Chapter 28 – I Love You

It wasn’t until she had half-opened the door that Eloise realized the scent was bergamot.

So she should have stopped there.

If she had, at least, she wouldn’t have known that the man who shouldn’t be here tonight had come to see her.

“How…”

Her voice cracked, unable to contain her disbelief.

Her pale eyebrows furrowed deeply, as if she couldn’t believe the man standing before her.

“How are you here?”

Standing in the drizzle, Ansel Blaine was there, with the twilight of the street behind him.

Wearing a black coat, he seemed almost unreal, like a being molded from the distant darkness.

Yet his face was as white and beautiful as the moon in the night sky. The transparent raindrops clinging to his long eyelashes were particularly vivid.

In his light green eyes, only she was reflected.

Am I dreaming? Today was surely the day of the wedding at Fairmont House…….

She couldn’t think straight.

But the fact that he was here, a place that couldn’t be reached in a day even by riding at full speed from Longfield…….

“I love you.”

At that moment, Eloise froze, unable to respond. Then he spoke again.

“I love you, Eloise.”

“……Are you insane?”

She asked, her voice sounding like a suppressed scream, but his face remained as calm as a marble sculpture.

With a demeanor as if he had made up his mind, Ansel continued to speak.

“I intended to hide it forever. I didn’t want to reveal this feeling to anyone, not even to you.”

“An…….”

“But I can’t suppress it any longer. Even if it only fuels your contempt for me, I must end this war-like torment now.”

His voice, which began softly, grew increasingly urgent with each sentence. His chest heaved heavily.

With eyes like a warrior facing a formidable and frightening enemy, he parted his lips again.

“From the beginning until now, I’ve only loved you.”

“…….”

In this surreal situation, while instinctively denying everything she was seeing and hearing, Eloise couldn’t help but subconsciously inhale his scent.

As if it were her last breath.

In dreams or hollow fantasies, there had been times when he confessed his love.

Each time, Eloise would pull him into a tight embrace instead of answering.

Because she was so happy that it wouldn’t matter if her heart burst from the overwhelming joy.

But now she understood. The reason that confession had felt beautiful was simply because it was not reality.

“What about the wedding?”

It was not an appropriate response. But Eloise was neither happy nor could she calmly invite him inside, soaked by the rain.

Because she was so happy that it wouldn’t matter if her heart burst from the overwhelming joy.

Her hands, which she had not managed to grasp anything with, trembled in the air.

“Answer me! What about your fiancée, my sister…?”

Ansel looked up at the distant night sky as if it pained him to see her like that.

After a moment, he ran his hand through his damp, darker hair and slowly returned his gaze to the second daughter of the Bailey family, whose lips quivered.

“This was bound to happen. You were the only one I wanted.”

“…You’re insane…”

All sorts of thoughts and memories swirled chaotically.

Her mind felt foggy, making it impossible to think clearly.

The one who had been the object of her deep admiration for so many years, the one who had ultimately driven her to leave home, had actually loved her?

Since when?

There were questions she wanted to ask, but Eloise did not ask him anything.

At least she knew that this confession was not a lie, from the unwavering gaze in his eyes.

Those eyes were the very ones she had cherished more than anything in her faded jewelry box.

Eloise felt a strange ache in her chest, realizing that her anger and resentment were greater than her surprise at his sincerity.

It even felt somewhat futile.

Unfortunately, such things could only be enjoyed in her imagination, or in dreams. They should never become reality…….

“……Go back.”

She managed to utter the trembling words, but Ansel did not respond. Eloise could no longer hold back and shouted.

“Go back! Go back immediately and fix everything, please!”

Then the man spoke in a flat voice.

“It’s too late. I’ve left everything behind.”

“You… didn’t even go to the wedding? What have you done to my family… to my sister…?”

Eloise, who had finally started to sob, collapsed weakly to the ground.

She nearly fell onto the rain-soaked stone steps, but Ansel quickly caught her.

Even in this lifeless city, Eloise’s body still carried a faint rose scent.

Whether that was an illusion or not had never mattered from the beginning. Ansel simply wanted to bury his face in her pale nape.

“…Let go!”

At that moment, Eloise pushed the man away and let out a sorrowful wail.

Her bright blue eyes overflowed with tears. Her pale hands struck his chest, but there was no strength behind them.

