“Sat, Tol… Oh, my!”
The man who recognized Valérez muttered his name with his eyes wide open, but his mouth was blocked by a large hand and he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“If you don’t want to be hit by me again and end up in the hospital, just leave.”
Valérez warned, covering Edith with his body at an angle in case the man mentioned his identity. Edith was small enough to be erased without a trace, so the man hurriedly nodded, clutching his trembling legs and forgetting the reason he was quarreling with them.
“Oh, Ares.”
Only after the man had completely disappeared from view did she open my small mouth at Valérez who slowly turned his back.
“…Have you been doing okay?”
He had a cautious tone to his voice. Valérez almost stroked her hair, forgetting the situation, as he was glad to see her big purple eyes. Barely keeping his hands in check, he replied sarcastically with his head tilted.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t expect to see you in the Abre Tunnel. Long time no see.”
“I have something to see in Rodenheim.”
Glancing at Edith, who was glad to see him, he opened his mouth sourly.
“Then I’ll be going, lady. Be careful because this tunnel is complicated and there are many thugs.”
Edith weakly grabbed the hem of Valérez’s cloth trying to leave the situation. He stopped walking as if he’d been chained, saying how much strength she could give to her delicate fingers that looked as if they would fly away if he blew on them.
“Are you still mad at me?”
She sounded so lovely that he wanted to forgive even if she was the enemy who killed his parents. Valérez scratched his forehead nervously, feeling the betrayal he’d grappled with several times before meeting her.
Edith’s lips, watching him carefully, momentarily shook. Valérez laughed in vain because he was so pathetic that he still couldn’t take his eyes off her lips.
“No. Why would I be mad at you?”
His tongue seemed to have become a blade. He looked down at Edith with a dry stare and opened his mouth indifferently.
“The lady has nothing to do with me now.”
Even though he didn’t want to hurt her more because he was so intimidated. Like the pent-up longing had become a castle.
Valérez shrugged off Edith’s hand, which had latched to his clothes, in fear she might recognize his cowardice.
* * *
It seemed that he was the one who pushed away, and the only one with lingering regret.
Valérez began to sneak glimpses of Edith across the platform that split the Abre Tunnel into two branches. No one would’ve noticed that he was caring about her because he’d become proficient in managing his facial expressions over the years of governing the underworld.
“Oh, my God, you punk. Are you a stalker? Just take a peek.”
Someone slammed Valérez in the back of his head.
“Hey, why are you hitting me?”
He frowned as he grabbed his numb head at the taste of her spicy touch. Anais Toledo, a woman who bent toward Valérez, opened her mouth with a click of her tongue.
“Isn’t that the girl? The one you missed so much every night you stayed up late crying?”
Valérez spoke out against the ridicule of Anais, the current head of the Duke of Toledo and his own sister, and raised his voice.
“When did I cry?”
“Why didn’t you wash you pillow yourself if you didn’t want to let others know you were crying? How much did old Hannah lamented that the young master cried every day?”
As expected, a baby was a baby even when he got older. The corner of Anais’ mouth twisted because she was surprised by Valérez’s backlash and smirked.
“You’re too loud. Argh!”
Valérez rubbed his eyebrows nervously at his sister’s jokes. Anais, without hesitation, bent her cheeky brother’s elongated finger backward.
“You’re so cheeky to me, what? Is it too loud?”
He hasn’t been able to hit her much lately.
Ares pouted his lips at her harsh words.
“…I’m sorry.”
In fact, the pain wasn’t really felt because all his nerves were focused on Edith.
“If you’re going to regret it, don’t push her away!”
Anais slapped her frustrating brother on the back.
“The regret that you haven’t thrown away is overflowing to the floor. Why are you acting so hard?”
“She lied to me.”
“But what do you want her to do? If you can’t forgive her, why don’t you forget?”
Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 40 chapters in advance!
