Chapter 41

The eyes of the man who held her were as firm as persistent.

It was her wrist that was caught, but the way he looked at her made it impossible for her to move.

For a moment, a hand reached for her head. Startled, Evely turned her head, but he had no mercy and pulled off the hood in one swift motion. Evely’s white face and red hair were exposed defenselessly.

“Ugh…why?”

The voice came out with resentment.

A violent wind blew and the cold air mixed with raindrops gripped her red hair and shook it. Through the mess of her hair, he could see her golden eyes. It wasn’t just the rainwater that made her eyes sparkle.

“How can you…?”

Evely, who couldn’t control the emotions that were welling up in her, burst into tears. Then she continued as if she was venting her sorrow. Tears were constantly flowing from her eyes.

“…… You have finally found me.”

A small but clear voice. Her eyes were full of tears but still clear.

This was it.

‘I had missed this figure so much.’

“Yes. I’ve been trying very hard.”

Tears continued to trickle down from Evely’s eyes.

“What are you going to do with me now? Are you going to hang me and beat me until I die?”

“What?”

“Or will you have my ankles cut off because I’m a runaway slave?”

“Or Did you intend to cut off my head?”

Alec stared at Evely without saying a word. His throat seemed to burn with a mixture of anger and relief.

“And if not, do you intend to strip me naked and sell me at the market again?”

“…”

“Do you want that to happen?”

Instantly, the hand he was holding hers tightened. His voice low and dry like a growl. He continued to speak in a suppressed tone.

“Do you want me to strip you naked and sell you to another man?”

Evely did not answer. She just averted his gaze.

“I will not sell you, nor whip you, nor leave any scars on your body. You would think that I would hurt you, mine?”

For a moment, Evely gulped. His words stuck in her ears strangely.

“I’ve restored your status, so no one can mock you any longer.”

“What? My status?”

Evely’s eyes widened in surprise, but Alec replied nonchalantly.

“Yes. I’ve restored your identity.”

“You mean my original identity, as a commoner? So I’m not a slave anymore?”

“No. As a noblewoman.”

“What?”

“I’m halfway there, but…”

What is this nonsense?

Words that could not be understood continued to flood in Evely’s confused ears.

“You must have hated me very much.”

His wordplay was twisted mercilessly.

“…enough to drop everything and run away. Huh?”

His tone was constrictive, and oddly intimidating.

“I can’t help it if you don’t like it. I never had any intention of letting you go from the beginning.”

He looked straight into Evely’s eyes.

“The reason I restored your status was to make you my bride.”

Evely shook her head in confusion at the completely incomprehensible words .

“I’m not a bride….You told me to take the Princess’s place!”

“Yes, because I want you to be my wife.”

“I don’t want to take anyone else’s place. I’m not Rose Dior. I don’t want to be held in place of someone else’s.”

Alec interrupted Evely. His brow wrinkled as if he didn’t know what she was saying.

“Why do you have to live in Rose’s place?”

“What?”

“You just stay by my side as my wife.”

Something was wrong. The more he said, the less she understood.

Evely stared into his deep blue eyes, as if trying to find an answer.

“You’re trying to make me live as your wife, aren’t you? You want me to be Astina’s princess, instead of myself……that’s why you say those words to me…”

“I didn’t know you would think like that.”

The words seemed more surprising than the answers, which were split between “yes” and “no.”

“It was also right that they thought, just a little, faintly, that I had turned you into Rose.”

A low voice broke through the sound of the rain and was heard loud and clear .

“Shall I make the people of the castle shut their mouths and let them think you’re Rose? That would be much more comfortable. That’s what I thought.”

But…

“There are so many people who can’t keep their mouths shut. I don’t want to be bothered by such things to the point of exhaustion. And most of all…Because you’re different from Rose.”

Evely stared silently at Alec, as if her breath had stopped at those words.

“The noble ones become the sun, and the trivial ones like us become a handful of stars scattered across the night sky…”

It occurred to him that Evely was right when she said that one day.

Rose had red eyes. They were like a blazing fire. They were as strong as the sun that would not go out, even when it rained and thundered, they would only cloud over. Even in the midst of those sad days, she proposed to him with a passion, and this was how she wandered off in search of freedom.

But Evely was different. Her eyes were golden. Like gold dust shining through the countless sands, like stars brightly illuminating the night sky. Small and insignificant, but more imperative than anything else in the dark night road. It was like a star that does not need to be respected by all people, but just has its own unique color and light.

“Smile.”

“Like this?”

“You have to look me in the eye and smile.”

He suddenly commanded her to smile, because he wanted to see her eyes as much as he wanted to see her smile.

Those eyes, as beautiful and intense as stars.

“I don’t understand. So please explain everything to me so that I can understand.”

