Chapter 39

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: Chapter 9. The Perpetrator Forgets Quickly (2)

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I Thought It Was the Ending and Came Back, But the Genre Changed

Chapter 45

Chapter 9. The Perpetrator Forgets Quickly (2)

By the time Shane returned from washing up, Lloyd had already vanished from the bedroom.

Shane was well aware that he was a petty, narrow-minded man. Especially when it came to Edelaine—it had been that way since they were children.

When Edelaine had declared she wanted to pick up Lloyd and raise him, Shane's intention had simply been to keep the boy at a distance for her safety. But after learning that even when she disappeared, she had taken only that boy with her, his jealousy turned genuine.

Why had she kept only him by her side?

After discarding me first.

Then one day, Edelaine suddenly started pushing him away.

When he brushed cookie crumbs from the corner of her lips as she talked about breaking off their engagement and told her not to play such pranks, she declared she would never see him again.

"I'm serious! I won't see you anymore!"

"Why are you suddenly mad?"

"I'm not mad, but... anyway, I won't see you. And you stay away too!"

"Okay, I'll come again."

"Argh, seriously! I said don't come!"

He even thought her anger was cute.

Even if she tried to avoid him, claiming she wouldn't meet him, they were still engaged and had to see each other at least once a month. Even if just for a fleeting moment.

She might turn away coldly at first, but in the end, Edelaine couldn't leave Shane alone. She seemed to think she had drawn a firm line, but if she had truly despised him, Shane wouldn't have clung to her for so long.

He would have found another way.

Her boundaries loosened when he begged.

If he even pretended to cry, Edelaine would make a pained face as if she were the one hurting.

"Tell me the reason, at least. I'll fix it, whatever it is. I can fix anything."

"It's not your fault."

"Then why? Edelaine... Do you... hate me now?"

"......"

Foolish Edelaine. Even amid his tears, Shane couldn't hold back a laugh and had to cover his mouth with his palm.

I shouldn't do that. Leaving behind something vague like pity won't let you cut me loose.

You need to say you hate me so much you can't stand it, that my very existence disgusts you.

But Edelaine could never say those words.

The rumors about what her late mother had said upon abandoning her were already widespread. That she was repulsive like a reptile, that she couldn't bear her. The mother had hysterically screamed it often enough.

Edelaine had turned beet red with fury upon hearing those rumors.

Shane loved that so much it made his head spin. He felt an impulse to devour her flushed cheeks whole. Then no one else could see them, and they'd be entirely his. How could a person be this beautiful?

"It's not that I'm insulting reptiles, but you don't look anything like one! Do you know how pretty your blue eyes are? Ah, of course you do—you can see in the mirror!"

"As long as they're pretty in your eyes."

"If you ever doubt it, look in the mirror, Shane. You'll see an angel."

"......Even so, having a hobby of narcissism to that extent..."

"It's a face that deserves some self-admiration. Next time someone says that in front of you, bring them to me."

"You'll scold them? You?"

"My hand is super harsh."

"Guess I better watch out so I don't get hit."

Perhaps those memories surfaced—that if she said she hated him, he might get hurt.

Only Edelaine was like that.

No one else would even think he could be hurt, yet she treated him like a freshly shelled egg. She worried over him as if the slightest touch of a fingernail would dent him deeply.

Shane firmly believed Edelaine didn't hate him.

That she pitied him enough to let him cling persistently, unable to abandon him. In fact, she never cut him off, not even managing to utter a single word of dislike. She spent time with him, even if not warmly.

That's why her attempt to flee from him even in death shocked him so deeply.

'Well, even if I'd known she truly hated me, nothing would have changed.'

As if he could ever do something pathetic like give up.

Shane pulled back the covers and lay down beside Edelaine.

"Even if you say you hate me now, it's too late, Edelaine... Poor thing."

Having someone like me clinging to you.

He pressed his lips to the reddened corners of her eyes from crying. They still held warmth. He kissed the tips of her long lashes too.

Shane alone was enough to torment Edelaine.

There were plenty of ways to uncover why she had cried like this without her telling him. He smirked crookedly.

"Jenny, how about lying down now?"

"Is that a temptation?"

The bearish man's face flushed red as if set ablaze.

Genevieve giggled.

"I'll dry my hair the rest of the way and then lie down."

"Ah, let me do it."

"You don't have to..."

"I want to. Want to sit here?"

Harrison smiled gently and took Genevieve's hand, guiding her. He sat her on the bed, fetched a thick towel, and began dabbing at the moisture in her hair.

His rough hands moved with surprising delicacy, tapping her locks.

The husband handled his wife as if she were a fragile glass ornament that might shatter any moment—tender and caring.

Genevieve was slowly developing affection for the husband she had chosen in haste.

'His Excellency insisted on marriage within ten days no matter what, so I just picked someone... Lucky me.'

He had demanded she publish a marriage announcement, threatening to choose for her if she didn't.

If she wanted to become Empress, he'd back her—Prince Edwin didn't seem entirely uninterested, so would she marry him?

Of all people, he cited Edwin as an example, making Genevieve panic. She didn't dislike Edwin, but she absolutely didn't want him as a husband.

'He doesn't see people as people. If I fell in love, he'd use me to my bones, take my child, and discard me as useless someday...'

There was only one quality Genevieve sought in a husband.

Kindness.

She couldn't put her husband or family first either, so it was fine if he valued something more. Harrison was a royal guard, so she understood if duty came before love. As long as they could spend their time together warmly and peacefully, that was enough.

She knew it was a comfortable, complacent choice. But it was rational too.

Harrison had confessed he liked her and given her steadfast devotion. He was emotionally stable, without extremes.

He might be boring, unremarkable, utterly ordinary.

But was that so bad?

Harrison's affection was positive and bright. No twisted obsession like Shane's, no treating emotions like objects like Edwin.

That ordinariness felt attractive.

Genevieve had lived a grueling life. She was the continent's treasure, born under the goddess's love, the world's savior—yet her life had been far from easy.

And when the first person to treat her kindly died pointlessly before her eyes, Genevieve wished the world would just end. It didn't seem worth continuing to purify with divine power.

This shitty world—may it just perish.

Perhaps her purification powers weren't that impressive because of such thoughts. Genevieve felt she understood now.

Edelaine never dreamed Genevieve harbored such dark feelings.

She wouldn't have known how much Genevieve liked her. Edelaine had simply been kind, and Genevieve, in her loneliness, had imbued it with meaning.

The one who lets go forgets easily.

But the one taken from never forgets for life.

"She was crying so much... I should visit her tomorrow..."

"Pardon?"

"Lady Edelaine. She was so shocked hearing I'd been attacked again today that she cried."

"Ah... She must be quite delicate."

Harrison said with a gentle face. Genevieve made an odd expression.

'Delicate? The woman who endured kidnapping steadfastly?'

It couldn't be more mismatched.

"She's not... delicate."

"Is that so? But to cry from shock."

"She's spirited and kind."

"I've heard quite a bit about her. Even Prince Edwin mentions her often."

"Ah, probably nothing good."

"It was good. That's how I'll remember her."

"She's kind... strong, and lovable. To me."

"Then she's the same to me. I'm grateful for her."

Genevieve tilted her head back, leaning against Harrison's firm chest. He kissed her cheek. Genevieve spoke.

"I want to have a child, Harrison."

"Jenny..."

"I thought there was nothing good about living in this world."

"......"

"But if I have more to love, maybe I can like it a little more."

Genevieve longed for something she could love wholly.

And like Edelaine, who had been kind to her, she wanted to be kind to someone.

In lieu of words, Harrison silently drew Genevieve's slender frame into his embrace.