Chapter 62 (1/2)

The dawn was rising outside the window. The warm white sunlight crept into the room, slowly illuminating the room. Sitting stiffly on a divan, Raphael turned his head. Then he saw Annette’s beautiful face sleeping quietly on the bed. It was a defenseless and lovely face, enough to make people sigh.

Raphael, after rising silently from his seat, began to look around her hidden jewelry box. In contrast to his large physique, his movements were quite agile and quiet just like that of wild beasts. After finding what he wanted, Raphael carefully picked up the thing without waking Annette up.

The object looked just like what it was in his memory. The ring made of the finest amethyst glinted even in the dim light of early morning. The alphabet “S ” engraved with gold leaf on the surface particularly caught his attention. Raphael wasn’t aware of its meaning before, but now he did. It meant that Annette was a client of a special information guild.

The Secret Guild.

Even Harold Evans, his only acquaintance, also had the ring as he was once in a position to run secret errands for the king. But what about Annette? She was an ordinary woman who enjoyed a peaceful daily life by doing embroidery with her fine hands or reading books. But she was also a woman who secretly hid the token of the Secret Guild deep in her drawer.

Raphael looked at the amethyst ring on his palm with an expressionless face.  At first glance, one could see that the size of the ring was too big to fit Annette’s fingers.  That implied that it wasn’t a ring that was meant to be worn in the first place.  Suddenly, Harold’s words flashed in Raphael’s mind.

“It’s a guild that deals with everything except assassination; like exchanging information, sales of various illegal items such as poison, aphrodisiacs, and other weak drugs, kidnapping people, private loan business, etc…. Ah! I heard they’ve recently also ventured into smuggling and also smuggle people outside the kingdom. It’s a pretty expensive service, but if you want to run away from your reality, you won’t be pouring your money down the drain.”

Raphael’s hand, grabbing the ring, unknowingly tightened. Yes, Annette might have gone there to just trade information.  She wasn’t the type to set foot into illegal crimes.  And as for smuggling out of the kingdom….. he wasn’t sure.  Raphael’s face, looking down at the sleeping Annette, showed signs of distress.

Yes, nothing was certain yet. It was not reasonable to break Annette’s possessions. Raphael clenched his teeth and placed the ring back in its place. But the moment he closed the drawer, his emotions surged a little. Tak! The sound echoed in the room. Raphael’s keen intuition sensed a disturbance on the bed.

“Umm……Raphael?”

Sure enough, Annette lifted her eyelids that were heavy with sleep.  Her confused pink eyes scanned his face and gave him a worried look. Annette reached out and caressed his cheek carefully. Since he had just woke up, his body temperature, which was higher than usual, felt warm as he came close to her.

“Did you have another nightmare? Come here.”

Annette lifted a corner of the quilt and tugged his neck gently. Raphael’s blue eyes looking down at her became a little darker. There was no way he could resist this temptation. He gently lied down beside her as she led him. Then Annette, who stretched out her arms and embraced Raphael’s head, affectionately appeased him.

“It’s all right, Raphael. You’re a good person. I… I’ll protect you. So relax and sleep well.”

It felt good to hear Annette’s delicate voice, which had become a little husky because of sleep. Her wise and elegant manner of speaking was too cute. It felt like someone was pouring the whole bottle of sweet maple syrup into his ear.

Raphael slowly closed his eyes. He liked the feeling of being held in her delicate arms. Annette smelled of clean white musk and some flowers. As she was again breathing steadily, she had fallen asleep before she knew it. Her barely audible and peaceful breath tickled his forehead.

‘After being so kind to me, you wouldn’t  leave me behind, would you?’

Raphael tightly clenched his jaw to prevent his face from getting distorted. He slowly raised his torso so that Annette wouldn’t wake up. Then he locked her sleeping figure in his arms. Raphael bowed his head and softly whispered in Annette’s ear.

“You’re not going anywhere, Annette.”

Raphael’s flowing, black hair wrapped around Annette’s small face. Unintentionally, her figure looked like a poor prisoner trapped in a grate. Satisfied with this, Raphael hugged her a little more tightly. Annette groaned in protest as she felt stuffy.

Raphael quietly kissed the frown on her forehead. He felt sorry for her, but he didn’t feel like letting go of his arms. If she felt this captivity was too much, then she would have to better get used to it. He didn’t plan to ever let her go.

Annette, who woke up in a disarray, checked the clock reflexively. Her body nowadays seemed to be more sluggish than usual, so she had overslept by two hours more. Since she had a lot of things to care about these days, it seemed like she was getting mentally tired.