Sorry 1

Chapter 1

    

    

    "Please, please, please don't come to me anymore. I'm sick and tired of you doing this."

    It was a sharp voice she had never heard from him before. The words were spoken with disdain, and the look on his face was one that still haunted her to this day.

    That was the last sentence Euris had heard from Kylan a year ago.

    Why?

    She wanted to ask, because no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't find a reason.

    'We were best friends for years, and you were my favorite.........'

    But he didn't even give her the chance to ask. For the first few months, Euris visited him in person, and on the days she didn't, she wrote to him.

    But Kylan wouldn't meet her. All the letters were returned.

    ‘I wonder if I'm being punished for wanting to be more than friends with you.’

    Hurt became resentment, resentment became anger, and when the anger faded, there was only self-pity and regret. A year was not enough time to forget him.

    The sun rose and set without fail. Even on that ordinary morning, spring sunlight poured through the curtains, pecking at Euris’s face as she lay in bed.

    The freshly awakened woman didn't look the least bit refreshed. There were dark circles under her unfocused eyes.

    'Today is............ the day. The day the ceremony will be held where Kylan will officially become an Earl.'

    Euris swallowed hard, feeling an ache in her chest at the mention of Kylan's name.

    ‘It's been a year already, how long will it be like this?’

    She slid out of bed like any other day, slid her feet into her slippers, threw on a robe, and headed out the door.

    "Miss, are you awake?"

    Rune, the maid, greeted her. She sounded a little more cheerful than the other day and smiled lightly.

    "Master Kylan came and went this morning."

    "What?"

    Euris turned to ice at the unexpected words. Rune gave her a rueful smile, as if she wasn't surprised by the reaction.

    "He was told that you were sleeping, and he left with a request that when you woke up, you would come to the Hebron family mansion."

    But her lady was already bustling about.

    With one hand Euris was removing her gown, and with the other she was hastily tugging Rune's hand and leading her to a closet at the end of the hall.

    "Rune, quickly."

    The fact that Kylan had sought her out was enough to make Yuris's heart leap into her throat.

    She didn't know why he'd come to see her on the ceremonial day, but it was important that she could see his face. Even if it was meaningless, she could only be glad.

    ‘I've been in love with you for a long time, but I can let it go. If we can be friends like we used to be, that's enough. I'm not going to be greedy anymore.’

    She couldn't bear the thought of a world without him. For the past year, she felt like she was in the dark.

    As soon as Rune had finished dressing her up with her skillful hands, Euris ran out of the manor without even looking in the mirror, and without being told to be careful not to trip, Euris was in the carriage in a flash.

    'Perhaps his hatred of me has been softened by the passage of time. Maybe he wants to hear me cheer him on before he steps up to the podium, the way we cheered each other on when we were    kids.’

    The ceremony was still a few hours away. All along the way, Yuris imagined the moment she would stand face-to-face with him again and again.

    Finally, they arrived at their destination. Euris stepped out of the carriage with excitement. The users of the manor recognized her and greeted her.

    She followed them through the parlor, up the stairs, and stood before the door.

    "Master, she’s here."

    Euris swallowed dryly. Kylan was behind that door. He had never come to see her, no matter how much she cried, but today he wanted to see her.

    Her mind was already numb. Standing at the door, she couldn't hear or see anything.

    The hinges of the door squeak, and she finally catches a glimpse of his back.

    Tears welled up in her eyes. At the sight of that maddeningly familiar backs she'd missed so much, a flood of memories washed over her like a tidal wave.

    Slowly, Kylan turned around. His red eyes, set beneath his neatly swept black hair, stared back at her coldly. His appearance was immaculate in a two-button black suit jacket.

    The familiar scent of his cologne wafting through the room made her nostrils flare. Euris 

    managed to keep her face impassive as she fought back a rush of emotion.

    "Yuris."

    Her name bloomed like a flower on the tip of the man's lips. Swallowing the words, "I missed you," Euris stepped in front of him. Their eyes met.

    "It's been a while."

    He spoke, as he always did, with a perfect voice and a perfect face.

    "It's been a while......."

    But her voice sounded like a dry branch compared to the quiet man's. She bit her lip, unable to form the words properly.

    "I won't make a long speech because we don't have time."

    He tugged lightly at the tie at the nape of his neck, as if frustrated.

    "I'm getting married at the end of the month, and we're going to a foreign country."

    "...?!"

    The words that came out of his mouth made her heart plummet to the bottom of her feet. Unable to respond, Euris waited in silence for the next words.

    "So don't look for me anymore. I’m asking you one last time.”

    There was no emotion in his dry voice.

    There was no hate.

    It was just a calm voice delivering boring news.

    "...What about the Count of Hebron?"

    Euris finally opened her mouth again, her muffled voice bursting through her vocal cords.

    "It is my brother who is the guest of honor today."

    "What?"

    Kylan's brother, Eisen, was the second son of the Count of Hebron, and now the eldest son, Kylan, was announcing that he was renouncing the title and going abroad.

    "What...?"

    At that question, Kylan merely stared at Euris with pensive eyes, but said nothing.

    "...I'm done talking to you, now leave.”

    "No!"

    Euris shouted, but Kylan's face remained hard.

    "Go."

    "At least give me a reason why you're doing this!"

    Kylan's brow creased at the insistence in her voice. One corner of his mouth lifted up in disbelief as he stepped menacingly in front of Euris.

    "Me, why?"

    He said sneeringly and pushed on her shoulder with his fingers. It wasn't much force, but it knocked her off-center, already dried up. She fell backwards with a loud crunch.

    She didn't even feel the pain of her bumped hip, which hurt more than her heart, and Euris just sat there, looking up at him like she was going to cry.

    "...Send her back."

    He ordered the users. Kylan's gaze was no longer on Euris. His eyes were now on the servant and walked back to his desk. Leaving the fallen woman behind.

    ***

    Euris had been more devastated in the year since Kylan had left than she'd been in the year before, when Kylan had suddenly started pushing her away.

    Kylan had indeed gone abroad, and she heard no more from her lover. It was as if she wasn't even allowed to watch from afar, as if he'd dropped off the face of the earth.

    Her skinny body grew even thinner. Barely breathing, she lived every day in doubt.

    ‘Why? Why did you come to hate me?’

    The same questions haunted her every morning when she woke up.

    Kylan was Euris’s light, her childhood itself.

    She loved Kylan so much that she couldn't imagine a future without him, which was why the fact that he was suddenly pushing her away was so unbearable.

    But no matter how much she thought about the past, she couldn't think of anything.

    For a while, Euris didn't come out of her room. Day after day, she would lie in bed and cry, then fall asleep when she was exhausted, and wake up again.

    When she woke up, she stared blankly out the window, as if she had no more tears to shed.

    "Yuris......"

    Her mother, Frelona Either, who was often by her side, squeezed her daughter's hand as if she had something to say that day.

    "......Mother."

    At the sound of Euris weak voice, Frelona spoke with a sad expression.

    "You know the Marquis of Eridov?"

    When her daughter nodded slowly, Frelona carefully drew out the next sentence.

    "...Do you intend to marry the eldest son of that family?"

    ❋ ❋ ❋

    To donate for extra chapters for my series or to tip me visit my personal kofi page 

    https://ko-fi.com/doradora 

    Join my discord to get notifications for updates     https://discord.gg/BrKZrGyj