Chapter 93: Twisted Love

“The duke collapsed?”

Bliss asked while handing Caelan his coat as he needed to leave soon.

“Was he ill?”

“No.”

“Was he shocked by the recent intense situations?”

After putting on his coat, Caelan placed his hand on Bliss’s cheek and gave her a light kiss.

“Rather than illness, it seems there was an attack. But since the duke can’t open his eyes right now, it’s not easy to figure out what happened.”

So that’s why he’s going… While listening to Caelan, Bliss rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand. Though she rubbed until her cheek pushed up, it felt like his warmth was still there.

“I’ll be back.”

“I’ll wait.”

Caelan nodded and was about to go outside when some thought occurred to him and he came back to Bliss.

“Don’t take too long in the bath, and don’t bring the fox to study.”

She had planned to take a bath after he left and then study with Echo by her side… Her mouth gaped open as it seemed he had read her thoughts completely.

“Go to sleep.”

Caelan hugged Bliss tightly before letting go and really leaving. As his figure heading toward the duchy disappeared, Bliss slowly walked to the window. As if prepared in advance, two horses galloped out as if piercing through the darkness.

“The Blast duchy…”

Not even a week had passed since the Emperor’s order for the duchy to exercise restraint due to what the duke had done. She worried that what happened to the duke might affect Caelan.

“Are you worried?”

Bliss startled and quickly turned around.

Looking toward where the voice came from, the shadowed wall rippled. If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, someone was there. Bliss fumbled along the windowsill looking for something to defend against the intruder. However, all that was on the windowsill were flowerpots.

“Who is it?”

Bliss glared at the wall while quietly gripping a flowerpot. She might not even know if they were hiding. So if they attacked her, she wasn’t sure if she could block it.

If only Echo were here right now.

Bliss couldn’t suppress her tense breathing that matched her rapidly beating heart.

***

“Are you certain it was done by an outsider?”

“The butler said it was someone he knew. They managed to avoid the eyes of the soldiers stationed around the duchy.”

“Then why didn’t he reveal who it was?”

“He said he was threatened that he would be killed if he spoke. That he didn’t want to be cut by that person’s sword…”

There was a witness but they wouldn’t open their mouth. Many people held grudges against the one who collapsed. Caelan, who had been riding his horse, suddenly pulled the reins to stop.

The horse’s front legs rose high. A knight turned his horse around and approached Caelan who had suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

Not many people had recent dealings with the duke. Though he himself would be the one the duke ground his teeth at most, if he had to count, there were quite a few names that came along.

Though he couldn’t specify who, the words about not wanting to be cut bothered him.

“We’re going back.”

Caelan urgently swung his reins, hoping it wasn’t who he thought it was.

***

“It’s me.”

However, as if having no intention to threaten, the other person carefully approached with both hands raised.

“Relax. I absolutely won’t attack.”

Just as that voice seemed familiar, the other person’s face was revealed.

“Leonard…”

The intruder smiled brightly as if delighted that Bliss recognized him.

“Did you just call my name? Then can I act friendly with you?”

“Why did you come here? And hiding like this.”

“Because they wouldn’t let me in.”

Leonard mentioned the reason as if it was nothing. But that didn’t lower Bliss’s guard.

“You know why they won’t let you in.”

“Because I might hurt you? I think differently.”

Leonard looked around awkwardly. This must be Bliss’s room that she shares with Caelan. After tracing the large bed with his eyes several times, Leonard spoke in a lower voice than before. The fact that Bliss shared a blanket with Caelan seemed to be the reason for his dampened mood.

“They’re not blocking me because I might hurt you. It must be because they know I like you.”

“Whatever the reason, if they blocked you, you shouldn’t have come in.”

Bliss disliked Leonard approaching her recklessly. At first, he seemed like someone she could maintain a proper relationship with, but after several incidents, she didn’t want to associate with him.

Reading Bliss’s expression of disgust, Leonard muttered bitterly.

“I’ve done so much for you until now, but this hurts.”

“You mean watching me through Jackie?”

