Chapter 106: A Proposal Without Regrets

At Bliss’s bedside, Caelan rested his forehead against her hand.

[‘I originally die wearing a necklace coated with poison. You prepare it and put it on me.’]

That’s what Bliss had said. That he would put a poisoned necklace on her and she would die because of it. But what she had thought would happen didn’t occur. It hadn’t happened to him, and he had comforted her when she was anxious about it. He had told her it was wrong since it hadn’t happened anyway, but it ended up happening after all.

Even if not the necklace specifically, he should have realized that Bliss could be in danger somehow. Though she had tried to save him, the fact that she ended up being poisoned just as she had said made Caelan exhale painfully.

“Bliss.”

She had kept her word about protecting him. He had failed to respond to the commotion immediately and just stood there, letting it happen.

A week had passed since she collapsed, but she still hadn’t opened her eyes. He would rather have collapsed himself. Then Bliss wouldn’t be hurting, and he wouldn’t be this anxious.

Caelan held onto hope, clinging to Bliss’s faint breathing. If only she would open her eyes. It would be fine even if all her memories with him disappeared, or if she looked at him resentfully for his complacency. He just wanted her to open her eyes. If she did that, he could be grateful for everything.

As Caelan let out a long sigh, a knight who had entered silently behind him quietly reported.

“What should we do with the woman?”

At those words referring to Olivia, a murderous glint flashed in Caelan’s eyes.

“How is her condition now?”

“Critical.”

Having thrown herself onto the knight’s sword in her attempt to reach Caelan, she had received emergency treatment from a doctor but could die at any moment.

“Keep her alive.”

So that Bliss could unleash her full anger when she opened her eyes.

At Caelan’s order, the knight withdrew without another word, and the room fell back into silence. Caelan held his breath, afraid he might not hear Bliss’s breathing.

“I’m not afraid of poison anymore…”

The paralyzing fear he used to feel at the sight of poison had been diluted by Bliss’s warmth. Though it hadn’t completely disappeared, he was no longer just frozen in place, but now things were different.

Something more frightening than poison had appeared.

“I’m scared of losing you.”

Caelan’s trembling voice reached Bliss. As if begging her to come to her senses.

***

“Am I dreaming?”

The room she saw upon opening her eyes wasn’t the one she shared with Caelan. It was her small but cozy nest. The very room she had lived in before becoming Bliss. Moreover, it was in the state before she entered the original story. Everything was exactly as it had been, from the carelessly dropped bag after work to the randomly thrown clothes.

Though she had been away for months, the vibration of her phone felt familiar. It seemed messages were coming in from somewhere. Checking it, she found messages from friends about weekend plans. Notifications kept coming in about what to eat and what to do.

She blankly watched her friends’ conversation before dropping the phone. She should be laughing and talking with them too, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“But I’m definitely Bliss.”

She had decided to live as Bliss, so coming back felt too strange.

“Ha, haha. No. This must be a dream.”

Though she muttered while running her fingers through her hair, it felt too real and made her anxious. She could feel her hair between her fingers and even smell the distinctive scent of her room. She clearly felt the phone’s vibration and even the soft touch of the bed she was sitting on. A bitter laugh escaped her, thinking that if this were a dream, she wouldn’t be able to feel all of this.

“I came back like this?”

She had resolved to live with Caelan. She had given up everything to take his hand because she loved him, but to return at that moment was absurd… and sad. She hugged herself tightly. Her heart felt like it would burst trying to accept everything that was happening to her now.

“I left Caelan behind.”

Emotions far more intense than when she had entered the novel swept over her. As if mocking her for falling in love with a character from a novel, she had returned…

“What is this?”

She must have returned because she died. She should have worn the poisoned necklace instead. If she had died that way, she would have returned immediately and wouldn’t be suffering like this.

But regret always came too late, no matter how quickly one felt it.

Even in her sadness, she didn’t know how to get back into that novel. The thought that she couldn’t meet Caelan even if she died again made all her motivation disappear.

While looking around, she saw something carelessly thrown about and laughed despite her pain.

“I want to show him.”

It was instant food. She laughed wanting to tell him, who always ate elaborately prepared meals, that such things existed.

“I said I would cook many delicious things for Caelan.”

She hadn’t been able to do anything. The laughter that had been flowing out as if she had lost her mind soon turned to sobs. Her chest felt heavy and bitter as she cried out loud.

“Why now…”

Without even telling her that she would return if she died, why did they shake up her entire life like this? But she didn’t know who to blame. Was God playing tricks on her? Was the author who wrote the novel God? Though she didn’t know anything, what was certain was that someone had created a cruel fate for her.

She shouldn’t have loved Caelan…

She missed Caelan. She missed him so much that her heart ached. While crying and clutching at her chest, she suddenly saw something and stopped crying.

“Huh?”

It was a mirror. She straightened up from her curled position and approached the mirror. Then she caressed her face while looking at it.

Her face in the mirror looked strange. Light brown eyes were filled with confusion.

“This is… Bliss.”

The reflection in the mirror was Bliss’s.

***

Bliss blinked while looking at the ceiling. There was an elaborate chandelier. How many rooms would have such a chandelier? She was having such pointless thoughts when.

“Bliss!”

A face appeared blocking the chandelier, casting a shadow that made it hard to see clearly.

“Are you awake? Bliss.”

She couldn’t see what expression he was making because his face was shadowed. But judging from the drops falling on her face, he seemed to be crying.

“Bliss…”

The person, thinking she hadn’t come to her senses, spoke with a seemingly heartbroken voice. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she gradually saw the man’s face. So it was him.

Bliss slowly raised her hand and wrapped it around his neck.

“Got you.”

Just being able to hold him made her heart overflow with satisfaction as she let out a contented breath. She could touch Caelan whom she thought she would never reach again. She could hear his breathing and feel his trembling body.

“Caelan.”

Bliss whispered while holding Caelan.

“I, I went back to where I used to live.”

She had thought it was a dream at first, but the vivid sensations she had felt were still clear. If so, there was only one thing she could think of. She had thought she had been pushed into a whirlpool of cruel fate, but instead, she had been given a chance to say goodbye.

“I think I’ve let go of all my attachments.”

She seemed to have been happy seeing her face in the mirror was Bliss’s. At the same time, her body had started fading, and she had taken one last look at her room. She couldn’t say goodbye to her friends or submit a resignation letter to her workplace. Though it was regrettable that she disappeared without leaving any trace, she wasn’t sad.

Living as her original self had been good too, but she thought she would be happy living as Bliss. Though everything she had enjoyed there wouldn’t exist in this completely different world, it didn’t matter. She didn’t need anything else because she had Caelan.

“So now I just need to plan how to live happily with you completely.”

At Bliss’s smile, Caelan lifted his head and met her eyes. Bliss placed her hand on Caelan’s cheek. Though his face was already completely wet, she wiped away his still-flowing tears, and he wiped her eyes in return. It seemed she had been crying too without realizing it.

“I love you, Caelan.”

“…”

“Will you become my real husband?”

Bliss proposed to him with all her heart, determined to love him with everything she had and never regret a single thing until the day she closed her eyes as Bliss.

At her proposal, Caelan remained silent for a moment as if thinking. But she knew he wasn’t deliberating between acceptance and rejection. Because he held too bright a smile.

“I love you.”

She had thought he would say many things, but Caelan gave her just one phrase.

However, feeling the heart fully contained in that short resonance, Bliss smiled brightly. Unable to contain her joy, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

She had been given the responsibility that came with her choice to live as Bliss.