Chapter 84
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A villainess locked away in a desolate tower—I had possessed her body.
Chapter 84
What I had meant to keep brief had grown into something far longer.
A recitation meant to convey only facts had become entangled with emotion, and the extended narrative had accumulated unnecessary details.
And so, the moment Kaian Blaire finished speaking, he found himself uncertain where to direct his gaze.
It was unprecedented.
Never before had he shared his past with another soul.
Never before had he spoken while carefully tracing through what he had felt in those moments.
And...
'Ah.'
This cautious heart, anxiously awaiting the listener's reaction, desperately hoping they would say something—anything.
"That's..."
An emotion and a difficulty he had never experienced with anyone else.
Just as he was beginning to unravel what this strange discord meant, April suddenly spoke.
"That's only natural."
"...What?"
"Children with a high need for communication learn to speak quickly. That's why in Salt, the children of the Royal Family—those attended by handmaidens who immediately fulfill their every desire—learn to speak remarkably slowly."
"...."
"Since there's no need to make requests first, it's only natural. So the Grand Duke's fault was never there to begin with."
It was an answer he had not anticipated.
Without realizing it, Kaian turned his head to face April directly.
Her face was deeply furrowed. She seemed on the verge of tears. He could not pinpoint precisely what expression it was.
Yet there was something certain—a conviction that even he, dull to his own emotions and thus dull to others', could somehow possess.
"...Why is the Princess sad?"
An unfortunate past was his burden, and since it had already passed, it could not be undone. There was no point in expending emotion over it now.
Yet why was this small woman, inefficiently, bestowing her concern upon him?
"I'm not sure. I just... as I listened to your story, I thought that if I could, I would like to meet the young Grand Duke you were then and embrace you."
"...."
"I want to comfort you. To eat well, sleep well, play well. A child who should only need to grow healthily shouldn't have had to endure what you endured."
"...."
"You must have suffered so very much."
...It was not the first time he had received such comfort.
The Blaire Grand Duke Territory had been a grateful and precious place that embraced a lonely child, and his grandfather had been taciturn yet tender.
Though he had never laid bare his inner self, he had been sufficiently comforted.
Yet no one, nothing, had ever made Kaian Blaire feel this way.
This swelling emotion rising from the depths of his chest was unfamiliar.
Throughout the time he watched her carefully choosing her words, anxious lest her expressions wound him, his chest felt strangely tight and full.
It was as though all the blood in his body was heating to a boil.
Why did he want to hold those small shoulders? Why did he want to bury his face in that pale neck and breathe quietly?
Why... did he want to swallow those sweet words spilling from those lips?
Why,
why is it?
'Have I truly harbored you in my heart?'
Silver moonlight cast April Salt's silhouette, shimmering with an ethereal glow.
Though the season was undoubtedly the bitter cold of winter, to him, she who stood before him was
the spring of April itself.
* * *
The morning in Blaire, perpetually overcast, was surprisingly brilliant today.
"Mmm...."
I turned my head to escape the sunlight piercing my eyelids, but ultimately couldn't resist and opened my eyes.
Last night, I had fallen asleep with the window left open and forgotten to draw the blackout curtains.
Having gone to bed so late and woken so early, my body felt as heavy as lead.
"Ugh."
Perhaps because I had fallen asleep with an unsettled heart, my dreams felt restless and turbulent.
It was undoubtedly because of what I heard from Blaire Grand Duke yesterday.
'Was it alright for me to hear such things?'
I poured myself a cup of water from the kettle to clear my mind, then quietly gazed down at the courtyard below, drawn by the shouts echoing from outside.
Despite the early hour, I could see the Blaire Grand Duke, who had spoken with me late into the night, training among the knights who had already begun their morning exercises.
Why did that man, who always appeared so dependable and impressive, look so pitiful today?
He was taciturn and emotionless, handling matters with such mechanical efficiency that he seemed cold—yet now he resembled a wounded young beast.
In truth, I had always thought of Kaian Blaire as merely a noble person fundamentally different from me.
That's why I had labeled him "male lead material" and kept him at a distance as a separate entity.
Of course, I knew from the original work the brief mention that the Empress had employed countless schemes to make Lyden the Crown Prince, but strangely, I had never connected it to Blaire Grand Duke and had merely treated it as a vague story I'd once read.
But when I heard his past directly from his own lips yesterday... I finally understood why I had failed to connect Blaire Grand Duke with the original narrative all this time.
Kaian Blaire, from the moment I met him until now, had never once appeared as an unfortunate man pushed aside by the Empress's schemes.
Rather, he was someone so radiant that the story I had read seemed impossible to recall.
He was a man accustomed to commanding respect and admiration, naturally positioned above others.
No—it was simply his nature.
Because of that,
I had never thought that Blaire Grand Duke lived a life similar to mine in South Korea, where from childhood I had been ranked by grades and competed with others until death.
Yet in some respects, he had lived remarkably similarly to me. Or perhaps, he had lived with even less protection.
'Incompetent as I was... I simply ran away.'
I had never even considered changing the circumstances given to me, or at the very least, making use of them.
So I competed as my parents wished and went to university.
Then competed again to secure employment.
And continued competing throughout my working life.
Simply to not stand out in society.
All I could do was live a life carefully arranged to resemble everyone else's.
So the end of that hamster-wheel existence, wasting away with at least eight hours of labor and two hours of commuting each day, was predictable.
'Death from overwork.'
Blaire Grand Duke, however, was different from me. Despite enduring such hardship in his youth, he had grown with dignity, governing the barren Grand Duchy with excellence.
He worked with unwavering sincerity, earning everyone's respect, and he possessed the wisdom to care for his people and understand their hearts.
...Was it because I could not do the same?
Until now, I had admired Blaire Grand Duke's striking appearance, but that was all it amounted to. Now, the man himself appeared in an entirely different light.
No—it was only now that I seemed to glimpse even a fraction of who Kaian Blaire truly was.
"Miss, you were already awake?"
At Bonita's cheerful voice, I finally turned my head.
"Hmm? You're here?"
"I knocked, but there was no answer, so I thought you were still sleeping. I was going to leave just a light snack and go, but..."
"I must not have heard because I left the window open."
The shouts of knights from the Training Ground outside continued to echo loudly, and Bonita seemed satisfied with my explanation.
"I see. Shall I prepare your washing water first?"
"Yes, please. For some reason, I have a feeling visitors will arrive early today."
"Visitors?"
Bonita looked at me with a puzzled expression, but after thinking it through all last night, I had my suspicions.
The Stefan Marquis House.
If they were the sort of people who would exploit a friend's trust for their own gain—
Such scoundrels would never stop at merely this much mischief.
'Why they did such things no longer matters.'
What mattered was that I would not simply endure it passively.
And my suspicions proved correct.
"Oh, Miss! Ashley has come to visit!"
A guest had arrived early in the morning.
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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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