I had given up.
I thought I would have to live as Letie for the rest of my life, and I would have to carry the mistakes she made for the rest of my life.
Even if I had never fallen in love with the Duke of Hersen, I believed it.
I gave up believing that there would be no way to explain it forever as long as I lived as Letie.
Frustration was so familiar to me that I didn't even realize it.
But deep down, I wanted to explain to Kishian.
I'm not a sinner. I said I had never committed any infidelity...
The desperate wish, which I had buried so deep that I didn't even know it existed until now, was now coming true at an unexpected moment.
"It wasn't what you did."
The words he added, as if emphasizing, penetrated deep into my heart.
"I am..."
This is the situation I have been imagining in my head.
I felt like I had to either laugh or cry for joy, but I couldn't react at all.
It was so sudden, I just stiffened.
My lips moved with all my might, and I stuttered out the words I had in my heart.
"Since the day I got married to you, what other men have...?"
"I know."
Kishian hugged me with a gentle gesture.
I could feel the heavy sound of my heart through my chest.
"You kept sending me letters while I was away for the punitive site."
"..."
"You waited silently for my return."
The tears that had been forming around my eyes flowed down my cheeks.
As if suppressing the resentment, the water droplets fell heavily and soaked into the hem of Kishian's robe.
From there, my sadness soared endlessly
"I've always wanted to explain, but I can't..."
"I'm sorry. I was foolishly deceived by the Emperor's schemes."
I cried for a long time in his arms.
No, it would be more appropriate to say that I was feverish.
I lived like a sinner for years without even having an explanation, so I couldn't just cry.
I was persecuted by the maids and resented by the Kishian, but I couldn't give a single explanation...
The resentment could not be resolved with a few tears.
Kishian patted my back and whispered in my ear.
"I'm sorry, I've always regretted being so cold and violent since the day we met again."
The more I listened to the apology, the more my tears flowed out without stopping.
So I leaned on Kishian for a long time, spitting out my sorrow.
***
After midnight, the enthusiasm of the ball waned.
Since it was not a ball that lasted for several days, the gathered nobles left the mansion without delay under the cover of dawn.
However, in front of the main entrance of the mansion, only a carriage parked there stood tall without any sign of leaving.
The man leaning against the carriage was also staring at the main gate of the mansion, motionless like an animal waiting for its owner.
"What happened..."
A sigh-like murmur came out of Rodrick's voice.
He brought a carriage to the mansion to take Elona with him, but he waited for a long time and still couldn't find her.
He stared at the faces of the nobles who passed through the main gate, just in case he missed her, and he was even stared at by the guards of the mansion.
Even though he was mistaken for a suspicious person, he couldn't leave and waited.
Nearly three hours.
After waiting for a long time, the person hr wanted to see finally appeared outside the front door
"Why is it so late? I was worried about something."
Rodrick, who approached Elona with bruises but was welcome, eventually became embarrassed.
Elona's eyes were red.
The tear stains were also clearly visible, so that they could not be covered by masks.
Did you cry? What's up? Could it be Baron Baldur..."
"No, it's not like that. He's already back at the mansion."
"Then why? Did you get caught in trouble with the wretched ones? If you tell me who it is..."
"I ran into a Kishian."
Rodrick's hand stopped as he approached to wipe away the tear stains.
Kishian. It seemed that the man who had been searching all over the empire so obsessively for Elona had finally found his ex-wife.
Rodrick lowered his raised hand and clenched his fist invisibly
"Is he intimidated? Is that why you ran away?"
Again, Elona shook her head.
"He didn't do anything. He just said sorry."
"..."
"He said he would wait until I was ready."
He waited for Elona's crying to stop, and then Kishian hinted, 'Come back anytime'.
However, he did not beg or threaten her to go back with him.
He regretted that he had gone to the imperial palace and forcibly dragged Elona away.
He also apologized for not being so violent.
So when she met him on the side of the road a few days ago, and when they met at the ball today, he took a cautious step away instead of forcibly dragging her away.
After hearing the story, Rodrick burst out laughing.
"What kind of preparation are you waiting for? Waiting for you to put down your pride and bow to him?"
"That's not true. He said he regretted it."
"You don't believe that, do you? What can he say to take you away? If you are deceived and follow, you will start again. You grumble, despise, and persecute..."
"..."
"I've always waited. Until you break free from that restraint."
The last words contained a sadness that was hard to ignore.
In fact, he always waited.
He hopes that Elona will break free from her restraints and come to him.
Just today. He stood outside for nearly three hours.
However, waiting did not always return with an ecstatic reward.
Some of the wait was rewarded, while others came back as a cruel disappointment.
Elona slumped her shoulders and spoke.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't go. I'm sure you'll regret it."
Afterwards, Rodrick looked at Elona's face.
He waited for the words to come out from between those reddish lips.
If she said she wasn't going, he would be overjoyed and laugh at Elona.
But what if the opposite is true...
As long as she had stayed for a long time, a dark and soggy emotion slowly filled his heart.
He swallowed his nervousness and waited for her nerves to break, and then Elona's mouth opened.
"I haven't decided to go with him yet."
Rodrick didn't hide his laughter.
Elona, who didn't see his face, rubbed her hands in the cold early morning air.
"He said he would give me time. I said I would think about it more and answer it. What should I do?"
It was true that the pain in her heart disappeared after hearing Kishian's apology, but the fear remained.
So she didn't have the confidence to go back to the Grand Duchy, not yet.
Rodrick decided to interpret Elona's answer in his own way.
"Yes, it's stupid to follow without pride. Human nature doesn't change. Even if he seems to regret and reflect on it now, you don't know how he will change if he has doubts again."
"..."
"Let's go back for now. It looks cold."
Rodrick wrapped his coat around Elona's shoulders.
He then opened the carriage door and pushed Elona Inside.
The carriage, which had been standing helplessly, began to move slowly.
Baron Wolfstein was getting farther and farther away, staring out the window and thinking.
He was the one who got it after a long wait, and he would never give it away, no matter what.
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