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Chapter 8 : The First Step to Escape (4)
*****
There was a moment of silence.
Isota and Kai seemed to need time to understand what they were heard.
Regina slowly waited for them to accept the situation. In fact, she needed time to calm down because her heart was shaking at the words she finally said.
After a while, it was Isota who opened her mouth first.
"Good idea."
She seemed to said it from the bottom of her heart. Holding Regina's hand with a determined expression, she even looked happy.
However, Kai did not take this positively. He sharply pointed out Regina's nuance.
“Does leave the duke's simply mean breaking off the engagement? I don’t think that’s all.”
A very anxious look looked at her. Kai's speculation has been sharp since before, saying that it was an engagement under threat.
Regina did not avoid and looked into his light green eyes. In order to get their help anyway, she had to let them know this fact.
"Yes, I'm going to leave the Yurdenian Empire for a while."
"What?"
Isota opened her eyes wide in surprised as if she hadn't expected that.
"Why do you have to leave the Empire when you just break up your engagement with Duke Gregory?"
It was natural that she didn't understand. Even if you live quietly or go to another country after the breakup, there is no case of immigrating at all.
However, the situation was different because she ran away instead of breaking up the engagement.
"That's...."
This situation must be glossed over somehow. She was tempted to talk every time, but she couldn't say she ran away because she was afraid he would kill her. It had to be her own secret until the end.
"It's because I don't think Arsene will break up the engagement easily. Even if I run away to the countryside, if I was within the empire, I won't be able to escape the duke's influence."
Then, Isota frowned as if she was displeased. It seemed that she didn't like that Regina worked so hard to avoid Arsene.
"Why should you avoid it? His power. It's really annoying. I'm going to become a Marquis that even he can't touch."
Putting aside Isota, who grinds her teeth and plans for the future, Kai, who was listening quietly, asked what she wanted.
"So have you thought about how to avoid his eyes and leave?"
Regina took a deep breath and leaned forward a little. Now it was time to prepare for the escape in earnest.
"Because of that...."
*****
After a while, Regina returned to the mansion after parting ways with her friends, and accidentally encountered Arsene with a bandage on his leg.
He stood on crutches, talking to Severo, then smiled like a breeze as he saw her walking towards him.
"You're back?"
He greeted her warmly even thought she left him behind and went out.
However, as soon as she came in, she felt somewhat frustrated when she looked at the bandaged legs. Her conscience was mercilessly stabbed to think that he was hurt because of her.
'I could cure him.'
Arsene told her not to waste her ability, but she also healed the wound on his palm, so wouldn't that be okay?
"......"
But soon she looked up and tried to ignore the noticeable bandage. His injury could have been an opportunity for her.
The purple eyes stared into Regina eyes, sparkling like pink spinels. He seemed to be looking for something in her eyes, which had been looking at his bandage a while ago. For example, guilt.
When she turned her head away, he stopped looking and asked a question.
"Who did you meet?"
A gentle voice like a spring breeze gently wrapped around her ears. It was a similar tone as usual, but for some reason she felt that the voice contained a feeling of sadness.
Apart from that, Regina thought he knew and pretended not to know. In fact, Arsene was like that.
Regina met her friends while he was being treated for getting injured because of her. And she tried to escape.
The latter was something she imagined alone, but it was anyway.
“You know that the only people I can make an appointment with are Isota and Kai.”
Regina's eyes wandered around the air, lost their way.
He didn't even criticize her, but she apologized first because she was stabbed by himself.
"I'm sorry that I left in a hurry by myself earlier. I'm afraid I'll be late for the appointment, so I didn't know..."
She didn't forget to make her eyebrows look like she was sorry as much as she could.
She knew he'd say it's all right if she made eye contact like that. Arsene didn't seem to care much about that, so of course she knew it.
However, the answer that came back was different from what she expected.
"Then will you be with me tomorrow?"
"Yes?"
Her pink eyes widened slightly as if she was complaining like a child. She looked up at him, unable to close her slightly parted mouth in her bewilderment.
Her trembling eyes, as if there was an earthquake, scanned his face and slowly averted his gaze.
"Tomorrow..... I'm supposed to go shopping....."
She stammered out, feeling like she was making excuses. Tomorrow was the day she decided to run away with the help of Isota and Kai. She should never have been tied to him.
“And Arsene has to work too.”
After barely recovering from the shock, she calmly shrugged her shoulders.
"It's okay to take a day off. I thought I'd take a break since my leg was injured."
