The Person I Loved Hated Me - Chapter 9

The next day, Isaac caught Eivard the moment he arrived at work and bowed at a perfect right angle.

“Please break up with my sister! I’m begging you!”

Eivard’s eyes widened at the sudden request. As people around them began to stir, wondering what was happening, Eivard grabbed Isaac’s arm and pulled him away to a deserted spot.

“What’s this all about so suddenly?”

“You’ve been spending time with my sister, haven’t you?”

Eivard gasped. Isaac’s shoulders slumped heavily. “So, it’s true after all.”

“I know you don’t like me. People have their chemistry, so that can’t be helped. But please, stop toying with my sister.”

Clara, his only family, was Isaac’s weakness. Eivard must have noticed this and planned to make her fall for him only to discard her like a worn-out rag.

Clara herself seemed to be enjoying her innocent crush, but what would happen if this man, who looked like a prince straight out of a storybook, started manipulating her?

To prevent that, Isaac was bowing his head.

“Would you first listen to what I have to say?”

“Yes, I’ll listen. I’ll do anything as long as you promise not to hurt Clara.”

Unfortunately, just as he said this, someone called for Isaac from a distance. Having just returned from an expedition, he had many tasks to attend to and would remain busy for a while.

“Are you leaving now?”

“I’ll be back by evening.”

“I’ll visit you then. Let me say this first, I have no intention of toying with Clara.”

Just then, one of his subordinates peeked in. “Captain, so this is where you were! We’ll be late if you don’t hurry.”

“Understood, I’m coming right away!”

As he left, Isaac shot Eivard a glare, but Eivard met it with calm eyes.

Somehow, this threw Isaac off balance.

After this, Isaac spent the day escorting a high-ranking official on an inspection tour around the capital.

Normally, assigning one squad would have sufficed, but this official, having once been saved by Isaac, always specifically requested him for official outings.

This time, the official had even postponed the inspection until Isaac’s return, making refusal impossible.

It was work, and nothing could go wrong, so he performed his duties seriously, but today he couldn’t stop worrying about Eivard’s intentions.

As if on cue, the inspection dragged on significantly longer than expected, and by the time he returned to the knights’ headquarters, it was already dark.

Thinking Eivard might have already left but searching anyway, Isaac felt relieved when Eivard appeared from the front.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“No, work is work.”

Eivard’s demeanor was indeed strange. Isaac had expected some sarcastic remark like “Do bastards not even know how to keep time?” The fact that he didn’t truly unsettled Isaac.

Probably, Eivard had been waiting, concerned about Isaac’s return. What was really happening? A wave of anxiety washed over him.

Not wanting to draw attention to personal matters, they entered the office.

Isaac intended to first faithfully follow knightly protocol and thank Eivard for helping Clara, but surprisingly, Eivard bowed first.

“I’m sorry for everything until now.”

So shocked that his eyes and mouth formed perfect circles, Isaac could only utter, “Huh?”

“I’ve been unable to acknowledge my own immaturity and blamed you for everything that went wrong. Isaac, you’ve done nothing wrong. It was all me taking out my frustrations on your excellence. I’m truly sorry.”

Not only did Eivard bow, but he went down on one knee. Staring down at him, Isaac dragged him up and forced him into a chair. “Wait, stop that!”

What was this guy plotting? When Isaac peered at his downturned face, he was shocked to see his weak, wavering blue eyes.

This was a genuine apology.

“Sorry, I don’t quite understand. I thought you were planning something with Clara.”

So why was this turning into an apology about the past?

Eivard’s sudden change in attitude left Isaac too stunned to keep up.

“I’m aware of Clara’s feelings. But I have no intention of accepting them, let alone toying with her.”

“Really?”

“Yes, truly. You probably don’t believe the words of someone like me who’s done a complete turnaround, but there’s also the matter of birth. I cannot accept her feelings.”

“Birth… right. We’re the children of a lowly prostitute.”

The words that had been thrown at him all this time slipped out unconsciously. Before he could finish, Eivard interrupted with “I’m sorry!”

“Those words insulted your mother too. What’s said cannot be unsaid, but I truly regret it. When I mentioned birth issues, I meant I won’t act on these feelings because it would ultimately make Clara unhappy.”

“Act on these feelings?”

Was he saying he wouldn’t accept them because it wouldn’t be good for Clara? That phrasing seemed slightly odd, and Isaac tilted his head in confusion.

“I’m sorry. I’ve developed feelings for Clara.”

“What!? Stop joking!”

“My apologies.”

Looking down at the crown of Eivard’s deeply bowed head, Isaac murmured, “You’re lying, right?”

“No good. You’re absolutely no good.”

“I know. I’m the worst kind of person.”

“No, that’s not it!”

Because you’re nobility.

He barely managed to swallow the words that nearly escaped.

“But my feelings for her are genuine. I don’t intend to confess, nor do I plan to hurt or toy with her. I know I must distance myself. And yet, I can’t stop.”

The man who until recently had hated him was now hanging his head and making what sounded like a confession of remorse. And the content was that he’d fallen for Clara… was in love with her. A twenty-two-year-old third son of a high-ranking noble, infatuated with the sister of a commoner he’d looked down upon and despised.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been dishonest with you both. So, I thought I should at least be honest from now on.”

“You don’t need to! You’re not planning to tell Clara, right? That’s fine!”

“That’s my intention, but I find myself drawn to her despite myself. I know you won’t forgive me, but I can’t stop wanting to see her smile.”

Isaac understood that feeling all too well. When Clara smiled, her strange eyes – purple tinged with red and gold – seemed to shine like rainbows. Even Isaac, who’d been with her since birth, often found himself captivated.

“You don’t need to do anything beyond your duties. If you interact with her as just another knight, I can’t say anything.”

Isaac couldn’t be with Clara twenty-four seven. There was also the matter of Ahim. He couldn’t completely reject Eivard because something might happen to Clara.

“To confirm, you’re not thinking of doing anything to Clara, right?”

“I’d rather abandon my noble status than make her an outcast.”

“Is that even possible?”

Being born into a titled family came with corresponding responsibilities. Even if nobles and commoners worked together, marriages between different social classes weren’t permitted. Especially for Eivard, as a high-ranking noble, he didn’t even have the right to decide his own marriage.

“True. So, I’ll definitely make these feelings disappear.”

Eivard, still looking down, spoke as if in great pain.

Even Isaac, who couldn’t accept their relationship, felt sympathetic enough to wonder if something couldn’t be done, so dejected did Eivard appear.

From the looks of it, Eivard seemed to care for Clara more deeply than she did for him.

Certainly, Clara was beautiful and easily lovable, but Eivard himself had an incredibly handsome face. For such a man to be so emotionally affected.

Looking at Eivard’s state, Isaac was reminded of his deceased father and mother.

His father, who had a wife and children, and his mother, who was a merchant’s daughter. Those two, who should never have been together, must have suffered in love just like Eivard before him.

Even after becoming an adult, Isaac had always thought of his father as an unfaithful man who abandoned his mother. A cold-hearted noble without blood ties who never even came to see his child.

But in reality, he couldn’t come.

Isaac learned this several months after his mother’s death.

An elderly man who claimed to have served his father contacted him and told Isaac the truth about his parents. Then he gave Isaac two choices, and without consulting Clara, Isaac chose to conceal everything and continue their current life.

The life he’d chosen might now be becoming an obstacle for Clara. If he’d chosen the other path, perhaps Eivard wouldn’t be here, suffering from forbidden feelings and hanging his head in despair.