Chapter 60
But Cyrone’s expression remained cold. His blunt answer painted Elia’s face with despair.
“You killed my mother too? The servants? And Rias?”
Elia’s low voice began to tremble noticeably.
“Why? Why on earth?”
A coldness spread across Cyrone’s eyes. Watching Elia, who immediately looked for the others after gaining consciousness, made his mind chill. Yet his heart felt like it was boiling over in the opposite direction.
Cyrone had realized more than once in front of Elia just how little patience he truly had.
“What about Me? Don’t you care about me?”
Cyrone cut off Elia’s words sharply, his voice laced with a chilling oppressiveness.
“Do you want to know how I brought you here? How have I lived for the past three days while you were unconscious?”
He ground his teeth as he spoke. Though his words were tangled and ragged, his barely restrained fury shone through.
Cyrone pressed his eyes firmly in exhaustion, then paced anxiously beside Elia’s bed.
The afternoon sunlight stretched long, scattering as it chased Cyrone’s shadow.
“You should have worried about me before begging me to save your servants.”
But even standing in that sunlight, Cyrone’s eyes remained icy cold.
“How would I feel if, the moment you woke up, you acted like this?”
His voice was terrifyingly tender. Cyrone’s smooth eyes trembled slightly. Elia twisted her head, staring quietly at that face.
“Just kill me already.”
Elia felt that the time had come to end this relentless torment. A way to finally shake off the last lingering regret tightening her heart.
“Why make me suffer like this? You should just kill me first!”
The crimes of the Reiffers family were too atrocious. Even if she survived alone, Elia knew she couldn’t bear the weight of the guilt she carried. It was better to end things now than to live forever as an unforgivable sinner and wound to Cyrone.
“You say you want to die far too easily.”
But Cyrone cut her off sharply, clearly disliking what she said. Recently, he had often shown this impatient side of himself to Elia.
“Why do you say such cruel things?”
He pressed his forehead briefly, wincing as if in pain. His expression was that of someone struggling to hold back cruelty any longer.
“…”
Surprised by his unexpected reaction, Elia narrowed her eyes slightly. She tried to hide the sudden fear rising inside.
“See? Even if I say just one thing, you still make that face.”
It was then that Cyrone’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
“There’s been no change between us. You just have to love me as you do now.”
Cyrone quickly adjusted his expression and perched by the window, gazing at Elia. Their eyes locked and intertwined.
“If necessary, I’ll gouge out your father’s eyes to make sure you see me again.”
His eyes were so void of emotion, one couldn’t tell where the mask ended.
“So it’s best you don’t try any foolish tricks.”
Cyrone warned quietly. When Elia silently glared back, he followed her gaze relentlessly before breaking into a laugh. It was dry, unlike the bright curve of his eyes.
“What? You really think I can’t do it?”
Perhaps because he stood bathed in light, Cyrone looked so beautiful that Elia’s vision blurred again.
“So behave yourself, Elli.”
Even as she lost consciousness, Elia could not miss that final command.
* * *
Though the servants brought her steaming hot food every day, Elia did not touch a bite. She felt neither hunger nor appetite. Her empty eyes stared out the window, where the leaves were already changing colors.
‘How much time has really passed?’
Elia quietly reflected on how long she had been trapped here. But even the sense of time passing was no longer clear. Lost in thought, a knock sounded at the door.
“…Susan!”
Elia’s face brightened for the first time in a while as she turned. Susan came by once or twice a week to visit her. Though Elia’s movements and surroundings were tightly controlled, Susan seemed to have special permission from above.
“You need to eat something.”
Seeing the untouched food once again, Susan frowned deeply. Even when she offered Elia a brass cup filled with fruit juice, Elia turned her head away. Her throat was too raw for anything to go down.
“Any news from outside?”
Elia reached for cold water, feeling tightness in her chest from lack of sleep and food over recent days. Cut off completely from the outside world, Susan was her only source of information.
“No, not really…”
Susan murmured, massaging Elia’s thin, brittle limbs. She seemed to be hiding something but also genuinely unaware.
“You must stay strong, Miss. Even though you’re trapped in the tower, Master is still alive…”
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.