I’ve Decided to Let You Go - Chapter 103

It happened then. As Natasha stood quietly on the terrace, a presence suddenly stirred nearby.

Because of the Imperial Family’s arrangement, only the Aschart couple occupied this corridor. Unless someone had broken in, there should have been no sound at all.

It didn’t take Natasha long to recognize the footsteps. The familiar rhythm echoing in her ears told her exactly who it was.

Her fingers, resting on the railing, tensed slightly.

Should she turn around and face him, or pretend not to notice and go back to her room?

It was a trivial dilemma, yet her hesitation already contained the answer.

If she were still the Natasha Aschart who once loathed Sieghart Aschart, she wouldn’t have hesitated at all. She would have walked away without a second thought.

But instead, her head turned softly, and her eyes met his.

Sieghart, who hadn’t noticed her presence in the shadows, stopped in surprise when he finally sensed her.

Two pairs of red eyes met in the dim light. They couldn’t see each other’s faces clearly in the darkness, yet somehow, it felt as if they both knew exactly where the other stood.

For a moment, he looked encouraged. Maybe seeing Natasha look back at him without turning away gave him hope. His eyes curved slightly, like the crescent moon above them.

But still, he didn’t take the first step. It was as if he was afraid to act on a feeling that might not be real.

In the end, it was Natasha who spoke first.

“…Are you having a nice evening?”

It was a strange question.

Even stranger was the way her voice cracked just a little as she asked it.

Without warning, something rose up inside her. The words came out wet with emotion before she could stop them.

She prayed he hadn’t noticed. The night wind was strong enough to carry away her mistake, she hoped.

She was hoping for too much. But more than anything, she wanted to believe that Sieghart’s silence meant he hadn’t heard her voice falter.

“Natasha.”

“…”

“Is it alright if I come over?”

Sieghart had noticed the weakness in her tone right away. He asked carefully, his voice steady but filled with tension. He seemed prepared to be rejected.

Natasha, who had been staring blankly, gave a quiet nod.

With her permission, Sieghart stepped over the railing and landed gently in front of her.

“Natasha.”

His voice, as always, was gentle.

“Did something happen?”

He didn’t ask what had changed.

Instead, he asked about the very thing Natasha had tried so hard to keep hidden.

It was just a moment’s mistake. A small crack in her mask.

This man…

This man knew her far too well.

Yes, Sieghart Aschart knew her painfully well.

…Did something happen?

Yes. Something did.

Something huge.

Because Kail Letius had opened the sealed door of Bluebeard’s truth, an accident occurred that no one had expected.

She had come face to face with a truth she had never wanted to see. A terrible truth about her family. About Enoch Callete, the boy Sieghart once was, now burned out of his own memories.

Is there any point in talking about it now?

The thought came to her suddenly. The only emotion she had ever been allowed to feel for this man was hatred, but now the world felt upside down.

To feel guilt toward Sieghart Aschart was absurd. Like a mouse feeling sorry for the cat.

Even if he had his reasons, it didn’t change the past. Sieghart had carried out revenge by spreading misfortune to others. That didn’t make him innocent.

But.

But…

But you…

You were just…

A boy. Not even ten years old back then.

A boy who should never have had to learn what death meant by watching his family die.

A boy who shouldn’t have had to understand despair by being left completely alone.

A boy who deserved to know happiness.

“Sieghart, once this revenge is over, I’ll finally feel whole again.”

Natasha didn’t answer his question. She continued to stay silent.

Instead, she asked him one of her own.

“Then what about you?”

“What will you gain from this revenge?”

What did he hope to gain by helping her destroy her enemy?

What would he accomplish by tearing down the kingdom and the royal family with his own hands?

Sieghart closed his eyes slowly, then opened them. Even in the darkness, his red eyes were unmistakable. And beyond them, Natasha’s faint figure shimmered in the night.

He looked into her eyes without hesitation and answered.

“Your happiness.”

“…”

“And your freedom.”

He said it so simply, so surely.

This man who said the strangest things.

No, there was no doubt about it.

He was completely insane.

Because she had the blood of his enemies, Natasha never expected that helping her would only bring him something as simple as her happiness and freedom.

A hollow laugh slipped from her lips. She let out a sigh, then began to laugh softly. But her face trembled slightly, and that was enough to break her expression completely.

Natasha followed the path she had walked with this man.

What she had once thought to be nothing but a cruel twist of fate was actually a result of Sieghart Aschart’s deliberate choices. And now, one by one, those memories returned to her.

Yes. He had been mad.

He was the man who abandoned ten years of revenge and suddenly fell in love with Tisha Winter.

He was the one who had been obsessed with blood and revenge, only to give everything up in the end.

He buried his past with a decaying corpse and walked away from everything.

He even saved her.

He sacrificed the divine blessings he had received to bring her back to life.

And when he returned to the past with her, he came back not to repeat his regrets. He had changed. He was different from the man he had once been.

Even when Natasha realized he had turned back time and tried to hold him accountable, even when she, ignorant and arrogant, had spoken as the daughter of his enemy, he stood firm.

All his decisions had been foolish.

The price of his love had been pain.

Just as it had been for her.

“I hated you so much.”

Sieghart said nothing.

“You destroyed my ordinary life when I didn’t even know what was happening. And after all of that, you were the one who made me feel something as awful as love.”

She lifted her head and looked straight into his eyes.

It had been so long since she last held his gaze like this.

“Did you feel the same way?”

Still, he didn’t answer.

“Enoch Callete. Was that why you hated me too?”

His name rolled off her tongue, unfamiliar but clear. It felt strange. The gentle touch of her tongue against the name left a bitter aftertaste.

She watched his eyes closely.

His pupils widened. His emotions were all there, reflected in his eyes as clearly as if they had been spoken aloud. His gaze, which had been drifting uncertainly, finally settled on her.

“I…”

His voice cracked.

“I. I. I…”

He tried to continue, but the words fell apart each time.

The pride that always surrounded him vanished, scattered by the night wind.

In just a few moments, the man broke down.

Sieghart Aschart, who had never shown fear, now looked as if he could barely breathe.

For the first time, Natasha saw not Sieghart, but Enoch Callete.

He was that sorrowful boy she had once wanted to comfort.

She swallowed back the wave of emotions rising in her chest and stepped forward.

Then she embraced him.

“It’s alright.”

She held his trembling shoulders and spoke softly.

“It’s okay now. Just try to breathe, Enoch.”

He stayed silent.

“We can rest. Just for a little while.”

He still didn’t answer.

“Right now, it’s okay to take a break.”

His body, which had been shaking like a leaf in a storm, finally began to calm.

His uneven breaths soon broke the silence.

He didn’t ask anything. Neither did she.

As if they had agreed without speaking, they remained in that quiet moment together.

The next day, after breakfast and tea, the long royal banquet finally came to an end.

On the carriage ride back to the duchy, Natasha read the letter from Sir Dante.

“We have found the outer exit. I’ve added a short explanation on a separate note. Please show it to His Grace, the Duke. Thank you for all your hard work. May endless happiness be upon Charlier.”

They had successfully found the exit of the secret passage. It would be the knights’ entrance.

Even though the palace guards had grown lax, it couldn’t have been easy. But the operation had gone exactly as planned.

“The knights located the exit.”

Natasha handed Sieghart the map Sir Dante had included.

Judging the layout of the palace from the map alone would be difficult. But if Sieghart’s allies helped again, it would be possible.

“This is perfect.”

“Then I’m glad.”

The day of their revenge had been silently agreed upon.

Two months from now.

The day Natasha and Sieghart would finally share their pain.

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