Chapter 65
After the wave of anger swept past, only the ashes of sadness remained. She had spent very happy days because of him, yet to Bjorn she had merely been a nuisance that needed to be removed, and that was both sad and pitiful.
But, truly, she had never wanted anything from him. As always she only wished to live cheering for him from one step away, yet had Bjorn even disliked that? In the next moment she felt a prick of conscience.
If asked to swear to the heavens that she had never been greedy toward him… she could not answer at once.
After the destructive first kiss they shared, something had begun to change. When their lips met, Bjorn was no longer an idol in the sky. He felt like a man breathing before her eyes, with a warm body and boiling blood.
Thinking about it, his claim that he could not function as a man must have been a lie. From Bjorn’s perspective that was fortunate, yet it also felt bitter. Even that sweet and burning kiss had been a means to torment her, and he had hated her enough to discard even his pride as a man.
After staying awake the whole night wandering somewhere between guilt, sorrow, anger, and pity, Leila finally reached a conclusion.
Now that she knew everything, the only thing she could do was give up on him. She would consider it fortunate she realized it at least now and leave him cleanly, wishing only for his happiness.
Descending to the bookstore to begin work in a deeply sunken mood, Leila encountered the final gift Bjorn had prepared.
The man who introduced himself as ‘Piache’ abruptly asked her out on a date. The moment she heard it she understood. This unnatural happening was clearly at someone’s instigation.
“Um… if you came at Sir Bjorn’s request, it’s alright now. I plan to give up on him even without you going this far.”
However whatever instructions he had received, the man was quite persistent. As she wondered what to do about a man who would not give up, Bjorn suddenly visited the shop for some reason.
Not yet knowing what face to show him, his sudden appearance left Leila very flustered. At the same time she felt uneasy. Would he think she had not given up her obsession with him if she did not go on a date with that man?
In the end, she had no choice but to link arms with a man she did not even like and go out with him on a ‘date’. She herself wanted to cry, yet she could not understand why he had looked as though the sky had collapsed.
After dealing with Piache appropriately, Leila soon returned to the bookstore. She worried Bjorn might still be there, but fortunately he had already left.
Her heart was exhausted. Suddenly everything surrounding her felt terribly tiring. At that moment, she coincidentally recalled a letter her mother had sent a few days earlier.
[ If you change your mind even now, we can find you a suitable match anytime… ]
It seemed her father had begun bringing up marriage again, bothered that the daughter who ran away from home and was expected to return quickly was living almost like a commoner nearing thirty.
“I can’t seem to wrap my head around it, really. A woman who refused marriage for so long and only waited for my safe return…”
Bjorn’s words also came back to her. Did remaining unmarried until this age really look that strange? That made her a little sad.
She had always believed her choice was right, that she could not force herself into a marriage she did not want, but if the result was this then she herself might be wrong.
Into her weakened heart slipped a mistaken judgment. If marriage was something everyone insisted she must do, she would just close her eyes and do it. Then Bjorn would no longer worry about her, and she too could be free from society’s gaze.
Perhaps her father had been right five years ago. A foolish woman who had grown older without maturing, obsessed with a man and turning her back on family. That was exactly what she was now.
It was time to set everything right, even now.
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