Episode 109. Because You Are Olivia
Bang, bang, bang!
As the final spectacular fireworks adorned the sky, the world became bright again, like daytime.
With a face frozen cold as if he had never laughed, he whispered like a demon.
“Explain to me, in a way I can understand, why I have to do that kind of thing with you when I have my wife.”
Like fireworks that beautifully adorn the sky for a moment and vanish like a lie, a faint ray of hope vanished like smoke.
Isabelle trembled her lower lip and barely managed to speak.
“You don’t love her, do you? You married her because you had no choice, didn’t you? I don’t want to become a Princess. I’m going to have a loveless marriage, too. So...”
"There’s an abundance of bullshit."
Isabelle was left speechless by words she had never heard before.
The acrid smell of gunpowder mixed with the sea breeze rushed into her lungs, and although cheers came from behind her, Isabelle felt nothing at all.
Noah threw the cigarette he was holding onto the ground, stomped on it with his foot, and spat out the words.
"If you want to do dirty work, find someone else."
“...”
“How dare you babble as if you know whether I love my wife or not?”
It was only then that the anger mixed in the voice was felt. As the mask that had been spread out as thin as ice shattered with a crash, Isabelle involuntarily took a step back.
Noah took a step closer to her like a predator herding its prey.
“Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”
“Your Highness...”
Isabelle felt a chill as if cold metal had touched the back of her neck.
Like a gleaming knife that felt hot because it was so cold, he was sharply honed and pressed against the nape of her neck.
“I know what kind of nonsense you spouted at that polo field. And I’ll soon find out what Seymour’s mistress said to my wife yesterday.”
Isabelle's legs were trembling.
Swayed by her emotions, she forgot again. How devilish his face looked on the day he pushed her away.
“Don’t ever hang around in front of Olivia and me again, Isabelle Seymour.”
Noah drove a wedge as he brushed past Isabelle, who had turned blue from being strangled.
“No... I’ll make sure you can’t hang around here, so don’t you dare even think about it. And.”
“...”
"I hope you disposed of that flashlight."
Then, leaving Isabelle staggering as her legs gave way, he heartlessly walked away. Barely holding onto the railing, Isabelle turned her head to gaze at the pitch-black sea.
Should I just die like this?
If I jump from here, will that man understand my sincerity? Will he run to me? Will he save me?
A fierce sea breeze roughly slapped her cheek.
However, when she turned around with one foot on the railing, he was already gone.
Isabelle slumped down and muttered.
“No... Even if I died... he is someone who wouldn’t even mourn a shred of it.”
Didn't she know that fact?
No. Actually, she knew.
Like a moth flying into a flame, unable to control its own craving, it merely burned its own body.
Noah returned to the room prepared in the official residence and took a hot bath. Then, exhausted, he lay down on the bed as if collapsing.
He was extremely tired. It was the first time he had been in bed for nearly two days, so you can imagine how exhausted he was.
But sleep did not come easily.
The sound of the wind brushing against the tips of dry leaves was loud, and even with his eyes closed, he could feel the moonlight seeping through the curtain.
It wasn't the first time he had lay alone in a wide bed, yet even that felt uncomfortable. He was cold without the familiar warmth and without the hair that used to sweetly cling to his fingertips; sleep simply wouldn't come.
Noah clutched the blanket tightly and pulled it into his bosom. Lying on his side, he hugged the blanket deep into his chest. He wondered if doing this would calm his heart, which felt half-floating, or dispel the unpleasant chill.
However, it could not be Olivia's replacement.
Noah thought of Olivia with his eyes closed.
As he hugged her soft, warm body from behind, Olivia firmly raised one hand and stroked his head, which was buried in the nape of her neck. Feeling her touch, he wrapped his fingers around her flowing black hair and gently caressed it.
Before he knew it, sleep came over him.
A languid and peaceful sleep.
“Olivia...”
Since it was a common name in Herod, Noah had seen a woman named Olivia before.
However, because she was Olivia, all the other women who had borne that name vanished into his unconscious—since the banquet on the autumn night he first met her.
Noah blankly recalled the banquet. Many things happened that day, but only the meeting with her remained clearly in his memory.
The white blouse and skirt did not match the glamorous banquet at all. The thought of why she would come to a banquet wearing such clothes was fleeting. Noah could not take his eyes off the woman who was slowly approaching him.
There was too much beauty he had experienced to simply say it was beautiful.
Then, the moment he first met those pitch-black eyes, Noah felt the flow of time stop. Her eyes were like an abyss, and also like precious jewels.
The night he returned from the banquet.
Noah had recalled those black eyes several times.
From that day on, the name Olivia became hers exclusively to Noah.
“You don’t love her, do you? You only got married because you had no choice, didn’t you?”
Noah, recalling Isabelle's words, lay down looking at the ceiling and muttered hollowly.
