Helena turned her gaze from the window and took another sip of her tea. The warm liquid moistened her mouth, allowing her voice to come out smoothly despite not having spoken for a long time.
“The weather is so clear today.”
“…I suppose.”
“The tea’s fragrance is better than usual.”
“Is that so.”
Eugene briefly responded while turning to the next page of the newspaper. He didn’t even spare her a glance. This indifferent man let his wife’s words pass by like a breeze, no matter what she said.
Not knowing how she had looked at him for the past few years, and still does now.
“Do you know something? You don’t make eye contact well with other people.”
“……”
“I suppose that’s natural. They just need to nod and move like puppets to whatever you say.”
“Your introduction is long, Helena. What are you trying to say?”
“But you always looked me in the eyes. I loved how I looked in your eyes.”
“…How trivial.”
Eugene dismissed her with a tight-lipped expression. Helena had no choice but to close her mouth. A moment of silence passed.
Eugene’s eyes remained fixed on the thin pages of the newspaper.
Tick. Tock.
Only the sound of the clock’s second hand was unusually loud. Soon, the clock hands pointed to four o’clock.
The afternoon teatime meant for husband and wife to chat. During this time, the only voice rolling across the table was always hers.
Sometimes this indifference was more suffocating than hatred. At times like this, she even wished he would at least curse at her.
Helena swallowed the dull pain in her heart and took one final look at the man before her.
‘Eugene. Eugene Evergale.’
He was someone who fit the definition of perfection without needing any modifiers. He was like a statue crafted by genius sculptors of the century, effortlessly evoking admiration.
Despite his strong facial features, he had long downcast eyelashes. Under his thick eyebrows sat amber eyes as vivid as if gold had been embedded in them.
His jawline was straight without curves, and his sharp nose bridge and jet-black hair contributed to his powerful impression.
Helena remembered the sensation of his nose bridge colliding with hers when he first claimed her lips.
How those hands with distinct joints stroked her skin, how she had made him breathe her name raggedly.
These were moments he had engraved all over her body at the beginning of each regression, making it impossible for her to give up easily.
‘…I have to let go now.’
But after all, a person cannot live embracing a statue.
Unless the gods, pitying a human who loved a statue, breathed life into it, but sadly, he was already human.
A rigid human without warmth, always changing.
Perhaps it would have been easier to love a statue instead.
‘No matter how much longer I hold on here, you won’t come back.’
As the sound of paper flipping over fluttered once more in the silence.
Helena put down her teacup.
“So.”
This is the first time I’m trying this end.
This is the end with you that I’ve finally reached after a long time.
From this moment on,
“Let’s get divorced.”
I bid you farewell.
…..
Eugene wasn’t surprised by Helena’s divorce declaration. Just as before, he casually responded with a brief “Sure,” nothing more.
But a few seconds later, his brow furrowed.
“…What?”
It was an uncharacteristically urgent attitude. His piercing gaze seemed to urge her to say something more, but Helena ignored it and emptied her teacup.
“The weather is nice, the tea is fragrant.”
Slowly raising her eyes, she met his gaze directly, unlike before.
“If I could just divorce you, this would be the most perfect day.”
“You’re now-“
“Eugene.”
Helena cut him off. For the first time in their long marriage, she interrupted him. Perhaps because of this, Eugene showed more surprise than displeasure.
Helena continued unhurriedly.
“Some people say they’re happy just seeing flowers on the street or having a good meal. I can’t be like that. I haven’t been able to here, and I never will be. So I should be allowed to be happy for just one day, don’t you think?”
“Do you even know what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying I want a divorce.”
Eugene let out a short, empty breath.
“…Come to your senses, Helen. Are you still half-asleep from a nap?”
His pure gold eyes were tinged with bewilderment.
Eyes that she had desperately orbited around, hoping to be in his sight just once more.
Helena found it amusing that she was properly facing those eyes only in this situation. She found herself endlessly amusing.
“You’re the one who needs to hear it again. I no longer want to be by your side.”
Despite her amusing feelings, her tone came out as if she were giving commentary on a boring play. She hoped it sounded that way to him.
“Helena.”
