Chapter 52
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Chapter 52
Charlotte and Leopold stepped into the forest's depths, into their secret place. Though the night offered little moonlight, the stream still rushed with an enigmatic silver glow.
What could His Majesty wish to tell me?
Charlotte stole anxious glances at Leopold's face as he gazed quietly down at the City Center. Water shadows from the city flowed across his sculptural features and his broad, solid shoulders.
Surely he doesn't intend to pretend last night never happened? After saying I must belong among people of daylight, that I cannot be the shadow of his life....
Anxiety rose within Charlotte. Yet Leopold held her hand without even wearing gloves, and this alone allowed her to suppress her unease.
Suddenly, Leopold's deep voice resonated against Charlotte's ear.
"I've changed my mind, Charlotte."
"Pardon?"
Charlotte looked at Leopold with a startled expression.
Changed his mind—just as she had feared, he intended to erase yesterday as though it never was. Charlotte felt her heart splinter with anguish.
"Wait, please! I have something to say first!"
Charlotte rushed toward Leopold, her voice urgent.
"Now that I know Your Majesty cares for me, I will accept none of your excuses henceforth."
"Excuses?"
Leopold raised one thick brow at the frightened Charlotte before him. His blue-grey eyes gleamed quietly like stars against the dark night sky behind him.
Charlotte spoke rapidly.
"That I am the shadow of your life, that you should spend your soul and time with others instead.... You were about to say such things, weren't you?"
Charlotte shook her head. Even if it were only her own heart, she was content with every moment she could spend with him. But Leopold cared for her too. Now that she knew this, Charlotte had no intention of backing away.
"Didn't you say that if you accepted someone's kiss, you would become lovers from that day forward? Or is it that now you think a gentleman can treat a lady's first kiss so lightly?"
Charlotte turned toward Leopold with an expression of resentment, as if questioning whether he was a gentleman without even that much sense of responsibility. Of course, she seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that she had been the one to kiss him first.
"You said you felt uncomfortable just watching me dance with another gentleman, and now you've changed your mind!"
Charlotte stamped her foot and looked up at Leopold with glistening eyes. Leopold appeared somewhat startled, then approached her and spoke.
"Charlotte, that's not what I meant to say. I certainly wasn't trying to suggest we pretend our kiss never happened."
Leopold spoke in an unusually urgent tone, as if soothing her. Charlotte, however, still harbored doubt and hesitated.
"Then... what do you...?"
Charlotte had assumed Leopold would push her away again, telling her not to care for him as a spirit. But if that wasn't what he meant to say, then what was he trying to tell her? What did he mean about changing his mind?
In that moment, instead of answering, Leopold gently pulled her wrist toward him.
'Oh!'
Charlotte fell into Leopold's warm, broad embrace with a silent gasp. At the same time, his voice—strained and somehow turbid—reached her ears.
"...I thought even if it ended, I couldn't help it."
A sweet and refreshing fragrance emanated from Leopold, filling Charlotte's senses.
"As one month, two months passed living as a spirit. Or perhaps from the very moment I first opened my eyes as a spirit."
Leopold, holding Charlotte in his embrace, whispered against the crown of her head.
"I told you I had decided to gain freedom once I handed the throne to Frederick and achieved independence. But despite that... I thought it would be truly fine if this was the end."
In that moment, Charlotte recalled Armand's words about how Leopold had endured numerous assassination attempts and often performed even more dangerous missions. He had told Charlotte, who worried for Leopold's safety, that she shouldn't think of Leopold as a prince in the ordinary sense.
"I even came to think that the peace of death seemed preferable to freedom whose form I couldn't even comprehend."
As Leopold forced the words through his lips, Charlotte's eyes widened. His honest confession was utterly unexpected.
Leopold's voice continued.
"But before I knew it, you became someone I cannot help but remember, someone I love."
"Your Highness Leopold...."
Charlotte called his name with a shallow breath, and Leopold exhaled deeply, whispering in response.
"I'm sorry, Charlotte."
Why was he apologizing to her? Charlotte felt relief knowing that Leopold was not trying to push her away, yet her heart ached at the profound remorse that weighed so heavily in his voice.
Rather than speak further, Charlotte grasped his broad shoulders firmly with both hands. Leopold's words continued.
"I know my confession of love for you is selfish. I'm terrified that I might cause you such pain in the future."
Leopold wrapped his arms around the small frame of Charlotte as she nestled into his embrace, and he spoke.
"That's why I've changed my mind."
He released a ragged sigh. Charlotte felt his firm chest rise and fall with her entire being. After a moment, with a clarity sharper than ever before, Leopold whispered.
"...I want to live, Charlotte."
"Ah...."
Charlotte's eyes sparkled like starlight. Yet Leopold only held her more tightly, ensuring she could not escape his embrace.
"I will live, and I will ensure that my confession of love for you does not remain selfish, that you will not suffer."
Leopold spoke with a growl in his voice. His words carried a solemnity as though he were swearing an oath to her, perhaps even to himself.
"I believe your words. The reason my soul remains at your side is perhaps because my body lives somewhere in this world.... Whether a month passes or two, I will eventually find my true form, my body, and return."
Charlotte heard the rapid beating of Leopold's heart near her ear. She believed this heartbeat came from his body, which his soul had temporarily left. Because of this, she became all the more certain that his body existed somewhere in this world.
Leopold finally released Charlotte from his embrace and whispered.
"After I find my true form, I...."
I slowly swept my hand across Charlotte's hair and lower back.
"I will truly become your lover."
His deepened voice continued immediately after.
"I will have you."
Leopold cradled her lower back with one hand while slowly cupping Charlotte's cheek with the other. His once-clear grayish-green eyes now gleamed with a sharp, searing intensity—like a river glittering beneath the summer sun.
Charlotte felt her heart trembling violently. This tremor was nothing like the delicate flutter of spring butterflies she had felt when harboring affection for Leopold alone, or when she craved the attention of other gentlemen.
Beneath Leopold's intense gaze, the tremor she experienced now was as if all the blood had drained from her body only to surge back like rough waves, sending powerful sensations through every corner of her being.
"I... Your Majesty..."
But that was all. Before Charlotte could utter another word, Leopold's lips were already pressing against hers. Yet this kiss was utterly different from last night's tender kiss, or his soft and passionate response to her inexperienced affection.
"Mmh..."
Charlotte released a breathless moan without realizing it. A tingling sensation she had never experienced before coursed through her entire body along his burning lips. The unfamiliar feeling nearly made her lose her footing, but this only allowed Leopold—his hands gripping her cheek and waist—to draw her even closer.
"Mm..."
At Charlotte's plaintive whimper, Leopold withdrew his lips and lifted his vivid grayish-green eyes.
'A lover who shares in my darkness.'
She in his arms exhaled the breath she had been holding, her cheeks flushed crimson with heat. Beneath her still-closed eyes, which now appeared more mature, the shadow of her lashes caught the moonlight, and beside her, the silver ripples of the City Center began to undulate fiercely.
'Someday, I hope I might share your daylight as well.'
Leopold gently licked Charlotte's lips once more. Charlotte, too, clung to him with a soft moan, parting her flushed lips to receive him. Had his kiss last night been cautious, mindful of his circumstances?
Leopold tasted Charlotte's vibrant lips and her very soul as if he were reversing the death he had long accepted as inevitable.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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