“Help me!”
As soon as Kisa realized that Seyard was right there, she instinctively shouted.
“Please let me out of here!”
“Wait…!”
A startled Daniel tried to stop Kisa from speaking as he grabbed her, but at that moment, the doorknob moved.
Originally, there wasn’t any special lock on it; he had just been blocking it with his strength to prevent it from being opened.
So when Daniel’s strength naturally weakened as his attention was diverted to Kisa, the person on the other side could open the door without much effort.
Eventually, the door opened completely, and a man with impeccably perfect attire appeared.
His red hair, which until recently had felt somewhat awkward, was now tearfully welcome at this moment.
Just as Kisa was about to call Seyard’s name without realizing it, he spoke first.
“Is there a problem?”
His face, which had worn a faint smile throughout the banquet, was now completely calm as he gazed at Kisa and Daniel in the room.
“Duke Hillan?”
Daniel, who had stepped back from the door while still holding Kisa’s shoulder, recognized him.
“Why are you here…?”
“I was passing by and heard a loud noise, so I came to check.”
In response to Daniel’s bewildered question, Seyard slowly scanned the guest room before finally resting his gaze on Kisa.
“Do you need any help?”
At the end of his gaze was Kisa’s shoulder, which was being held by Daniel.
“Let go of me!”
Kisa, suddenly coming to her senses, shook off Daniel’s hand and ran to Seyard.
“Please help me!”
“What’s the matter?”
Feeling relieved by Seyard’s usual demeanor, Kisa glared at Daniel.
“That man was trying to forcibly confine me.”
“Kisa! Don’t say things that could be misunderstood!”
Daniel shouted, as if feeling wronged.
“I just grabbed you because you were trying to leave when I still had things to say!”
“That’s the same as confinement!”
At that moment, Seyard stepped forward and stood between the two. He positioned Kisa behind him and asked Daniel:
“Is what she says true?”
His voice didn’t reveal any particular emotion. However, Daniel’s eyes twitched slightly at Seyard’s question, which sounded like a mere formality. Perhaps it was because of his status as the Duke of Hillan.
“This is none of your business.”
When Daniel responded with subtle hostility, Seyard glanced behind him.
“Well, she seems to have a different opinion.”
“She is my fiancée. I know my fiancée’s intentions better than anyone.”
“Not better than herself, I’d think. And I believe I heard that you two broke off the engagement.”
“What?”
“Your claim of being her fiancé seems inaccurate.”
Kisa nodded vigorously, as if completely agreeing with his opinion, and Daniel showed his discomfort more openly than before.
“Oh please. Anyway, Duke Hillan, what brings you all the way here?”
His tone barely concealed the implication: mind your own business and leave quickly.
“The princess…hasn’t been seen for quite some time. I heard someone saw her heading this way, so I was looking for her.”
“Ah, is that so? The princess just arranged a place for Kisa and me to have a heart-to-heart conversation and then left. You must have missed each other, but she should be back at the hall by now, so you should hurry back.”
“I see. I didn’t know.”
What was more surprising? Daniel behaving rudely in front of the great Duke of Hillan? Or Seyard showing not even a hint of agitation despite the unpleasant situation?
As Kisa pondered blankly, Seyard turned as if to leave the place as Daniel suggested. Then, facing Kisa, he asked:
“Then, shall we go back together?”
Daniel immediately widened his eyes.
“Who are you to take Kisa away?”
To this, Seyard, turning his head slightly to the side, replied in a composed voice:
“Rest assured. I have no intention of disregarding the wishes of the person concerned.”
“That’s not it. Kisa still has more to say to me.”
Kisa leaned to the side to look at Daniel and firmly expressed her opinion.
“I have nothing more to say to you. In fact, I don’t want to exchange words with you ever again.”
Daniel’s handsome face contorted.
“Kisa! Now is not the time to be angry!”
“No, it is the time to be angry.”
After momentarily moving her lips silently, Kisa continued with a somewhat bitter tone.
“Actually, I should have gotten angry earlier. Every time you treated me as less than a mongrel raised in your house…”
But she couldn’t. Because she had been thirsting for the occasional moments of affection Daniel would throw her way on his whims.
“Then I might not have crossed this irreversible river.”
“What are you saying? It can be reversed!”
“It’s impossible.”
