Chapter 37
“I-I should get going now.”
She hurriedly rose from her seat. The chair, tilting backward, crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
“Sit.”
A cold voice rang out. Lynette clenched her fists tightly.
“Sit down, Lynette.”
Euphen’s low voice once again pierced into her mind. She felt as if she could read what he was thinking.
He wanted her to see… To see the result of what she herself had done.
Her trembling voice slipped out.
“Your Highness… Imperial Prince.”
At his faint gesture, a servant from a distance quickly approached and set the fallen chair upright.
The chair nudged against the back of her knees, and Lynette collapsed into it with a dull sound. Fingers interlaced tightly, she lowered her head. She had no idea what sort of expression she ought to make.
She should be smiling, saying that it was a good thing.
Her mind understood it perfectly, but the corners of her lips simply wouldn’t rise.
“Your Highness, if it pleases you……”
“You don’t need to address me so stiffly. Just call me Euphen.”
“How could I possibly dare…….”
Even Eshar seemed to find this too difficult to agree on easily, her response faltering.
“It’s fine. I’d like to hear you call my name.”
“Sir Euphen.”
“You don’t have to be so formal either. Just Euphen is enough.”
“Euphen.”
The instant she heard his name spoken, Lynette’s vision shook violently.
It was a name Lynette had only barely been able to utter once, at the brink of death. A name she had yearned so desperately to call, yet he had so easily given Eshar that permission.
She clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms.
“Euphen, if it’s alright, I’d like to invite you to my house next time.”
“It would be an honor. I’d appreciate it if you sent me a formal invitation.”
“Let me know which day works for you, and I’ll arrange accordingly.”
The casual conversation flowing between the two didn’t even reach Lynette’s ears. She sat with her head bowed, forcing her eyes wide open. Holding back the tears coming from it.
‘Don’t cry.’
She repeated those words to herself again and again.
Wasn’t this entire situation something she had created? And yet, now, watching the two of them together made her chest ache. She couldn’t possibly do something as pathetic as crying here.
She inhaled as deeply as she could, then let the trembling sob escape with her breath, long and quiet.
When Lynette finally raised her head with her expression forcibly composed, she saw the two of them smiling as they talked. She didn’t want to admit it, but they suited each other well.
Even before, when she saw them standing side by side, she had thought they looked like a match made in heaven.
Swallowing down the bitter taste, not knowing if it was from tears or laughter, then pressed her lips shut.
Even after the suffocating meal came to an end, she couldn’t leave. Each time she tried to, Euphen stopped her, saying the guiding had not yet been done. Even when she said she would come back later, he would not accept it.
“Eshar.”
Euphen carefully took her hand and pressed his lips against the back of it. Lynette could only stare blankly at the scene.
He had made her sit there just to watch. And every time her eyes wavered, his gaze stabbed into her like a question, ‘Isn’t this what you wanted?’
If only she could grow dull to such pain… Physical agony she could adapt to easily enough, but how could she ever grow numb to the torments of her heart?
“No matter how many times I say it, it’s a beautiful name.”
Lynette pressed her nails again into her palm, which by now had grown numb and stinging.
A beautiful name……
Euphen remembered what she had once told him and was now returning those exact words.
‘For me to hear it.’
Since when had this man become so cruel?
She wanted to scream that the man before her was not the Euphen she knew.
Had all that kindness, all that gentleness, been nothing but a lie? She thought she knew everything about him, but perhaps she had known nothing at all.
As her trembling gaze lingered on the two of them, Eshar’s eyes met hers. At that moment, the woman smiled softly.
Not understanding what it meant, Lynette blinked. Then, with a note of regret, the woman spoke.
“Euphen, I think I should get going now.”
“It’s a pity to let you go so soon, Eshar.”
“Please invite me again next time. Or, if you wish, you can come to me instead.”
“Would it be all right if I came unannounced?”
“If you would wait for me.”
“For you, even waiting would be a joy.”
The man who said that pressed his lips firmly against the back of her hand with practiced ease. Eshar let out a light laugh and, receiving his escort, left the room.
Unsure whether she should follow or stay, Lynette rose reflexively the moment Euphen glanced back at her.
The woman boarded the splendid carriage and waved from the window as it pulled away into the distance.
Euphen, who had watched Eshar leave with a smiling face, slowly turned around. The expression that had been overflowing with joy just moments before was now frozen stiff.
He brushed past Lynette.
“Are you satisfied?”
The gritted edge in his voice sent shivers down her spine. She turned to look back, but could only see his retreating figure.
Ah, these shallow emotions.
Why did the question ‘Are you satisfied?’ make her feel a flicker of joy? Even though moments ago she had been drowning in a mire of misery.
Lynette bit her lips so hard they hurt. She felt as though she might laugh.
‘What a wretched person I am.’
Begging him to love another, yet unable to let go. Then rejoicing, pitifully, at the proof that his heart still lingered with her.
She despised herself. She felt horrid.
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.