Find the One Who Abandoned Me - Chapter 89

“Even if you had gone with her, you would’ve been killed by the assassins. That would’ve only made things harder for the young lady.”

“Do you have to say that right now?!”

“I’m just stating the truth.”

“You heartless!”

Susan lifted her face from her tear-soaked handkerchief and glared at him sharply. But the moment she saw his face, covered in the same pain she was feeling, she was lost for words. So, he’s the same. He must be thinking the exact same thing. In an instant, her anger faded. Her lips pressed together tightly, and fresh tears silently fell.

When Calliope returned to the Marquess’s estate, the atmosphere was grim. Isaac, her fiancé, had thankfully been detoxified, but blood had dried on his shoulder, head, and the back of his hand where the dagger had struck. Calliope, too, had collapsed, her body covered in slashes and stab wounds.

When they heard she had passed out with her eyes open, unable even to close them properly, Circe staggered on the spot, and the children, hoarse from crying, had burst into tears again.

“My lady, please, we must call for a healer—”

“Yes, go! Bring every healer you can find—now!”

The Glayderth Duke’s household had stabilized the situation and then handed both Calliope and Isaac over to the knights of the Marquess’s estate, who had rushed after them. After that, they returned to their mansion, promising to check in again later. It was said that Otis Glayderth had left quietly with a bitter expression on his face.

Recalling all this, Susan said softly, “The Glayderth family really is remarkable. The knights who came with the mage’s help were so fast that our knights could barely keep up.”

“If it hadn’t been for them, we might’ve been too late. The Lady made the right call.”

“I think so too.”

Susan wiped away her dried tears and stood up. It seemed Calliope wouldn’t wake up today either. But at that moment, the girl on the bed slowly opened her eyes—no twitch, no sign of pain, just like a wind-up doll springing to life.

“M-My lady?”

“My lady, can you hear us?”

“Where… is this?”

Calliope struggled to grasp her surroundings through the haze. As soon as she realized she was in her own room, she shot upright. Her head spun, but she grabbed the bedpost and clumsily reached for her slippers. Alarmed, Susan caught her by the arm.

“M-My lady! Please, I’ll call a healer. Where are you trying to go?!”

But somehow, Calliope found the strength to shake her off. She began stumbling forward, her eyes fixed on something far away.

“I—Isaac. Where is Isaac? What happened to him?”

Dragging Susan, who clung desperately to her, she headed toward the door. Susan begged her to lie down, crying all over again, but Calliope didn’t hear a word.

Watching from the side, Jack quietly stepped in and pulled Susan back.

“Sir Isaac Esteban is downstairs in the healer’s chamber. He’s already finished his treatment. Fortunately, the poison’s been fully neutralized, and none of the bone injuries were fatal. He’ll just need a few weeks of rest.”

The “downstairs chamber” referred to the healer’s room—the one used for the most serious cases. As soon as she heard it, Calliope, still in her bandages and nightclothes, bolted from the room. She grabbed her skirt and ran down the corridor. The servants gasped in shock.

“My lady!”

“Please don’t run, my lady! It’s dangerous!”

But she didn’t listen. Susan and Jack rushed after her in a panic. She stumbled as she ran down the stairs, and though Susan sobbed in worry, she didn’t try to stop her anymore. She had come to accept that Calliope wasn’t in her right mind.

“Isaac… Isaac… my Isaac…”

Calliope finally reached the healer’s room and threw the door open without knocking. Bang! The door slammed into the wall, startling the healer attending Isaac, who quickly turned toward her.

“M-My lady, please—you shouldn’t be here in your condition—”

“The treatment.”

“…Pardon?”

“Isaac’s treatment. How is it?”

Her eyes were blazing—just like they had been that night in the forest. The healer realized she wasn’t in a state to hear reason and calmly responded.

“The danger has passed. His bones are properly set, and with a few weeks of rest, he’ll make a full recovery.”

“…Good.”

She turned her eyes to the bed. There lay Isaac, wrapped in bandages, faint bloodstains still visible on his head, shoulder, and hand. The sight made her throat tighten. Isaac… because of me… Her eyes filled with tears.

She stumbled to his bedside and pulled back the sheet covering him. Then she turned to the healer and said, firmly,

“Leave.”

“…Understood.”

