CHAPTER THIRTY

I cannot quite put the exact words to use to describe this feeling but what I'm sure was that I am loving the way his soft warm lips touches mine—it was pleasing enough that the darkness grewing inside me seems to be washed away of this new-found emotion.

Suddenly I heard a loud clicking sound but I can't pinpoint where did the noise exactly came from, it seems to be everywhere and it echoed through every limbs of my body. A moment later, something electrifying came rushing into me and that's when the both of us pulled away from our magical kiss.

When I look up at the Night Lord I saw that he was breathless as I am and there's also some sort of a wild look that mirrors my own. My throat bobbed and I asked, "What was that? I-I felt something. Or did I heard it?"

But Taemin was only looking at me as if he saw a ghost and it kinda reminds me of the looks he have during the last time that we saw each other back in the devil's lair. I can't be wrong, those wild eyes were so familiar, what the hell is wrong with him? I tried snapping him back to his consciousness but nothing seems to work for him, the Night Lord remained standing there unmoving while he stares at me. 

"H-Hey, are you okay?" I tried asking again but still I didn't get any response from him. I inhale a good some amount of air before I held out a hand to slap him but before I can even do so, Taemin slumped down to his knees and have both of his palm covering his face. I know that he's weeping, I can tell it by the way his shoulders shook. I am awestruck by the view of the most powerful Grand Duke of Verboden kneeling on the floor crying for some unknown reason but I still went to bend down to help him anyways.

"Taemin? What's wrong?" I asked softly as I tried shaking him and he stilled once again and look up at me. 

"You might runaway if you knew and I can't take that, I don't want you to get away," his voice was hoarse from all the crying and I could see an unknown emotion lingering in his eyes, there's joy and sadness in them at the same time. "Some things are better left unsaid, Naeun."

"But I want to know why you suddenly came slumping to the floor weeping, I want to know why you are looking at me as if it pains you, I want to know why you did you look at me as if it frightens you, Taemin. The looks that you've given me earlier was the exact copy of the ones you gave me back in the devil's lair. Tell me, I want you to tell me the reason.. Just please tell me the reason. Don't be like them, don't be like him, please don't keep things away from me, don't keep me locked in my own little world just like he did," I said but the Night Lord still refuse to meet my eyes and stared to the floor instead so I continued.

​​​​​​"I am already tired of this kind of treatment. Please give me a chance to explore this world, let me know what made you like this because I am concerned. I-I am concerned because you are important to me.."

The Grand Duke of the Night Kingdom was silent for a moment after I blurted out my thoughts but as the clock ticks, I can see that his breathing gets uneven than the first. "Do you really want to know?" Taemin asked softly, too softly. 

"Yes, please tell me.

"Fine, but please don't freak out. Please don't runaway once I told you. Just promise me that you won't," I could see real desperation on his eyes as he said those words to me and I only nodded in response. He took another moment of pause then exhaled too deeply before he finally said the four words that turned my faerie life upside down.

​​​​​​"Y-You are my mate," Taemin simply said but I swear that those words felt like a great jab in my heart. Ice cold water seems to be poured all over my body as I heard what he has said, it must have only be a joke, it can't be real especially that I have a fiancé, I have a groom waiting for me back in the Winter Court. 

"What did you say?" My mind still refused to process his words. 

"I s-said I'm.. I'm your.. m-mate," he repeated then I suddenly remember one thing. I remembered the conversation that Myungsoo and I had when we were strolling through the frozen maze, he told me that his parents were mate and that the very maze and fountain in the middle serves as the mating gift that his grand duke father gave his mother to confirm their mating bond. And here I am standing in front of a grand duke who is claiming that I'm his mate and I laugh.

"You must be kidding me," I said and I saw how his face desperate look quickly morphed into a lonely one as those words left my mouth. Is he even serious about that? "How come we became mate?" 

"I-I don't know," that was the only thing that he said. 

I ruffled my hair in distress making some of my locks fall from the tight braid and I said, "You knew it, didn't you? Yo