Chapter 55
Euphen stepped back from Lynette.
“Your Highness.”
This time, she took a step closer.
“Say it again.”
He commanded as his voice trembled. At that, Lynette pressed her lips tightly shut.
What kind of expression should she wear to deceive him? What kind of voice should she use?
…How could this man see through every lie of hers so easily?
“Your Highness.”
“Say it again, Lynette.”
“……”
“Say you’re not in pain.”
Lynette squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them.
“I’m not in pain.”
At her words, Euphen slowly ran a hand down his face. A low groan escaped him.
“Please believe me.”
When she tried to take his hand, he shook her off roughly.
“Is what he said true?”
“It’s a lie.”
“You know very well it’s the truth.”
Sillian’s indifferent voice struck deep.
“Lynette. Answer me. Is it true?”
“It isn’t.”
Once more, she forced a lie past her lips.
Euphen ground his teeth together, reaching out with both hands as if to seize her, but stopped short. His fingers trembled. In the end, unable to touch her, he clenched his fists tight, jaw cracking with the force.
“Your Highness, I truly am fine……”
Lynette reached out her hand, but Euphen flinched back in alarm. Her chest throbbed painfully at the sight. This was exactly why she had never wanted him to know.
Euphen despised touching her.
That truth was far more unbearable than any side effect of Guiding.
Her face filled with hurt as she clasped her own hands tightly together. Heat burned at her eyes.
And all her resentment spilled toward the one easiest to blame.
“Sillian. I will never see you again.”
“But he has a right to know.”
“I told you I’m fine!”
“You mean you’re content to throw your life away for this man? That every day you spend in pain until the day you die is happiness to you?”
“Yes! I was happy!”
Her voice broke into a scream.
That was her reason for existing. The only reason she could meet Euphen, stay by his side.
“You’ve brainwashed yourself into calling that happiness.”
At Sillian’s words, Lynette struck him across the face. Her whole body trembled violently.
She had truly loved him. Even through the suffering, her heart could not be stopped.
She had thought it didn’t matter if she died. She had meant it. Even if she lived again, she would make the same choice, to think of Euphen, to love him……
A faint flush spread across Sillian’s cheek. But his expression remained calm, unshaken. He simply took her hand.
“You weren’t happy.”
“…Ugh.”
Lynette widened her eyes to stop the tears threatening to fall.
“At least, not the you I saw.”
“I… I was happy.”
Happy in a past that no longer existed. In those days, before she had to see Euphen with another woman. Back when she could truly “devote her life to love.”
Tears spilled from Lynette’s eyes.
“If there was happiness in the past, isn’t that enough?”
Just as Sillian reached to embrace her, Euphen shoved him away.
“Stay away.”
His face was still clouded with confusion, his eyes searching for what to believe, how to act. But through that uncertainty, his anger toward Sillian blazed clearly.
“Lynette. Why didn’t you tell me?”
At his low voice, Lynette lowered her head.
“Truly……”
“Stop with the lies.”
She bit down hard on her lips. She had nothing left to give but lies.
“If you know she suffers, then let her go.”
“Shut your mouth.”
Euphen’s glare snapped to Sillian, his blue eyes flashing like blades.
It was the first time she had ever seen him so enraged. She hadn’t known he was capable of such fury. Why had things come to this? She had accepted everything precisely so Euphen would never be hurt, never be angered because of her.
Nothing had gone the way she wanted.
The Prince clenched his fists and stepped forward, reaching as if to seize Lynette, then stopped.
“Come with me, Lynette.”
He strode ahead a few steps, then, seeing she hadn’t moved, raised his brows and turned back.
After a moment’s hesitation, he seized her arm. Pain shot through her, sharp and throbbing.
To Euphen, it must have felt like Guiding.
She risked a glance at his face, and to her surprise, he looked as if he were in greater agony than she was.
He began striding forward.
“Your Highness.”
Her voice was small, but he gave no reply, only quickened his pace.
Then Sillian suddenly caught her free arm.
“Lynette.”
“Let go, Sillian.”
“Release her hand.”
Euphen’s voice cracked, rough and sharp.
She tore her arm free of Sillian’s grasp. She couldn’t stop resenting him for exposing everything.
If not for him, things wouldn’t have been ruined like this. Euphen wouldn’t have known she was suffering, or that she was risking her life.
“Please, let me go. I don’t want to see you anymore.”
Sillian’s face went rigid, but slowly, he released her.
Dragged along by Euphen’s hand, Lynette half-ran to keep up. She glanced back once, and saw the man with red eyes watching her silently.
She had said she never wanted to see him again. Yet she knew she could never truly shut him out.
If she had known nothing, perhaps it would be different. But now that she knew Guiding worked between them, she couldn’t feign ignorance.
She already understood what became of an Esper without a Guide.
She remembered vividly, how Sillian had come to her not long ago, wracked with pain. And though she had told herself it was useless, she had still opened her door. Still offered him her touch.
Lynette let out a short sigh.
‘But… I don’t want to see him for a while.’
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