You Said You Wanted Us to Break Up - Chapter 48

Dreams always begin with warmth like spring sunshine.

“Wendy.”

A warm hand patting her daughter’s back. A gentle smile, and an embrace that seemed especially comforting when directed at her daughter. A voice that tickled her ears like a gentle breeze.

“I love you, Wendy.”

When Wendy heard those sweetest words in the world from her mother, Lerisa’s voice, she realized she was dreaming of when she was six years old.

Just because it was a dream didn’t mean she could do anything special. She was trapped in her dream body, merely replaying moments from the past.

When she first had a dream featuring her mother, Wendy, even knowing it wasn’t real, tried to change the past.

But after repeating the same dream several times, Wendy realized she couldn’t change anything within the dream.

What can’t be changed must be accepted.

After that, Wendy didn’t resist when dreams brought back memories of Lerisa.

When her daughter was six, Lerisa often painted in her studio. The studio, provided by her husband, Hesen, was located in the room with the best sunlight in the castle. This was because the temperature in the cold Ethel Castle varied greatly depending on the sunlight.

Lerisa was a skilled painter. Her paintings, which mostly used bright colors, seemed to sparkle when viewed in the sunlight.

And to six-year-old Wendy, her mother was more beautiful and perfect than any painting or fairy tale.

Lerisa’s studio, filled with brightly colored paintings. The window where the brightest sunlight in the castle entered was Wendy’s entire world.

Wendy loved that world, but as she grew older, she became curious about the outside.

That day, too, Wendy sat beside Lerisa, who was painting with an easel set up, swinging her legs.

“Mama, why can’t we go outside?”

Wendy and Lerisa could only move around inside the castle. Even that was impossible on days when guests came to the castle.

Lerisa looked over at her. She, who was particularly sensitive to her daughter’s cries, lowered her eyebrows with a look of difficulty.

“That’s…”

At that moment, they heard the sound of a door opening. Wendy turned her head towards the sound. A man with brown hair, larger than both mother and daughter combined, was entering the room. It was Hesen.

“Papa!”

Wendy jumped off her chair and ran to Hesen. Noticing that her daughter’s attention had shifted from the outside world to Hesen, Lerisa let out a sigh of relief.

Hesen crouched down, opening his arms so his daughter could hug him.

“Because our beautiful daughter and even more beautiful wife are the most precious treasures in the world.”

Lerisa was objectively a stunning beauty, but Hesen’s words contained an affection that could only be felt when describing something beyond the visible facts.

Hesen hugged his daughter, who had snuggled into his arms, and stood up. The rough hands of a man accustomed to hard work gently pulled her soft, white cheek. Wendy squirmed slightly.

“Papa! It’s cold!”

A chill emanated from Hesen’s hands, which had been outside just moments before.

“I’m sorry, my princess. Papa forgot to warm his hands.”

Hesen chuckled and walked towards the fireplace. He held the hand he had used to stroke his daughter’s cheek towards the fireplace and waited. When his rough, calloused hand touched her cheek again, it was much warmer than before, but not hot. It was a delicate temperature that didn’t seem to suit his large frame.

Hesen settled into the armchair opposite Lerisa, his daughter sitting on his lap.

Wendy, looking at Hesen, who gazed down at her daughter with eyes full of love, whined.

“I’ll show off my pretty treasure. I’ll make everyone know how pretty my treasure is.”

“But you might have your treasure stolen by a bad person.”

“Why?”

Hesen stroked his daughter’s head with his thick hand. Her black hair, unlike either her mother or father’s, was ruffled under his affectionate touch.

“Some people are very greedy.”

Hesen exchanged a look with Lerisa across the room.

“I don’t want to lose Wendy and you. So, our princess, please bear with it a little longer. I’ll work to show you the outside world before it’s too late.”

However, before Wendy could go outside as Hesen promised, an incident occurred that shook their peaceful family.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Guests were expected at the castle that day.

On such days, Wendy couldn’t leave her room. Usually, Lerisa would also stay in her room, but this time was different. Staying quietly in her room was Wendy’s responsibility alone.