“…Alright, I understand that you have many grievances against me.”
Daniel swept back his bangs with visibly anxious hands.
“I’ll listen to what you have to say and apologize if needed. So let’s start with a conversation. If we talk things through calmly, we can understand each other.”
“See? It’s impossible.”
A sneer escaped Kisa’s lips.
“Even after I poured out everything I had been holding inside earlier, you still maintain that condescending attitude. What? You’ll apologize if there’s something to apologize for after hearing me out?”
“Don’t nitpick my words.”
“Don’t give me orders.”
It was a moment when Kisa once again clearly realized that she could never be an equal to a person like Daniel Lowens.
People don’t change easily. Daniel probably won’t change either.
‘No.’
Even if he did change, it would be irrelevant to her now. They had no connection anymore.
Currently, Kisa’s heart felt incredibly cold, even to herself.
She had thought it couldn’t get any colder. But when Daniel forcibly tried to keep her in this room, the last bit of trust remaining in Kisa scattered like dust.
Although he had subjected her to all sorts of humiliation, he had never once tried to physically restrain her actions.
She didn’t know if this came from his arrogant values of not holding back those who wanted to leave, but nevertheless, Kisa had inwardly trusted this aspect of Daniel.
Even right after the broken engagement, when she faced him in the reception room of the Vansfelt mansion while he was full of anger.
When he raised his voice in an angry tone, she instinctively shrank back, but the thought that Daniel might physically harm her didn’t exist in Kisa’s mind at all.
But now it was different. Kisa learned that Daniel Lowens was the kind of person who could respond to her self-protective threat of screaming loudly by saying no one would come, so go ahead and scream.
In some ways, this was more unacceptable than swearing eternity to another woman despite having a fiancée, or even than looking down on Kisa.
Because, more than anything, it was an outrage that trampled on a person’s will.
“I am not an object.”
Kisa spat out the words as if chewing them. At first, her thoughts weren’t well-organized, but they gradually turned into clear words.
“I am a human being like you. Not a toy you can handle as you please.”
Simultaneously, a specific memory unfolded in her mind.
“…That day, you definitely said it.”
On a particularly cold late winter day, the late evening when she found out her fiancé had another woman. Daniel, with a disgusted expression towards Kisa who was pressing him, had said:
[I am not your possession.]
Although most of what came out of his mouth that day wounded Kisa’s heart, that statement particularly remained in her heart, causing a dull pain for a long time.
Now she knew why.
“I’m giving those words back to you.”
She had felt wronged. She had never, for a single moment, felt that she possessed Daniel, that he was hers.
Rather, it was Kisa who belonged to Daniel.
Daniel Lowens’ beautiful fiancée. A fairly important part that would someday marry him and complete him as a proper adult. A wife of good lineage who would give him an heir.
Daniel himself treated Kisa this way. When he felt like it, he would give her gifts and behave sweetly, but as soon as he felt even slightly annoyed, he would mercilessly discard her.
Kisa had been conditioned by him over the years. She would wait with her neck stretched out for the time when Daniel would be in a good mood.
Then, if he seemed to be in a good mood, she would dress up prettily and chatter beside him; if he seemed to be in a bad mood, she would keep as quiet as possible and just wait for that time to pass. She fluctuated based on the moods of a man who didn’t even love her.
She was indeed his possession.
How wronged she must have felt. Despite never even having thought she could possess him, she was told not to try to possess him.
Kisa directly faced the man who had dominated her soul for a long time, though in a different way than Count Vansfelt.
“Kisa?”
The man who was always full of confidence couldn’t hide the anxiety stirring within him today.
“I am not your possession.”
Daniel wore an expression as if he didn’t quite understand those words, but Kisa didn’t care and continued.
“I might have been at one point, but not anymore. For that one thing, I’m grateful. Thanks to you dumping me first, I resolved to break free from you.”
“…When did I ever dump you?”
“You did. A long time ago.”
Leaving Daniel, who still seemed to have much to say, Kisa turned around.
“So don’t try to reclaim me.”
Seyard naturally followed Kisa as she headed toward the door.
Just before the door closed, Daniel shouted loudly, “Wait!” but he didn’t follow them out.
He looked as if he feared encountering something terrifying if he did.
Ah, he seems to have finally accepted it.
The fact that their relationship had ended long ago.
