Chapter 131
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The voice piercing her eardrums struck a nerve with Diana. She had no time to figure out exactly what it meant or what expression the man speaking those words might be wearing. Her pale face contorted in agony.
She had been trying desperately not to think about him all this time.
"The hunting grounds are fine, Diana."
“There’s no problem at all, Diana. Your body will recover in time. As long as you cooperate.”
She struggled not to dwell on the sweet voice that had whispered lies in her ear. She wanted to forget everything that had happened to her. The anger, the hatred, the frustration, and the despair—all of it.
Even if she couldn’t erase it completely from her memory, it was entirely possible to live her life forgetting it.
As the years piled up, one after another, she would eventually forget that such a thing had even happened. Even on nights when she woke up tormented by nightmares, that sliver of hope kept Diana anchored to reality.
But then, finally, finally!
“Let go.”
The raspy sound seemed to scratch at her vocal cords. Diana jerked her head away to break the snake-like gaze and struggled violently.
Even the strength of the grip pinning her down felt familiar. It was as if the past year she’d spent regaining her sight and taking care of herself had been for nothing—she felt trapped once again behind invisible bars. The horror was indescribable.
“Let go!”
As Diana screamed and struggled, a hint of confusion flashed across the man’s eyes. He spoke impatiently.
“Diana. First—”
The face she had imagined from his voice. The voice she had imagined from his face. Anger surged within her. It was the moment Diana’s emotions were finally pushed to the limit.
A whirlpool surged from the surface of the water pooled in the basin. The force, dissolved in the water and surging back, enveloped Diana and knocked away the obstacle.
A shockwave so fierce it made the space tremble beneath her skin erupted. It was a force strong enough to make Diana lose her balance and stagger.
Yet Diana still could not move.
Despite the considerable impact, the hand gripping her showed no sign of loosening its grip. No, if anything, the grip itself seemed to have grown even tighter.
The Crown Prince—no, the Emperor—who had bitten his lower lip so hard the color drained from it, glared at her.
She could feel his right hand—its bones twisted in an eerie manner—trembling erratically. Diana’s gaze drifted toward the hand gripping her. Come to think of it, had that hand always been like that?
The sound of his brush sweeping across the canvas without hesitation lingered faintly in her ears. During her time as a maid, she had never sensed any limitation in the movement of his hands or arms.
“You.”
Felix cut himself off abruptly. Neither his voice nor his expression was at ease.
It was unexpected. Was he the kind of man who could be so unsettled? Diana wondered if perhaps he had worn this same expression that day on the cliff.
Only after swallowing the breath that had caught in his throat did Felix utter the words in a cracked voice.
“You can’t keep running away like this anymore.”
“….”
“So if you want to break free from me, you’d better think of another way.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Felix pulled Diana toward him.
Diana was pulled into his chest. His thick arms wrapped tightly around her, binding her as if to restrain her. Even as she struggled violently, as if she’d been burned by fire, she was no match for his brute strength.
Felix, holding Diana as if he were crushing her, buried his face in the nape of her neck and took a deep breath. His breathing was rough, as if he were trying to devour her scent.
He was even larger than Diana had vaguely imagined, and his frame was more than enough to easily confine a slender woman like her. Her breath was cut off, making it difficult even to speak.
“Let go... Ah. Hmm.”
His chest, packed with muscle, was firm yet suffocatingly hot. His ragged breaths kept brushing against the nape of her neck, and her upper body, bearing his weight, was pushed backward. Diana moaned silently.
It felt as if she were being devoured alive.
The imprinting was still continuing. Once the process of recognizing him with her eyes was complete, vivid colors and shadows, like those in a painting, emerged even in the past that had once been formless. Scenes she had wanted to forget kept popping into her mind.
She couldn’t escape like this. Not by force, absolutely not....
The moment a resolute gleam flashed across her tear-filled pale green eyes, the strength drained from Diana’s struggling arms. Even wrapped in layer upon layer of her coat, her petite body still nestled softly into Felix’s embrace.
