Chapter 68
At that moment, Bjorn began shedding sorrowful tears as if his soul had been deeply wounded.
Unable to face that expression, Leila ran out of the bookstore. She left him inside without even the presence of mind to close the door.
Just then, the carriage sent by the count’s house arrived to pick her up. With the coachman’s help she boarded the carriage and looked back at Bjorn one last time.
Seeing him standing on the steps as if his feet were bound by despair gave her a strange sense of déjà vu, as though she were facing his former self. She had thought he had finally begun to smile like an ordinary person lately, yet her mouth tasted bitter.
But Bjorn would only become happy when she was gone. Only when her obsession, which drove him to such wrong actions, disappeared. Only when the one-sided feelings that pushed him to the brink vanished.
Thus, Leila left her love there and fled.
* * *
However, love pursued her in the end.
Not many days after that, Bjorn began showing up in front of the count’s manor every day.
Naturally this troubled Leila greatly. Under the blazing midsummer sun, the sight of a paladin standing rigidly in uniform was hard for anyone to ignore.
“Sir, please stop this. Not only your reputation, I am also in a very difficult position.”
Telling him not to come had no effect, as if the words never reached his ears. Thinking he would tire himself out, she left him be, but his silent vigil continued for over a month.
On days the sun scorched the skin, and on days rain poured down, Bjorn guarded the front of the mansion without missing a single day.
“If I can’t at least see your face from afar, Miss Leila, I won’t be able to breathe. Even for a moment is enough, please allow it.”
No matter how she tried to stop him, only a somehow familiar response returned.
He truly was not an easy opponent. Above all, he was very difficult to deal with because he would burst into tears at the slightest thing.
“But I also feel uncomfortable. It can’t be fine for someone to stand idly on the street because of me.”
Whenever she spoke even a little firmly, large tears immediately fell, leaving Leila flustered. As if always prepared to cry, his eyes reddened the moment she said anything.
She had forgotten since she had not seen it after his teens, but thinking back, he had been quite a tearful boy.
And that fact was very troublesome for Leila… because she was terribly weak against his crying face.
Tears flowing across his handsome face were like holy water. His moist cheeks and dew covered golden eyelashes were as sacred and mysterious as an angel in a holy painting.
Leila bitterly resented how vulnerable she was to the beauty he created.
“But… what am I supposed to do when I want to see you?”
Questions she could not answer were just as troubling. To begin with she still could not understand why he wanted to see her.
“That…”
Even after one month and two months, Leila could not fully trust Bjorn’s feelings. Perhaps because she had once been harshly dragged by the fishing line he casually cast.
Her love for him disgustingly remained unchanged, but accepting his confession was another matter.
In the end, it was selfishness. The desire not to be hurt, the heart that had already suffered once kept pushing him away.
“There is no other way.”
As she hesitated, unable to find a proper answer, Bjorn pleaded with sorrowful eyes.
“When you wished to see me, did you not freely come to the temple whenever you wanted? You always watched me from afar. I have no choice but to do the same. The only place I can see you is here, so I have no other option. Could you not at least permit this?”
Discussion
1 CommentReactions
vanicake