Chapter 44
“Is the Demos family busy with other matters?”
Hmm, probably.
As Chloe thought about the broken engagement between the Leander and Demos families — clearly a major issue today — she tried to quietly walk past him.
Tried to.
“Chloe Arus.”
Until Sion Demos called her name.
Chloe, who had been about to sit down in her usual seat, turned her head to look at him. In front of him sat the same caramel box with the pink ribbon and the pendant she had given him. Unlike Jericho, Sion seemed completely uninterested in the caramels as he spoke in a low voice.
“My words still stand.”
“…What words?”
“The ones where I said I’d help you.”
At that, Chloe made a face that clearly said, Are you serious? With her hands on her hips, she frowned.
“Even after seeing how I act around my uncle, you still say that?”
Before, she had brushed it off, thinking the rumors must’ve been exaggerated. But this time, she couldn’t.
“I grew up loved. So there’s no reason for you to help me — none at all!”
“You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me.”
“I never lied!”
“No. You were abused.”
At that stubborn insistence, Chloe glared at Sion, irritation flickering in her eyes. Noticing her glare, Sion raised his head and met her eyes.
“Even if no one else knows, I do. I can tell.”
Sion Demos’s eyes were the pale blue of a perfectly clear sky — translucent like seawater mixed with white paint, made all the more striking by the contrast with his jet-black hair.
“I don’t believe what I see on the surface. You can fake anything that shows.”
Meeting those beautiful eyes, Chloe froze as if she had turned to stone. Because she knew.
She knew what the dark shadow behind those eyes meant, what the fear buried deep in them really was.
Because — just as Sion said — Chloe could tell. Even if no one else could, she could.
A child who has been abused can instinctively recognize another. It’s something those who have never known that darkness could never notice. And no matter how much one hides or pretends, another who bears the same scars can always see through it.
That dim, lifeless light in his eyes…
She had seen it before — in the mirror.
Without realizing it, Chloe stepped back and averted her gaze.
Yes. She had known since their first meeting.
In how Sion seemed overly conscious of his parents.
In how his politeness toward adults was just a little too perfect.
Chloe had sensed, even faintly, that Sion Demos was being abused.
But she ignored it for one reason.
“…Say it, Chloe Arus.”
Because she didn’t want to believe that in this new life too, there was a child being abused by their own parents.
Because she didn’t want to believe that the male lead of the novel she loved so much had endured the same miserable childhood she once had.
“Should I help you?”
At Sion’s words, Chloe shook her head — but inside, she could only nod.
It was time to admit it.
She had been trapped by her own prejudice — by the story.
She’d believed the Demos family had raised their child with love simply because that’s how it seemed in the novel.
Idiot.
The story had always been written from Diana’s point of view.
Sion Demos had never once actually said his parents loved him.
Stop being stupid, Chloe.
Chloe lifted her head and met Sion’s gaze.
“I’m fine,” she said — and then, with courage, she asked,
“You… are you fine?”
Sion raised one eyebrow, then smirked faintly, as if amused.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
But Chloe’s expression hardened.
Because just as Sion had recognized her pain, she could now recognize his.
He’s not fine.
He’s standing right at the edge.
The realization made her heart drop like a stone.
Sion’s image overlapped with her own — the past version of herself who smiled and pretended to be fine, who acted like she had grown up loved even as she wished to die every night.
“I… can help you,” Chloe said, unconsciously stepping closer.
“Just say you’re struggling. Then I’ll help you. I’ll find a way, somehow—”
“How could you possibly help me?”
But Sion took a step back, widening the distance between them. His tone grew harsh, openly hostile.
“Tell me. How exactly would you save me?”
“I’ll find a way—”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
He sneered openly, his words sharp as knives.
“Do you know why I’m sure you were abused? That day we went to the Leander estate — you were smiling so pathetically it was painful to watch.”
“…”
“You, who always try to please adults no matter what — how could you possibly save me, huh?”
The deliberate cruelty in his words made Chloe clench her fists tight.
“Then what about you?”
“What?”
“What makes you so different? Why did you try to save me? How did you think you could do that? Why did you even ask if you should help me?”
“…”
“You and I — we’re the same. Aren’t we?”
Sion stood motionless, face drained of emotion.
That’s fine. I’ll convince him another way.
Chloe swallowed hard, preparing to reason with him —
“…By killing me.”
Sion Demos answered quietly.
“By killing me, I was going to save you.”
Chloe could only stare at him, speechless. She couldn’t comprehend what he was saying — what he meant by killing himself to save her.
But amid the confusion, one thing became clear.
The abuse Sion Demos had suffered was far more horrific than anything she had endured in her previous life.
“But you’re not going to throw yourself away to save me, are you?”
Sion smirked faintly at her stunned face.
“So just save yourself. Stop worrying about others for no reason.”
With that, he turned and started down the hill.
Chloe watched his retreating back, growing smaller in the distance — then suddenly moved, driven by instinct.
I can’t let him go.
She couldn’t just let a boy who mirrored her own past walk away.
Her steps quickened, until she was almost running — stumbling down the slope, unable to stop herself. And finally, when she caught up just behind him—
“Sion Demos!”
Chloe threw her weight forward and shoved him.
“Ugh!”
Caught off guard, Sion staggered.
“What are you doing?!” he shouted angrily, but Chloe didn’t flinch.
“You’ll see. I’ve never failed to get what I wanted since coming here.”
“What?”
“This time won’t be any different.”
She thought his silence came from shock at her determination — at the fire in her eyes as she said,
“I’ll save you this time too. Because I have to save you… to save myself.”
But she was wrong.
Sion wasn’t speechless because of her resolve.
He was silent because he’d seen the tears shimmering in her green eyes.
“See you later,” Chloe said, roughly wiping her tears away.
“You’ll thank me someday — you’ll see.”
After one last glare, she turned and strode down the hill without looking back.
Sion stood there for a long time, watching her grow smaller and smaller.
For a very, very long time — like a tree that has learned only how to wait, rooted in place.
