It's Too Late for Regrets - Chapter 5.0

Unrequited love is like constantly watering a seed that will never grow.

Ines thought of this as she watered a flowerpot filled with nothing but soil.

She watered it, waited, and hoped it would sprout and bloom—but maybe it was dry land with no seed planted at all.

So she and he both knew very well that the day that flower would bloom would never come.

Because he didn’t like her.

Because he didn’t even treat her like a human being.

“…”

So, in truth, she had already given up a long time ago.

But out of old habit, she still watered it without meaning and stared at it blankly.

Things like hope or expectation had already withered. All that was left was emptiness.

What does the world call this feeling?

She had asked that in the last letter she exchanged with Edgar last summer.

Loneliness, Ines.

That was the answer that came.

Are you feeling very lonely right now?

Maybe.

Only now did she truly understand those words.

Ines set down the watering can and pushed the flowerpot with her hand.

The pot slipped off the windowsill and fell helplessly to the ground below. She faintly heard the sound of it shattering on impact.

“…”

She suddenly felt nauseous. Ines closed the window and turned away.

She stepped out of the room, walked down the stairs, and headed to her husband’s study on the floor below.

It had been two years and a few months since she married Rayan Eleanor. Looking back, Ines’s life had been a series of daily surrenders.

The hope that this Duchy of Eleanor could become her home.

The hope that she could get along with the people of the Grand Duke’s estate.

The hope that, slowly but surely, people’s view of someone like her would change.

And the hope that Rayan would love her as a human being.

All those hopes and dreams had vanished like bubbles.

The people in the Eleanor estate still didn’t accept her as their mistress.

Even the nobles from Lezan who were sometimes invited to parties by Kyra treated her like she was invisible.

Whenever she returned to her room after standing alone in a crowd in the grand hall, she always felt a deep, bitter loneliness.

In a place full of strangers and unknown topics, there was nothing Ines could do. She was still the most insignificant being in the most glamorous place.

But what ate away at her the most…

“…”

Ines stood in her husband’s study and read through the dozens of love letters piled on his desk.

They were all addressed to one person.

Grand Duke Rayan Eleanor.

Even though he was married to her, her husband made no effort to stop the flood of daily love letters.

Ines knew why Rayan acted that way. It was for politics.

Even though he was married, his value in Lezan’s social circles hadn’t dropped.

Because—

He could get divorced at any time.

“…”

Ines stood there and opened the letters one by one.

The eldest daughter of Count Irope.

The youngest daughter of Count Lucigel.

A princess from the Kingdom of Ignel.

All women from noble families, far above someone like her—a child born out of wedlock.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The letters she read slipped from her hands and fell to the floor one by one.

One, two, three, four…

Tap, tap, tap.

Seven, eight, nine…

“Ines?”

Just as she was about to open the tenth letter, a sharp voice called from behind.

Ines froze in place. Footsteps approached.

Then the tenth letter was snatched harshly from her hand.

“I don’t remember giving you permission to enter my study.”

“…”

“Nor did I ask you to open my letters.”

Rayan glanced at the letters that had fallen under the desk and frowned.

Ines felt her heart beating uneasily as she opened her mouth.

“These letters… Your Grace. Do you read all of them?”

“I don’t see why that should matter to you.”

Rayan cut her off sharply. Ines swallowed dryly.

Today, she had come into this study with a big decision.

Today, she would say it. Today…

Ines moved her trembling lips.

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