By the time she had eaten lightly and finished freshening up, it was nearly noon. At Nadine’s repeated suggestion that the garden was beautiful and a short walk would do her good, she took a parasol and went outside.
The weather after the downpour was exceptionally bright. A refreshing breeze carried the fragrant scent of flowers. It seemed to be the most peaceful scenery she had seen in recent times, making her whole body relax.
‘If you go east, there’s a very pretty fountain. It might be good to enjoy the sunshine there for a while.’
Recalling Nadine’s words, she walked slowly. The smooth gravel path was lined with grass swaying gently in the wind. As she admired the sight, she mentally rehearsed what to say when she met Lars.
Her proposal would likely end up as just gossip fodder. While that might be acceptable for her, someone of his stature, a duke of Freemont, wouldn’t make hasty decisions about marriage.
However, she had bought some time with this overnight stay. Lars would probably pretend to get to know her for a while before politely rejecting her proposal. That was the best way to preserve her honor.
……Is it really impossible?
Since he cares about me. Come on, he could just marry me.
Though she muttered this to herself, she knew it was an unreasonable demand. Forcing him to stay by her side by exploiting his guilt was absolutely something she should never do.
Then can’t he just show his face occasionally?
If everything else is troublesome and annoying, couldn’t he at least check in now and then, just so she could see his face occasionally?
With this modest wish in her heart, she looked up and stopped in her tracks.
Under a massive tree with numerous branches spread wide, someone was lying back against one of the thick boughs.
Perhaps Nadine was even more capable than Maya. She laughed silently and approached quietly.
With his eyes closed as if asleep, he wore a black shirt fastened with strings at the front and pants with no particular decoration, looking not much different from before.
Leaves shaking in the wind cast erratic shadows on his face. It felt like returning to some day long ago.
Come to think of it, she had never been outside with him like this in broad daylight. He had always appeared in the dim night and disappeared like smoke.
After staring at Lars lying with his arm as a pillow for a while, she murmured to herself:
“If I were a little stronger, I would have kidnapped you right now.”
And at that moment, his beautifully arched eyebrows twitched.
Clearing his throat, he raised his upper body. Startled, she stepped backward.
“Were, were you awake?”
“What on earth are you saying in front of someone?”
He looked at her as if dumbfounded, rubbing his face. Her face burning, she lowered her parasol to hide her gaze.
“No, well, I just remembered a line of poetry I heard somewhere.”
“……That’s quite a violent poem.”
“Indeed. I wonder who wrote it.”
After looking around aimlessly and shifting in place, she cleared her throat and spoke:
“Why are you sleeping here instead of in a comfortable bed? Is that appropriate for a duke?”
“That’s precisely why I can. Who would dare criticize me?”
Her ears perked up at his nonchalant retort. It sounded like the old Lars, not the distant Duke Diconmeyer.
When she tilted her parasol back, her eyes met his as he sat perched on the branch, watching her.
“How are you feeling?”
At his quiet question, her heart fluttered like a small bird’s feather. She answered with force in her eyes to keep her expression from softening:
“I heard you nursed me all night. You’re kinder than you look. I don’t know how to repay this favor.”
At her stiff reply, Lars’s lips curved crookedly. With a snort, he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes.
“You’ve stayed here as you wanted, so why are you wandering around? Why not stay in bed quietly?”
“I wondered if this might be a dream.”
She entered the tree’s shade and closed her parasol. Feeling his gaze follow her, she calmly continued:
“I’ve had many dreams like this. Walking in a peaceful garden on a sunny day, and when I turn around.”
“……”
“You’re there in my dream.”
When she turned her head, she saw his green eyes looking at her. Eyes opened wide, as if slightly surprised.
After saying it out loud, the present moment felt more like a dream.
It was a moment she had longed for so much that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t suppress the welling emotions.
“I don’t think I’ve said this yet…… Thank you for being alive.”
She tried to shrug her shoulders to release her emotions, but it was useless. Feeling her eyes grow moist, she deliberately smiled with upturned lips.
“For being alive and appearing before me.”
Tears suddenly fell, surprising even herself. As she lowered her gaze, trying to steady her breathing, a large hand extended before her. When she looked up, she saw a face that seemed to hold a sigh.
His beautiful eyes were darkly submerged. His low, subdued voice resonated:
“You’ve worked hard enduring alone, Lucienne Bickman.”
With those words, her legs suddenly felt weak. The dam she had built high to block the flood of emotions for so long burst in an absurdly simple moment.
