However, I also thought that I was no different from a sinner to Bianca.
It was because I hadn’t realized until the very end that she had feelings for me for a very long time. No, to be precise, I had been desperately denying it. That would be the right expression.
For me, it wasn’t easy to admit that Bianca wasn’t truly a bad person.
I couldn’t look back at her for such a long time. I had been trying to keep my mind off her, letting her sadness slip by. I merely watched her pain from afar. I, too, was one of the people who had ignored her.
So, I wondered if I had made countless mistakes toward her. I didn’t think I was the right person to claim moral superiority. By analogy, I believed the two of us had a relationship akin to a kind of mutual negligence—a relationship where the wrongs committed by each other were offset.
“…That is just sophistry.”
“You’re right. It’s all sophistry and nothing but forced logic.”
I nodded, acknowledging the princess’s words. It wasn’t that I refused to admit that my words were steeped in sophistry. However, I had no intention of retracting what I had said.
What if my words were sophistry?
What if they were forced?
That was how my heart felt at that moment.
Crucially, I had made love to Bianca. The moment she was held in my arms, she became my woman. She became mine. Wouldn’t that be reason enough for me to act this way? I wasn’t foolish enough to let slip what had come into my hands.
“…Is that why you’re willing to commit such a reckless thing?”
“Not just that.”
I offered a wry smile and added, “Princess, I am a very greedy person—the kind of greedy person who, once something is in his grasp, holds onto it tightly and never lets it go. How could someone like that kindly relinquish the women who are already his?”
“…..”
At my words, the princess shook her head slowly, staring at the horizon beyond the thunderstorm and flames.
“It is suicidal. Even if you go there, what can you truly accomplish? Do you think you can defeat them and carry out your will?”
To her question, I responded simply.
“Princess, back when we were fighting against the ‘Witch of Winter,’ did we calculate the odds before we attacked her?”
At my words, the princess froze, as though struck by lightning. Then, as if lamenting something, she sighed softly and closed her eyes.
“…No, we didn’t. Yes, you are right. Despite knowing full well that our chances of victory were slim, we confronted the ‘Witch of Winter’ head-on. And in the end—”
“We won. That’s all there was to it.”
“Is that the answer you’re giving me?”
For some reason, I nodded quietly, not looking away from the princess, who gazed at me with a bitter expression.
“Sometimes, isn’t it true that you want to follow your heart rather than logic?”
****
[Iris’s POV]
And so, he left her.
Not because someone else ordered it, but because of his own will, he walked toward death.
“…Cain.”
As his back grew farther and farther away from her, she wanted to run to him and stop him.
Yet, she didn’t. She only stood there, watching his retreating figure. As she watched him leave, she recalled the words he once told her.
[Iris el Devhart, my great teacher. How long will you sit idly like this? If you remain still, nothing will ever change. So rise. I know you. You aren’t a weak woman.]
[You know what? I think I liked the princess a great deal. So, please watch until the end. This is exactly what I wanted to show you.]
In truth, she had been frustrated. The version of him she knew and the version of him standing before her were worlds apart.
The “him” she remembered shone brilliantly. He was so radiant that words failed her. He was the only star that stood upon the earth.
But now, he was just painfully ordinary.
Though he was the same person…she secretly sighed, wondering if he might have become someone entirely different.
But she was wrong.
Beyond time and space, he was always him—still dazzlingly beautiful, still shining brilliantly. The radiance he exuded drew her in, like a moth to a flame. Just as it had in the past, she found herself entranced by him once again.
“…Cain.”
He moved farther and farther away.
His strong, courageous back—the one she always wanted to protect—receded into the distance.
In truth, she wanted to hold onto him even now. She wanted to grasp him tightly, to plead with him to look only at her. She wanted to beg him to love only her.
But she couldn’t.
If she were to hold onto him now, it would be a denial of everything he was.
So, she would watch.
She would respect his will.
She would witness just how far he could go in pursuing his resolve.
In the end, if she could see him shining brilliantly once more, the pain she felt at that moment would be insignificant.
That was her way of loving him…
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Check out my other projects: Rehabilitating the Villainess, Pushover Extra Trains the Villainesses, My Wife is the Devil, Transmigrated as the Butler of a Defeated Heroine, My Summons Are Special
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