Chapter 5
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“It's a gift. It's a grape that's only found in the South, but it's so good, I hid it for you.”
“Then why don't you eat it?”
“Because it's delicious, and I wanted you to taste it.”
Roan himself could not have known the look on Delnia’s face as he turned around and ran away, the greenish grapes she had secretly plucked and wrapped in her handkerchief spilling onto his palm.
Even if he hadn't realized it, Delnia's treasure was priceless.
She wanted to protect it, no matter what, and she thought she could.
Until it happened.
"Lena. What happened to my sister, please, tell me, young lady!”
The beautiful moments she had ruined with her own hands came back as nightmares. A familiar sense of guilt weighed heavily on her.
"Ro, Ro..................."
Delnia called out to him desperately, her voice trembling. It was desperate, as if that name was the only language left in her world.
It had to be. No matter what she did, no matter how she tried to treat him as Major Barthez, no matter how she tried to preserve her dignity, it was all meaningless in the face of their days together.
"I don't recall giving you permission to call me by that name."
And Roan's voice was blunt and unconcerned, shattering her world.
"Should the dignified lady be so careless as to call another by their first name?"
Roan's eyes reflected in Delnia's unresponsive ones. A man who was no longer the man he once was, a man who had become a man of integrity, but a man who had never forgotten it.
"Forgive my rudeness, Major. I, uh, stopped..................."
She thought back to those old days. The mistakes she made, the memories she ruined, were still so vivid that they choked her.
She bit her lip tightly to keep from talking. She bit down hard enough to leave a bitter taste on the tip of her tongue.
For some time now, hiding her emotions had been as easy as breathing.
But not in front of Roan. He was always her exception.
"Enough apologizing, I hope you won't bother me anymore."
Unlike her, who was trying not to show her true feelings, Roan jerked his chin at the floor to his right, unable to hide his annoyance. Delnia followed him, slowly lowering her gaze.
A bowl of stew sat on a low straw platform. There was a lingering smell of food that she hadn't noticed with all her attention focused on him.
"Eat."
He commanded. But Delnia was unable to move.
It wasn't that she wanted to refuse him. She could refuse everyone in the world, but not Roan, not in the face of her original sin.
She just felt like if she took one step away, she would fall apart.
"To be honest, as far as I'm concerned, as long as you stay alive until we get to the capital, the rest of it doesn't matter."
Roan, who had been watching Delnia's stillness, spoke up. A shiver ran down her spine at the indifferent tone that didn't match the murderous content.
"And if you still insist on making trouble….”
He leapt off the straw and stalked toward Delnia, the murderous aura thickening as he drew closer, and she instinctively took a step back.
Roan reached out and grasped her chin firmly. His blue eyes flashed as if he would chew her up and devour her at a moment's notice.
"I suppose I'll just have to tie you up like a prisoner and force you to open your mouth to stuff it in.”
"..."
"Do you want to try that?"
Her limbs trembled, and her legs gave out. Her face screamed out in pain as she was held in his strong grip, but she couldn't even stand without leaning against his unnatural strength.
Delnia gripped his arm involuntarily and shook her head. Her fingertips felt as if she'd touched fire.
At that moment, Roan brushed her arm off roughly, as if it were covered in filth.
"Ah!"
She fell to the floor with a jolt, but there were no hands to help her up.
Delnia struggled to lift her head and looked up. The man bathed in light stared down at her like a god.
"If you're hanging on because you think I'm going to back off like I used to, I'd say you're mistaken."
"..."
"I've long since left that past behind."
His eyes curved in satisfaction, as if to say that this was the right eye level. His crystal-clear watery eyes reflected the transparency of her overnight plunge to the bottom. The eyes that had once been a treasure to her.
A shiver of helplessness and humiliation ran through her body. Something burned hotly in her stomach. She wanted to spit out that nameless fireball right now, but she knew it would bring tears to her eyes.
She didn't want to cry. At least not in front of him. Perhaps she didn't even deserve it.
She gritted her teeth and forced down the overwhelming emotion, and struggled to get back on her feet.
But her body, already pushed to its limits, refused to listen to its master.
"Uh................"
Roan clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched Delnia writhing on the floor for a moment, then shifted his feet.
Returning with the stew bowl, he set it down on the floor like he was feeding a dog. Then he ordered again.
"Empty it out."
She looked down at the bowl in disbelief, then backed up at him.
But the cruel determination in his eyes told her that he would not allow her to move from this place until the bowl was empty.
Finally, in hopelessness, Delnia moved her hand. The lukewarm stew slid down her throat, along with the gritty sand that had been stuck to the corners of her mouth. Her lips, lightly bleeding, tingled as if it had been torn again.
Despite the pain in her stomach, which felt like her stomach was twisting, she swallowed gulps of food, thankful that there was nothing dry so she could pass it like a drink.
Roan watched her as she forced herself to swallow the stew. Under his keen eyes, she felt like an animal fattening up to be eaten.
Finally, when the torturous meal was over, Roan added a final word in an even tone.
"You'd better not let me ever have to care about you again."
"..."
"Because you don't even know what I’m capable of."
Roan pushed past her with a dire warning and called to Sylver, who stood guard outside.
He stepped inside, found her cowering, and his face hardened.
"Take her."
Regardless, Roan ordered nonchalantly. After a moment's hesitation, Sylver cautiously approached Delnia.
But she shook her head, pushing away his rough hands that tried to help her up.
"My feet.................."
"What?"
"I'm going to get up on my own two feet."
The trembling in her voice, as well as in the hands that pushed him away, caused Sylver to be puzzled.
"But..................."
"I can go alone."
She repeated through clenched teeth.
The stubborn Delnia Eperne was no stranger to Sylver now, but this was different from the stubborn attitude he had seen before.
Now she seemed as if she would crumble and disappear at the touch of a helping hand. It resembled more the desperation of a woman scrambling to survive than the arrogance of an aristocrat.
In the end, Sylver stood back, helpless to help her.
Delnia gripped the floor with both hands and steadied her legs. Her legs wobbled like a newborn fawn, but she gritted her teeth until her jaw went numb.
When she finally pulled herself up, Delnia straightened and lifted her head to face Roan for a moment.
"...."
Her dress was a mess of straw and dirt. Her lips were dried crusts of blood, and the corners of her eyes were red, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
But she finally turned away from him with dry eyes, and began to walk away with steady strides. Her languid steps created the illusion that everything that had happened was an illusion.
Her will to remain dignified in the face of such a situation was truly admirable. But for some reason, the stiff back felt strangely lonely, rather than terrible.
It seemed impolite to continue to stare, so Sylver looked away.
Roan, on the other hand, didn't take his eyes off her slender back. His face still showed no expression. Only the shadows over it had deepened, giving it a dangerous air.
She didn't look back, though, despite the stare, and continued on her way. Even after she exited the warehouse.
Delnia continued on her way, her face impassive, until the eyes watching her had completely disappeared, and she let out all her emotions.
***
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