Eli doesn't know what to say. Though he had known what happened to her, he didn't expect her to open up to him. After hearing about it straight from her, he feels only anger and pain. If he feels this way, how had she felt all these years alone?
She is still searching for something in his face. He's afraid of showing his emotions. He takes a long deep breath before he speaks to her. "I am sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" Nell asks him, trying to sound casual. "Do you want to get a divorce then? Want to go to the civil office today?"
"No, I don't want that," Eli replies to her with a strained voice. "You think that I will leave you because of your past. Your background, your hallucinations, and your history can't stop me from loving you. Just like you can't unlove Baek Joon-Woo, I can't unlove you. I am sorry because I am unable to undo what happened to you. But I promise that I will protect you from anything that tries to harm you including yourself. You can rely on me. I want to be the man you need. If I become someone you need, then you won't speak about divorce again."
"Doctor Sanguine, it's better if you stay with someone because you want to stay with them instead of staying with them because you need them." She caresses his cheek with her bandaged hand and looks into his eyes that are filled with agony. "And I want to be with you for a very long time."
"Not for the rest of your life?" Eli gazes at her with restlessness. "Promise me that you will stay with me for the rest of your life."
He doesn't know the identity of the Fae that is after Nell. That Fae knows more about her than he does. Evie Meyers was already dead when she was trying to get Nell a while ago. Her body was nothing but a puppet. Every inch of that dead woman's body was enchanted. Only a touch was needed. Thankfully, his wife didn't touch Evie or step out of the apartment before he arrived.
She laughs at him. "Instead of asking me to love you back, you are asking me to stay with you."
"You are going to fall in love with me." Eli tells her with a serious voice, "But love doesn't guarantee that you would stay with me. I want a promise. I am being selfish here. But I can protect you if you are with me. Promise me that you would only stay with me."
Isn't this strange? But when he wasn't strange? Nell doesn't think much about it. She might be able to keep this promise to him. "I promise you that I will stay with you for the rest of my life."
This promise will keep her protected by the laws of the hidden world for now. Marriage between two species at a human civil court isn't recognized in the hidden world. He has a bad feeling since he heard that Baek Joon-Woo made a deal with a Fae. Since the exact terms of the deal between Baek Joon-Woo and the fae are unknown, it's hard to say if his claim on Nell is valid.
All he needs to do now is to get married to her by the laws of the hidden world. But how?
If he tries to register the marriage with the council, she would be informed about his real identity.
"You should be honest with her now. You should tell her what you are." The cat's intense gaze is on him.
Tell her what he is? A ghoul who eats humans? Will she try to understand him?
She has been observing the changes in his expressions with keen eyes. "What's worrying you, Doctor Sanguine?"
"If I say that I am not what you think I am, would you despise me?" Eli questions her quietly.
"I won't." She wonders what he is hiding. Is it about his family? He was quite reluctant to introduce her to Siouxsie. "Are you a billionaire's third son or something?"
Billionaire? Eli coughs. He might be something close to it. But his father isn't a billionaire in this world though.
"Oh my god!" Nell gawks at him. "You are really a billionaire's son. Why are you slaving at the hospital? You should build your own hospital."
His father would never give him the money to build a human hospital. Nevertheless, that's not what he wants to tell her. She's misunderstanding him now. His family is a nuclear bomb. How will he ever explain his family to her? All of them are ghouls. "Nell, I am the fourth son."
"Fourth son." She scratches her chin. "I never expected to marry a billionaire's fourth son. Is your father going to be one of those old rich men in drama who is going to separate us because he is against our marriage? I might be poor and all, but I will fight to keep you with me."
She's quite imaginative. What scaring him is that it's the truth. His father would try to break this marriage for sure. His father might even try to eat his wife. That's why he doesn't want his family to know. He hasn't been doing a good job of keeping it a secret. His three sisters already know it. Julienne and Belinda would keep it a secret, but Siouxsie is a doubtful one. If his brothers find out, it's going to get worse.
Eli sees her counting something on her fingers. She asks him curiously, "How many siblings do you have?"
"Uh… thirteen." Her face turns blank when she hears his answer. Eli is glad that he took the promise from her before she started questioning about his family. Just being a ghoul isn't bad enough. Even his family and the world are going to be a huge blow to her. It's better if she never finds out. "I have three sisters and nine brothers. Belinda is the youngest one. My mother died during childbirth. I have three stepmothers."
"Three…" She murmurs with a haunting voice. "One mother-in-law is bad enough. I have to impress three of them."
"You don't have to worry about that." Eli pats his wife's back and assures her. "It's been a long time since I have left my family. My father and I haven't talked for years."
"I am fine." Nell raises her hand. "I just need some time to absorb."
"You are done, Nell." The cat looks at her with pity. "You are so done."
Don't make it worse. Eli wants to scold the cat, but he can't do it without revealing that he can see the cat. His wife is freaked out for sure. She didn't act like this when she saw him eating raw meat, but she is blanking out because he has a big and complicated family.
And all of them are ghouls. That's the most important information. He doesn't know how to tell her. She might die from the shock.