“I protected you through Jackie. For you, I even entered the knight tournament showing all my skills, and even brought down the duke.”

“…What?”

Bliss’s face froze instantly. Caelan had gone out to find out why the duke collapsed, and the culprit appeared before her.

“Why did you do that?”

Bliss forcibly turned her confused mind that wouldn’t work properly. Leonard had entered the knight tournament in place of the duke. Did he try to take out his frustration on Leonard because Caelan won? But he said it was for her. As she tried to recall the reason, things kept getting misaligned.

“The duke was going to use you as a weakness to get to Caelan. So I had no choice but to bring him down.”

With Leonard’s explanation, she understood what happened. Rather than focusing only on Duke Blast and Leonard, she needed to consider their feelings toward herself and Caelan.

“Me… as a weakness.”

“I was going to leave it alone if he just said he wouldn’t leave Caelan alone, but he brought you up. What kind of child are you to me.”

Listening to Leonard’s muttering, Bliss quietly put her fingers in the flowerpot.

“What kind of child am I?”

“The only child who showed me everything. That’s why you were more pure and pretty.”

“I…”

“So I fell for you and wanted to spend my whole life with you. That was you, Bliss.”

Though quite a few memories with Leonard came to mind, she couldn’t tell when he had fallen for her. The past Bliss didn’t pretend to be nice in front of Leonard. Rather, Leonard accepted everything she wanted to do. He threw parties for Bliss, gave her pretty accessories when he found them, and paid attention to her mood, taking great care of her.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why do you think it’s impossible? Since I was young, I lived suppressed by hypocrites. They pretended to love me in front of others but beat me behind closed doors. Everyone I knew was like that. But you were different. If you disliked something, you said you disliked it, if you liked something, you said you liked it. You were honest, weren’t you?”

When she raised her head, the distance between Leonard and her had narrowed to just one step.

“That’s why I liked you.”

“Don’t come closer.”

“I protected you like that, but why do you reject me? You got along well with me until before you got married.”

“Because I’m married.”

Bliss kept her guard up against Leonard while pushing her hand deeper into the flowerpot.

“Are you saying all those methods carried out for the reason of liking me were wrong? Are you asking me to accept twisted affection?”

At Bliss’s cold rejection, Leonard’s expression became blank. Seeing that face that seemed somewhat unfocused, Bliss moved her body to the side. However, at that unexpected moment, her arm was grabbed. Bliss let out a silent scream.

“Twisted?”

“Yes. That’s not love. You say you protected me by using Jackie?”

“Then am I right that you were watching me? Why are you protecting me?”

Though Bliss’s brows were deeply furrowed in pain, she didn’t stop speaking.

“That’s… because I wanted to know you.”

“You don’t even know what’s wrong and make excuses first. Don’t you understand that?”

“We just have different ways of loving. Do you think that Caelan will love you prettily?”

“At least it’s not such a gloomy method.”

Bliss shook her head. She couldn’t accept Leonard’s affection. Moreover, she felt that he didn’t intend to just quietly watch over her after she was married.

“What if… I try to take you by force?”

As expected, Leonard shook Bliss with frightening words.

“Come with me.”

“No. I won’t go.”

Instead of pulling her arm away from Leonard’s grip, Bliss pulled her hand out of the flowerpot and swung it toward his face. Leonard hurriedly raised his arm to cover his face but couldn’t completely avoid the dirt. As Leonard struggled with dirt in his eyes, Bliss pulled her arm free from his grip and turned around. Then she opened the window, pushed the flowerpot to make it fall, and escaped from Leonard’s embrace. However, soon Leonard grabbed her shoulder.

She knew she couldn’t get far anyway. Bliss struggled to free her shoulder from Leonard’s grip. However, the pain only intensified as if his fingers were digging into her flesh, and she couldn’t break free.

“Even if you blind my eyes for a moment, I’ll only look at you.”

Leonard looked at Bliss with reddened eyes.

“So come with me.”

—

T/N: Bro is obsessed for real.