Living a Scheming Marriage with a Mad Villain - Chapter 57

“You don’t know what it means to love someone. You don’t know what it truly means to care for the one you love. And even if you live your whole life, you’ll never understand it.”

“No, that’s not true! I really love you… I really do. Even if you don’t believe anything else, please believe this—please!”

Cassien begged desperately, clinging to her, but the answer he received was cold beyond words.

“You thinking you loved me was just your delusion.”

“No. No, Loel… I…”

“Cassien.”

“No, don’t say it. Don’t say it, Loel… please, don’t…”

“I—”

“I won’t listen…! Loelle, don’t say anything. Please, I’m begging you. Please don’t…”

His voice choked with sorrow, but Cassien forced himself to keep speaking. He looked up at Loelle with more desperation than ever before.

“Please… just once, for the first and last time, forgive me…”

But it was no use. Loelle finally brought their relationship to a close.

“I’d rather die than love you again.”

Her words were more of a curse than a rejection.

Cassien wished they were just words said to push him away, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of a lie on Loelle’s face.

Cassien felt like something inside him had completely collapsed.

It felt like his body was hollow, like all the blood had drained from him.

Tears poured out endlessly, as if something inside had broken. With trembling hands, he wiped them away and reached out, but Loelle gave him one last look of contempt and walked out of the alley.

He shouldn’t have been collapsed like this. He should have run after her. He should have knelt in front of her, begged and begged for forgiveness done whatever it took to make her stay…

Even if his love had been a delusion, Cassien had been sincere.

That’s why he wanted to protect it, even if it was late. But Loelle had come to understand too much to be fooled by a hollow love like Cassien’s.

Soon, Cassien’s strength gave out. He collapsed, overwhelmed by helplessness.

Loelle grew more distant, and then disappeared from the alley completely. That was the day when their one-sided love for each other finally reached its end.

As Loelle walked out of the alley in a daze, two knights from the Grand Duke’s estate appeared at the entrance. As if they had been waiting, they moved behind their mistress to block the alley.

In fact, they had arrived not long after Loelle and Cassien started talking. They had been about to step in, but what was being said was clearly not something lowly servants should overhear.

So they had waited nearby, ready to jump in if things got dangerous. Only now did they finally reveal themselves.

Loelle could tell from the uncomfortable look on their faces that they had heard at least part of the conversation.

‘They heard everything.’

She wanted to say something, anything, but her mind was still blank. So she just stood there, motionless.

Just then, a panicked voice called out from nearby.

“Loel!”

The anxious voice helped Loelle finally snap back to her senses. The unsteady breathing, the messy black hair, the sweat on his face—just from that, she could tell how frantically Reus had been searching for her.

“Are you okay?”

Reus’s hand reached out and pulled her close, his touch tense and urgent.

He seemed worried she might have gotten even a small injury, so he quickly checked her body, not as gently as usual.

But even that hurried touch felt kind to Loelle.

Come to think of it, their marriage, which had begun as a contract, had always involved unfamiliar closeness. But she had never once felt uncomfortable when Reus touched her.

Now, she thought she understood why.

Unlike Cassien, Reus was always careful, as if afraid she might break at his touch. Whether during moments like this or in everyday life, that never changed.

Even when she wasn’t aware of it, he had always been thoughtful.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m… I’m fine.”

Just then, Reus noticed Loelle’s palm was red and swollen.

There wasn’t a scratch, so it wasn’t from falling. But the swelling was too obvious to ignore.

Reus froze, as if he had figured something out. His eyes, which had been scanning Loelle, turned toward the dark alley. There, Cassien was seen kneeling, half out of his mind.

Even just seeing that was enough to guess what had happened between them. How dare he approach Loelle like that? Reus was furious at Cassien’s shamelessness.

Loelle sensed the dangerous atmosphere and held tightly onto Reus’s hand.

The warmth from her hand calmed the cold anger in Reus’s blue eyes.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Loelle shook her head weakly, as if tired.