The healer quietly stepped out. He knew all too well how much she cared for Isaac. As he exited, Jack and Susan—waiting outside—looked at him anxiously. The healer shook his head. It meant: Don’t go in for a while.

Inside, Calliope crawled under the sheet and lay beside Isaac. His long lashes were peacefully shut. Thank God… at least his eyes weren’t hurt. She tried to smile, but the emotions overwhelmed her. She bit her lower lip as her tears slid down her cheeks, soaked into her temple, and then into the sheets.

“I’m sorry, Isaac. I’m so sorry. My judgment was wrong.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and whispered apologies over and over. With her forehead resting on his uninjured shoulder, she didn’t even notice the faint tremble of his eyelashes.

“You were hurt because of me. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been there, this never would’ve happened to you.”

Her voice was broken, her breathing shallow and uneven. Then, slowly cutting through that quiet, came a dry, hoarse voice.

“That’s… not true.”

“Isaac?”

She lifted her head, eyes red with tears. His pale eyes looked back at her. With a pained expression, he raised his uninjured hand and gently wiped away her tears.

“This… wasn’t your fault.”

Isaac blamed himself. If he had been stronger—just a little stronger—he wouldn’t have collapsed like that.

Though the poison had clouded his mind, there had been brief moments when he could feel the cold. In those slivers of consciousness, he had sensed a body standing guard over him. He had felt her arms—cold, yet wrapped tightly around him. And he’d heard her voice, crying and calling his name again and again.

In those fleeting seconds, Isaac had felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness. The woman he loved was fighting desperately to protect him, and he—he couldn’t do a thing.

“You… you protected me.”

“…”

“It’s because I was too weak… that you had to suffer like that.”

“No, no—it was because I made the wrong decision. That’s all.”

“I promised I’d protect you. But I didn’t.”

“You’re the reason I was able to hold on, Isaac. You gave me the strength to survive. That’s not your fault.”

Isaac gave her a strained, crooked smile. Then, despite the pain, he turned his body toward her and held her tightly.

“Then I’ll believe your words. But just as it’s not my fault… it isn’t yours either.”

“Isaac…”

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“No matter what you say, I’m still sorry. I feel so ashamed.”

“And I…”

“I’ll become stronger. Strong enough to stand firm even when someone tries to tear me down.”

“…”

“I was born to be by your side. To protect you.”

Calliope opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. She buried her face in his chest. She had seen the tears forming in his eyes. And unable to stop her own, she held him close, clinging to the warmth of his body.

For now, she told herself, just feeling that warmth—so unlike the cold, lifeless stillness of an ice statue—was enough. As Isaac’s words echoed in her mind, that none of this was her fault or his, she made a quiet decision.

“Then I’ll find the ones who are.”

Her red eyes shimmered with unshed tears, hidden in the crook of his neck, but burning with quiet fire.

“The ones who dared to lay a hand on me—and on him.”

Cold as the night air that once froze them.

“I’ll kill them all.”

Swallowing the blade-like fury rising within her, Calliope closed her eyes in Isaac’s arms. Soon, his soft, steady breathing filled the room. And with that small sound of love beside her, she too drifted quietly into sleep.

She knew this scene well.

It was the day she found out Isaac had lost vision in one eye. As soon as she heard the news, she burst into tears—and he had taken her into his arms and brought her to his room.

Sitting her on his lap, he held her close and kissed the corner of her tear-streaked eye.

“At this rate, your eyes will melt away.”

“If I could cry enough to melt them, I’d do it. I wish I could trade my eyes for yours.”

“That’s not something I’d ever want.”

He held her even tighter then, pressing kisses to her cheeks, her neck, and finally resting his forehead against her skin. Calliope, still crying, pressed her lips to his hair.

“Without you, I can’t live. I only live because you do. You’re everything to me.”

When she whispered those desperate words, Isaac lifted his head and replied in a voice that was gentle but firm, deep and slow.

“You can live without me. Please… don’t say things like that.”

“But I—”

“You, just as you are, are kind and strong and extraordinary. Don’t make someone like me your everything.”

Even through her sobs, she understood that this was his way of comforting her. She had nodded, then buried her face in his chest once more.

Now, watching that memory like a third person in a dream, Calliope murmured softly,

“You were wrong. I really can’t live without you.”

That’s why I threw myself from the tower.

A bitter smile tugged at her lips. He never truly knew me. And I never truly knew him either. I never imagined he’d lie to protect me.

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