Chapter : 33
The designer and the maids, clearly flustered, had already moved far away from me.
Good heavens…!
Did Kalix just pull that ribbon and undo it?
Cold sweat broke out over me.
If I had been even a little slower, the wedding dress that had been clinging to my body with the long ribbon would have slipped off completely.
“What are you doing…!”
At that moment I forgot he was the crown prince and tried to protest the loosened ribbon, but Kalix cut me off.
“You can’t breathe, can you? Right?”
He spoke as if genuinely worried I might not be able to breathe, in a tone both affectionate and as if blaming the clothes for being too suffocating—and I was even more dumbfounded.
“…….”
I forgot even to answer; I just stared up at him.
My hands gripped the dress tightly so it wouldn’t fall.
“Breathe, Kaelin. Breathe—so I loosened the ribbon for you.”
“Huu….”
Only then did I exhale.
After taking a deep breath, my head finally started to clear.
Why on earth is Kalix here?
Lately he’d been popping up out of nowhere everywhere I went, and now he’s here in my house? How did he even get in?
Despite my inner alarm, Kalix spoke on as if nothing was wrong.
“Kaelin, no matter how I think about it, this isn’t right.”
There was something reproachful in his voice.
“What… are you talking about…?”
A bad feeling rose in me.
My will to scold him for barging into my home had already vanished.
Not right about what?
“You told me you liked me.”
“Pardon?”
What is he saying now?
I told him I didn’t like him—that it was a misunderstanding. Is he here to say that again? Coming all the way to my house and even loosening my dress to tell me that? Why?
Stunned and terrified by his words, I was left open-mouthed while the maids and the designer quietly left the room.
They left me alone!
Watching them go in envy, resentment, and helplessness, Kalix continued as if to snap me back to attention.
“You said you liked me. You said it was a misunderstanding? No—no. Don’t tell me lies. You told me many times. You said you liked me as I was. You said you were so fond of me that every nerve in you was keyed to me.”
“!!!!!!”
Yes—I did say that!
Back then!
So what do you want to say now?
Though I was inwardly distancing myself from him, in reality I just blinked like someone who’d had honey put in their mouth.
“You had me put marks on the left wrist band so I wouldn’t forget you, and then you wake my memories and feelings—then marry someone else?”
“Someone else…?!!!!”
He’d been all dignified and composed until now—suddenly “someone else”?
What nonsense is he talking about? Waking memories and feelings?
“This is wrong. You shouldn’t change your heart so easily. If you said you liked me, you should keep liking me, Kaelin.”
I was so incredulous I couldn’t speak.
What the hell is this guy?
You said you weren’t interested in me!
You flat-out told me you weren’t interested—openly, embarrassingly, plainly. So why come now, when I’m about to marry someone else, and say this?
You didn’t like me, so I desperately thought and thought and decided on this marriage to survive—so what’s your problem?
Don’t you think I’m choosing this marriage willingly? I’m doing this because in about a year you might stab me—do you think that’s why I’m marrying someone I don’t love?
Anger rose in me. I’d been restraining myself because he could kill me, but even restraint has its limits.
“Your Highness! You said you don’t like me—do you mean to tell me to only stare at the crown prince and wait to die?! I said liking you was a mistake. I said it was a misunderstanding. If you don’t like me, why are you coming to my house and acting strange?”
I finally blurted it out.
Let me live, that’s all I wanted.
But when Kalix heard my outburst, his eyes took on a strange light—part anger blazing, part some incomprehensible longing.
He looked straight at me and said.
“Kaelin. You awakened my memories and made my feelings irreversible. You have to take responsibility for me.”
“!!”
This crazy—this bastard!
Responsibility?
What is this about—memories? Feelings?
Why now? Have you suddenly started liking me?
“Your Highness! Do you like me? Are you saying these things because you like me now?”
I asked sharply—not because I was truly curious, but in a provocative tone meaning “If you act like this, that’s how I’ll think.”
His face stiffened and his eyes became distant at my question.
No way….