“I want to go home, Reus.”

At that, Reus didn’t hesitate. He immediately led Loelle to the carriage.

Back at the Grand Duke’s residence, everything seemed normal on the surface. But anyone could see that something had changed. Loelle often sat staring blankly into space.

“What’s wrong with Her Highness?”

“Is she sick…?”

“Did she and His Highness have a fight at the festival? He keeps watching her nervously.”

“Actually, the mood wasn’t good even when they came back from the hotel after the festival.”

Even the servants were whispering. That was how obvious it was that Loelle wasn’t herself.

Reus was deeply worried about her. But he didn’t do anything. Instinctively, he knew he had to leave her alone for now.

All he could do was wait for her to come back to herself, and eventually look at him again.

But no matter how long he waited, her dazed blue eyes never turned his way. Becoming anxious, Reus lost the calm he had barely been holding onto. His mind started filling with irrational thoughts.

‘What could they have talked about?’

The knights had given him a rough idea of what had happened that day. But he didn’t know exactly what was said between them.

He wanted to find out, no matter what it took but he couldn’t just ask Loelle. This wasn’t something he had a right to interfere with.

Loelle was his savior, not his lover.

That simple fact weighed even heavier on Reus’s already burdened heart.

He wanted to stop thinking, because that was the only way to stop feeling this way. But his thoughts just kept spiraling.

What could that bastard have said to hurt her so much that she even raised her hand? Did he ask her to divorce me and go back to him? And what did Loelle say in response?

After chasing question after question, the real one that Reus had been avoiding finally surfaced in his mind:

What if this was all just part of a lovers’ quarrel?

Even Reus, who had never cared much for love, knew that ex-lovers getting back together wasn’t exactly rare. Hadn’t he recently heard of a couple who divorced and then remarried?

And though he hadn’t paid much attention before, he knew all the rumors now.

Especially that Loelle Ivelle had practically clung to Cassien Ersian one-sidedly.

Lately, rumors were saying Loelle had married the Empire’s only Grand Duke just to make Cassien jealous. They had even once accused Reus of seducing a naive woman. The nonsense never stopped.

From all this, Reus knew the rumors couldn’t be trusted. But even so, there was one reason why he couldn’t ignore them.

‘What if just what if Loelle still had some feelings left for Cassien…?’

His fingers tapped the desk heavily, just like his thoughts.

‘They were together for almost four years, right?’

That long of a relationship wouldn’t be easy to forget. It might even take longer to forget than the time they spent together.

In other words, even if Loelle still had a tiny bit of feeling for Cassien Ersian, it wouldn’t be strange at all.

‘If she’s not going to Veliata, but going back to him instead…’

He had seen her push Cassien away at the Ivelle estate. He remembered the face she made at the Imperial Ball it had looked like someone who had truly let go.

And yet here he was, worrying about something so ridiculous.

He was ashamed of himself. Deeply, painfully ashamed.

“Haa…”

Loelle herself was surely struggling with confusion and pain over all this.

‘Even if Loelle goes back to him… there’s nothing I can do.’

He was only reminding her that he meant nothing to her. Can someone really feel this powerless? For the first time in his life, Reus tasted the sorrow of unrequited love and it left him dazed.

At that moment, Loelle was in her room, book forgotten, eyes closed.

As Reus had feared, she was thinking about Cassien.

But unlike her calm-looking lashes, her mind was screaming harsh words.

‘You bastard.’

The more she thought about it, the more Cassien infuriated her.

She had known he didn’t truly love her. But she hadn’t known he was outright playing with her. All of it just to provoke her? No matter how kind Loelle was, it was only natural that she couldn’t forgive that.

‘How could you do that, knowing everything…’

If he called that love, then all the times she cried and begged must have been entertainment to him.

‘And that’s love?’

Her anger boiled over again.

Loelle had never felt this furious before. She had no idea how to calm the storm of emotions inside her.

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