For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 40
‘Now we both forget the past and start anew.’
Leaving all my guilt for abandoning Declan in the townhouse garden, I walked briskly away.
The destination was clear.
Now that I’ve exchanged Declan for my reward.
According to the meticulously planned life chart I made after my reincarnation, the next step I must take is…
‘Run away.’
***
“Let me go!”
Just moments ago, Declan had been standing there dazed like someone who had lost their mind. Suddenly, he roughly pushed Dezereth’s arm away and started running with unsteady steps.
His staggering steps, as he bit his lip and struggled forward, resembled those of a traveler who had found an oasis just before dying. Seeing only that clear pool, he rushed forward desperately.
As the guard took a step to catch the retreating Declan, Dezereth shook his head.
Everyone at the duke’s residence watched with a heavy heart as Declan slowly chased after the woman moving away.
“Please, don’t go.”
Declan’s voice, squeezed out with all his courage, dispersed into the air. The distance between them was too great.
Declan, unable to even catch his breath, hurried forward. He almost tripped several times but never looked down.
He felt that if he took his eyes off her retreating figure for even a moment, she would vanish like a mirage.
“Please…!”
Perhaps due to his rising fever, Declan’s vision grew increasingly blurry.
No. This can’t happen.
Declan hit his forehead with his clenched fist and focused his mind, pushing forward.
This kind of pain, he had felt it all his life.
It’s nothing. I can endure it.
The only thing that matters now is Estira.
Without knowing exactly why he clung to her or what name to give his emotions, Declan ran forward.
Finally, his outstretched hand brushed against Estira’s hem. Declan clutched it tightly as if it were his lifeline.
“Declan?”
At that moment, he let out a ragged breath. Her round, innocent eyes turned towards him, and despite having been crying moments ago, he felt like laughing.
“Please don’t go. Take me with you.”
His hand, clutching her shabby hem, trembled pathetically. Estira’s gaze fell on his shaking hand.
Please, see my desperate heart and say you’ll take me with you.
“I won’t be a burden. I can work well. I’ll eat less, and I can earn money.”
“You…”
“So please, please take me with you. I don’t want to be a noble. I’m happy as a slave. I don’t want to be apart from you, Master. Okay?”
Declan, growing desperate at Estira’s silence, knelt on the rough ground and looked up at her, pleading earnestly.
Even as tears filled his eyes and wet his chin, no words of affirmation came from Estira’s mouth.
Why? Why are you leaving me?
“Why are you leaving me? Don’t you need me anymore…?”
After arriving at the capital? Because you received that money pouch?
Is that why you were kind to me from the beginning?
Because of money…?
“Yes. I don’t need you anymore.”
Estira looked down at him with indifferent golden eyes, clutching the money pouch to her chest.
Even though he understood what her actions meant, Declan tried his best to deny it.
He didn’t want to believe that Estira, of all people, was different.
“Then… you’ll come back later, right? I can wait, reading picture books…”
“No. We will never meet again. Not until the day we die.”
“…What?”
“Declan. No, Young Duke. There are many fleeting relationships in this world. Ours was just one of them. As you live on, you’ll naturally forget over time.”
How can I live well? I’ve been abandoned in this unfamiliar place again. If you were going to leave so easily, you shouldn’t have been kind to me in the first place. You shouldn’t have made me have false hopes. You shouldn’t have left me like this.
Declan felt as though he was being devoured by something hot inside. It felt like his stomach and heart were melting and would no longer function.
“What if time passes and I still can’t forget?”
“…”
“Then it means I don’t have to let go of fleeting relationships, right?”
“That’s—”
“If one day, I become a slave more useful than that money, then you won’t abandon me, right…?”
His breathing grew more labored, and his vision blurred further. He felt completely drained, unable to move as he wished.
He wanted to hear a definitive answer from her, but Declan’s body wouldn’t allow even that brief moment.
In the end, his world flipped upside down, and his vision went completely dark.
Just before his consciousness faded entirely, Declan bit his lip and spoke.
“I will never forget.”
“…”
“You will always be my master, for the rest of my life.”
