Chapter 84

Chapter 84

She must live.

Chloe entered the room and sat down with the door locked.

…Why?

Why must she live?

Even if she did what she wanted to do now and got a sense of accomplishment and confidence from doing it, this was not necessarily a reason for her not to die. The sense of helplessness and depression that dominated her were not so small that all of them could be resolved with just a day’s work at the newspaper.

Then, why must she live?

Chloe asked herself. There was no suitable answer, so it seemed like there would be nothing wrong with dying. Nonetheless, the conclusion that it was okay to die just because there was no reason to live was rather incorrect, wrong reasoning.

If so, what should she do?

Should she live, or should she die? Should she trust Eric or not?

It seemed that no matter how much she thought about it, she could not get a clear answer to that question.

She couldn’t choose anything. Maybe she just didn’t want to choose because the choice was like a heavy, frightening shackle that required her to take full responsibility for the future. And so, Chloe avoided a choice, and as a result, she had to live anyway.

She didn’t choose to die, so she must live.

She had to.

As she thought so, Chloe slowly raised her body from the slump. She then looked around the room once more.

There were two desks. The old one she used when she was in the northern castle, and the overly flashy and great one. Seeing the two of them next to each other made her laugh. In addition, there was an expensive bookshelf studded with jewels and an inexpensive bookcase with dents next to it.

The same went for the stand, the same for the chair, the same for the sofa…

Chloe burst out laughing. Perhaps Eric, who couldn’t throw away what she was using, did this ridiculous thing.

While she laughed, she could feel a part of her heart go blank.

…My now regretful husband.

My husband who misses everything and holds onto me only after I leave…

Some might say that if ‘that’ Eric Aslan has gone this far, she should just accept it. However, Chloe was hurt too much by ‘that’ Eric Aslan, and the scars from the wounds she had suffered over the past five years could not be easily erased.

Chloe thought as she placed her hand on the new furniture.

I want to go back.

Eric was stuck in a new lab. The lab was located in the basement of the new mansion and was not exposed to sunlight. For that reason, the sense of time faded if he stayed for a long time in that lab.

Just as he had told Chloe, he had the blueprints ready, so all he had to do was make them. He was endlessly touching lumps of scrap metal until his hands were swollen, and he was welding endlessly until his eyes were exhausted.

Until a few suns rise and a few moons set… for such a long time.

“Your Excellency!”

Again, Daniel came in. Though Eric only grabbed the nipper, ignoring him, but Daniel snatched his hand.

“Get some rest now.”

“No.”

Eric answered, still keeping his eyes on the scrap metal.

“I told you. Even now, Chloe’s lifespan is being cut day by day. So I have to finish this quickly. I have to complete it somehow and save her.”

“That, too…!”

Daniel shouted.

“Isn’t Madam always alone?”

Eric’s rolling eyes stopped abruptly. He slowly turned his head to look at Daniel.

“Yesterday, she held onto Andrea and begged to be let go. She said she wanted to go back.”

“What?”

His face crumpled.

She was saying that again?! He thought they had talked clearly!

Eric thought Chloe could only go back here, and she couldn’t let her go somewhere like Heath. Even the people were rude and irritating there. It was not helping her at all, except for the beautiful scenery!

However, seeing Chloe’s behavior, it felt like he had kidnapped her and imprisoned her. Of course, she has people arranged in case she ran away again, but wasn’t it unreasonable to say that he confined her with that alone…

D*mn it. Confinement.

Eric threw the nipper away and messed up his hair.

“This is the only place Chloe will return. I can’t let her go somewhere like Heath.”

“So, that’s what I’m going to say.”

Daniel hastily replied.

“You brought her to the Capital, but what if you leave her like this? You should show yourself reflecting on your past mistakes while having a meal or taking a walk together!”

“…But I have to build the machine.”

“It’s important for the future, but why don’t you know that Madam’s current heart is also important?”

His eyes widened slightly at Daniel’s words.

…Chloe’s heart.

Eric was missing it again. What Chloe was thinking right now, what kind of heart she had, and what kind of hatred she was building up in herself… He wasn’t thinking about it at all. This was also due to his highly focused personality, forgetting everything else when he was focused on one thing.

“I told them to prepare lunch. Be with Madam.”

Eric replied that, of course, he would, and he immediately stepped on the stairs of the lab, two at a time, and ran out because he had to greet Chloe after washing up in a hurry.

Chloe sat idly.

How many months was it?

How many months had it been snowing?

She clutched at the knitting thread as she stared at the snowy landscape that she was now tired of and terribly bored of.

Chloe, a girl from the South, really liked snow. The first time she went to the North and looked at the snow, she was as delighted as a child. Still, it disappeared without a trace. Now the snow no longer felt cozy, nothing more or less than the rubbish blocking her path.

She lamented that she had changed like this, but at the same time, she thought that these changes weren’t bad. A change in her thoughts was no different from development, so she was making progress in her own way.

Right. While she was locked in her room like this.

Eric seemed to have no intention of ever letting her go. If that were the case, he should’ve come and shown even a little bit of his face, yet he did not even show his hair for several days, making Chloe’s heart a little more closed.

If this was the case… wasn’t t it the same as before?

As before, she was left alone and he was absorbed in his work.

As before, she grieved alone, and Eric was on the rise… she had something she wanted to do, too.

Chloe dropped her head, clutching her shawl unconsciously. At that time. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Eric’s voice came.

“Chloe. May I come in?”

Chloe reflexively turned her head, and she felt happy.

…Happy?

She put her hand on her heart. She thought of herself as a dog waiting for food. The kind of dog that wags its tail when she hears Eric’s voice and is happy to be touched by him…

As she thought so, Chloe shook her head a couple of times before she answered in a somewhat cold voice.

“Come in.”

Eric opened the door and came in as she said that.

Today, he was much more sophisticated than before—a tidy three-piece suit with his hair neatly brushed. Although his eyes are puffy, his handsome face remained the same. She stared at his strong chin, tall nose, sunken eyes and gray eyes within them, then turned her head away.

Eric approached her.

“I came to have lunch with you.”

“I’m fine.”

She responded coldly, but Eric didn’t back down.

“I heard you skipped breakfast.”

He moved closer to her before kneeling down on one knee and glancing up at her.

“Have you not heard what the doctor said? You have to eat all three meals and take your medicines at the right time. Otherwise, your body will be more damaged.”

He took the yarn in her hand.

“Chloe. Please eat for me.”

Chloe could feel his hands shaking, sensing that Eric was desperate. She assumed that he hadn’t come to see her for the same reasons as before. She thought that maybe it was for her. As he said, he wanted to make a mechanical heart, so he’d be spending a lot of time on it.

Thinking of this, her frozen heart melted a little. Chloe answered in a much warmer voice than before.

“Is it for you that I have to hold a fork?”

“That’s right.”

Eric smiled and nodded his head.

“It’s also for me that you have to go out for a walk and bask in the sun.”

Chloe glanced up and looked out the window. Even though it was broad daylight, the dark sky welcomed her.

She shook her head.

“It snows a lot. There is no sunlight, only dark clouds.”

Eric chuckled as if he knew her answer and held her hand a little tighter.

“I have an establishment prepared for you.”

…A place he prepared? Chloe was puzzled.

“I’m sure you will like it.”

Saying so, he slowly got up and stretched out his hand towards her.

“So Chloe, please come with me.”

Chloe gazed down at the hand stretched out to her.

Should she take it or not? She was worried that even trivial actions would have meaning. However, Chloe finished her thoughts that holding this hand was not necessarily proof that she trusted Eric again.

And she left the room with Eric.

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