"Love?"
It is a word that is both too grandiose and ambiguous. So, setting that aside…
“I couldn’t help it. Did I get married? Me?”
Noah let out a chuckle.
"I'll propose to her."
Usher was clearly sincere. Whether for political reasons or whatever, Noah could feel his sincerity, so he ran down the hallway like a madman. He then dropped everything and prepared to leave for Pullder.
As if he had been eagerly waiting for this very day.
Noah put down the blanket he was holding and stood up from his seat.
"I've taken care of all the events I couldn't miss."
He was doomed to fall asleep here anyway, and tomorrow's breakfast was an unofficial event.
Having made his decision, Noah quickly dressed and packed his bags. Then he woke up the sleeping Meson.
“Wow, Your Highness?!”
The Prince delivered an unbelievable announcement to Meson, who had sprang from his seat like a spring.
"I'm going back to the capital."
"Now?!"
Whether he was surprised or not, Noah heartlessly turned away and left a single remark.
"You can come tomorrow."
Does that really mean I can come tomorrow, or is it a threat telling me to go to the afterlife tomorrow?
Meson woke his colleagues while half-crying.
“You’re going to the capital now?! Why?!”
“I don’t know, how would I know how he feels? He said if you want to come tomorrow, do so.”
"...Let's go."
While Meson and the bodyguards hurriedly prepared and left, Noah went to find the Admiral, who had returned from finishing the banquet, and informed him of the same.
"I apologize, as I know you put a lot of effort into preparing breakfast."
The Admiral's wife, who had prepared breakfast, looked very disappointed, but soon smiled and whispered softly.
It seems Your Highness is very worried about the Princess.
“....”
"Please take care on your journey, Your Highness the Prince. I also wish Her Highness the Princess a speedy recovery."
At her kind words, the Prince greeted her politely. Then, mounting his warhorse as if flying, he galloped into the deep darkness without hesitation.
The earth-shaking sound of five horses' hooves soon faded into the distance.
Admiral David shrugged his shoulders regretfully and comforted his wife.
"The Prince went to great lengths to attend. I understand. It seems something is going on at the company he runs."
Then the admiral's wife looked up at her husband and shook her head.
“Even if he had attended the breakfast, he wouldn’t have been able to eat anything. Throughout the banquet today, he only took a few sips of alcohol and didn’t touch the food at all.”
"Did he do that?"
"Since he is a distinguished guest, I kept a close eye on him. So, he is probably not leaving due to company issues."
The Admiral's wife turned her head and muttered toward the darkness where the Prince had disappeared.
"Ah, it’s such a good time, to the point of being envious."
***
Mrs. Betty carefully wiped the sweat from Olivia's forehead and tidied up the surroundings. They had said that drowsiness was one of the side effects of the medicine, yet the Princess showed no signs of waking up. It was so bad that the maids nursing her had to check her breathing.
The Princess on the front page of the newspaper was smiling brightly, but the doctor said that she must have been in severe pain even at the time the photo was taken.
Mrs. Betty whispered sincerely to Olivia, who was lying there like a doll.
"Your Highness, get well soon."
Mrs. Betty was a woman who lived by the motto, "Do not give your heart to the nobility, and just do your assigned work diligently." This principle was a sort of shield she had learned while working as a maid for a long time. Yet, she found herself constantly drawn to the Princess.
After adjusting the Princess's bedding, Mrs. Betty carefully left the room.
The effects of the medicine kept bringing out Olivia's unconsciousness.
While asleep under the influence of drugs, Olivia had countless dreams. The more she dreamed, the further she went back to her childhood.
Herod, the days when his parents were alive unfolded.
After walking for quite a while holding her mother's hand, she saw her father in the distance.
"Dad!!"
When she called out to him loudly, her father ran over with a bright smile and lifted her up in his arms.
“My puppy! Come here!”
Grandfather, walking behind Father, spread his arms wide. She slipped out of her father's embrace, plucked a wildflower blooming by the roadside, and ran toward Grandfather.
"Oh, young lady. Thank you."
Grandfather laughed cheerfully and accepted the flower she handed him, while Grandmother, standing beside him, smiled warmly and stroked her head.
Then one night.
She slumped onto the balcony and gazed endlessly outside through the railing.
“Liv. Mom and Dad will be here soon. Go to sleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning, they will be by your side. Grandma isn't lying, you know?”
However, Grandmother's words turned out to be a lie.
That night was terribly long.
“What am I supposed to do with our Olivia if you go like this!! What is Olivia supposed to do!!”
The scream of the grandmother, who had always been noble and elegant, was terrifying, and the force with which she was desperately embraced was incredibly brutal.
And in Olivia's eyes, held in her grandmother's arms, a carriage so broken it was unrecognizable came into view.
Her heart was pounding as if it would burst.
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