Chapter 75
“That’s the one thing I can’t allow.”
“So you’re going to keep me locked up for the rest of my life?”
“……”
“Your Highness, that’s imprisonment.”
The twisted expression on his face looked just like her own in the mirror. The trembling eyes, the utterly joyless expression.
Neither of them asked the real question aloud. And neither of them gave a real answer.
She knew, too. She needed to ask the right questions. If it was all just a misunderstanding, why had he brought her here?
Why wasn’t he angry about the pregnancy? What did he plan to do about the child? And what about Marie Alphrose herself — when would she be allowed to leave this palace?
What exactly did he feel for her?
Even these conflicts and doubts… were really just the remnants of lingering feelings for him. That much, she knew.
“Your Highness, you never say anything clearly. That’s why I can’t trust you. And if all you do is tell me to stay here without question, then you’re basically asking me to go mad. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
Marie clenched her hands tightly and slowly stood up. Then she faced the man she had been avoiding all this time.
She had spent the last few days testing the limits of his patience. Trying to see how much of her defiance he would tolerate, because she couldn’t understand him at all.
“Do you want this child, Your Highness?”
“……”
His lips parted soundlessly, and his brow furrowed. Marie’s heart sank.
‘Again.’
It was always like this.
“Are you going to avoid the question again?”
He wouldn’t give her a straight answer. He wouldn’t let her leave. And he never said anything clearly about the baby.
Marie snapped. She started throwing out words recklessly, hoping they would wound him.
“If you’re only keeping me here because of the child, then once I give birth, I suppose I’ll be killed. After all, I committed the grave sin of deceiving the Crown Prince, didn’t I?”
“Marie.”
Finally, Russell said something after the deliberate sting of her words.
“You’ll marry someone proper, not a lowly courtesan like me, and live happily ever after. Ah, though I imagine finding a dominant Omega won’t be so easy, so I suppose that part will be hard for you.”
“Marie, that’s enough.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t cling to you. The moment you hold this child in your arms, I won’t be there anymore. So why should I even give birth to this baby—”
“Enough.”
A large hand gently covered her mouth. Only then did she realize she was crying.
But the sorrow surged uncontrollably.
Why? Why won’t you even let me say these things?
The words he threw at her hurt more than this. The things she had to swallow down as if they meant nothing — how sharp they were, like blades.
And even now, you’re still hurting me. Why aren’t you saying anything, really anything!
Then, the man’s voice came.
“You didn’t get an answer… because you didn’t want one.”
Looking at Marie, who now couldn’t reply with her mouth covered, Russell spoke with an oddly forlorn tone.
“You didn’t want to hear what I had to say, Marie.”
“……”
“Do you really want to hear it now?”
“Of course I do.”
“The child…”
What he was saying sounded utterly absurd. Why, he was talking nonsense like he was an Alpha imprinted on an Omega.
Anger and resentment bubbled up in Marie, and she bit his finger. Blood spread from the wound. But Russell didn’t pull his hand away, not even when Marie gave up in exhaustion.
“You can throw as many stones at me as you want. I’ll take them all. But you…you’re the kind of person who only ends up hurting herself when she says things like that.”
What do you know about me?
“So don’t speak like that about the child.”
At those final words, Russell stepped back. He hesitated for a brief moment, as if something still lingered in him, then turned away. His broad back filled her view. It was always like this — the way he left her chamber without a word.
He was going to leave like that again.
Without saying anything.
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