At her unchanging attitude, Eugene finally raised his upper body from the chair’s backrest. He even put down the newspaper he had been holding all this time. His face showed that he couldn’t understand why this usually compliant woman was suddenly acting this way.
“You must be bored without recent parties. Still, don’t play such jokes. It’s not very pleasant.”
He didn’t know that it had been over three months since she had set foot in even a small tea party. It would be fortunate if he simply thought she was complaining out of boredom.
“Seeing you say things you’ve never said before, you should probably rest for a while.”
As expected, Eugene dismissed it casually and leaned back in his chair.
“Go to the villa in Shahalman and refresh yourself. Go shopping with Madam Gran or something. Don’t make such a show of it to me. Do I need to tell you even that?”
The slightly raised end of his sentence contained a faint sneer.
Helena didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. He was, in many ways, quite a remarkable man, though he was her husband.
‘It was foolish of me to love someone like you.’
“No. This is something I’ve been wanting to say at every moment.”
And she still seemed to be a fool. Given how much courage it took to utter just this one sentence.
Helena deliberately opened her tightened throat.
“I’ve already prepared all the divorce papers, so it will be done once you sign them. It’s what you wanted anyway.”
Her voice came out more resolute than ever before. That was fortunate.
When she raised her downcast eyes, Eugene could no longer continue speaking.
‘Because now you’ll love that woman, not me.’
The teacup was already empty, and there was no reason to waste time with pointless conversation anymore.
Helena got up from her seat without hesitation.
“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going now. I need to prepare to leave.”
Just as she was about to turn around, her arm was grabbed. In a single step, Eugene had closed the distance.
He pulled her arm, forcing her to look at him, and asked.
“Leave? Where to?”
“Anywhere.”
“Where could you possibly go? This is your home.”
“Don’t be mistaken. This is Eugene Evergale’s home, not mine. Where is Helena Owen’s place here?”
At the point where she attached the surname Owen instead of Evergale, Eugene growled as if scratching his vocal cords.
“Are you in your right mind?”
Helena furrowed her eyebrows. She felt considerable force on her wrist.
It was somewhat comforting to know that she would look like someone wincing from arm pain.
“I’m more clear-headed than I’ve ever been.”
As she raised her arm to remove his hand, the long sleeve came up with it. The sleeves that reached her wrists had wide openings.
Moreover, they were decorated with elaborate frills that made them cumbersome. They were also considerably heavy and long, often causing her to stumble when they caught on her feet.
The dress Eugene had brought as a gift on their last anniversary. Her closet was full of such grandiose things.
“…Your gifts have always been like glass slippers.”
Glass slippers that don’t fit—where one realizes their own limitations and retreats after trying to force their feet in.
If she wanted to make clicking sounds, she had to endure the pain. He only heard her shoe sounds and nothing else.
‘I know what kind of fabric you prefer, which wine from the Borneux region and what year you like, even which corner of your mouth rises a bit more when you smile.’
These were all things that no longer mattered.
A tilted relationship couldn’t be straightened no matter how hard one tried. The only way to escape was to break the scale completely.
She no longer wanted anything from him. He had made it impossible to want anything.
Neither as a husband, nor as a mere cohabitant who had simply spent a long time together.
“Helena. Sit down for now. Don’t regret this later.”
This time, Eugene gently pulled her arm. Having momentarily stopped pushing him away while lost in thought, he seemed to have taken it as an affirmative response.
The distance she had carefully created became useless in an instant.
Following when he pulled, going where he dragged. She no longer wanted to fall into his arms like an injured bird. She needed to cut ties before it became irreversible.
Helena shook off his hand, putting aside any lingering attachment.
“This dress is yours too, so I should leave it behind. Thanks for reminding me. Thank you.”
With a dry, harsh sound, his hand fell away.
In that moment, something twisted strangely inside her. Her chest ached.
Was it anxiety, or relief?
Helena slowly backed toward the exit. The frozen Eugene was staring at her. His pupils glinted like a raptor’s just before pouncing on its prey.
“…….”
Amid their locked gazes, his lips moved slightly. But he didn’t call her name.
Helena turned away immediately and left the indoor garden, leaving him behind.
