CHAPTER 195: CHAPTER 195

At that moment Valentina’s hands trembled slightly as she clutched the front of Raymond’s shirt, her heart pounding so hard she could barely think straight.

The deeper she looked into his eyes, the more fearful she became not because she was scared of him, but because something inside her, something ancient and instinctive, was starting to whisper things she didn’t understand, She bit her lower lip, hesitating, but the words were already burning in her throat.

Slowly, almost fearfully, she pulled back just a little so she could see his face better.

"Raymond..." she whispered, her voice shaking with uncertainty.

Hearing his name Raymond blinked, sensing the shift in her mood instantly, his brows knitting in concern.

Valentina took a shaky breath, gathering all the courage she could muster.

"There’s something... I’ve been meaning to ask you," she said, her words fragile, like they might break if she spoke too loud.

"I know maybe today isn’t the right day... after everything that happened... but..."

Then she swallowed hard, feeling her chest tighten painfully.

"I really need to ask you," she added, her eyes wide, almost pleading.

However Raymond didn’t say a word. He simply stared at her, his face unreadable, waiting for her to continue.

At that moment Valentina’s heart pounded louder, and finally, she let the words fall from her lips:

"Do you... know me from somewhere?"

Immediately the room seemed to freeze around them, the air growing heavier.

"Have we... met before?" she continued, her voice trembling more now.

"Have we crossed paths before now?"

She could feel the fear clawing at her insides, fear of the unknown, fear of the answer he might give.

"I don’t know how to explain it," Valentina went on, her voice almost breaking.

"Ever since the day you came to my father’s house... to marry me... I’ve felt it."

Her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt tighter without realizing.

"And when I came here... when you cut your hair and trimmed your beard..."

She shook her head helplessly, as if trying to make sense of her own confusion.

"You looked so familiar... so, so familiar that I wanted to ask you then. But I thought I was imagining things."

At that moment She lowered her head for a moment, struggling with her swirling emotions.

"I have tried, but it’s not going away, Raymond," she said, lifting her teary eyes to him again.

"It’s getting stronger. I keep feeling like... I know you. Like... like maybe we’ve met before."

She sniffled softly, her voice, dropping to a whisper.

"Have we? Have we crossed paths before?"

Raymond didn’t answer her question at least not with words.

Instead, he pulled her closer again, holding her so tightly that Valentina could feel the heavy thud of his heart against her own.

His arms wrapped around her as if he was afraid she might vanish if he let go, as if he could somehow hold time itself still, Valentina waited, confused and growing more anxious by the second, until finally, she heard his voice low, almost like a whisper meant only for her ears.

"What if we did know each other?" Raymond murmured against her hair.

"What if... it wasn’t just in this life... but a long, long time ago?"

Upon hearing Raymond words Valentina’s body stiffened slightly, her heart pounding harder.

Then Raymond tightened his hold on her, his voice deep, carrying a kind of sadness that made her chest ache.

"What if," he continued slowly, "we crossed paths when the world was still wild? When there were no cities... no cars... no lights?

When people traveled for months on foot just to reach another village?"

Again Valentina’s breath hitched, she couldn’t quite comprehend what he was saying, but something inside her something deep, primal shivered at his words.

"What if," Raymond whispered, "back when the only roads were dirt and the only wealth was survival... even then... I found you?"

He pulled back just enough to look into her wide, bewildered eyes.

"What if even then, I loved you?"

Valentina stared at him even more, her mind spinning, struggling to grasp what he was saying.

This wasn’t the answer she expected, this wasn’t anything she could have prepared herself for.

At that moment Raymond gave a sad smile, brushing her hair back from her face gently.

"Would you believe me?" he asked softly.

"Would you believe that love doesn’t care about time... about place... about reason?"

He lowered his forehead against hers again, closing his eyes as if remembering something far, far away.

"We’ve met before," he whispered.

"I’m sure of it."

Valentina said as she pulled back slightly, her face filled with disbelief.

Her heart was racing so fast she could barely breathe.

However She laughed nervously, trying to push away the strange emotions swirling inside her.

"Raymond..." she said, half-teasing, half-pleading,

"Stop with all these scary, mysterious things you always say."

She shook her head quickly, trying to clear the heavy atmosphere between them.

"I wasn’t asking because I thought we met in some ancient past," she said with a light laugh, though her voice still trembled slightly.

"I was just thinking... maybe when I was attending university or something... maybe I saw you somewhere before."

She bit her lip, looking up at him again.

"That’s all I meant, it seems I have seen you before"

At that moment, a small, helpless smile tugged at the corners of Raymond’s lips.

He gazed at Valentina, her wide, innocent eyes searching his face for answers she wasn’t ready to understand yet.

’Even if I told her everything, he thought quietly, even if I opened the entire story to her right now... would she even believe it?

She thought she had maybe seen him once in university, passing in the crowd.’

If only it were that simple, If only she knew that it wasn’t just in school, or even just in this lifetime.

Raymond’s chest tightened with a deep, aching affection.

Valentina... you’ve seen me so many times... across so many generations.

He could almost laugh at how fate seemed to tie them together again and again, no matter how much time passed, no matter how the world changed.

From the days when he was just a boy — no older than a teenager — awkward, lost, confused about what he was and who he would become...

From the moment he received the "curse" that would change his existence forever, when he had barely begun to understand the weight of what it meant to be different...She was there.

Maybe not always right beside him.

Maybe not always recognizing him.

But somehow, their paths their souls kept crossing.

Again and again, that was when their story truly began, long before cities were built and the world forgot what it meant to live simply.

Back when his clan still lived in small, secluded villages, untouched by civilization.

Back when a mysterious illness swept through the land like a silent death, leaving nothing but broken dreams behind.

It had been merciless, It had wiped out nearly everyone he knew.

His family, his friends, his people all gone within weeks, he still remembered the cold silence, the endless funerals, the unbearable loneliness.

Out of an entire thriving clan, only four of them survived.

Himself, Benjamin, Cecilia, And Rebecca, the last remnants of a forgotten people, and the only reason he survived at all...Was because of her grandfather.

Valentina’s grandfather — a man who had no reason to help a dying boy, a stranger, an outcast.

But he did, he had nursed Raymond back from the brink of death with his own hands. Risked his life, Fought the fear and prejudice that surrounded Raymond’s kind, and chose to see the boy’s soul instead of the curse in his blood.

It was because of him that Raymond lived, It was because of him that he had the chance to grow strong, to survive, to eventually find his own place in the world, and it was through that bond through the kindness of Valentina’s bloodline that Raymond’s love for her began to bloom.

Even before she was ever born, even before she had a name, even before she took her first breath.

Somewhere deep within him, that loyalty, that gratitude, that love had been quietly passed down, written into the very marrow of his bones.

Valentina was his light.

Had always been his light.

Across centuries, across lifetimes.

Even now, standing before him in the bedroom, worried and confused, she still didn’t know...But he knew.

He had known her far longer than she could ever imagine.

And he would protect her — not just because of promises made in this life, but because of debts owed and hearts bound long, long ago.

At that moment Raymond gently brushed her hair away from her forehead, smiling softly, though sadness lingered in his eyes.

’One day,’ he thought, ’you’ll know everything.’

But not today, today, he just held her tighter, grateful that fate had brought them together again even if she didn’t remember it yet.