Edgar didn’t take his eyes off Rubica as he explained. The shock and anger in her eyes faded. Now, they were the kind and cute eyes he normally saw through the window.
“Edgar…”
Rubica couldn’t say more. What else could she say? She thought Edgar’s blue eyes were sparkling colder than before, but now they looked so clear and beautiful. Even the blue sky was pale compared to them.
“Do not worry about convincing the king. He is a rational man, so he will decide to minimize the casualties just like you argued.”
Unexplainable passion came up and stroke Rubica. Her entire body shook and then something exploded deep in her chest. She didn’t know what it was as she had never experienced anything like that. She didn’t know what was exploding, but that feeling absorbed her and flooded out. She couldn’t resist it. She pulled Edgar close and hugged him tightly.
“Edgar, Edgar.”
Edgar couldn’t even breath since Rubica was suddenly embracing him. He didn’t even know how his heart was beating. She embraced him first. She kept calling his name. He even wanted to pinch himself to test if this was a dream.
Everything looked fuzzy. But then, everything started to look twice clearer. Rubica’s voice calling him echoed near his ears. The two were in the bedroom, but it felt like they were deep in the canyon. Oh, he went between heaven and hell many times in a single day when he was with her. He hadn’t known he was that fickle.
“Edgar, hup.”
Then, Rubica sniffled, and it brought Edgar immediately back to his senses. Next, he pulled himself away from Rubica, even if he wanted to embrace her forever, and looked at her.
Tears were coming out from her eyes, so Edgar feared he might have done something wrong.
“Have I done something wrong?”
Rubica shook her head. But still, Edgar wasn’t relieved.
“Did I say something wrong again? What did I do to hurt your feelings?”
He got rid of the pride he always tried to keep in front of her and confessed he said many bad things until now.
“I realized it will make you unhappy only after I say something. I hope… I hope you understand. The people I meet are always trying to flatter me, get things from me, and protest when not given, so I always push everyone away. That is why I don’t know how I should treat you…”
“No, no. That’s not it. Edgar.”
In the end, Rubica cut him short when he was confessing his true feelings and held his hand tightly. He didn’t have the courage to look straight at her face and looked away.
“I’m just glad, that’s all… you know, you cry sometimes when you are too happy.”
He looked straight at Rubica only then. Although she was crying, her eyes were sparkling with joy. Edgar knew her eyes twinkled like two rubies in the moonlight at night when she was happy, and her smile was as round as the crescent moon.
He moaned as his body relaxed in less than a second. He had found the best thing he could do for her and did it. However, if she still hated him after doing his best, what was he supposed to do then?
When he heard Rubica cry, he had been seized by such fear.
However, what he had done was the right thing. He had done his best, and now Rubica felt the biggest joy, so Edgar felt proud of himself. He could even make her that happy.
“Thank you. Thank you so much for understanding what I said and what I meant.”
Tears came out again as she spoke. He didn’t want to see her cry, even if those were tears of joy. Therefore, he hastily wiped her tears with his sleeve. But, for some reason, she kept crying even though she was trying to stop. Was it because she could finally relax now?
“I’m sorry. I should stop now…”
She continued to cry like a broken tap, but she wasn’t sad at all. She was rather relieved, and it was much easier to breathe. Only now, she realized that she had been very tense ever since she arrived at the mansion.
“There’s no need to force yourself to stop.”
Edgar said that to Rubica as she tried to stop crying. Then, he gently patted her shoulder. He regretted not doing it sooner. Now she was crying because she knew he was understanding her, but she had cried for a very different reason before dinner.
Although she didn’t know the meaning of those tears yet, Edgar knew. It was the tears of someone who realized she had fallen into a strange world where you could never be understood.
No matter how hard she tried, convinced, and expressed her heart, no one listened to her. To survive in the land of cyclopes, you must get rid of one of your eyes.
Edgar knew insisting on the matter would make Rubica never open her heart to him. Maybe she would wither like a flower.
He hated that, and he didn’t want that to happen. So, he decided to change. It was easier to change himself than to change her, and it would make convincing others much easier.
He knew the meaning of her tears because he was no different. He had been saved when Rubica slapped him and told him he couldn’t do it even if the girl wanted it as long as they were not in love with each other. She rejected him but, by doing so, she pulled him out from a deep swamp.
When everyone said he was strange, only she said he wasn’t strange and was extremely normal.
There were so many people who praised him, but he always felt rejected. He didn’t cry out loud like she did but, instead, he built strong and high walls around him. However, she was kind and easily believed in people, so she couldn’t do that and cried instead.
Edgar hated that. He was able to get rid of one of the burdens that were suppressing him after he met her. When he looked at the world with more ease, it started to glow in very different lights.
Now he moved on from the thoughts that had angered him previously.
However, he made the person who lightened his burden carry a huge weight. He was so indebted to her, but he didn’t want to live in debt. He was Duke Claymore who could have anything and do anything. Him, carrying debt? He didn’t want to leave such a word in his life. Indebted to none other than Rubica? No, absolutely not. So, he tried to clear that debt.
If the world couldn’t understand her, he could side with her and change the world. No matter what kind of hardship he faced, it was better than being indebted to her. That was the decision he had made earlier today while he worked hard in his office.
“Here. You don’t have to stop crying, but you must drink some water. Or you will get dehydrated.”
Edgar spoke kindly and offered Rubica a cup full of warm water. She snuffled as she took it and drank it.
When she emptied the cup, Edgar glanced at the clock. It was one in the morning. Before, Rubica wished the time would pass faster, but now she felt somewhat sad about the time going by so fast. She hesitated, but then she looked up at him.
“If you leave now, the servants will think it was you who made me cry…”
She regretted saying it as soon as she said it since it could sound as if she wanted him to stay. Edgar, however, just smiled.
“You’re right.”
Then, he sprinkled water on a handkerchief and handed it to Rubica.
“Today, cry as much as you want. There’s no need to explain even if anyone asks. If you don’t want to be alone, call Ann or that… lady-in-waiting you just hired. Do as you want.”
Doing that was going to make people think she grieved a lot, and that was what Edgar was after. After he left, servants were going to see Rubica cry and spread rumors. The duchess tried to make the duke change his mind with tears, but he didn’t listen.
After such rumors were spread, no one would be able to hurt her about his decision related to mana quartz.
He was going to make her perfectly safe from the fight that was about to take place, and soon Rubica realized what he meant.
“Edgar, there’s no need to do that for me.”
However, Edgar shook his head.
“It’s not for you.”
“But I gave you this idea, and…”
“I’m the one who agreed to it, and it is more efficient for me to do it to make it happen.”
“But…”
“Rubica, if you are trying to do something but the person who’s in it with you is being bitten off, will you be able to not to bend your will?”
It made Rubica shut her mouth. She could have done it herself if she had been the only one to be in trouble because of the mana quartz, but she had backed off when knowing that decision of hers could harm Ann, Elise, and the others around her.
