Chapter 126
“It was to make that statement a reality—that the Imperial Family and the Empress should be considered separately.”
Blake’s brow furrowed at her words about freeing the Crown Prince who was bound to the Empress.
Moreover, it sounded like a statement that clearly imprinted the word marriage.
But she added something else.
“But it’s not about ‘marriage.'”
“……It’s not?”
“Just… I agreed to be His Highness’s friend for about a year. Like a friend who lends a shoulder during difficult times.”
“……”
His mind was briefly relieved at the words that it wasn’t about marriage.
But if her additional words upset him again, was he the strange one?
The mere thought of her being by Aiden’s side when he was having a hard time was unpleasant.
He desperately wanted to offer his own shoulder instead. He wanted to tell her that he would be that friend, and Aiden shouldn’t even come close to her.
But he couldn’t reveal that in front of her now.
In reality, Aiden wouldn’t accept such words anyway.
“……So that Miss Flaubert’s shoulders aren’t burdened, I should serve His Highness well.”
That was the best he could say.
And Angelina, who couldn’t fail to understand the hidden meaning behind his words, looked at him with complicated emotions.
His relief when she said she wasn’t considering marriage.
His discomfort even with her being ‘friends’ with Aiden.
Though he tried to hide it, perhaps due to his honest nature, Angelina found it difficult to ignore his poorly concealed emotions.
“Does Your Grace dislike the idea of me marrying the Crown Prince?”
“……That would be the most appropriate thing, wouldn’t it?”
Considering the external relationship between the Empress and the Marquis, a marriage between Angelina and Aiden would be a very natural progression.
“But I also… don’t like it, that’s true.”
Yet he rejected it.
Was it simply because he knew about the Order’s affairs? Out of concern for her?
No, that couldn’t be it.
Definitely not.
And the reason was…
“Will you promise me?”
Angelina already knew.
“Your Grace.”
She called him softly.
He turned his head from idly poking the campfire.
When their eyes met, Angelina felt her chest tighten.
“I can’t… promise.”
She couldn’t deceive him any longer, since he was approaching her so honestly.
“Promise?”
“That promise to need Your Grace more. That promise to always seek Your Grace for everything.”
She gave the answer she couldn’t give that day.
At first, she had wanted him to look after her brother.
She approached him because she needed him for her brother’s future, and that’s why she tried to stay close.
Because he was the male lead, she believed that being by his side was the safest and most certain place in this world.
But not anymore.
In fact, she had known all along. She had just tried her best to ignore it—wasn’t it quite obvious?
The story of a time-limited extra who fell for the male lead.
“Shh, it’s me.”
From the moment she heard that voice and her body melted, it was already ruined.
However, if there was one small consolation…
“When I heard you were returning from the black market, I thought my heart would stop.”
That he might have similar feelings?
She had tried to convince herself many times that he was the male lead, destined to be with the female lead, but she knew better than anyone that the original story had already gone to hell.
What had been mere doubt turned into certainty on that night at the black market.
His desperate question had confused her mind, and his urgency to protect her from Aesi’s sudden attack had touched her heart.
If Aesi hadn’t embraced her and fled then, she might have been completely consumed by her crumbling heart.
“I’m sorry.”
That’s why she had turned away, and that’s why her heart ached even more now.
She should have corrected it right then instead of turning away.
She should have sorted it out before it deepened like this…
It seemed she had unconsciously wanted it.
To be together just a little longer. For him to look at her just a little more.
To be able to love just a little longer.
The inner feelings she hadn’t faced had brought the situation to this point.
“Why?”
He asked with a bewildered expression.
His eyes were trembling like someone who had just been rejected.
“I…”
So Angelina thought it was right to correct this now, before it got worse.
Don’t they say that the moment when you think it’s too late is actually the earliest opportunity to make a change? So…
“I just wanted to play my role and be done with it. But when Your Grace looked at me that way, I think I became greedy.”
Her voice trembled as she tried to tell the truth.
Blake’s fingertips twitched at Angelina’s weak voice, something he’d never heard before. His anxiety rose accordingly.
“I thought that unburdening everything would be selfish, dumping my baggage onto someone else. So I thought if I just kept quiet, everyone could be comfortable…”
“……”
“But that wasn’t it. It was just an excuse. Not wanting to see my brother’s pained face was my own greed, and I thought that if I kept it secret, Your Grace would… look at me more.”
“……Miss Flaubert, what are you trying to say?”
Looking at the content alone, it was quite romantic.
It could be interpreted that she, too, wanted him to ‘look at her more.’
But her crumbling gaze and trembling voice warned that the end of this conversation would not be good.
Blake wanted to end the conversation here.
If he heard more, he felt he would face something unbearable.
But he also wanted to hear what she had to say to the end.
He felt that what she was about to say would reveal what the invisible wall between them was.
“The reason I fought with my brother.”
“……”
He remained silent, and Angelina painfully opened her mouth again. She told the truth to him who was waiting with a serious expression.
“Your Grace, I… will die in a year.”
His eyes widened like lanterns.
***
The silence was long.
Angelina was the first to break it.
“It’s a rare disease with an unknown cause.”
“……”
“So… I can’t keep my promise.”
“Is the promise important right now…!”
Suddenly, a loud voice burst from Blake’s mouth.
But with a sigh, his words scattered.
He pressed his forehead with a trembling hand.
Did he hear correctly just now? Dying? Her?
One year? Just… one year?
“When… did you find out?”
“My birthday last year. Roughly a few days before I met Your Grace in that alley in the Marquis’s territory.”
So from the beginning.
“Why……”
The words asking why she hadn’t told him rose to his throat.
But hadn’t she already explained that?
Because she had feelings for him.
She hadn’t told him because she wanted to spend more worry-free time with him.
Could there be anything more contradictory than this?
While he was gradually permeating into her, she was gradually preparing to leave.
It was so shocking that Blake couldn’t even grasp his own emotions—whether he should resent this or grieve.
“I was just… about to reach you.”
Quite an honest statement flowed through his teeth.
The thoughts he had been trying to organize while looking at the campfire were burned away by the uncontrollable flame growing in his heart.
“Why won’t you even give me a chance to repay? All those countless things I received from you, this indescribably deep emotion…”
When Blake looked at Angelina again with difficulty, his eyes were soaked in despair.
Angelina’s heart also wavered greatly at his eyes that seemed about to burst into tears at any moment.
“Won’t you… give me a chance?”
Knowing it wasn’t something she could do, all he could do was desperately plead with her.
Don’t leave. There’s still so much I want to do with you. I’m not ready.
“Please, Miss Flaubert.”
Even knowing it wasn’t a request she could grant, he begged like that and crumbled before her.
“Can’t I just go with you?”
Just like then, in the end.
“Don’t hate yourself too much.”
Once again, the darkness of guilt for not being able to protect washed over him like a tsunami.
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