Don’t Trample on Innocent Love

Ophelia spent several sleepless nights. Robern’s kiss submerged her heart in alternating waves of warmth and coldness. The hope of “maybe” weighed heavily on her mind. After spending a few days locked in her room, avoiding everyone and aimlessly wandering, unexpectedly, Hugo came to find her. Ophelia reluctantly prepared herself and welcomed Hugo after getting dressed.

As luck would have it, there were some remaining words to be said between them.

“Hugo, I don’t have the intention to fight with you. If I was rude to you before, then I apologize. However, in the future, I would appreciate it if you could clearly express any complaints you have towards me.”

It was a belated expression of the words that had been interrupted because of Robern. Hugo simply nodded in response, seemingly accepting that it was just a matter of a different perspective. Something incredibly obvious to her was some outer-worldly shit to him. 

“I apologize as well. I was being somewhat childish.”

Hugo still didn’t appreciate Ophelia’s bossy and overbearing attitude. However, after Ophelia apologized a few more times, his unsettled feelings began to ease slightly.

There was a moment of silence.

“And there’s something I want to tell you.”

Ophelia was the one who broke the silence first.

“You may have already heard, but there’s someone I have feelings for.”

“Oh, I heard. Some lord Valent or something.”

“So you’ve heard?”

“There was a lot of talk in that party – regardless of whether I wanted to hear it or not, I couldn’t help but notice that his name is always mentioned alongside yours. Were you trying to hide it?”

Ophelia shook her head. She had anticipated this conversation since introducing Hugo to the social circle.

“Not really… That person doesn’t believe in our relationship, and I don’t think he’s the only one who doubts it. As you’ve seen, almost everyone knows that I have feelings for him. Which is understandable since I was following him around not too long ago.”

“I see.”

Truth be told, Hugo found it bothersome to pretend to be Ophelia’s lover. He didn’t want to hear that he was buying a woman with money, so he reluctantly went along with it, but he didn’t fathom the reason why she was telling him this. Did she want him to have some sympathy?

“So, I hope you can treat me a bit more like a ‘lover’ from now on.”

“Like a lover? Isn’t that what I’m already doing now?”

“It’s not enough. It would be better if we progressed in our relationship quickly as if we were in a hurry to get engaged. If we have an engagement ceremony soon, there will be fewer rumors.”

Ophelia had to dismiss the sweet moments she had with Robern as if they never happened. Because Robern’s words couldn’t be genuine. Ophelia looked at Hugo before her once again. Marrying him and protecting the family would be the wiser path.

Ophelia tightly clenched her hand that was about to reach for her lips.

‘Once is enough.’

Sharing warmth with him, even once, was something she could bury as a memory to cherish for the rest of her life. Ophelia smiled, trying to forget her turbulent heart and clear her cluttered mind.