Lerisa kissed her daughter’s forehead, stroked her face, and said,

“Don’t come out of your room tonight.”

Wendy nodded. Lerisa looked down at her daughter, who obeyed the rules despite seeming to have many questions, with a look of pity. She stood up and walked to the doorway. Hesen was waiting for his wife there.

Before Lerisa closed the door, Wendy saw a subtle emotion flicker across her mother’s pretty face. Only later did Wendy realize that it was contempt and fear towards the person she would meet that night.

Wendy woke up that dawn.

Her throat was dry. Usually, there was water by her bedside that Lerisa had prepared, but there wasn’t any today. Wendy rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked around.

Light leaked in from the hallway.

‘Maybe I could go out and just ask for some water?’

The thought came naturally.

No, actually, she most wanted to go into the hallway to find Lerisa. She wanted to fall asleep again in her mother’s arms.

Clutching the doorknob, Wendy swallowed hard.

‘I’m going outside because I’m thirsty.’

As the child put her feet on the floor, the real Wendy, forgetting her decision to not resist, screamed.

Don’t act stupid. Go back to bed.

But her dream self doesn’t listen.

Six-year-old Wendy opens her bedroom door and steps into the hallway. Before she even finds water, she encounters a man.

“There’s a child here.”

He was very tall, with black hair and blue eyes.

“Her hair is black.”

In reality, Wendy had black hair, unlike Lerisa, who had light blonde hair almost silver, or Hesen, with his brown hair.

But there was something ominous about the man’s words, beyond simply stating a fact.

Although clearly human in appearance, Wendy felt he was like a monster from a fairy tale.

Wendy took a hesitant step back. The man with black hair and blue eyes approached her as much as she retreated.

Before the man’s dark shadow fell over Wendy, Hesen rushed from somewhere and hid his daughter behind him.

“She’s my daughter.”

Wendy looked up at her father’s back, which was visibly tense. She had never seen Hesen like this before.

Hesen reached behind him to comfort his frightened daughter. Wendy tightly grasped her father’s hand. Holding his rough, calloused, but familiar hand, her fear subsided slightly.

The gaze of the man with black hair and blue eyes shifted from Wendy to Hesen. He spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

“If she were alive, she would be about this age.”

Hesen didn’t answer, only gripping his daughter’s hand a little tighter.

The man passed Hesen and approached Wendy. He lowered his body and looked at her. It was a gaze as dark as the hallway itself.

A shiver ran down her spine. Wendy shrunk back and clung to Hesen.

The man asked,

“What is your name?”

Wendy looked up at Hesen to ask for permission. Hesen looked like he wanted to hide his daughter again, but he didn’t tell her not to answer.

Wendy squeezed her father’s hand, which felt stiffer than usual.

“Wendy.”

“….”

“And yours?”

The man with black hair and blue eyes stared down at Wendy before replying.

“Lerox.”

“….”

“Lerox Raslet.”

He reached out his hand. Wendy hesitated and stepped back, avoiding his dark hand that seemed to reach for her.

That’s when a deafening sound, as if the world was collapsing, echoed.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

BANG!

A guard roughly pounded on the door outside.

Merwen opened her eyes. Unresolved hatred made her emerald eyes flash. She gasped and glared at the ceiling. The ceiling of the North Tower, where prisoners were kept, came into view.

The pounding on the door came again.

BANG! BANG BANG!

It was a rough noise that didn’t consider the feelings of the person inside.

The guards who had been kind to her had all been replaced after it was discovered that they had released a prisoner the previous night. They were probably with Sezna in the dungeon below, about now.

The newly assigned guard, replacing the previous one, gruffly said,

“His Lordship has arrived.”

His Lordship.

The face she had seen in her dream flickered in her mind. Merwen sat up. The hard bed provided to prisoners creaked.

Merwen sat on the edge of the bed and wiped her face. The pale hand that passed over her skin quickly became an expressionless, emotionless mask.

After staring into empty space for a moment, Merwen replied,

“Tell him to come in.”

As always, it was a clear, cheerful voice.