I Will Die for You, My Darling! - Chapter 75

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Chapter 75

“You’ve been rather callous, referring to her as a ‘collectible’ and an ‘it’,” Benjamin snapped at Isaac. “She’s a human being.” Isaac’s mouth closed for a moment, not stung by the truth, but seemingly bewildered and taken aback. It was a remarkably novel sentiment. The Sky City survey team had never commented on Isaac’s “collectibles.” Benjamin was the first.

He’s crossing the line again. Isaac made a mental note of it. Meanwhile, Benjamin was appalled by Isaac’s harsh words toward Arietta. If she truly were just a possession in the glass dome mansion, it was no wonder she felt her love unrequited. Treated like a mere collectible…

“If I were her,” Benjamin began, “I imagine being with you would have been dreadful.” He couldn’t stop himself from saying the words within Isaac’s earshot.

“I’ll remember that,” Isaac replied, a smile revealing his teeth. “Your name, your affiliation, and…that you said that.” Fixing a sharp gaze on the Sky City upstart, he added, “By the way, Arietta isn’t the woman you think she is.” His sneer was unmistakable.

***

Arietta tensed. Benjamin Lenota was meddlesome. He brought her food, he gave her medicine. Yesterday, she had ultimately failed to find a way to die. Time marched relentlessly onward, bringing a new day. Knowing Isaac would come, she trembled like a leaf. Her resentment toward Benjamin deepened. I want to kill him somehow. But even stronger was the desire to simply die.

If I don’t succeed, Isaac will take me away. Yet, the room was incredibly comfortable, even more so than the annex of the glass dome mansion where she had resided. The furnishings were simple, but there was nothing that offered a means of escape through death.

Movement remained restricted; it felt as though someone had simply dropped her body onto the floor. Dying is truly this difficult? Almost resigned, Arietta waited for Isaac. He would have received the report and, after his briefing, would come for her.

But something unexpected happened. Isaac returned to the glass dome mansion after only the briefing. Arietta focused on the sounds from outside the room. The rumble of engines indicated several vehicles departing. He didn’t take me? Arietta sat on the bed, thinking.

He just left? He can’t not know I’m here. A wave of complex emotions washed over her. First, relief. Returning to the glass dome mansion now would mean certain regression. She would be bound, waiting for the inevitable day of her death. Second…bewilderment, disappointment, perhaps other things as well. It was Arietta who had initiated the break, claiming boredom and leaving Isaac.

He had released her more out of anger and exhaustion. Yet, seeing him leave knowing where she was, she felt a strange pang in her chest. The feeling of being utterly inconsequential was unpleasant. Arietta still desired to dominate Isaac’s entire existence.

Contradictory emotions, intensely focused on Isaac, surged within her. She stared at the boarded-up window, unlike those in the glass dome mansion. If only I had ripped these boards off, I could have seen him leave.

After the others from the glass dome mansion departed, Benjamin arrived. Arietta sat with her knees drawn up, looking up at him. She had nothing to say to him. A brief standoff ensued. Benjamin exhaled slowly and knelt on one knee beside her bed.

“What?” Arietta coldly furrowed her brow. Even this gesture looked like a masterpiece painting.

“I learned your name,” Benjamin said, careful not to cross the line she had drawn. No matter how sharply she reacted, he maintained a patient, gentle tone. Having never witnessed Benjamin’s hostility towards Downstream or Isaac, Arietta found him rather docile and uninteresting.