Chapter 50
“I couldn’t think of anything else. All I knew was that I had to protect my child.”
Amelia answered in a calm voice.
“I told you I’d protect your child, didn’t I? That I wouldn’t let him die.”
“How could I believe that?”
Her tone implied: How could you betray me after promising that?
Amelia let out a short, bitter laugh and asked,
“You still say ‘my child,’ not our child or your child. You don’t think of Ian as yours. If the situation becomes difficult, you’ll just abandon him and say you had no choice.”
The brief laugh disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“Has anything you said to me ever been true?”
Ivan didn’t answer her question.
“Your identity, your feelings, your promises.”
But she hadn’t expected a response. Amelia continued, her voice tinged with bitter amusement.
“Don’t say it doesn’t count as a lie just because you never said you loved me.”
“…”
“You knew I loved you. And you knew I believed that you loved me.”
Amelia’s eyes sharpened as she glared at him. It was getting harder and harder to hold back the emotion surging up inside her.
“Don’t act like it was my fault for misunderstanding when you’re the one who made it so easy to misunderstand!”
In the end, Amelia couldn’t hold it in and shouted. Her long-suppressed emotions erupted uncontrollably.
“You never cared about me. From beginning to end, all you ever did was use me!”
It was practically a scream. It was the culmination of all the suspicions and resentment she had been too afraid to express for fear of driving him away.
If only she had doubted him when he first approached her. Or at least when he revealed his true identity. Then maybe she wouldn’t have ended up here.
“So you stood in front of everyone and spouted that nonsense about a divine oracle?”
“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth and ask for help? Then we could’ve worked together. We both wanted the temple destroyed.”
Amelia’s breathing grew ragged after her outburst. Emotions she had long repressed and ignored had burst out violently. But Ivan remained silent, calmly watching her fall apart.
“Do you even realize what you’ve done?”
She hated him for it. She couldn’t bear how unaffected he seemed—like he was declaring that Amelia Escliff could never shake him, no matter what she did.
“I don’t care. None of it matters to me.”
Amelia gritted her teeth.
At her words, Ivan finally smiled for the first time. She glared at him, wary of the twisted grin that spread across his face.
He stepped closer. Amelia instinctively tried to back away but forced herself to stay rooted in place.
“Just admit it, Amelia Escliff. You say you acted only to save your child, but really, it was just petty betrayal that ruined everything.”
He spoke with mocking calm, as if it was laughable that she had made a fool of him and thrown away her chance to escape the temple—all because of such weak emotions.
“Amelia.”
Ivan lifted his large hand. Amelia’s eyes followed its movement.
He gently stroked her cheek, like he had back when she thought his affection was real.
“Yes, I planned to use you from the start.”
He openly admitted it.
“Whether you lived or died afterward meant nothing to me. Just like how you don’t care what happens to me.”
His voice was cold, even as his touch remained tender. The contradiction pierced her chest. Her hand trembled as she clenched her fist.
“Even saving your life is just another chore to me. A tedious one.”
His hand, which had been caressing her face, slid slowly downward—from her neck, over her shoulder, and down her back.
“But seeing how you followed me here without the slightest suspicion made me change my mind a little.”
“…”
“After all, you did give birth to my child. That makes you different, even if I can’t acknowledge it publicly. And you love me.”
Ivan’s fingers brushed down her spine, pausing at a three-strand pearl ornament. He toyed with it between his thumb and forefinger.
“So I figured I should at least let you live. That much, I owed you.”
He smiled—charmingly, the way that had once made her fall for him. Amelia hesitated, caught off guard by the expression.
Then suddenly, he yanked the pearl ornament from her. As if grabbing her hair was too much, so this would do instead.
Amelia gasped sharply, startled. Her body was pulled into his. Their lower halves pressed together, while her upper body was arched backward by his grip.
“You made me look like an idiot—getting pushed around by some so-called divine agent—right in front of a foreign delegation.”
His other arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her from collapsing. She grabbed at his shirt for balance, crumpling the fabric in her grip.
Thump, thump. Her heartbeat was pounding, loud enough to echo in her ears. She didn’t know if it was fear, anxiety, or something else.
“Russell, the duke, must’ve been thrilled to think he could make your brat crown prince and take the throne, huh?”
Ivan asked. Amelia didn’t react to the unfamiliar name, but she could guess he had ties to the temple.
“Amelia.”
Taking her silence as agreement, Ivan spoke gently.
“People who sit on thrones are never sane. They always act like the seat is rightfully theirs. And we’re taught from a young age to kill anything that poses a threat.”
Amelia stiffened. When their eyes met, Ivan smiled brightly, his eyes crinkling.
“And now, your child feels like a threat to me.”
“…”
“Don’t you wonder what a madman like me might do?”
Her heart dropped. She forgot how to breathe.
Was he threatening to kill Ian?
“Why the shocked face? Did you not consider this possibility when you decided to betray me?”
Ivan spoke lazily and slowly lowered his face toward hers, like he might kiss her.
But Amelia didn’t flinch.
Because she had suddenly realized something horrifying.
Ivan hadn’t taken Ian out of pity. He hadn’t kept him alive out of compassion.
He’d taken him as leverage. To use against her if she didn’t cooperate.
The way he so casually talked about Ian’s life made that obvious.
“You piece of trash.”
Her vision blurred. Her eyes were wet as she glared at Ivan, her voice shaking with contempt.
But Ivan only smirked—as if mocking her for thinking she could do anything more.
And just like that, the golden light vanished, swallowed by the deepening night that covered his face.
“Ian doesn’t deserve this. To have someone like you as his father.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She hated how all she could do was say that—how powerless she felt.
“Go ahead, try something. If you so much as touch Ian, I won’t stay quiet! I’ll tell everyone—about the child, about you, about everything!”
Amelia shoved at his chest and struggled wildly. She managed to push away just a little.
The pearl ornament snapped, scattering beads across the floor. Her heel caught one, and she stumbled.
She collapsed ungracefully to the floor.
“Sure. Go ahead. Tell the world a woman from the temple and a man locked in the palace somehow got together and had a child. Let’s see who believes it.”
Ivan sneered and walked out.
He left behind only the woman discarded in the darkness he had brought.
Amelia wiped her tears roughly with one hand. Then she let out a low, bitter laugh.
She hated Ivan. She wanted to kill him.
No—maybe she wanted to die herself.
No, that wasn’t it either. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore.
She looked around, eyes still wet.
Scattered pearls, like spilled grain. Ivan’s footprints. The rug, rumpled and dirty.
And Amelia Escliff, slumped in disheveled clothes, alone.
Everything was a mess.
