I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 208

— I like you.

She liked him.

At that moment, it felt as though thousands of butterflies were fluttering inside her stomach, and her body tingled with excitement.

Ivonne thought she might cry, but in reality, she had already been crying for a while. Herix gladly drank in her sobs. Ivonne, hopelessly in love with this foolish and pitiful man, pressed her lips gently to the space between his brows.

“You’re beautiful.”

At her words, a sudden, intense desire flashed in his hazy, purple eyes, only to fade again. He begged with his slightly red lips.

“Please… call my name.”

His voice was cautious, almost meek, in contrast to the savage way he had previously ravished her. Ivonne slowly parted her chapped lips and whispered,

“…Herix.”

It felt like she was committing a crime. But the solid body holding her trembled with happiness.

It wasn’t something like the Crown Prince. This was the name Herix had dreamed of in the quiet of the night.

It was a kind and gentle pronunciation, nothing like the shallow imagination he had. Just as gentle and warm as the embrace that held her.

It almost brought tears to his eyes.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

The soft sound of lips brushing against skin cut through the humid dawn air. It was the same sound that had never stopped since the woman, after dropping her gown under the sunny afternoon, received a bittersweet kiss.

“It tickles.”

Her voice had become hoarse from screaming, but it still sounded sweet to Herix’s ears.

“Just a little longer. I can’t believe it.”

He whispered as his lips brushed her round shoulder. Despite holding her tightly, Ivonne’s small frame left some empty space, which Herix wished to fill. So, he tightened his arm around her even more. With her back to him, the heat from her body still pressed against his.

“…Ugh, Herix.”

“I won’t do it.”

There was a hint of laughter in his response. Feeling embarrassed, Ivonne cleared her throat, but his hand, which had been resting on her waist, slowly began to travel upwards. The finger that lightly grazed the sensitive peak seemed to hold far too much meaning.

“…You said you wouldn’t.”

“I won’t…”

His sweet voice grew quieter. Ivonne sighed inside. The next time she opened her eyes, it would surely be midday. A little tired of the endless cycle, she quietly muttered to herself.

But, contrary to her expectations, the day she finally left the bed wasn’t until exactly four days later.

‘Well, at least it wasn’t five days…’

Another sigh escaped her, but the dull ache that felt like a body ache wasn’t entirely unpleasant, and it made her smile ironically.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Ivonne, freshly washed and wrapped in a thick robe, sat on the sofa, lost in her thoughts.

‘Blitzen never once told me he liked me…’

Not only that, but there had never been any affectionate gestures between them, the kind one would expect from a couple who were engaged. Ivonne didn’t feel any desire to be closer to Blitzen, so she never found this to be a problem.

‘I thought it was because I was preserving my chastity before marriage…’

She had been taught since childhood that the bride must remain pure, so she had unconsciously imposed restraint. But that wasn’t the case.

The heat in Blitzen’s gaze was different from Herix’s. While Herix had eagerly wanted to devour her, even as he held her close, Blitzen showed no trace of such hunger in his eyes. Moreover, Ivonne’s feelings for the two men were not the same either.

‘If it weren’t for that, we could never have shared this kind of time together…’

Even being held wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She wanted to constantly reaffirm that the man with such intense eyes truly desired her, and she never grew tired of his repeated confessions.

Ivonne closed her eyes. Now she understood.

‘Blitzen and I may have never seen each other in this way.’

Was it brainwashing, she wondered?

Blitzen needed Ivonne’s power to succeed. All the adults around them had been busy tying her to Blitzen. Perhaps she had been deceived by others’ desires, and what she had mistaken for love was merely a distortion.

Isaac firmly believed that Ivonne loved Blitzen deeply, but in the end, he had also misunderstood what love truly was. All the time she had spent clinging to Blitzen—was it not love, but something else she had obsessed over, something that needed her?

‘Blitzen was… an old friend to me.’

The ambiguous feelings she had for Blitzen, the strange sense that something beyond a hug was too embarrassing, the thought that perhaps it would be fine for him to marry Celestia even as they talked about engagement and marriage—everything had become clear.

It was no longer love, but the form of friendship she had mistaken for love.

“Ha…”

She leaned back on the sofa, letting out a frustrated sigh. Despite how complicated her heart felt, strangely, the pain that had once felt as if it would tear her apart had subsided significantly.

— I like you.

Perhaps it was because her mind was filled with Herix’s voice, causing her not to notice the pain anymore.

It was the first time.

‘No one has ever truly liked me.’