The corners of Aiden’s eyes drooped.
His voice trembled, and his face contorted slightly as if recalling past pain.
“Uh…? But you looked fine.”
“No. I was just holding it in, wanting to show Erin.”
“…”
“Still, it’s not completely okay. It’s uncomfortable and I hate it…”
Aiden trailed off deliberately. While doing so, his fingertips quivered slightly as he tightly closed his eyes and then slowly reopened them.
To anyone watching, it was clear he was suffering.
“I kept staring at Erin the whole time… didn’t you notice?”
Aiden slightly turned his head and asked Erin.
The look in his eyes was so earnest yet so wretched, Erin felt her heart sink.
“I can bear it because Erin encourages me.”
Erin’s eyes wavered.
Her face was etched with worry, but that wasn’t all there was.
There were other emotions trying to leak out as well.
“If it’s not with Erin…”
Aiden deliberately shook his head feebly and naturally rested his head on Erin’s shoulder.
If others had seen them, they might have thought that Aiden was acting coy with Erin on purpose.
However, there was no one observing the two, and Erin was oblivious to it all.
Aiden’s pretense of weakness had hit the mark perfectly.
Before she knew it, Erin found herself stroking Aiden’s hair and comforting him.
“Yeah… it seems like it’s still too much for you.”
Aiden sneakily glanced at Erin’s face.
He could see the corners of her lips trembling.
She suppressed a forced smile, and with a serious and affectionate voice, she spoke to Aiden.
“Aiden. I’ve told you before.”
“…”
“Don’t overdo it.”
Between Erin’s gentle smiles, a somewhat triumphant expression flickered.
It was definitely not a figment of his imagination.
Aiden saw it clearly and was certain.
‘So Erin is jealous when she sees me mingling with others.’
The corners of Aiden’s mouth turned up in a pleased smile.
“Yeah.”
Aiden responded, leaning in closer to Erin.
A smile with its own meaning formed on each of their lips.
After that, Aiden was meticulous in his control.
He showed progress that made Erin proud but also drew a clear line.
He whispered incessantly that it was because of Erin that he could endure.
Moreover, half of that was truly heartfelt.
Erin had influenced almost everything that Aiden had become.
Without Erin, he would still be trapped in a narrow, dark world, suffering alone secretly.
“Erin. You always have to be by my side.”
“Understood.”
Erin firmly grasped Aiden’s hand, making a promise.
She showed him a bright, affectionate smile, to give him strength.
A picturesque smile formed on Aiden’s face.
Aiden pretended to try hard enough to continue receiving Erin’s praises, yet also acted as if he couldn’t develop any further than that.
So, Erin continued to pay attention to him.
In this subtle way, he appealed to her that she was the only special one to him.
It was the time they had built up together.
There was no way that all of it would be without effect.
During that time, Aiden had been terrifyingly meticulous, calculative, and persistent.
***
Aiden reminisced about the past and raised the corners of his mouth in a smile.
Henry had an intuition that all of Aiden’s actions might have been calculated.
To resolve the doubt that bloomed in his heart, he cautiously opened his mouth.
“Your Grace… Then, you’ve been healed for quite some time?”
Henry’s voice trembled as if he couldn’t believe it.
It was a question asked with a hint of certainty despite the repeated ‘could it be.’
“It feels like it’s been years.”
Aiden responded calmly.
Henry, learning this fact only now, was so shocked that his eyes lost direction.
Having gone through various events after getting close to Erin, Aiden’s trauma naturally faded away.
The trauma that once controlled and suffocated everything about him was no longer significant—whether it was overcome or not didn’t matter anymore.
Physical contact with others was still unpleasant and awkward.
But it was no longer as terrifying or suffocating as before.
Aiden realized this only after he had fully overcome his trauma.
He didn’t like it if it wasn’t Erin.
He only wanted to touch Erin and desired more than that.
Even shaking hands with someone else was not at all pleasant.
To Aiden, Erin was unique.
Everything revolved around her.
So, letting go of Erin was an option that could not exist in Aiden’s dictionary.
Because all the emotions Aiden felt and expressed were because of Erin.
He still couldn’t forget the first time he saw Erin being jealous.
Those moments that day were so precious and dear that he treasured them in a jewel box, recalling them whenever he wanted to relive the feelings.
Each time he did, it was always fresh and exhilarating for Aiden.
