Survive As The Brute's Wife-Chapter 168: Love And Manipulation

[How can that be?]

Alexandra was in for a shock. She shouldn’t have forgotten such an important detail. But if she did, she didn’t know what other details did she forget.

She did trust Lukyan enough for his descendants to protect the Choshech Orb. But she opted to forget him?

Alexandra’s heart was beating fast, as she watched another interaction between Lukyan and her from the past.

"Will you marry me, Lukyan?" she asked Lukyan. Alexandra felt the flutters of her heart. But as there was no answer from Lukyan for a long time, her heart started to pound.

Lukyan just stared at her, with his lips parted, as if he was deliberating what he should say to her. Then he knelt in front of her.

"Ari-" he almost said her real name but he stopped himself. "Anyara," he said, clearing his throat.

" You are the great one. And I know that you are the daughter of the great Dragon King. Me... I am a nobody. A mere human with a fleeting life who is not worthy to be remembered more than the dust sticking to the sole of your shoes. I am honored by your request, but I will have to refuse," he bowed with his body flat on the ground.

She was choking on her tears. She was sure Lukyan would accept her proposal and they can live happily like her parents are. She was sure Lukyan has feelings towards her. But his refusal made her heart shatter.

She thought he is feeling down because he is a human. "My mother was a human too, Lukyan. If that’s what stopping you from accepting me,~"

"Please don’t burden me, Anyara. In my eyes, you are always the great one I serve. I never saw you as a woman I could kiss or sleep with."

Lukyan’s dismissal was very forthright. Alexandra felt the hurt of the refusal in her heart. She could see her figure staggering and unable to stand straight.

What should one do when one’s love is a burden for the other? There is only one way, and that is to back off.

And that is exactly what she did, even if it hurts like she’s being ripped apart. When the other person does not have the same feelings as her, and when he is sure that his feelings will never change, that is the only way to move forward.

"Then, forgive me for overstepping my bounds, Lukyan," she said, gathering every bit of the strength she could spare. "I will not disturb you anymore. Be happy," she said and turned.

Alexandra watched Anyara disappear in the distance and followed her. Watching this jogged her memory. And the pain that this memory holds. Lukyan was still lying flat on the ground.

She ran a safe distance from Lukyan and fell on her knees. Hugging herself, she started to weep. Tears streamed down her cheeks and from the drops falling on the ground, grew a sapling- the Dagwood tree.

Her wail was so loud and so abysmal that Alexandra couldn’t bear to be there. She got angry at Lukyan for hurting her like that.

[What does he mean by he doesn’t see me as a woman? He was drooling at me while he was watching me bathe!]

Alexandra got mad and got closer to Lukyan to confront him. In her anger, she forgot the fact that she wouldn’t be able to confront him. She is just a spiritual presence here and she cannot interact or change the past in any form.

But she stopped seeing him shaking. He clenched his fists and grabbed the dust on the ground. He then threw the dust on his head while whispering something.

[He...did not mean what he said..?]

Alexandra got closer to him to hear what he says.

"...sorry, Arimelda... I’m sorry... I love you...I...Love..." he wept silently throwing more dust on his head. "I’m a coward... I’m sorry... but you have to help others...You cannot die... Please... forgive me..."

[What does he mean?]

Alexandra didn’t know what he is saying. He obviously loves her the same way she loves him, but he refused her. And he thinks that she might die for some reason..? Why?

She was not left to wonder for long as she saw a bright figure approaching.

[Father? What is he doing here?]

"I did what you asked of me," Lukyan said, his voice was devoid of any reverence. His golden eyes looked empty as if he wouldn’t mind it even if the Dragon King kills him for his insolence. His drooping shoulders, his pathetic appearance all showed that the preferred death to living at that moment.

The golden dust covered his head, making one forget that he has dark hair. Dust was sticking to his drenched face, even on his lips. He didn’t bother to wipe his face in front of the Dragon King.

"She does not love you as much as you think she does. It is just an infatuation. She is young. You will age and she will stay the same and she will start looking for a good-looking young man," her father spoke lies with so much authority as if that would make it true.

"You lie!" Lukyan screamed. Even Alexandra was shocked by the courage he showed to her father. "I know Arimelda. And you~"

"She’s my baby girl and I know her the best!" Her father interjected him and shouted. "Now, forget her and live your life!"

Alexandra saw a spell cast by her father. Lukyan stood there bowing his head for some time as if he couldn’t move.

[He put a spell of forgetfulness! He made Lukyan forget me!"

"Why did you do that?" Alexandra shouted and lunged at her father.

But she was yanked from there. She was in a place where the moonlight was blue. She was with Iorhael in the Uileag Forest, drinking.

"He is married, and he has a son, Arimelda," Iorhael said, holding her hand. "It is time you move on."

Alexandra saw her sobbing as she lay on Iorhael’s shoulders. Her pain was still so unbearable, she didn’t want to be there.

And she left that place.

And then Alexandra was brought to another place. The small sapling of the Dagwood tree has grown to a big tree and was blooming beautiful white flowers. Lukyan was watering the tree, and he appeared spaced out. He looked old. His son was an adult now and he was at the distance doing farming.

Alexandra saw herself appearing from the distance. She remembered that by now she was able to pass a day without breaking into tears. She realized that she should let Lukyan be happy. She still loved him, and that is why she wished for his happiness.

"Anyara!" Lukyan dropped the water can and ran towards her. It was as if he had forgotten his age and his face regained color.

Alexandra gritted her teeth and clenched her hands to balls. Lukyan remembers her. And that only means that the forgetting spell her father put was only to make him forget that he loved her. He still remembers her but he forgot that he loved her as she did.

[Cruel, cruel father... What should I do with you?] 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Lukyan’s son looked at him, shocked. His wife too came out of the house hearing his shout.

"Is your father excited about something?"

Alexandra heard the wife say. She was shocked that there is something that could interest Lukyan. The mother and son pair watched Lukyan running across the field towards this woman walking towards them.

Looking at those two, Alexandra remembered the pain she felt. And she remembered how she snapped at Maximus and told him that he had a child with another woman.

[So I remembered this? He did have a child with another woman, but it was not his fault!]

Alexandra got closer to Lukyan to hear the conversation between Lukyan and her. It was a normal conversation between close friends. Alexandra remembered her getting hurt to see how happy Lukyan looked. He appeared to have settled well and that did not make her feel good at all.

It was as if he never had regretted not accepting her love and it did hurt her pride. So she gave him the Choshech Orb and asked him to protect it with his blood. It was a thorn she put by his side, and for his descendants.

Lukyan accepted it as an honor, kneeling in front of her. She remembered hating him for kneeling in front of her. She treated him as her better half but he wanted to be someone lower than her and he refused to accept her love.

{I shouldn’t have been vindictive... He was manipulated by my father... What have I done!]

She then left. Holding the Orb, Lukyan returned to his family. They didn’t ask him about anything for some days. And that day, sitting under the Dagwood Tree, Lukyan told his son about that Orb he needed to protect. And his son asked him who the woman who gave the Orb to him was.

Alexandra watched Lukyan holding his chest. No words came out of his mouth but tears streamed from his eyes.

"Arimelda..." he said, and hugging the tree, he closed his eyes.

"I love you too..."

Those were his last words as his life ended.

[No!]

He remembered at the last moment. He remembered who she is.

[He broke father’s spell!]

Lukyan was buried under the Dagwood tree- The very first of its kind.