Chapter 115
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“Your secret?”
Edmund looked surprised for a moment, then chuckled as he shifted his grip on the gun slightly.
“Is there really a secret? I know everything there is to know about you.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Just by looking into those pretty eyes, I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
The man, his chin raised slightly, asserted this with the utmost confidence. Blair was speechless at his brazenness, but she feigned a shake of her head and retorted.
“I guarantee you won’t know this secret.”
“I’ll hit the mark anyway.”
Edmund, who showed no intention of pulling the trigger, continued calmly.
“So if there’s a secret you want to spill, why not just tell me right now?”
It was an incredibly brazen demand. Blair, who had been moving her lips in disbelief, broke into a smile.
“Aren’t you actually just lacking confidence?”
“Me?”
“Is that why you’re just prying into my secrets and stalling without even firing a shot?”
A faint smile flickered in his eyes as he gazed intently at her. It was a look that said he was willing to play along with her cute provocation.
Instead of answering, Edmund raised his rifle. With a deft motion, he swapped out the magazine, reloaded, and immediately aimed at the target. At the sight of his fluid, seamless movements, Blair instinctively took a step back. It didn’t take long before he pulled the trigger.
Thwack!
A single rubber bullet was fired. Blair, half-doubting it, cast her gaze toward the target he’d aimed at. Even from a distance, she could see the center of the thin sheet of paper affixed to the wooden target had been torn and was fluttering in the breeze.
“You’re welcome to come closer and check for yourself. Or, instead of wasting your energy, why don’t you just show me your precious secret?”
A gleam of curiosity, eager to explore every aspect of Blair, shone in Edmund’s face, which had grown even more relaxed. She ultimately had no choice but to keep her word.
“Um… actually, I’ve drawn you before.”
“Me?”
When Edmund showed signs of interest, Blair’s cheeks flushed slightly. She’d been through all sorts of things with him, yet she found herself blushing over a confession as trivial as this.
“Ever since the day we first met on the balcony at Kensington Hall… I’ve kept thinking about you, even though I didn’t even know your name.”
“…”
“So ever since that day, every single day, I’ve been hiding away, without anyone knowing… and drawing you.”
Blair finished her sentence in a trembling voice and pressed her hand to her forehead. Perhaps she’d gone too far with that unnecessary confession. The heat had risen all the way to her earlobes, making it difficult to keep his gaze.
It was then that Edmund reached out and cupped Blair’s chin. Locking their gazes in an intense, lingering gaze, he smiled gently.
“Blair.”
“…”
“Didn’t you say you only leave what steals your heart on the canvas?”
When was that? As Blair searched her memory, she recalled a conversation she’d once had with him at Chiles. Edmund had said he painted ordinary, everyday scenes—things that weren’t special—but she’d told him she was the exact opposite. That was the day she’d replied that she painted things she wanted to remember for a long time.
“The moment I heard that, I knew you must have been painting me.”
"...So you already knew?"
“Of course.”
“How on earth?”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”
Edmund added with a soft chuckle.
“You fell for me at first sight, didn’t you?”
"...Sometimes I even wish I could emulate that confidence of yours.”
“So, tell me another secret now.”
Blair, who had been mumbling with her eyes cast down, looked up at him again.
“A secret I wouldn’t know.”
A secret of her own that the man in front of her wouldn’t know. Did such a thing even exist?
For a moment, her heart skipped a beat. Because there was exactly one feeling she hadn’t yet confessed to him.
She had buried it under her love for Edmund and tried her best to bury it beneath the deep affection he showed her, but a lingering doubt still crept around her like a shadow.
Why had Edmund accepted her as his “real wife”?
He said he needed her, that he couldn’t imagine life without her by his side, and that he couldn’t let her go now. But Blair still couldn’t be sure whether that confession stemmed from genuine love or was a mixture of his sense of responsibility and duty.
The secret she had never been able to voice aloud was still quietly curled up in a corner of her heart.
“...Hmm, I guess so.”
Blair didn’t stay silent for long, afraid those piercing gray eyes might read her thoughts.
“There’s nothing like that.”
“…”
“Because you already know everything about me.”
The man, who had been looking back and forth between her eyes from very close range, soon smiled calmly.
“I see. Well, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it.”
"...Does that mean the bet is off?"
"No. I’ll just have to settle for something else in place of the secret."
Blair’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean, ‘something else’?”
“Like a kiss that pleases me, for instance. Of course, I never said it had to be a kiss on the lips.”
What kind of lewd fantasy was he having now? Even as Blair jumped back in shock, Edmund paid her no mind.
“That’s outrageous!”
“You should’ve seen that coming. You know I never make a losing deal.”
“You’re making a deal with your own wife? You’re so calculating.”
“Go ahead and criticize me all you want. As long as I come out ahead, that’s all that matters.”
Though he spoke those words, his lips resting on Blair’s temple were incredibly soft. So what could she do? The sudden pang of doubt and the inexplicable anxiety she’d felt had no choice but to melt away like snow.
“…I’ll practice hard too, and someday I’ll hit the target.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
As they turned to leave, Blair absentmindedly glanced back at the target. She had fired so many bullets, yet only one had actually hit the mark. The fact that even that shot wasn’t hers somehow made her let out a hollow laugh.
“Ed.”
“Hm?”
“By the way, how do you manage to hit the target so well? What do you think about when you’re aiming?”
Edmund didn’t answer right away. He simply walked silently along the forest path, still holding Blair’s hand as they left the shooting range. The rustling sound of fallen maple leaves under their feet filled the silence for quite a while. Blair had to pause for a moment to consider whether he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
“…Back in the day.”
After a moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, he finally spoke.
“There were things I simply had to see through to the end.”
“…”
“Whenever I held a gun and aimed at something, that was all I could think about.”
Blair sensed a change in his tone but, unable to grasp its exact meaning, simply blinked. True to his goal-oriented nature, it was hard to tell whether he was referring to a specific objective he needed to achieve or to a person.
“And now?”
When she asked cautiously, Edmund, who had been staring straight ahead, looked down at Blair with eyes that instantly softened.
When she asked cautiously, Edmund, who had been staring straight ahead, looked down at Blair with eyes that instantly softened.
“Just a moment ago, I was only thinking about how to uncover my wife’s secret.”
“Is that a positive change?”
“Of course.”
He added as he adjusted the way he held her hand.
“It means you were the only one on my mind.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
As if by mutual agreement, their lips met lightly. They smiled, their noses touching slightly, then set off with a spring in their step. The dreamlike time that followed, leaving all reality behind, was still in full swing.
On the way back to the villa, Edmund showed her a flat field where horses were galloping.
A gentle breeze blew across the field bathed in the red sunset, as if the day were catching its last breath, and the dry grass swayed softly from side to side with its movement.
Across that field, horses were galloping, their hooves pounding the ground.
Leaning her arms on the fence, Blair couldn’t take her eyes off the peaceful scene. She felt all the emotions that had been churning inside her just moments ago quietly subside.
“I’d like to try horseback riding sometime.”
“…While you’re pregnant?”
“Is that too much to ask?”
“It’s definitely out of the question. I’ll teach you whenever you’re ready, so just be patient and wait a little while.”
Edmund, who had answered readily, fell into thought for a moment, then raised one corner of his mouth slightly and rubbed his chin.
“Even if it’s not a horse… there’s still something to ride.”
“What’s with that look?”
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