My Ruin to You - Chapter 188

Roseline curled the corners of her mouth upward. Unlike Roseline, who had regained her composure, Valen raised the angle of his eyebrows and crossed his legs.

“Release Sir Schnitzel first.”

“It seems you’re not understanding my words.”

“If you won’t release him, then I’ll be going.”

“You’re going to leave?”

“I have someone I must take responsibility for.”

“What responsibility?”

“Marriage.”

“What?”

Valen’s magic surged slowly, sharply altering the air currents. He narrowed his eyes as if doubting his own ears and tapped the armrest.

“What did you say?”

“Marriage. Ah, I suppose I must propose first.”

“Roseline.”

“I already feel sorry for ruining his future because of his connection to me; if unsavory rumors spread, his marriage prospects will be blocked too. It’s all my fault, what can I do? I have to take responsibility.”

Roseline shrugged her shoulders. With an innocent and guileless expression.

“Ah, and if you’re thinking of harming Sir Schnitzel, please have a large coffin made. I’ll need to get in it too.”

“Shut.”

Valen gritted his teeth with a sharp sound, gripping the armrest so roughly it seemed it might break. He had no room to discern whether Roseline’s words were true or false. Gathering his scattering patience with all his might and suppressing his magic so it wouldn’t attack Roseline was the best he could do.

Crack.

But his relentlessly flowing magic shattered the sofa’s armrest. Fresh blood spread over the neatly wrapped bandage. The wound, torn open again before it had a chance to heal, oozed thick blood, but he didn’t spare a single glance for his injury or the destroyed armrest.

“If my words were impertinent, I apologize. I beg your pardon, Your Grace. Please forgive my rudeness.”

His bloodshot eyes were fixed solely on Roseline. For a moment, he glared at Roseline, who, infuriatingly, hadn’t changed her expression one bit and was politely offering her respects, as if he could burn her to death with his gaze. Then, he pushed himself up from his seat and strode toward Roseline. His eyes were completely red, and veins bulged on his forehead. His aura was so ferocious that it was intimidating, but Roseline forced herself to act nonchalant, holding her head high.

“Say it again. Where are you going, to do what with whom?”

“I told you. I’m going to propose. I’m going to where Sir Schnitzel is.”

“Have you grown fond of him in such a short time?”

“If I have grown fond of him, then it must be a connection you yourself forged, Your Grace. Thank you.”
Roseline gave him an infuriatingly sweet smile and then turned her back to him. But before her hand could even reach the doorknob, her arm was seized. Valen, who had spun her back around, forced the corners of his mouth up with difficulty.
“Not a chance. Where did you learn the habit of just saying your piece and leaving?”
“My apologies, Your Grace. It seems my lack of education leads me to repeatedly commit acts of rudeness.”
Both Roseline and Valen knew she was being sarcastic while pretending to be compliant. If he had even a little composure left, he might have found it quite adorable, chalking it up to her temper, but unfortunately, his composure had long since vanished.

Valen thought about it. What reason could there be for Roseline, who had just been resignedly accepting things until last night, to suddenly change her attitude like this?
His thoughts flowed entirely in one direction. The image of Luan whispering intimately to Roseline played on a constant loop in his mind.
“What did he say to you? That he would take you outside the Empire? How far?”
Roseline furrowed her brow as if hearing something utterly absurd. She was simply too flabbergasted to speak, but to Valen, who was on the verge of losing her and whose reason was crumbling, even that was interpreted differently.
“But what then? Even if you go anywhere on the continent, not just the Empire, you can never truly escape. Is there anywhere that would take you, even at the risk of war?”

His patience worn razor-thin, he clenched and unclenched his injured hand, suppressing a ferocious instinct, but nothing could soothe the scream of his torn flesh. However, the subtle change in Roseline—glancing at her captured arm and gently furrowing her brow—managed to dredge up a shred of his buried reason.
Valen released Roseline’s arm, which he had been clutching with a desperate, possessive grip, as if he would lose her if he let go. He stared at some point on the wall, slowly regulating his breath.
“I’m sure if I look hard enough, I can find one. You never know. Perhaps some king of a nation will be as hopelessly infatuated with me as you are, Your Grace, and would even risk war.”
A savage flame ignited in Valen’s eyes, which had only just begun to calm. He slowly, and bleakly, turned his gaze back to Roseline.
“If you dislike that idea, then release Sir Schnitzel. Why are you making a simple matter so difficult?”