must be because I was asleep?”
Ashia narrowed her eyes at him. “You want me to believe that?”
Kaligo chuckled in a low voice seeing her expression. “You seemed like you were in a hurry every time.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? I didn’t tell you to attack me.”
“I’ll find a way when I get back.”
Kaligo’s eyebrows rose slightly at her answer.
‘Was she going to return?’
It meant that they might come here together in the future when she said this wouldn’t be the last time. He clenched his fist and covered his mouth as he coughed a little, continuing his words, “…Please tell me if you are close to the owner of this forest.”
“That’s because you aren’t on the same page as them.”
‘She didn’t deny it.’
“Why don’t you just mark me as yours?”
(T/N: You sneaky male lead *fufu*)
While Kaligo joked with subtle confidence, Ashia replied with a calm look, “Oh, something like marking territory?”
“Mark your territory.”
He heard that wizards put small labels on their things. Kaligo only thought that it was just a small mark.
‘But a territorial mark?’
Kaligo looked up in the sky, his thoughts inscrutable.
Ashia chased after him, stepping into the ankle-deep snow. “Why? Would you like some saliva?”
Slightly startled, Kaligo looked back at her carefully. “…I guess that’s the way you wanted to do it.”
“It isn’t that I want it. I would try it if it’s marking.”
“But it’s more common to mark areas by coating the body with pheromones.”
“Ah, yes. We can try this and that, and if it still doesn’t work, then we can try to do that as a last resort.”
“…”
At some point, Ashia began to joke with him—no, was it from the beginning? The two of them now were doing something they wouldn’t be able to imagine happening in their last life, which ended with terrible memories.
Although they were hungrier today than yesterday, Kaligo’s steps became obviously lighter.
“Please take care of this tree. I’ll harvest it from the tree right next to it.”
“Yes.”
The two people who entered the fire-attribute areas were eager to collect the fire-concentrated materials. Fittingly, it was an area that was hot enough to burn if touched with bare hands. Not only were its fruits hot, but also its stems, thorns, and the finely attached leaves.
“Be careful there. The thorns are extremely sharp and hot like a heated sword.”
“Yes.”
Kaligo’s size wasn’t something for her to be worried about. Moving between densely pack materials wasn’t easy, and he didn’t look like he had any intention to be careful. For him who had been hurt on the battlefield, the current situation wasn’t that dangerous.
“Ah! Careful!” As he drew near to the glowing branches and leaves, Ashia suddenly poured water elemental magic onto the materials near him.
“…”
“…”
There was a loud buzz that rang around the area as it blazed red; the heat around it stopped at once.
“Ah…”
“Um… if you freeze it.”
“Didn’t you say that the effectiveness of the materials would also disappear if you froze them?” Kaligo asked gently.
“…Please go that way. And it’s not frozen.” Ashia let out a small, hoarse cough as she moved to the area that wasn’t frozen.
Following closely behind her, Kaligo covered his lips as he held back his laughter.
Twilight fell on the forest as the two of them were focused on gathering. Ashia raised her head and looked at the sun barely hanging on the horizon. “The sun is setting. Let’s go back.”
“Alright.”
Returning to their tent in a hurry, the two shared the chores like they had yesterday. Ashia organized the gathered materials while Kaligo headed to the nearby forest to find firewood. Finished with her task, Ashia touched her chin as she looked down at the bedding.
‘I managed to pass it earlier…’
Ashia’s troubles deepened as the night also deepened. Even today, her heart was stuffy just thinking of spending the night with him on the same bed. Just then, she heard a rattle outside. It was Kaligo, busy lighting a bonfire. Ashia looked in the direction of the sound and sighed lightly.
‘Ah, I really don’t know what’s the answer now.’
They already used the same bedding yesterday, so why couldn’t they do the same tonight as well? Since when did she live in deep thought? Wasn’t she the woman who overcame the brutally terrible memories?
“Hoo…” Ashia took a deep breath.
She pushed the bag to one side and went out of the tent after tidying up. “What are you doing?”
“You came out?” Kaligo was sitting next to the bonfire he made, warming himself. Ashia also sat down opposite him. “You worked hard today.”
“…It’s nothing.”
Ashia took some of the jerky to eat and dried fruit from the bag, then threw the bag to him. “You’ll lose weight by the time you get out of here as you can only eat things like this.”
“There were many times on the battlefield that I didn’t even have this much. I would be grateful for a meal like this.”
“Why did you follow me if you knew it’d just be suffering?”
“…”
She looked down at the bonfire as she ate.
Staring at her, Kaligo opened the bag and took out a jerky. He didn’t eat it, but rather looked down and opened his mouth. “I don’t think it’s hard work.”
“…”
The two of them silently stared at the flames. It seemed that she kept on eating to avoid the awkward atmosphere, rather than because she was hungry.
Ashia lightly brushed her hands when she finished the jerky. “It’s better than when I came here alone…”
Kaligo turned to look at Ashia when he heard her voice.
“It was a lot easier building the tent and gathering materials.”
“…”
“Though you were forced to follow me here for fear of having a seizure, I still want to say that you being here was very helpful…”
“It wasn’t because I had no choice that I followed you.”
“…”
He continued to speak, breaking up the branches he had piled up beside him and throwing them into the bonfire, “It wasn’t… for the reason that you think.”
“…”
Kaligo’s firm gaze locked on Ashia. “The reason why I recognized you, pretended not to know you, the reason I kept going to and from the store making the contract as an excuse.”
The fire intensified as he added another piece of wood, illuminating his eyes.
“And why it had to happen that day.”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious?”
That day…
It was clear that he was talking about that day they died together.