Chapter 56
Euphen dragged her inside, passing straight through the banquet hall.
“Your Highness, the Imperial Prince.”
People called out to him, but he neither answered nor so much as glanced their way. As if he could neither see nor hear anything.
The nobles stared at her in silence. They were clearly wondering who she was, to be dragged away by the Prince like this, but no one dared to voice the question in front of Euphen. The murmurs only grew louder.
At that moment, Eshar, who had been mingling with others, spotted the man and took a step forward.
“Sir Euphen.”
But he ignored even the call of the very woman he had personally introduced today, and in the end, left the hall altogether.
Lynette, feeling the countless gazes on her back, turned slightly and saw everyone peeking out from the doorway.
‘It must look strange.’
A Prince suddenly dragging away a woman he’d just met today, one who had been nothing more than a wallflower until now. It was only natural that they would begin speculating about the relationship between the two.
“Your Highness.”
Their footsteps echoed through the empty corridor. Her arm throbbed, whether from his grip being too strong or from the guiding, she could not tell.
The man flung open the door to a room and shoved Lynette inside. With a loud bang, the door slammed shut behind them.
Finally free of Euphen’s grasp, she rubbed the spot he had held without thinking. But when she felt his blue eyes fixed intently on that very place, she quickly lowered her hand.
“……”
Contrary to her expectation that he would lash out, he said nothing, only looked at her.
‘Even if I try to explain now, he won’t believe me.’
If that was the case, then she truly had nothing to say.
She didn’t know how long the deafening silence stretched on. Eventually, the man let out a sigh that seemed to empty everything from within him, then slowly ran a hand down his face.
“This isn’t why I held a banquet.”
His voice was bitter.
“All I wanted was for you to acknowledge it.”
Euphen, who had been leaning against the door all this time, took a step toward her.
“You love me.”
“Your Highness…”
“Answer me.”
Lynette pressed her lips together. Both of them already knew the truth, so speaking a lie felt absurd. Yet at the same time, she was afraid to admit her love out loud. Because the moment she did, she feared she would repeat the life she had lived before returning.
“I… can’t.”
As she backed away a little, his blue eyes sank into a deeper shade.
“Then is it true that Eshar is my Guide?”
“Soon, Miss Eshar will awaken.”
“And it’s true that every time you touch me, you’re in pain, isn’t it?”
“No.”
“You!”
His voice rose. For an instant, he shouted as though unable to hold it in, then shut his mouth and continued in a low tone.
“You never speak the whole truth.”
“About Miss Eshar…”
“Enough.”
Euphen cut her off.
“Until my Guide appears, I won’t accept any more guiding.”
“No, you can’t!”
“If what you say is true, that Eshar is my destiny and that she’ll awaken soon, then there’s no problem, is there?”
“We don’t know when that will be. Until then, Your Highness will…”
“I’ll be in pain. I’ll lose consciousness again.”
“……”
“Better that, than causing you pain.”
“Your Highness…”
He clenched his fists tightly.
“Does this answer you?”
Lynette blinked in confusion at his words, not understanding, and the man gave a short, humorless laugh.
“You told me that the feelings I have for you are because of the guiding.”
“…Yes.”
Suddenly, Euphen’s expression twisted. Then, as though realizing something, he ground his teeth.
“Then why is it, despite suffering through such pain, you still love me?”
Because being loved by him mattered more than anything. Because he had been the one and only person in her life. Because she had reveled in that meager satisfaction of being someone he ‘needed.’
‘Though of course, only until his true Guide appeared.’
Lynette clasped her hands tightly together.
It was simply because he was Euphen. She had loved him enough to want to return to the past, just to erase the wound she had left on his heart in the end.
“If I stop the guiding, then everything will become clear.”
“Please don’t.”
“If, as you said, my feelings come only from the guiding, then once I endure the pain I’ll forget you completely. And if Eshar is truly my fated partner, then once she begins guiding me, I’ll naturally fall in love with her, won’t I?”
Having her own words thrown back at her, Lynette had nothing to say.
“If, after all of that, my feelings for you remain unchanged, then it will prove they weren’t born of guiding.”
“Your Highness, why would you go so far?”
“Why do you love me?”
The sudden question made Lynette press her lips shut again.
“Lynette, unless I do this, you’ll keep believing my heart is nothing more than because of the guiding.”
“……”
“You won’t acknowledge your own heart, and you won’t acknowledge mine. Then there’s only one way left to prove it.”
“I’ll believe you. I’ll believe it, so please…”
She answered hastily and reached out her hand, but Euphen avoided her.
“From this day forward, do not touch me again. That’s an order.”
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