Chapter 25

Huff, huff.  

Letina got out of the carriage and ran into the house. But Kiaros was nowhere to be seen.  

“Where is Kiaros?”  

“Oh, you’re back? Lord Kiaros said he’d pick you up after your appointment, so he went out to the cafe. Looks like you missed each other.”  

The butler explained.  

She’d told Kiaros she was meeting friends at a cafe called Camellia on Rand Street.  

‘He must’ve realized I was lying.’  

Letina got back in the carriage and hurried to the cafe.  

“Kiaros!”  

She saw a familiar figure in front of the cafe.  

Letina quickly approached him. Kiaros clearly noticed her coming, but kept looking elsewhere.  

“Kiaros…?”  

Finally, Kiaros turned and looked at Letina.  

“…I wasn’t trying to spy on you.”  

His face was dark.  

“I just thought, since you said you’d only be at the cafe for a bit, I could bring you home after. Or we could have dinner out. So I came, but you weren’t there…”  

Kiaros bit his lip.  

“By any chance…”  

“By any chance?”  

“Did you meet someone else?”  

‘What kind of nonsense…’

Letina was so taken aback she was speechless. But since she didn’t answer, he seemed convinced there was someone else.  

“Who… Wait, did you cry?”  

Kiaros stopped mid-sentence and widened his eyes.  

“Who made you cry!”  

Letina hurried to speak before the misunderstanding grew.  

“Kiaros Gatiel.”  

She grabbed Kiaros’s arm and looked at him seriously.  

“I have never once done anything shameful. Don’t make me out to be someone who’s betrayed you.”

“…Then where were you, and with whom?”  

“I’ll tell you when we get home.”  

“……”  

On the way home, Kiaros was completely dejected.  

It was hard to believe it was just disappointment in a spouse who’d broken his trust.  

‘If I hadn’t read the diary, I wouldn’t have noticed.’  

Letina had been trying not to laugh for a while. She had to turn her head so Kiaros wouldn’t see, in case he thought she was acting strange.  

When they arrived home, as soon as they entered the bedroom, Kiaros turned around and pressed Letina.  

“We’re home now, so tell me.”  

Letina took the diary out of her bag.  

“What’s that…”  

Kiaros’s pupils trembled when he recognized it.  

“Why do you have that?”  

“I read it.”  

Kiaros’s face went pale, then red, then blue.  

“…What?”  

“I said I read it.”  

“……”  

Kiaros turned to leave, but Letina grabbed his wrist.  

“Are you an idiot?”  

Kiaros’s shoulders flinched at Letina’s words.  

After a moment, he sank to his knees in front of Letina. He’d wanted to do this all along.  

“I know, I know I acted like an idiot for ten years… Even trying to run away now…”  

Kiaros, trembling, clung to Letina’s legs.  

“Please, don’t leave me.”  

She must be completely fed up.  

How could he act like that while liking her, how pathetic, it’s been so long, how could he mess with someone’s heart like this.  

Now Letina would disappear from his arms.  

He’d come to the edge of a cliff, so there was no hesitation left in doing something that might make her even more tired of him. The only thing left was to cling to her.  

“Did you ask for marriage just because you got caught being a duck beastman?”  

Letina asked.  

Amazingly, there was still room to fall further.  

For a moment, he felt like lying.  

But… now that everything was exposed, he didn’t want to hide anything from her.  

He begged her not to leave, but he knew it was over.  

So before they parted, he wanted to tell her everything.  

“I lied because I like you… That’s why I hid it.”  

It was already ruined, so Kiaros quickly confessed the rest of his sins, even the ones Letina hadn’t asked about.  

“It’s not true that beastmen die if they don’t do it every five months. I made that up because you didn’t seem interested in being with me. I just wanted to be close to you.”  

“Ha…”  

Letina was about to ask why he didn’t just tell her honestly even after they got married, but stopped.  

Wasn’t she the same?  

She never imagined he liked her, and was always cautious.  

She wasn’t in a position to scold Kiaros. So she just sat down and hugged him.  

“Letina…?”  

“I like you, too.”  

“Huh…?”  

“Now that I think about it, me too. I liked you from the very first moment.”  

Kiaros blinked.  

“But… all this time, I thought you hated me, so I couldn’t say anything. I was just like you. So you don’t need any more explanation about why I hesitated, do you?”  

‘Letina likes me, too…’

Just like him, she’d liked him for ten years.  

Kiaros, stunned, thought he couldn’t act like a fool anymore, so even though his mind was a mess, he started talking first.  

“I’m sorry, Letina. I made you suffer because I was embarrassed and pathetic. I, I also… like you…”  

D*mn. He still felt like he was that same boy who first fell for Letina.  

Even though he finally said he liked her, he was stuttering and making a mess. He wasn’t cool at all.  

Kiaros’s face turned bright red.  

He cleared his throat and said,  

“I love you.”  

“…Yeah.”  

Letina blushed and helped him up.  

“When I think of all the heartache over the last ten years, I get angry. But I’m much happier that we always felt the same way. That must mean… I really, really like you.”  

“Letina…”  

Afraid his voice would tremble miserably again, Kiaros took a moment to calm down before speaking.  

“We started off wrong, and I kept hurting you, so we ended up going in circles. I’m sorry. No matter how many times I apologize, it’s not enough. So I want to atone for it for the rest of my life. By your side.”  

He cupped Letina’s cheek with one hand.  

“Please, let me do that…?”  

Letina put her hand over Kiaros’s as he caressed her cheek.  

“I like hearing ‘I love you’ more than ‘I’m sorry.’”  

In the end, Kiaros couldn’t hold back his feelings and hugged Letina.  

“…I love you.”  

When he bit Letina’s lips, she immediately parted them gently.  

Kiaros kissed her, pouring all his reverence into the lips that had pulled him out of despair.  

Their hearts, which had been missing each other, finally aligned.  

A kiss exchanged after confirming they felt the same was so full of longing.  

“Haa…”  

When he stroked her lovely cheek, he felt it was wet.  

Kiaros’s heart felt sharply cut by guilt. He licked away all her tears, then swallowed Letina’s panting breaths.