MPO

CHAPTER LXXVll-78

Feeling confirmed in his suspicions, Lucas, consumed by rage, cornered her.

“So you rejected my proposal because you were planning to die anyway?”

“Yes.”

“…What?”

He had asked to know her thoughts but hadn’t expected her to admit it so easily. Lucas’s face contorted as if he had been hit with a fatal blow. Leila, unable to see his expression, couldn’t understand why he was so furious.

His actions had been incomprehensible to her lately. Honestly, what the maids had said earlier had stung, but it wasn’t incorrect. Perhaps that’s why it hurt even more.

“They weren’t wrong. So please don’t punish the employees on my account.”

Her indifferent words, even about her own matters, made Lucas feel a surge of anger. The crude expression “going off the deep end” seemed fitting now—an expression that perfectly matched his state of mind.

Leila, uncomfortable and burdened by the situation, stood up. Not knowing where to go, she blindly took a step forward. Lucas watched her quietly.

Under the bright sunlight, Leila walked alone in darkness.

Even though she could see light, it was like walking under a faint, hazy moonbeam at best.

Without anyone’s help, she appeared steadfast and unbothered.

But why did she seem so precarious? Why was he so infuriated? Lucas couldn’t understand it himself, but one thing was clear.

Even if Leila said she didn’t need him…

He needed her.

Just imagining a world without her made him feel as if all the blood in his body was draining away. It didn’t matter where these feelings came from—he needed to have her.

He had to hold her tightly, deciding her fate—whether she lived or died—by his own hand.

“I will punish them as an example.”

His low, murmuring words made Leila stop in her tracks. She hesitated, but then tried to move forward again, ignoring his words.

“I will drag the entire family of those filthy maids who spoke out of turn here and cut off their wrists, regardless of their age. Only such a harsh example will ensure that no one dares to slander my people again.”

“Why would you go that far?!”

Unable to hold back, Leila shouted. She felt suffocated and on the verge of insanity. Since his clumsy proposal at the temple, the stone lodged in her heart had only grown larger.

“…Because of someone like me, you shouldn’t tarnish yourself with filth. Do I really have to say this myself?”

Her voice was frail, as if it would extinguish like a candle, but she continued speaking with resolve.

“For someone like you, Duke, who has everything, the only thing I can offer is my music. If you lose interest in that, I’ll have nothing left to give. Have you ever shivered in fear, wondering when that moment would come?”

Though her body trembled, her voice was clear. Lucas realized that her words were her hidden truth. He decided to postpone sealing her mouth with a kiss.

He wanted to hear all the filth she had buried inside her, no matter how much it hurt him.

“Since I went blind, I’ve known people who cared for me were being unjustly driven out, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Every time I lost someone, I realized I wasn’t worried about them, but about myself.”