Even If You Tear Me Apart - Chapter 55
The chapters are split like this so that the TL can update more consistently over time (✿ ＞◡❛)
Though it was dawn, Ezekiel was awake. His sensitive ears picked up everything—the sound of the door in the next room opening, and the footsteps of a woman walking down the hallway toward him.
Knock, knock.
When he heard the knock at his door, he pulled the blanket over his head, ignoring it. But the knocking came again.
Knock, knock.
Even though the sitting room and the bedroom were separate, he could hear the knocking from the distant door so clearly.
Ezekiel ignored the sound once more. But the woman was persistent.
Knock, knock, knock.
In the end, Ezekiel got up with a start and walked to the door. When he flung it open, as expected, Iris Quilluxia was standing there.
Her face was pale. It seemed she hadn’t slept a wink either. Without waiting for Iris to speak, Ezekiel opened his mouth.
“Return to your room, Lady Quilluxia.”
“Just a moment—”
“It would be best if you returned before I scold Milena harshly.”
He said it because he knew she couldn’t bear seeing someone else punished because of her. But his opponent wasn’t easily deterred.
“I already told Miss Milena.”
“……”
“Please, let me in for just a moment.”
A sigh escaped him.
“Have you already forgotten what happened when you entered a man’s room carelessly?”
At the deliberately wounding words, Iris Quilluxia stiffened. But instead of retreating, she looked up at him with eyes far clearer than moments before.
“I’m sorry you had to see me like that. But you must know, it wasn’t my will.”
“……”
“I only want to speak for a moment.”
“……”
“Ez.”
Just one syllable.
It was only a nickname.
A name he’d heard countless times from his family.
Yet hearing her speak it pierced him straight through the chest. He felt hollowed out inside.
In the end, he had no choice but to open the door. The woman stepped into the room cautiously, but quickly. Ezekiel tried to leave the door open, but Iris shut it.
Her pale face wore no makeup. Her attire, though appropriate for midnight, was too light.
No. Perhaps it was just his mind that wanted to see it that way.
It was ordinary. A typical negligee that noblewomen wore to sleep, with a thick robe over it.
The robe was tightly fastened, and there wasn’t even a trace of the ‘lightness’ he had, for a moment, imagined. Ezekiel thought that perhaps the most base thing in the room was himself.
Iris silently entered and sat on the sofa in the sitting room. He wondered if it had been a blessing that the knights hadn’t forced their way into his room earlier.
She didn’t speak for a long while.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“You…”
Even as she spoke, she hesitated.
“…I was surprised to see that it was you who came to escort me.”
“Were you.”
“…Why did it end up that way?”
Ezekiel almost wanted to scoff. Was that all she had come to ask at this hour of the morning? At the same time, he felt frustrated.
“That part wasn’t my choice.”
“…Did someone else assign you?”
“Is there anyone in the Empire who can defy His Majesty the Emperor’s orders?”
At those words, Iris slightly parted her lips. What she wanted to say became clear a moment later.
“…It seemed like you could have refused.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“It’s nothing important. Just… why is it that you, of all people…”
Ezekiel couldn’t hold back.
“Are you upset that I was assigned to escort you? Or are you simply wondering why someone like me is your escort?”
“‘Someone like you’? I just…”
Iris flinched under Ezekiel’s intensity. She didn’t seem to understand why he had suddenly snapped.
“…I just thought that you would’ve refused to be my escort.”
“As I said, no one in the Empire can refuse the Emperor’s orders.”
“Then it was the Crown Prince who gave the order.”
At that, Ezekiel fell silent.
She wasn’t wrong. In truth, the idea to adopt Iris Quilluxia as an imperial daughter had originated with Étienne. The Emperor had simply been delighted and praised it as a brilliant idea.
And assigning Ezekiel as her escort—that had surely been Étienne’s idea as well. As always. Étienne knew all too well how to torment others.
But the fact that Iris had sensed that was unexpected. She asked again.
“You could have refused.”
“I could not.”
Ezekiel cut her off firmly.