Could it be—really…?
No, say no!
Say it’s nonsense!
“I don’t like you.”
At last, Kalix answered.
Haah….
Right. Of course.
A wave of relief rushed through me; the extreme tension in my muscles dissolved instantly.
I almost let go of the dress from how relaxed I felt, but I forced myself to steady my hands.
But then…
What are all his current actions about, then?
Although I heard what I wanted, his behavior didn’t make sense.
Does he just dislike me for no reason and is tormenting me?
I opened my mouth again.
“Then why…?”
But he cut me off with words that stopped me cold.
“I can’t say I like you. Liking is something I can control. My feelings toward you are uncontrollable.”
Wait.
What are you saying now?
No! Don’t say more!
But he didn’t stop.
“I love you.”
“!!!!!!!!!!!”
He’d said the terrifying words.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
My head went white and his words kept ringing like a tinnitus.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
……
My chest plummeted, and a strange turmoil of emotions stirred.
I couldn’t answer or react; I just stared blankly at Kalix, and he silently stared back.
Then a cold breeze slipped in through the open window.
!!!!!
Kaelin Brockberk! Pull yourself together!
No matter how many times I’d heard the word “love” in another life, did I have to faint at it now?
It’s Kalix!
I snapped as if waking from a stupor caused by the word “I love you,” and, taking a combative stance, glared at him.
“That’s impossible!”
No way!
Absolutely not!
He can’t say he loves me now!
I worked so hard to not die—trying not to be stabbed by you as in the original story. I tried to not like you and I even tried to accept your love.
I followed you, told you to be obsessive; I said I’d accept all your obsession from the start!
You stomped all over my efforts by treating me indifferently.
Now, at the point when I decided to marry another man so I could live, you suddenly say you love me?
You strange male lead!
This can’t be.
Seeing me glare at him, Kalix’s expression grew cold.
“Kaelin, it’s more absurd that I ever said I didn’t love you.”
“!!!!”
What the—what is going on with you?
Right, that was absurd.
You should’ve loved me—but you didn’t. You made things weird and messed up my plans.
And now you say you love me?
Just now?!
In my story you didn’t go back and forth like that!
His inexplicable words made my head whirl even more.
When I said nothing, Kalix spoke again.
“When you said you liked obsessive, possessive love, I didn’t understand, but now I can. I’ve decided I will never let you go—never send you anywhere.”
“Hah!!”
An incredulous exclamation escaped me.
So this is how it had to end!
If Kalix—who I’d thought had changed from the original—ends up loving Kaelin the way I wrote, even if the process differs from the novel, and if the end is that he obsessively clamps down on her like in the story—then it will proceed as in the book.
If he becomes obsessively possessive, then in the end it will go as the novel says.
Then will I—Kaelin—end up being killed by Kalix exactly as I wrote?
Fear and anger made my body tremble.
No!!! I can’t let that happen!
I will live. I don’t want to die.
I will marry Eiden Dacrus.
I will change what I wrote with my actions.
“I will be leaving for the Dacrus Empire in a few days. Your Highness, even when you thought I liked you by mistake, you showed no interest in me. Eiden proposed to me, and I promised to marry him.”
Understand?
You rejected me.
So don’t do this now.
Kalix, you’re already too late.
“No. You cannot leave. I will not let you go.”
!!!!
No!
If I stay I’ll be labeled the daughter of a traitor.
You keep me here and then kill me when the time comes?
“I will leave!”
But Kalix was firm and cold.
“Kaelin Brockberk, you will not leave Everetian.”
Life imprisonment? Or execution?
His words sounded like a sentence being passed on me.
“…….”
Paralyzed by fear and unable to answer, Kalix drove the nail in.
“Break your engagement with Eiden.”
“…….”
I still remained silent.
Kalix left my room as if he didn’t need my reply.
Outside, some faint commotion could be heard.
It seemed Kalix had not come alone.
After a little while, complete quiet fell.
It looked like he and his party had all left my house.
At last I slid down and collapsed.
