Chapter 46
Rihi.
A boy whose true name, whose identity, she never knew.
“Stop crying, you little brat.”
But he was the one who approached and held her hand when she, clutching the bloody wounds she could never dare reveal to her aged grandmother, went into the forest and wept bitterly.
Always grumbling, his words and actions were far from kind. Yet in rare moments, his words were filled with depth and care that didn’t match his usual demeanor.
He had secretly gone to confront the children who had hurt her, retaliating against them on her behalf, all while keeping a straight face and never telling her what he had done.
Through him, she experienced—for the first time—what it meant to have a true friend, even if it was something she’d only heard about in stories.
He was her most precious friend.
“Maia!”
But now, the boy who had become someone whose name she could no longer call, suddenly shouted her name like a bolt from the sky.
Maia staggered a step back.
The distance she tried to create was meaningless, as he closed it in a single stride.
“This is… I mean, it’s just that…”
Standing right in front of her, he couldn’t even form a proper sentence, his expression filled with panic she had never seen before.
Staring blankly at his face, Maia opened her trembling lips.
“Hyperion… Loire.”
That must be your real name.
At that, he looked at her with a shattered expression, as if her words had struck him like lightning.
“You were Hyperion Loire.”
The seemingly kind and gentle Hael Terzen, and the man she had believed without a doubt was the true Lord Rihail Earith—
“…Maia. I… I thought, if you found out about me…”
And you, too.
“You deceived me until the very end.”
He had put on a show while hiding the most important truth of all.
“Tell me, Lord Rihail Earith. You’re clearly a transcendent being hundreds of years old. What was so amusing about pretending to be my fake friend?”
That day, when he confessed his second lie, and she asked him that question, his eyelids trembled.
He looked at her with the expression of someone who didn’t know what to say.
“You could’ve at least told me your real name. Rihail.”
“No.”
He had denied it instinctively, then watched her face carefully.
“That’s not my name.”
Ah… Now she finally understood what he had meant by those words.
Maia’s vision blurred under the weight of shock.
That beautiful, pale, always pure-looking face grew distorted and faint.
“How could you… for all that time… like that, so creepily—”
There had been one more chance.
At the banquet celebrating the Crown Princess’s pregnancy, if he had chosen to reveal his true identity rather than lie again…
“If you had… would I have treated you the same as before?”
“…!”
At that moment, a sharp voice pierced Maia’s heart.
Once so lost and shaken, his gaze now twisted with unreadable emotion as he looked at her.
“You, who I know better than anyone… knowing how fragile you are, how could I ever tell you the truth? If I had…”
He inhaled sharply and lowered his gaze, his trembling lashes casting shadows.
“You would never have treated me the same. You wouldn’t have shown me your true heart and emotions again.”
He whispered like he was confessing a sin.
Was he wrong? No… I…
“…Stop it. Please, just stop…”
Her head was spinning. She couldn’t stand on her own feet.
But cruelly, he didn’t stop chasing her.
His desperate steps closed the distance she had tried to create.
So Maia—
“Please stop!”
She screamed in agony, just as she had shouted at the Duke of Western in the study that day.
His starlike eyes widened, shocked, staring at Maia as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Maia slowly clenched her outstretched hand and whispered in pain.
“…I don’t want to see you anymore.”
“Maia!”
Maia turned and ran.
As desperately and precariously as a child fleeing from the terrifying monster in their nightmare.
“Duchess of Western… You haven’t gone to sleep?”
The maid who entered the room looked at Maia sitting blankly on the bed, having stayed up the entire night.
“….”
Maia said nothing.
Her mind was flooded with memories from the past—memories she should have realized long ago, but ultimately had ignored.
“Today… you’re to return to the capital. The mage tower will use teleportation magic to send you directly back to the duchy.”
Seeing Maia looking like a broken person, the maid began to ramble nervously.
“His Grace the Duke is expected to return in two days, so you’ll see him soon… so please, you should prepare to leave…”
Bang! Bang, bang—!
It wasn’t just knocking—it was more like someone pounding furiously.
The door flew open, and through the crack appeared a man she knew all too well, his sharp eyes blazing.
Rihi.
No—now, Hyperion Loire.
Maia couldn’t take her eyes off those golden pupils.
