I Never Wanted His Child - Chapter 12
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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She released Leri’s hand and stood up from her seat.
“I think we’re done with preparations for now. You can go out.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll call Duke Mikhail.”
As Leri and the maids practically fled the room, silence filled the space. Her head throbbed. She pressed her forehead with her hand, attempting to ease the pain.
With her hand on the table and her head bowed, as she tried to steady her breathing, a low voice reached her ears.
“If you’re ready, come out.”
“Are you telling me to follow you even when I don’t know where you’re going? Besides, it seems you’re fine with presenting me to the people.”
She raised her head and looked at him, dressed in traditional attire. Contrary to when he wore his formal uniform, Mikhail, now in coat, seemed much softer in appearance.
Though it was just a disguise.
“Well.”
A mysterious smile spread at the corner of his tilted head. Her mood soured upon noticing it.
‘Are you… smiling?’
She thought. He wasn’t the kind of person to smile without reason.
“Emilia von Loren. No, I should call you Emilia von Heinrich now, shouldn’t I? Don’t expect doing any nonsense in front of me.”
“….Don’t attach your family name to mine.”
Emilia retorted, glaring at him. Emilia von Heinrich!
She didn’t want to have the enemy’s family name. It felt like everything she had crumbled down. To hide her trembling, she raised her hand, wrapped her arms around it, and clenched her fist, feeling somewhat relieved.
‘What a stroke of bad luck.’
She disliked his red eyes staring at her, his shining golden hair, and the towering height that made him look down at her.
She wanted to grab his collar and lower his gaze immediately, but even touching him felt dreadful, so she restrained herself.
“I don’t particularly enjoy touching you either.”
His hand moved gracefully, lightly grasping hers. The hand that had been clinging to her arm slipped away too easily. He took gloves from his pocket and casually placed them on her hand. The long gloves reached up to her forearm.
“This should be better.”
However, the fact remained that their hands were still in contact. She couldn’t help but find his behavior, where even such a small area of contact was unpleasant, absurd. She let out a bitter laugh.
This person did that…
Memories of that time came flooding back. She slowly closed her eyes and opened them again, trying to erase the sense of guilt.
‘Let’s not get caught up.’
No matter what actions he took or words he said, it was all nonsense. Ignoring him would be the best course of action.
Emilia’s hand had somehow come to rest on his arm. She finally understood what he intended to do and gave him an inquisitive look.
“…Surely you’re not suggesting you act as an escort?”
“As you can see. If you also want to save your loved ones, it would be wise to cooperate,”
He replied casually, as if he hated the annoying task.
His tone carried veiled threats in every word he uttered. Emilia was left speechless.
Each word he spoke seemed to be laced with a threat.
“Before we go to the banquet, let me say one thing. Because of your actions, someone else paid the price.”
“What price? I’ll take responsibility for my actions!”
“Just know that you can only speak of taking responsibility when you have the power to back it up. Your ‘responsibility’ only amounts to sacrificing your own life, doesn’t it?”
What kind of responsibility was that? He dismissed her grandiose words with a flicker in his eye, as if telling her to dispense with the pretentious talk.
“So, for now, you’d better lie low and do what I tell you. If you didn’t have the patience for that, you should have succeeded or died.”
His words pierced Emilia’s heart sharply.
“…Did someone die because of me?”
“Your comprehension isn’t all that bad, so maybe if you put some thought into your actions beforehand…”
His gaze and his lively voice, laced with sarcasm, pushed her into an abyss.
‘And that’s why the maid hesitated to answer.’
Leri had reacted ambiguously to her statement that the others hadn’t died, as if hiding something.
Emilia felt her breath constricting. Her chest burned hot, and she seemed to be losing herself in anger.
She had an urge to yank her hand free from his grip, snatch a dagger, and cut off his breath by tearing his throat open with her blade.
“Someday, I’ll kill you, Mikhail von Heinrich.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
He smiled gently, his demeanor oozing arrogance.