That must have been the first time Erin felt jealousy.
The sight of Erin being jealous was surprisingly new and exciting.
‘But this time, she even ran to the tea party out of jealousy.’
Could this be such a sweet and heart-pounding situation?
His heart felt pleasantly tingling, and a wave of pleasure washed over him.
***
Erin was completely deceived.
She thought Aiden’s inability to fully overcome his trauma was because the person playing that role was Yulia Scharte.
Therefore, Erin was convinced that the situation would unfold according to the original content.
It was like a wall.
No matter how hard Erin tried, and no matter how many things changed as a result.
The wall that the most critical things would remain the same.
That’s why, even though many aspects of her environment had changed, Erin couldn’t think to alter the original plot’s main content.
She simply chose the path of insisting on divorce to avoid a tragic ending for herself.
Even though her true desire was to be with Aiden.
Erin believed she shouldn’t be more greedy.
In the end, although she couldn’t answer Mona, Erin’s head was in turmoil.
These worries kept going around endlessly, feeling like an eternal unsolved case.
***
It has already been a week since Erin agreed to a two-week grace period with Aiden.
Despite various events occurring during this time, there had been no significant progress regarding the divorce.
Erin couldn’t come up with a plan for how to proceed with Aiden moving forward.
She knew she had to get a divorce.
But as things stood, it seemed Aiden would never agree to it.
‘The problem is that I find myself not disliking it and wanting to watch over it.’
She wanted to just let go and be swept away by the current.
Reminding herself that she just had to get divorced was all she was able to do.
It was when Erin was listlessly languishing.
Mona, who rarely ever showed signs of alarm, entered with an unusual expression on her face.
Erin’s slack posture instantly tensed.
“Madam, what should we do?”
“What’s happened?”
Erin’s voice darkened instantly, and strength involuntarily entered her eyes.
“The Marquis of Zahard is coming.”
“What?”
Erin’s eyes widened immediately.
Mona quickly continued.
“We have received a report that they are on their way now.”
“When?”
Erin had always kept an eye on her surroundings to be prepared for any unforeseen events, and she received regular reports.
Especially if there was any unusual activity from the House of Zahard, it was immediately reported to her.
The relationship between Erin’s family, the Marquis House of Zahard, and her, was complex.
In no way could it be termed a good relationship, regardless of the perspective.
Erin was the second daughter of the Marquis of Zahard. She wasn’t an adopted daughter brought in from elsewhere.
However, the parents of the Zahard family did not distribute their attention and affection equally among their children.
All of their attention and love were focused on the firstborn son and heir, Gael.
That rendered Erin somewhat of an outcast within the family.
That was why, treating it almost as a business transaction, they married her off to the Lienster family at a young age.
Since there were no particular expectations placed on Erin, the terms agreed upon during the marriage had more than satisfied the Zahard family.
But the way things unfolded afterward was far different from their expectations.
Erin, who seemed unremarkable, not only got along well with Aiden but also came to wield a significant influence within the Lienster family.
Moreover, right at that time, festering issues within the Zahard family began to erupt.
Their business was shrinking, and even the family’s influence was in jeopardy.
From that point on, they started to covet Erin’s newfound status—this was an issue that didn’t exist in the original story. It was a problem that had arisen due to her change.
Thus, Erin thought that she should resolve the issues of the Zahard family without informing Aiden.
So far, every time the Zahard family had tried to stretch their hands towards the Lienster family using her as an excuse, Erin had intercepted them.
She had wanted to ignore them completely, but since she and Aiden were young, she settled it by responding to them with appropriate letters.
She provided help to maintain a certain level because it was difficult for her to deal with the elders of the Lienster family if the Zahard family completely collapsed.
However, as time went on, the Zahard family’s situation worsened. Their fortunes had declined so much that they no longer had the symbolic power to keep the Lienster family’s elders in check.
As the heir of the family, Gael himself was proving to be incompetent, eating away at the family’s fortunes.
The more this happened, the more they relied on Erin and the power of the Lienster family.
Amidst all this, when the rumor of Erin’s divorce reached them, it was clear they would be coming to the capital.
Naturally, it was not out of concern for Erin that they were coming.
Erin bit her lip in frustration.
Her dilemma was brief, and she got up abruptly. “I must meet them before they enter the capital.”
