Chapter 13
Snow was falling outside.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of boots sinking into the snow filled the silence between them.
Lucia had hurriedly led him outside because she couldn’t speak freely in front of everyone, but finding a suitable place to talk proved more difficult than she’d expected.
The blue dusk slowly spread across the sky, and before either of them realized it, the sun had set.
After wandering aimlessly for a while, Lucia finally gave up searching. As darkness settled around them, she stopped beneath the shelter of a large tree, knowing she couldn’t put off the conversation any longer.
Having dragged him all the way outside only to end up talking beneath a tree in the freezing cold, she felt a little embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t really talk inside… There were too many people watching.”
“Watching?”
“…I’m not exactly in a position where I can receive guests freely.”
Only then did Lucia realize she was still holding his wrist. As she let go, Killian raised an eyebrow and casually rubbed the spot where she’d been gripping him.
He wasn’t a guest by any definition of the word—he’d broken into the estate uninvited—yet he accepted her apology as though it were perfectly natural.
“That certainly seems to be the case. You disappear alone with a strange man, and not a single person comes looking for you.”
Even after I grabbed you by the collar and threatened you.
Lucia lowered her head with an awkward smile. Her thoughts were still in turmoil.
She had died, yet somehow returned to the past. Killian had returned with her. And despite having resolved to die, she was alive again.
“…”
Just as a cold emptiness began creeping back into her heart, a dry, almost mocking voice from above pulled her out of it.
“No coat this time either.”
“Ah…”
Killian draped his own coat over her shoulders.
Lucia started to protest that she was fine, but he ignored her with ease, his gaze slowly traveling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
“So much for being raised like a lady.”
“…”
“They don’t seem to treat you very well.”
Under that lingering gaze, Lucia found herself shrinking inward.
It was strange.
When they’d met at the Tinelli Hotel, immediately after she’d slept with Ian, she had looked far worse than she did now.
Back then, she hadn’t cared in the slightest. So why was she suddenly embarrassed now? Was it because she’d been given another chance at life?
Unable to understand herself, Lucia suppressed her embarrassment and cautiously asked,
“…Do you know anything about me?”
“I did a little digging before I came.”
Killian recited everything he’d learned. Her name. Her age. Where she lived. Even the outline of her past.
At the hotel, he’d only heard her and Ian’s names in passing. Lucia couldn’t help wondering how he’d uncovered so much so quickly.
Then she remembered the armed men who had stormed the Lancaster estate alongside him. Somehow, it no longer seemed surprising.
“I came to my senses about a month ago. What about you?”
“Ah… Just now. Right before you arrived…”
“So there’s a time gap.”
Killian murmured to himself. Maybe because I died first. He fell silent, seemingly lost in thought. Lucia hesitated before speaking again.
“Um…So… we really did…travel through time, didn’t we?”
Silence lingered for a moment. Then Killian grinned. For some reason, the smile gave her goosebumps.
“That’s right. Because of you.”
“…What?”
“But I… I don’t even know why any of this happened…”
“Why it happened isn’t the important part.”
Killian cut her off. Lucia parted her lips as if to argue, then closed them again. Her eyes were filled with confusion.
“…Then what is important?”
“Hm.”
Lowering his gaze, Killian looked straight into her clear eyes.
The way she looked back at him was almost painfully innocent, like a child who had lost her way. Her expression was still dazed, much like it had been in the elevator.
But it was better than before.
For the first time, Killian truly felt the weight of those ten lost years. This Lucia still had her emotions openly. Her face still held the naïveté of someone who hadn’t yet been completely worn down by life.
What, exactly, had happened over those ten years to turn her into the woman he’d met on that rooftop?
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
What mattered was—
“I got dragged into your mess.”
“…”
“And I’m going to hold you responsible for it.”
The man smiled, baring his teeth.
Just thinking about it again made his blood boil.
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