✓ | The Altered Version (Fate's Transgression Series, #2) [UNDER REVISION]

TAV 33: Hidden Action

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Hidden Actions

Clarinette | Liana

Our past is the one who made us today. What we left behind is the evidence of our existence, and sometimes, what we wished to forget that happened in the past, will eventually haunt us.

Minutes became hours, hours became a day, days became weeks and weeks turned into months. It has been four months since I met Vyrre in the forest.

Every morning, before I open my eyes to reality, I always wish it was not a dream. And in every moment I felt his embrace that signifies I wasn't, I felt at ease.

Hinihiling ko araw-araw na ganito na lang lagi. 'Yong gigising ako sa mga halik niya, yakap niya, at ang pagsilay ng magandang ngiti sa kanyang labi. Sana ganito na lang parati.

I always wished these moments will last. Sinusulit ko ang bawat minuto na kasama siya, bawat oras ay mahalaga, at bawat segundo ay hindi ko sinasayang. I wanted to make a lot of memories as long as I could.

I don't want to follow Clarinette's path to death, and even if I am still hesitant to claim it, I don't want to die with regret. Hindi naman ako nawalan ng pag-asa. I am still hopeful that I could live past my death row, but with this current baffling state, I have to prepare.

Lagi ko pinapaalalahanan ang sarili na hindi mag-alala, dahil malayo pa ang taon na siyang kinatatakutan ko. Subalit, mabilis ang oras at sa bawat paglagas nito, kinakain ako ng aking sariling problema.

I managed to hide my problem whenever I was with him. For all these months, I was constructing the best speech I could ponder on how I will explain to him my dilemma. However, every time I tried to open my mouth, I couldn't say a word.

Ayoko mag-alala ang lalaking ito sa sitwasyon ko, dahil ramdam na ramdam kung may iniisip siya.

The Duke seems in deep thoughts from time to time. Napapansin ko ang pagkunot ng kanyang noo, ang palagian na pagsalubong ng kanyang kilay, at ilang mga malalalim na ekspresyon hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit.

I tried to ask him about it, but he likes playing with words. Kadalasan din sa gabi ay nagigising akong wala siya. Hindi ko sinasabi dahil naghahanap ako ng tiyempo.

Hindi naman siya nagbago. He is still the Duke who likes teasing me with an unlimited amount of ideas. Dahil din sa tagal ng aming pagsasama, mas lalo ko siyang nakilala.

He is very intelligent, he thinks before he acts, he knows a lot of things. I don't even have any clue where those ideas come from, and he does the majority of houseworks now.

I still do the cooking, the laundry, and most of the wife houseworks. Sa loob ng apat na buwan, namuhay kami bilang mag-asawa na malayo sa luho at posisyon.

In this hut, we are not the Duke and Duchess of Dior. We are simply Vyrre and Clarinette. We don't have a lot of responsibilities compared to what we have in the Duchy, but despite that, both of us longed to go home.

It is just that...we can't.

"Hey..." bati ko sa kanya ng makalapit ito. "I think we have enough firewood to last for a whole year. You don't need to scout the forest for more."

"Having excess is much better than falling short, wife."

He pushed the wagon to the storage house he built to store the woods we needed for the winter. Nagsimula ng umulan ng nyebe noong nakaraang buwan, at ngayon nasa negative degrees na ang buong Kaharian.

Both of us decided to cut off ties from the world for the time being. Sinabi niya 'yon para masulo ako, at hindi niya tinago talaga na 'yon ang dahilan.