The silence wasn’t long, but to Ariella, it felt like an eternity.
Had his mind changed this time? Judging by his deeply distorted mouth, it might be so.
In the silence, the sound of her heart beating rapidly echoed in her ears. Just as she felt even her breathing becoming labored, Nobert finally opened his mouth.
“…I’m sorry. For judging you arbitrarily, for drawing conclusions on my own.”
Thump. Her heart sank.
The answer to her question of whether he could like even this version of herself was an apology. That fact pierced her heart painfully.
‘I knew this would happen.’
She knew. That the eternity he spoke of couldn’t possibly be forever. That even the sincerity that seemed unchangeable would someday change, she certainly knew it.
She had even revealed her thighs, hoping for this reaction. Why her heart felt so empty and bitter was a mystery.
“Even though I saw you struggling for revenge, even though I saw you terrified… I couldn’t bring myself to realize it. To me, you are such a precious person that I foolishly assumed others would treat you the same way. Narrow-minded and foolishly.”
However, his words flowed in a direction different from what she had expected.
“…The reason I cherish you is not because of your status or your name.”
Ariella recognized something familiar in Nobert’s face as he looked at her.
A gaze directed at someone extremely precious, great, and cherished.
That gaze filled with inexplicable reverence and ardent love… She was overjoyed.
Only then did she realize. That the reason she had shown him all her flaws wasn’t because she wanted to see his heart change.
Rather, it was because she wanted him not to change no matter what the situation, that she had abandoned her pride and revealed her true self.
“Your voice, your smile, your jokes, and every single place your gaze falls. All of those things… Your very existence is beautiful and precious, I simply couldn’t help but cherish you.”
Each word Nobert uttered tickled her heart.
Precious in and of itself, regardless of status or name. Ariella’s reality was shaken once again by the idealistic and unrealistic words that seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale.
“I’m sorry. For not being able to help you when you were having a hard time-.”
His thick voice trembled slightly. Ariella stared blankly into his eyes, feeling as if his voice was subtly wet.
And she discovered an astonishing sight.
“I’m really, sorry.”
His eyes, blazing intensely with anger and regret, were flushed red as if he were about to cry at any moment. No, those were indeed tears, moistening his long eyelashes.
Nobert and tears.
It was such an incongruous combination that Ariella thought she must be seeing things.
However, when she closed and opened her eyes to check, his eyes were still red, and his pupils were filled with moisture.
For the unbelievable reason that he was sorry for not being able to help her when she was suffering, back when they hadn’t exchanged a single word.
“Nobert.”
Ariella opened her mouth without realizing it.
In a brief moment, an assumption that had sprung up in her mind burst out unfiltered.
“Do you love me?”
Liking and loving were clearly different. At least, that’s what Ariella thought.
Nobert, who had been hanging his head low, slowly raised his head.
His tear-filled eyes sparkled weakly.
“…I don’t really know what love is.”
He said he didn’t know love, with a face that looked like he was suffocating from being in love.
The fact that he didn’t nod blindly showed how seriously he was answering her question.
“I was born lowly and grew up without receiving affection from my parents. Perhaps because of that, I’m clumsy with ordinary emotions, and there are many things I don’t know. Love is one of them.”
In his appearance of thoroughly examining even his own emotions, Ariella saw herself. Growing up without receiving affection from her parents, being clumsy with emotions that were ordinary to others, she was very similar to him.
However, there was one definite difference.
“…But if. If constantly thinking of someone, if your heart feels like it’s about to burst every time you see that person’s smile, but your whole body feels like it’s being torn to shreds by that person’s sadness is love.”
That was the fact that, unlike Ariella, who was busy hiding her thoughts, he always revealed his heart completely.
Without the slightest exaggeration or concealment, honestly and completely his true feelings.
“Yes, I’ve already loved you hundreds of times over.”
“……”
“And it’s the same now.”
At that moment, Ariella sensed it instinctively.
That she would never forget this confession, even in the distant future, after a very long time.
That even when he no longer loved her, she would remember him at this moment.
As a very precious and special memory.
“…I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you’re subtly underhanded.”
And cunning like a fox. Ariella added grumbling.
“I’m… am I?”
“Yes. Nobert, you are.”
