I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 76
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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Rix shook his head instead of answering. Waiting for her was hard, but as long as he had the assurance that Ivonne would return, he could wait forever—and had indeed done so over the years.
“Let’s go. What’s for dinner tonight?”
“Roast chicken.”
“Wow, that sounds great. You’re good at making that, Rix.”
Ivonne’s voice bubbled with excitement. Her happiness was his happiness. Moreover, Rix had expected that Ivonne, having become the Southern Magic Tower Master, would move to the official residence near the tower.
However, she hadn’t, and consequently, they were able to spend more time together, giving him no reason to be unhappy.
Rix walked a half-step behind Ivonne, almost like a shadow and maintaining a perfect distance that suited him well—not too far, yet not too close. Much like a dog that adores its owner and experiences slight separation anxiety during walks.
However, the moment Ivonne flipped her hair back, Rix froze in place. The casually moving little finger and the dangerously fragile violet gaze fixated on it.
“…Ah.”
His voice sounded strangled, almost as if his throat was constricted, or rather, the sound that escaped Rix was more like a last gasp or a breaking sigh.
Despite the setting sun and the warm weather causing her hair to stick to her neck, Ivonne swept her hair back over her shoulder again, captivating the entire focus of that violet gaze.
He found himself unable to move, as if trapped. Yet, unlike before, there was no ache in his ankle.
As Ivonne walked away, she disappeared into the haze of a late summer afternoon.
― “Don’t do anything until I return.”
It had been the same that day, not long after she had interacted with ‘that man’, one summer day.
Ivonne had left him with a promise and then disappeared.
“….No.”
The rough voice squeezed through dry lips, almost like a scream.
“Uh!”
Ivonne was startled by the sudden pain in her wrist and turned around.
“Huff… Huff…”
Rix was suddenly pale and was gasping for breath. He was gripping her wrist so tightly it seemed he might break it. The situation was unexpected, but Ivonne missed her chance to ask what Rix was doing.
“Rix?!”
The sound of thick tears falling from behind his glasses made it clear why she hadn’t reacted immediately. Although they hadn’t known each other for long, Ivonne felt they shared a secret.
Living together in the same house, sharing the air even in the middle of the night—though, of course, they had separate rooms.
Thus, Ivonne prided herself on knowing quite a bit more about Rix than when they first met. But perhaps that was arrogance.
“Rix, Rix. Why are you crying?”
Rix was crying, and not just anywhere, but in broad daylight at the front gate of the bustling imperial palace, his workplace. With one hand on the grocery basket and the other gripping Ivonne’s wrist in deep sorrow.
‘Did I say something wrong? Did I walk too fast? Did Rix want to keep walking?’
A myriad of thoughts crossed her mind, but none seemed to answer her questions.
“Rix, what’s wrong? Please, talk to me.”
Ivonne was desperate for him to say anything. She didn’t forget to dab his cheeks with the handkerchief Rix had given her, the one from Lenore. She wanted to take off his glasses and wipe his eyes, but she remembered Johann mentioning how much Rix valued his glasses.
It was while Ivonne was busy wiping the tears that streaked down Rix’s face.
“….Did you meet him?”
His voice was like hair soaked in hot water. The voice coiling around her ears was uncomfortably damp. The sensation crawling up her spine was eerily unpleasant.
“Meet? Who?”
Despite the awkwardness, Ivonne responded with a sense of removing each hair sticking to her body in the bathtub. Patiently, though the task was unpleasant.
But Rix barely opened his mouth. His lips quivered uneasily, as if he was terrified.
‘Scared? Why would Rix be scared?’
Even as she pondered this, Rix continued to shed large tears, soaking the end of the handkerchief.
Ivonne felt increasingly troubled. Comforting others was not her forte.
‘One must have received comfort to give it.’
Raised with just the impersonal financial support of a harsh guardian, emotions were a difficult territory for her.
‘Had I ever encountered such a situation with Isaac? I think I just cried alone until I was too exhausted to continue.’
As she recalled whether her guardian had ever comforted her—a memory which offered no answers—she faced Rix again without any revelation.
“Don’t cry. Who did I meet today? Let’s see, I met some people from the department…”
As she paused to wring out the handkerchief, more tears streamed down behind Rix’s glasses.
Quickly, Ivonne dabbed at the tears that had pooled and then trickled down his masculine jaw, catching a sudden rush of his warm breath on her hand—as if her touch had somehow pulled him back from the brink of suffocation.
