Sorry 24

Chapter 24

    ***

    "Chaint."

    Euris looked at him with a gentle smile, and then opened her mouth to speak. The call alone was enough for Chaint.

    'How I have longed for you to say my name with love, with these tiny lips.'

    An impulse came over him. It was a feeling that burned brightly in his chest, but he couldn't define it, so he pulled her to him.

    A small gesture, felt in his arms. The faint scent of Euris’s flesh. The delicate, thin shoulder in his palm.

    ‘In my last life, there were many times when I had to hold you when you were completely drunk.'

    For all those years, he had hoped for this moment with all his heart.

    He didn't want to break it.

    But Chaint knew too much for that. He held her close and squeezed his eyes shut.

    'I just want to stay like this for a little while longer, this peaceful........'

    Even though he knew he couldn't, he thought desperately.

    More weeks passed.

    It was the middle of spring when the telegram came.

    Seeing the Count of Hebron's seal on the envelope, Euris thought she had finally heard from Kylan.

    But it was the Count of Hebron's obituary.

    The news of the Count of Hebron's death had reached not only the Marquis of Eridov, but several other family residences. Euris and Chaint read the telegram together in their bedroom.

    "Obituary: Count William Hebron."

    A great event in his past life had occurred on the same day. Euris stared blankly at the letter and thought about     him.

    Soon, Kylan would leave this country. And when he did, she would never see him again. Suddenly, she remembered Kylan's face in the last moments of her life in her previous life.

    The haggard face looking at her from the top of those high outdoor stairs. He didn't look happy at all. His lips were dried and twisted, and the bags under his eyes were heavy.......

    ‘What kind of life did you have in the Lepallon Empire that made you look so dark? You could have at least been happy when you left me behind.’

    "Are you okay?"

    Chaint's worried voice broke through her thoughts.

    ‘Oh, I must have looked too gloomy.’

    Euris nodded and smiled, though the smile was not entirely genuine, and Chaint’s expression turned more worried.

    "Do you want me to go to the funeral by myself if it's going to be hard?"

    "No. Now that Kylan's about to leave for a foreign country, I want to ask him about the....... letter, too. I think it would be better if we could talk face to face one last time.”

    There was still no answer from him.

    ‘What is so different about this life that you're hanging on to it so tightly, just because I pushed you away first?’

    Euris pondered, then looked at Chaint.

    "Are you okay?"

    Her question was met with a questioning look.

    “You didn’t like me getting involved with Kylan.”

    "I'm sorry I made you worry, I'm fine now, I trust you, Euris."

    Chaint said softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Euris smiled wistfully at the touch.

    ‘It's not okay.’

    Chaint muttered to himself.

    'But I have to tell...... because I can't fool you again.......'

    He glanced at Euris, who was reading the telegram once more in a daze, her expression grave, but somehow endearing to Chaint.

    'That Kylan Hebron is the child of a spy, which is why in your last life he pushed you away for your own safety.’

    He paused, thinking of what to say.

    'And how I found out about it.’

    But as for 'how I found out'... he didn't want to reveal that yet.

    The same was true of the fact that Kylan was the son of a spy. For his own sake, he didn't have to tell her. No, he shouldn't.

    Because if he left it alone, Kylan would leave for Lepallon, and he and Euris would be happy.

    But he didn't want to deceive her. Euris was important to him, and he couldn't let her know how he felt about the precious relationship.

     

    'Because she loves me differently than she did in her last life.’

    Chaint sighed softly as he memorized the sentence as if it were a mantra. Euris looked up at him, worried at the darkened look on his face, wondering what was wrong.

    "There's something you need to know about Kylan Hebron."

    He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. The mention of the name from his lips startled Euris slightly, and the words that followed surprised her even more, and she stared at him unblinking.

    "Euris, I know why Kylan left you in the last life."

    "..."

    "Did you get a reply to the letter you wrote to Kylan?"

    Euris shook her head helplessly. Chaint gave her a dry smile, then continued.

    "He didn't leave because he didn't like you; he left for your sake, because he thought it was the only way to protect you."

    He took a small breath and began to explain why Kylan had to leave Euris.

    He was the son of a spy for the Lepallon Empire, and he had to leave everything in this country to go there. As he continued, Euris’s expression rippled, a ripple that tugged weakly at Chaint’s heart.

    'I should also tell you how I found out about it, but........'

    But he couldn't bring himself to tell her that.

    ***

    Kylan stayed in the capital. He acted like a man who had suddenly lost his emotions.

    And his father, standing on the edge of life, finally answered the call of heavens. It was a day in early spring, when the first buds of spring were breaking through the cold earth.

    News of the Count of Hebron's death traveled quickly. Kylan returned to the manor for his father's funeral. It had been a long time since he had trodden the grounds of the manor.

    Many came to pay their respects and offer their condolences. Some were unable to hold back tears, while others showed dry sorrow and held a moment of silence with white flowers.

    The long line of mourners seemed to show the kind of life the Count of Hebron had led.

    Among the mourners were the Eridovs. For Euris, it had been a long time since she had been to the Count of Hebron’s mansion.

    It had been almost a decade since she had visited, if her last life was counted. The scenery brought back memories irresistibly.

    'I used to come and go as a child, it was like home.......'

    In the garden, the saplings that Kylan and Euris had planted together were now taller than a man. When she shifted her gaze, she saw the back of the swing pole must have been marked with their height records.

    Unaware of the memories unfolding before her, Euris joined the long line of mourners with Chaint. The faces of the people were all somber.

    They walked through the gardens and into the mansion. Kylan, dressed in an imposing black suit, was pale. It was at this time in his last life that he had pushed Euris away.

    But somehow, now, he looked even more gaunt and pale than then.

    'I loved you so much then, Kylan, that I broke down before you, who I hadn't seen in so long, and you pushed me away, colder than a blizzard at dawn.’

    Swallowing dryly, Euris remembered this time in her life.

    'But now that I think about it, you were.......'

    "We'll wait here for a while."

    Chaint's voice broke through her thoughts. There were too many people, so the two of them followed the instructions and went into the tea room first.

    There were refreshments for the mourners.

    There, the Countess of Hebron, who was shaking from crying, and Kylan's brother, Eisen Hebron, were chatting with people.

    With the color of his red hair, his hat somehow made him look even more distant from Kylan.

    Euris approached the two and said hello. She said a few words of comfort to the Countess and Eisen, then moved away to join the other mourners.

    Then she and Chaint sat down at an empty table in a daze.

    She heard something unbelievable yesterday. It was about why Kylan had left her.

    ***

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