Chapter 496 - Overlooking The Beautiful Valley (2/2)
”Of course,” Nicolae nodded while taking a seat next to Aleksis. He pulled out a small knife and began cutting apples. From time to time he would be giving slices of the fruit to her.
Time passed like that. For a moment they sat just there, enjoying the apples without saying anything.
”How have you been?” Nicolae asked after finishing one of the apples. He did not look at Aleksis. Instead, he kept his eyes on the valley.
”You have no idea?” Aleksis asked in amazement. ”I thought you were regularly asking Uncle Rory or Terry about how I was doing. Yesterday, I was very surprised. You actually didn't know my twins are a pair of boy and girl.”
Nicolae shook his head softly, ”Uhm ... no, I deliberately didn't ask anyone about you. I'm sorry, it's not that I don't care about your situation, I just know you're in good hands. I didn't hear anything about you for the whole duration that I was away... ”
”Why?” asked Aleksis. She could guess the answer, but she still wanted to hear it directly from Nicolae's own lips. ”You were my only friend at that time. I trusted you, and we were very close. You helped me a lot when I ran away from home ... Imagine how sad I was because you just left like that.”
She bit her lip, remembering the suffocating experience from 5 and a half years ago when she returned to her parents' house, and Nicolae then went away and disappeared for years.
”I'm sorry,” Nicolae finally turned to face her with a look of regret. ”I'm not that strong.”
”Hmm ...” Aleksis nodded. ”Okay, I understand.”
”You don't understand, Aleksis ...” Nicolae sighed deeply. His voice turned hoarse. ”I liked you from the first time I saw you. At that time, you were a shabby looking nerd girl. I didn't know you were very rich, and even an immortal like me. It all just became a very pleasant bonus.”
Aleksis knew Nicolae liked her, even loved her. Because he was truly like her father, Nicolae was expressive of his feelings. But this was the first time she heard him spoke this directly to her.
”I was confused when you thought I was Prince Siegfried ... and I was too late in finding out the truth. If I knew I looked like him, I would have definitely pretended I am him, I would claim that I am him.” Nicolae smiled bitterly, ”Then you would assume that Prince Siegfried was an immortal and you would accept me happily. It was like fate. Especially when I found out that my father ... turns out to be your godfather. Unfortunately, I was too late, you have found the real one and married him. ”
”Nic ... please, don't say that. I was wrong because I thought you were him and had caused a misunderstanding between us.” Aleksis took Nicolae's hand and gently patted its back, ”I know you are not a liar. So, even if there was an opportunity, you would not fool me and claim to be Prince of Siegfried. After all, you know you're not. You're too kind.”
Nicolae gave her a small smile. ”I'm sorry that you have to face all the tragedies by yourself. I'm sorry that you lost the person you love, the father of your children.”
Aleksis nodded and bit her lower lip, trying not to cry. ”It's okay. It's been a long time.”
”I now understand why at that time you mistook me for him. Alaric must have looked quite similar to me because as I can see, Altair and Vega do look like me. Their father must have quite a lot of physical similarities with me,” he said again.
Aleksis looked studied Nicolae's face for a while. A few moments later, she nodded. ”You're right ... The first time I met him was when I was 12 years old. He looked very similar to the current you. That's why I mistakenly thought you were him. But then, he actually got seriously injured in one of his assignments so his face became disfigured. He didn't want to show me his face. I don't know how he looks like after he got older. My children, too, would never know.”