Eloise screamed in desperation.

“Then why did you propose to my sister? Why on earth!”

“Because my family is everything to me!”

Unable to contain his heightened emotions, Ansel shouted, causing Eloise’s tear-stained lips to press shut.

A glimmer of contempt appeared in her jewel-like transparent eyes.

“My family didn’t want to be tied to yours, but they allowed the eldest daughter. At first, I didn’t care. Whether it was Sarah Bailey or someone else chosen by my family, it was still a loveless marriage.”

“Then why…….”

“But if I married her, I could continue to see you.”

Ah. Eloise gasped silently.

“I wanted to stay by your side, even if it meant doing that.”

“…”

Lost for words, Eloise looked at the man in front of her with an indescribable feeling.

In front of the two-story house with ivy hanging down, they stared at each other under the drizzle that fell in streaks from the eaves.

As the bergamot scent caressed her cheek like an intoxicating shackle, goosebumps pricked her spine.

At that moment, Ansel slowly leaned closer. Their lips seemed about to touch.

When the terrified Eloise instinctively held her breath, he murmured bitterly. 

It was the end of a moment that felt like an eternity.

Only then could Eloise, as if waking from a light sleep, move away from him.

Then she fled into the house as if escaping from a dreadful mire, a trap, a nightmare.

Bang, she slammed the door shut, and the cat let out a thin cry.

“Huff, huff…….”

Her whole body trembled. She finally realized that her rain-soaked body felt as cold as ice.

“It’s cold…”

But this was not the time to stand still.

Eloise urged her fragile body and hurried up the wooden stairs.

Throwing off her wet clothes in a frenzy, she quickly put on her outerwear and stuffed her pockets with a handkerchief and money.

Her attire was disheveled due to her haste, but her appearance didn’t matter right now.

The fact that she had to go to work tomorrow wasn’t an issue either. Eloise’s mind was filled with only one thought.

‘Sister.’

When she stepped back outside, the night had grown darker, but the rain had stopped.

It was a small mercy. She would have to walk a long way to catch the coach to Longfield.

The man, soaked from the rain, was still standing by the door.

Her heart raced violently at his vivid presence, but she turned her gaze straight ahead, as if Ansel were not there.

The one who had confessed to her seemed like a madman. She had never seen Ansel like this before. But now, she had no energy to think about him.

She didn’t have the mental energy to question when he had started planning such a thing, or how he had found her here.

By publicly ruining such a grand wedding, he had effectively blocked her sister’s path to marriage.

A broken engagement was a blemish for both parties, but it was entirely different for those with power.

They always had methods and solutions.

So, as the sole heir of a great family, he probably thought he had just made a mistake that could be easily covered up. But he had essentially ruined the future of the Bailey family.

Scandalous rumors and labels would haunt her family for a long time.

Thinking about Sarah, who would have to bear it all, made her throat choke with rising anger.

“……Eloise.”

Then, the hateful voice of the man calling her name desperately scattered into the cold summer night.

It was a voice she had imagined dozens of times a day.

His hand gently grasped Eloise’s wrist. The moment their gazes met, tears flowed uncontrollably.

Only after seeing the painful light in his eyes did Eloise realize that she was crying.

It was a tear she could not even define.

“Nothing happened. Whether you agree or not, that’s how I will see it.” 

Eloise pulled her hand from his. Then she turned her gaze to the distant night street she had to walk, she replied.

Though tears were streaming down her face, she spoke each word firmly so as not to appear any weaker…

“Let’s live as if nothing happened. As if we could forget by closing our eyes. As if we never loved each other.”

“…”

“You can do that.”

With those words, Eloise bravely descended the stairs.

Having no more words to say, she desperately hoped he wouldn’t hold her back with every trembling step.

Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, Eloise was compelled to look back by some irresistible force.

Maybe because he was soaked in the rain, he looked as if he were crying as he looked at her.

But even as she turned away and hurried her steps, and as the distance between them grew so that she could no longer return to him, there was no voice calling out from behind her.

It was a relief. Though it was quite troublesome that her tears wouldn’t stop…….

“Haa, haa…….”

A great sadness surged like waves at her feet.

Eloise kicked the ground with all her might and ran. Before she was helplessly swallowed by this dark sea.

It was a night that felt as if her life had shattered into pieces. The days when she believed in love felt impossibly distant.