Then he spoke as if he were jealous.
"Isn't it okay to postpone shopping for a day?""
He leaned on crutches he reached out and grabbed her fingertips.
Regina was very awkward because she couldn't get used to his sudden behavior. There's no way he knew about her plan to run away tomorrow.
After thinking about it for a while, she suddenly realized the way he looked at her.
'Come to think of it, we weren't the only ones here!'
Every time she faces him, she forgot because all her nerves are focused on him, but there are always people around them unless they go into an enclosed space.
It was like that even now. Severo, who was standing a few steps back, and the maids walking around to work pretended not to be looking this way.
The romance between their owner and his fiancée was a very interesting story, and it was inevitable that it drew attention. She understands. Even if she was in their shoes, she would have been curious.
Noticing their gaze, her reaction was also determined.
She clasped Arsene's hand, which had been slightly holding her own. A cool, hard feeling filled her hand.
"I'm sorry. I can't help it because tomorrow is a promise I've already made, and I'll be with you another day."
Arsene looked at the little white hand holding his. She was holding him tightly, which did not even fit in her hand.
Even if there was no blood in her veins, warmth always transferred to his cold hands.
It was the first time she held his hand with her will. So far, it was him who reached out first.
Even though he knew that this woman was rolling her head to get away from him, and he knew she wasn't sincere about this touch, but a little contact tickled somewhere inside his throat. It felt like he swallowed a handful of butterflies. A strange feeling.
Regina thought he had accepted that he stared down at her hand and said nothing. She scanned the doll's beautiful face and smiled as she patted the back of his hand with her other hand.
"Thank you for your understanding, Arsene,"
She then let go of his hands. It was to go back to her room.
Arsen inadvertently grabbed the warmth that slipped out. Regina, who was about to turn around, looked up at him again under pressure.
"What's wrong? Do you have anything else to say?"
He stared at her and slowly relaxed his hands.
"No, it's nothing. Then please go on a date with me next time."
"Okay. Sure."
Regina felt she was becoming a liar ever since she met him. If she was Pinocchio, wouldn't her nose have stretched a meter? So she went back to her room with a funny thought.
Arsene, who was looking at her from behind, clasped his empty hand.
It seemed that he had grown accustomed to this relationship.
He didn't want her to leave him. He doesn't know why she is trying so hard to run away, but he wants her to stay by his side because he'll adjust everything.
The black hair that disappeared over the hall left an afterimage in his eyes. She always showed himself her back.
It kept bothering him.
He never threatened her, and he couldn't understand why he sometimes seemed afraid of him. The funny thing about her was that she was defenseless at times, which made him mistakenly thinking that she had opened her heart.
Standing motionless and looking in the direction she had gone, he soon headed to his office.
"Severo."
As soon as he closed the door, he handed the crutch he was holding to the butler. Severo politely picked up his crutch and placed it at an angle by the door.
Arsene, who walked with a stride, buried himself in the chair. He walked normally, as usual, without having to feel anything like that. The crutches were just being held to show her.
The soft chair wrapped around his body. He leaned his head against the backrest. A bunch of papers on the table caught his eye, but his thoughts wandered elsewhere.
"What can I do to hold Regina?"
He sighed unknowingly as he narrowed his brows.
At first, he didn't think he'd have this kind of worry. It was very new to himself. He didn't know the feeling of being swayed by emotions would be terrible.
However, it was also complicated because it wasn't just a bad feeling.
"You must have liked the lady very much."
Severo smiled happily at the owner's appearance. He seemed like a billion light-years away from any kind of feeling of love, but he seemed to have at least a little bit of love.
Arsene, who was troubled whether the butler laughed or not, washed his face dry with a slow gesture.
He wanted to put shackle on her as soon as possible. Even if he let her go outside, she won't think about running away.
*****
Regina suppressed her pounding heart.
"Haa..."
She pretended to be fine, but in fact, her heart had been beating so hard for a while.
When the date and time of the escape was set, she became nervous, fearing that she would be caught for even a single act of insignificance.
'All I really have to do is leave.'
Before going to bed, she prepared to leave. She prepared the things she had thought of beforehand, and she picked out a plain gray dress to wear for tomorrow.
Since she was preparing like this, she realized that she was running away.
Her room, which she had become accustomed to, felt a sense of distance again. She will never come back here in the future.
Regina went to bed early. Now, tomorrow, she will have to run without stopping.
When she stops, it will be when she is free from all the clutches that hold her and shake her.
====================
NEXT
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