Alec reached out and wiped the small droplets from Evely’s eyes. It was hard to tell if it was raindrops or tears.

‘I want to understand.’

His voice, which eventually subsided, remained far away, as if he was reflecting on the distant past. There was a hint of complexity in his voice as she wondered how it had gotten to this point.

“Originally, as soon as I finished everything, I was going to be the first to tell you.”

He had come too far.

He would never miss her again.

Alec grabbed Evely’s small hand instead of her wrist.

***

It was still raining outside, but inside the carriage it was quiet.

Alec concluded his long talk by emphasizing once again that he and Rose were only in a contractual relationship and that he would marry Evely. But she continued to look out the window for a while after his words were over.

They were so close enough that they could feel each other’s breaths, yet somehow they seemed so far away, and that was when she hurriedly tried to open his mouth again.

“But, why are you taking the liberty of deciding on my marriage?”

Alec’s impression crumpled coldly.

“Don’t you want to marry me?”

“You’ve been mean to me. Not just to me, but to Daniel as well, outrageously and brutally…..”

Alec swept his hair back in frustration.

“It’s….”

Jealousy.

He thought of the word, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He wasn’t sure how Evely would take his childish answer that he did so out of jealousy.

Evely opened her mouth again as she stared at Alec.

“……. How did you know where I was?”

“I owe it to you.”

Evely stared at him with wonder in her eyes.

“You gave me as much luck as I needed, really just as much luck as I needed.”

He looked at the bookmark Evely had given him for a while, and suddenly thought of her words. Just the luck he needed, and that she bought it from a handmade store near her hometown.

When he examined the bookmark, he found that it did indeed give him a clue. With its help, he was able to find a store that sold bookmarks and went to Evely’s hometown himself to find out where she had gone.

Julia, who had seen Evely since she was a child, did not open up honestly at first, but when Alec brought up the subject of Evely’s family, she cautiously told him about her.

“Thanks to the bookmark, your hometown was easy to find.”

Evely opened her mouth in a panic.

“You didn’t do anything to Aunt Julia, did you?”

“I can’t say that I did anything.”

He even offered her gold coins and raw meat in return for her information about Evely.

“Even if we were to get married, not much would change from before. I would have to stay by your side as I always have.”

“…Is there really no difference?”

His tone was somewhat restrained.

“Of course, title, property, and honor will be yours. That would be even better for you, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t want title, fortune, or honor. That’s not what I want.”

These were words she would never normally say. She liked a pay raise and saved enough money as a trophy, but she wasn’t in the mood for that right now.

Nothing felt important right now.

“Well then, what do you like?”

Evely couldn’t answer easily. And after a few seconds, she spoke calmly and strongly.

“It is for you, Master, to find out.”

He stared into Evely’s eyes. The eyes that were staring at him were clear and unshaken.

“I’ve never wanted anything like that. Please don’t make assumptions about me.”

Her voice echoed faintly over the sound of the rain falling outside.

‘I lied when I said I didn’t want a rise in status.’

Before, she didn’t hate or like her simple status, because she thought it was just something to look up to, like the sky in the distance. She didn’t even feel envious of it because it was something very precious and something that she had no connection with.

However, there were not many moments when she felt shabby as a maid. She envied the princess of her bright and high status like the sun, and looked back on her humble self.

How could such a person not want to “rise in status”?

“…I thought that your family might have wanted it.”

Evely flinched for a moment at those words. Her family, her deceased mother and father. And her own and vaguely grandfather. If she thought about it, her father had a father too, and that fact was strange.

“I’ve heard that your grandfather is quite stubborn, but your eyes were shaking when I talked about your family. I agreed to restore your status, and I’ve been thinking about him.”

Evely, who missed her mother while looking at the stars, and still thought about her family after a long time.

At the sight, Alec thought that Evely needed a family.

Evely turned her head at those words.

“If you don’t want to, I won’t force you.”

“Just let me know where he is and I’ll visit separately…”

“…Going with me is not only the fastest way, but also the safest. In many ways. You won’t be able to go with the way you look, and it will take a lot of time and money. It will be a shame if you leave looking any less than you did.”

It was true.

Going with Alec, who had planned all of this, should have been the easiest and surest way to go.

But now she wasn’t sure she could face him. She needed time to organize her thoughts. But did she need to be with him again because of her family? Eventually, as Evely struggled, she opened her mouth again.

“You’ve told me a lot about your father too. You’ve missed him all your life.”

His father.

The words made him flinched.

Although he didn’t spend much time with him, he remembered all the warm memories of him. Gentle and kind….Father, with the simple word, a corner of his heart felt a jolt.

Then, as if he had read Evely’s mind, Alec spoke.

“It won’t take long to get there.”

***

TL: Once again I apologize in advance about the last part of their conversation, it was hard to tell who did the talking so it might be confusing to read.