Chapter 9

“Don’t you… hate me?” Kael asked hesitantly. His eyes trembled when a vacant emptiness flashed across Irene’s face upon being asked that question. He felt like his heart sank a little in a matter that was different from earlier. Irene was still standing tall, though it would be strange to say she was totally fine in this situation. Perhaps her cold demeanor and tone were simply tools to mask her true feelings.

‘Am I falling to pieces?’ The thought crossed Irene’s mind, but she refused to acknowledge it. Adding strength to her clenched hand, she balled it into a fist and said, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You really don’t know what I mean?”

For some reason, Kael’s brightly gleaming eyes looked incredibly sharp. Irene rubbed her index finger with her thumb—a nervous tic that surfaced whenever she felt nervous. While she was an expert at modulating her tone of voice to sound calm, albeit blunter than usual, it was impossible to completely wipe away all her tension. In such situations, that tension would then manifest in this nervous tic.

“People may claim that you’ve been abandoned, Lady Irene, or say that you’ve been offered up as a hostage in the place of the princess, but you yourself are extremely valuable,” Kael continued.

“The title of Lady is not suited for me.”

“Are you trying to change the subject? Fine, we can move on. Then, pray tell how I should address you if you do not wish to be called a lady? Is a knight unable to also be a lady?”

Kael realized he was intentionally acting difficult, and was baffled by his own petulant behavior. He was confused as to why he bothered to try and extend the conversation between them. When had he ever acted this way with a woman? He’d always been one to clearly draw the line and express a strictly business-only attitude towards others. Nonetheless, right now he wanted to see her cold exterior crack.

“You may address me however you please. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should take my leave.”

Kael’s provocations had managed to successfully irritate Irene, but because she staunchly refused to allow her emotions to be reflected on her face, he failed to notice. The only indication of Irene’s tension could be glimpsed in her clenched hands, which showed no sign of being relaxed anytime soon.

“Very well, Lady Irene,” Kael said, as he flashed a relaxed smile.

“Then, please excuse me.” Refusing to react to Kael’s smile, Irene lowered her head slightly and moved to take a step forward. She wanted to pass by Kael and head downstairs, but stiffened when she heard him speak again.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t have let you go. No matter what happened, I would’ve kept you in my arms and never let anyone take you from me.”

The solemnity of his words only made Irene feel even more pathetic. Raising her head to meet his gaze, she replied in a tight voice, “Is that so? I’m not as valuable as you think.” A gust of wind blew from behind and Irene felt the skin on her back prickle and sting. Her usually tightly-wound hair had been let down and it fluttered freely in the wind, exposing her neckline.

Irene’s tension was clearly visible to Kael from the tightness of her jaw, and he softly added, “You underestimate yourself.”

After a moment of hesitation, Irene broke the silence that had descended between them and said, “I must take my leave now.” Without waiting for a response, she immediately turned on her heel and resumed walking.

‘Did I anger her? And…’ A nonsensical thought lingered at the back of his mind. Though it had been but for a brief moment, Kael felt satisfied that he’d broken through Irene’s cold exterior. In the moment he’d seen her expression waver, it felt like his heart had been pierced by an arrow made of ice.

As the sound of Irene’s footsteps grew increasingly further away, Kael let out a shaky breath. He noticed that the strength in his legs seemed to have left him, and it reminded him of how others had often described how difficult it was to stand in front of Irene and her terrifying aura. However, in his case, the difficulty he felt while standing before her was for a different reason. Thankful that he hadn’t collapsed in front of her, he allowed himself to flop down to the ground.

“Is this what everyone was talking about? To fall in love at first sight…”