Breathing heavily with the overwhelming surge of emotions, she finally bit her lip, ran to him, and embraced him tightly. Feeling his hands supporting her swaying waist, she clung to him even more.
Why didn’t you take me with you? Why didn’t you even send word? Were you planning to never appear again? Did someone like me not matter at all to you? Was I really nothing to you!
The resentment that instantly filled her to the brim poured out as tears. Despite her resolution never to cry like a child in front of him again, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
She had desperately missed the solid shoulder to rest her head on, the arms and warmth that embraced her. She had missed them so much that she thought death would be better than living without them.
Lars let her cry. He seemed to be waiting until all the tears that had accumulated ran dry. While his hand gently patted her, she released her resentments one by one, sobbing in his arms for a long time. Until her face and his neck were soaked with tears.
Only when the sound of chirping birds began to be heard more clearly than her crying did Lars finally sigh deeply and straighten his back. His hands that had been wrapped around her back loosened.
“If you keep crying like this, you’ll collapse again. Don’t tell me that’s your plan, Lady Bickman?”
At his clearly teasing tone, she abruptly raised her head from his shoulder. Glaring at him with eyes still full of tears, she saw Lars with a faint smile in his eyes, pulling out a handkerchief from his back pocket. She snatched it and roughly wiped her face. Her heated face felt warm.
“If you’ve calmed down, would you get down now?”
She could only blink for a moment at Lars’s words. Coming to her senses, she realized she was sitting on his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. Though her hair seemed to stand on end the moment she became aware of it, she quickly thought of a response.
“……My legs feel weak, I can’t get down.”
I can’t just hop down from this opportunity that came after years.
As she pressed her hands on his shoulders, Lars raised one eyebrow.
“Have you forgotten that you’re no longer a child?”
“I wasn’t a child when I first met you either.”
Lars snorted briefly at my prim reply.
“That’s quite different from my memory. Back then, you really were.”
His hand brushed my cheek. His fingers flicked away a teardrop that had been hanging at the corner of my eye.
“Like a little miss.”
His lowered eyes slowly swept over her face. She could feel how close his long eyelashes that cast shadows and his narrowly visible jewel-like eyes, prominent nose, and distinctly defined lips were.
He clearly didn’t know.
How that beautiful and captivating appearance provoked a person’s impulses.
“Again, looking at me like you’re going to devour someone……”
The moment Lars’s lips parted with an amused smile at her entranced gaze, she cupped his cheek and pressed her lips against his.
The distance was barely a handspan. The temptation to touch those lips was too difficult to resist.
Goosebumps spread across her entire body at the sensation that was both firm and soft. When she gently rubbed her lips against his, she could feel his jaw tightening under her fingertips, making her heart pound. Even the touch of his nose against hers made her so dizzy she couldn’t think straight.
Desperately suppressing her desire to remain endlessly pressed against him, she finally pulled her lips away and whispered.
“It seems you’re the one who’s forgotten that I’m not a child.”
Lars remained frozen with the same expression as before, unable to continue speaking. After a long moment, as if breaking free from a spell, he opened his mouth, but couldn’t hide his agitation.
“What are you doing……”
“Marry me.”
Her voice trembled slightly, but she didn’t care.
If she didn’t say it now, she didn’t know when this courage would return. She never thought the day would come when Lars would let her sit on his lap. With the determination that this opportunity would only come once in a lifetime, she stared into his astonished eyes and spoke without taking a breath.
“You don’t have someone you like, do you? Marry me. If you need money, I’ll get money; if you need people, I’ll find people. If you prefer long hair, I’ll grow it; if you want me to wear flowing dresses and stand like a statue without saying a word all day, I’ll do that too. I’ll try to do whatever you want, so marry me.”
One thing was certain: her words had left Lars bewildered. He stared at her blankly, like someone encountering a situation for the first time in his life with no idea how to react. Finding his unfamiliar expression adorable, she quickly grabbed his neck.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as acceptance and give you a promise kiss.”
“Hey, wait, what are you trying to, wait, Lucienne, Lucy!”
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Mimizareader
Auhazkjaajajajjajauajzjzjjzjzjjqjakskjskzjzjsbshshsyzhhzhjzjzj that’s the best first kiss ever awwwwwwwww I laughed so much, it’s literally 6am I should sleep but aaaaaaaa, and how he said Lucy at the end 😭😭😭😭😭 girl you’re gonna make his heart stop!