Alea felt her body floating and saw the figure she had admired earlier walking with a cold expression.
"Where are you taking me?" Alea asked in her semi-conscious state.
"To our bridal chamber. We will complete the next ritual and today's events will be over," said the person who was carrying Alea's body.
"The bridal chamber?" Alea, feeling weak, could only resign herself to her fate.
The door opened, and Alea's body was gently placed on the bed she had seen earlier. The figure who had carried her sat calmly, enjoying the drink that Alea had also been drinking.
"I want to leave," Alea whispered as she tried to get up from the bed.
"You can't go anywhere until we finish the last ritual of this wedding."
Alea, who was sitting down, suddenly saw the man sitting in front of her eyes turn silver.
The man walked closer to Alea and slowly opened the robe she was wearing.
Alea's eyes widened as she looked more closely at the man's face, which to Alea did not look human, but like a god she had seen on television.
"You are so handsome." Alea's hand suddenly rose and gently caressed the man's cheek.
For some reason, the man suddenly felt his heart beating faster. He himself was confused, he had never felt his heart beat this fast, even though he had also seen his bride-to-be.
"Are you a god?" Alea now smiled at the man in front of her.
"My body, why do you want it?" thought the man in front of Alea.
The man didn't want to delay any longer. He laid Alea back down.
The night breeze seeped through the window, swirling slowly around them,
and at that moment, Alea felt something glow in her stomach—warm, light, and alive.
It wasn't fear. It wasn't pain.
It was... a sense of belonging.
The man didn't know what had just happened,
but that night, without them realizing it,
it wasn't their bodies that were united—
but their souls.
And from that moment on,
their destinies no longer walked alone.
Their destinies were intertwined—
slowly, quietly, but irrevocably.
***
The cold made Alea slowly blink her eyes open.
Alea immediately sat up, looking around her. She realized that she was still in a place that was beautiful to her, but a little scary.
"I'm still here, and was I dreaming last night?" Alea pulled the blanket covering her body to get rid of the cold.
When she looked to the side, Alea was startled to see the back of someone sleeping.
"Him? This? Oh my God! So last night I wasn't dreaming? And he—."
Alea looked at her innocent self and realized that last night something had happened that she couldn't believe.
Shock?
Of course Alea was shocked as she slowly remembered the events she had gone through.
She remembered that she had just been married to a stranger she had never met before.
"What should I do now? Is he really my husband now? No, this can't be possible. Last night wasn't a normal wedding ceremony, so maybe he and I aren't husband and wife. I'd better leave immediately and find my way home."
Alea immediately got out of bed and picked up her clothes and robe to cover the cold that was indeed very piercing, but for some reason, last night she felt a pleasant warmth?
"Stop."
The man's voice was low. Deep. Not loud, but rather too calm.
The man slowly got up, sat down, then turned his head.
The light touched his eyes and instantly the air in the room changed.
The man's gaze was not one of confusion, but of disbelief.
A gaze that had just realized that the girl in front of him was not his family's chosen bride.
"Who are you?"
Alea swallowed hard. She wanted to speak, but her voice died in her throat.
The man stared at her for a long time. His eyes were sharp. He seemed to be trying to figure out who the woman in front of him was.
There was no trace of wolf blood in this girl.
Not a noble.
Not Cassandra.
Not the partner who was supposed to be bound to him by fate.
And that made one terrible thought spin in his head.
If this wasn't the real Lady Vatira, then the ritual that took place last night... was invalid.
Half trembling, Alea smoothed the clothes covering her body.
"I... I don't know why I'm here," she whispered softly.
"I don't even know if this world... is real or not."
The man remained silent. His gaze did not soften.
Instead, it grew sharper. However, his voice dropped, soft… like a murmur.
"Veil-mask…"
"You are a veiled bride, but… not the bride you should be."
For the first time, Alea felt a coldness that did not come from the air.
"I didn't mean to be your bride, but I don't know why all this happened," said Alea, who looked frightened and could only tighten her robe to cover her body.
The man got up and walked towards Alea.
Alea immediately took a step back as the man in front of her got closer.
Alea's back hit the large door behind her. She had nowhere else to go to get away from the man who was now bringing his face closer to hers.
"What do you want?" Alea cringed in fear as the man's nose tried to sniff her.
"Are you human?"
"I-I am human, aren't we the same?" Alea asked in surprise.
"How could a human get in here?" The man's face changed in surprise. He looked at Alea again.
"What exactly is this place? Why does it look so strange?" Alea tried to pluck up the courage to ask.
"Tell me, how did you get in here?" The man's voice was firm.
"I don't know myself. Suddenly I was in that beautiful pond after falling from the gutter."
"The sacred pond? Are you okay after entering the pond?"
Alea nodded slowly without breaking eye contact.
"Impossible!"
The man in front of Alea looked agitated.
"Wait!" The man walked to the table and picked up a small glass of drink.
"Did you drink this too?"
Alea immediately nodded. "The drink was given to me by the woman who brought me to the wedding altar.
"Try drinking it," ordered the man.
Alea, who remembered the effects of drinking the black wine, seemed hesitant to drink it again.
"I'm not thirsty," Alea replied, looking for an excuse.
"But you have to drink it!"
Alea, who was afraid, immediately drank it all.
The man in front of Alea watched her expression.
"The drink tastes sweet, but my body feels strange, yet pleasant," Alea replied.
"Who are you really?" The man looked at her curiously.
"Alea, my name is Alea, and I'm just an ordinary person who has no idea why I'm here."
"Come with me now!" The man suddenly grabbed Alea's hand and pulled her out of the room.
Confused, Alea could only submit as the man pulled her hand a little roughly.
"Where are you taking me now?" Alea whispered.