The tension between them was so palpable, the maid looked flustered as she glanced back and forth.
“Uh… Lord Earith. The Duchess needs to prepare to return to the capital…”
“Leave.”
“…Excuse me?”
He finally looked away from Maia and stared down at the maid.
Meeting his gaze, she shuddered under a pressure she’d never felt before.
“I—I understand!”
Crushed by the terrifying presence of something beyond human, she fled the room, tacitly allowing a situation that normally would never be permitted: an unchaperoned meeting between man and woman.
Now that all obstacles were gone—
Maia, still sitting on the bed, could barely breathe, while Hyperion stared down at her with star-bright eyes that seemed to burn even brighter with intensity.
Only their silence filled the room.
“…Leave.”
Maia pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to steady herself as she lowered her gaze.
She had to return to the capital. She couldn’t stay here anymore.
“Let’s talk. Please, don’t avoid me…”
Just as she barely managed to speak, Hyperion’s cold, rigid face crumbled, and he dropped to his knees without hesitation.
The eyes that had always looked down on her were now lower than her own.
In those shimmering fragments of stars, only Maia was reflected—engraved deeply into the surface of his radiant light.
Those eyes reminded her of the past, of memories. But the emotions flooding them now—overflowing, crashing like waves—had a name.
A name she didn’t want to know.
“I was… I was too emotional yesterday. I’m sorry. It was my fault, more than anything… I shouldn’t have said those things.”
Gripping her hands resting on the bed, he pleaded.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I lied. I had the chance to confess once, and I still lied. I’m sorry…”
Maia remembered what he had said to her the day before.
“If I had… would you have treated me the same as before?”
She closed her eyes in pain.
“Knowing how fragile you are, how could I ever tell you the truth?”
“You wouldn’t have given me your true heart again.”
Everything he said… was right.
So she trembled from the betrayal, unable to endure it. But at the same time, she couldn’t deny the truth—it only made her suffer more.
It was her own weakness.
Though she pretended to be indifferent to everything, the walls she built were thin, fragile—easily cracked.
In the end, her weakness was the cause.
She remembered the hand that had gently brushed her hair as he told yet another lie.
You didn’t mean to lie. You hate hiding the truth. That’s why you did it.
When had he changed—this person who used to speak so bluntly it hurt?
“Maia.”
Tears streamed from her closed eyes.
Seeing her cry, Hyperion whispered her name in agony.
She couldn’t take it anymore. His hand, filled with both warmth and cold, reached her cheek, and she broke down.
“Why? Why…?”
She didn’t want to know. She wanted to ignore it to the end.
But even so… his hand hesitated.
That hesitation was filled with kindness—and Maia, trembling, whispered:
“Why did you give your heart to me…?”
She opened her eyes again, but her vision was so blurred by tears she could see nothing clearly.
Only one thing was certain—he was there.
Hyperion. Rihi.
She must have known deep down.
No—she definitely sensed it.
…That the emotion Rihi held inside him…
Was different from the friendship she had longed for and thought she had finally attained.
“I’ll help you. Use me.”
“You know what would be most disgraceful in keeping this marriage, right?”
“I’ll play the role of your lover—so divorce him.”
The meaning behind the hand he offered her…
The way his eyes trembled every time he looked at her, the overly gentle and affectionate touches…
“I hated seeing you angry. I hated your trembling expressions.”
“…You wouldn’t understand how much pain I feel whenever you waver because of him.”
Golden eyes like melted honey—sweet, yet carrying a bitter undercurrent.
“If only you could forget that man entirely.”
“If I could erase even the faintest trace he left behind…”
The emotion rising to his throat—swallowed back because he couldn’t confess it—
“Maia… you…”
Hyperion looked up at her with eyes full of turmoil.
Maia continued to cry silently and finally accepted, through her pain—
It was love.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. That’s why… I hid it until the very end…”
Realizing her heart through her tearful silence, Hyperion looked like he wanted to cry in her place.
He slowly lifted his upper body and gently pressed his closed eyes to her damp cheek.
“Don’t cry… I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I love you. I’m sorry I hurt you…”
At last, even his voice was tinged with tears.
“I’m sorry…”
And as his endless apologies echoed in the room—
Maia wept, as if she had returned to that childhood moment, before the boy who had once miraculously wiped away her tears ever appeared.