Felix, too, was reacquainting himself with her.
The body that fit perfectly within his arms, the wheat-colored hair that had returned to its natural hue as if by magic, the softness of her skin, and her labored breathing. He could even count Diana’s erratic heartbeat.
He paid no heed to his own hands and wrists, which were twitching unnervingly, just as they had once before. Felix’s voice cracked uncontrollably.
“Where have you been, Diana?”
Ever since the day he first found her, he had wanted to hold her like this.
He wanted to press his lips against hers, part her soft, jelly-like lips, and thoroughly explore the sweetness inside her mouth. Every time he saw Diana knocking on the Commander’s office door. Every time he followed her with his eyes as she lingered just out of reach.
Every time he looked down at the hand she had mangled. Every time he felt that nagging pain, every time he stared at the unfinished sketch, every time he became aware of the excitement in his lower body as he recalled the night he held her—every hour, every minute, every second. The water nymph-like woman had consumed him like that.
Felix simply swept her up into his arms. Diana’s feet, now off the ground, dangled precariously in midair.
“So you were in Ormance after all? Was it worth seeing? When did you start seeing?”
He asked again, but Diana gave no response. She had simply stopped resisting and quieted even her breathing.
It was no surprise.
“Fine, if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”
That’s just like you. Felix’s mouth twisted into a half-smile, half-sneer, a mix of relief and derision.
He hadn’t expected to get Diana back without a fight anyway. She looked every bit the small wild animal, constantly on the lookout for a chance to escape, so he couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment.
Felix turned his back on the glowing water bowl and faced the exit of the audience chamber. His plan was to leave this place first to prevent Diana from escaping to the spring, and then seal off the entire royal palace.
He would have a proper conversation once they returned to Karman.
He had plenty of time, and Felix was confident he could endure Diana. He wouldn’t repeat the mistake of being foolishly taken in by the tricks she was likely to pull. Nor would he ever again make the idiotic mistake of leaving Diana alone.
It was then. Diana’s hand, which had been hanging limply in the air, moved.
She tapped his back with a delicate touch. Though the movement carried no strength whatsoever, his body reacted instinctively.
It was as if he were under an irresistible spell. Felix lifted her up and met her gaze once more. He had already long forgotten that he must not let his guard down.
His heart raced madly in those pale green eyes that mirrored his own face perfectly.
It felt as if he were dreaming. Those eyes, shimmering as if they might swallow him whole, were more beautiful than anything that had ever existed in his world.
If he had to trade a hand to keep this forever, he would gladly give it up.
The woman, made perfect by a single spark in her eyes, rested her hand on his shoulder. His satisfaction at her initiative was fleeting; suddenly, a wave of anxiety washed over him.
There was no emotion in her eyes.
Just as he began to feel a sense of strangeness toward this woman, whose gaze was as cold and unfeeling as if she were looking at a lifeless object, Diana murmured in a flat tone.
“I didn’t run away.”
The small hand that had been stroking Felix’s shoulder had, before he knew it, touched his right cheek.
“I’ve simply come to claim my rightful place...”
Diana’s fingertips, sliding down his pale cheek, eventually clenched at the air.
“You’re the one who wasn’t invited here.”
Water overflowing from a basin gushed through the audience chamber’s drainage channels. The thunderous roar of the water echoed through the royal palace, spilling beyond the audience chamber.
Felix desperately tried to pull her back into his arms, but it was already too late. Diana’s presence was engulfed by countless droplets of water.
“Diana!”
Even his desperate shout was drowned out by the thunderous roar of the water.
Spring water poured out frantically through the wide-open entrance. The water overflowing from the aqueduct soaked the ground at their feet and rose to knee-level in an instant.
Where you are is the paradise of Balestega.
The spirits spoke in unison.
We’ll come to you, Diana.
Her vision burst into a blinding white light.
***
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