Chapter 19│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com
Lumina was enjoying her life at school, and one day, during lunch break, she looked down into the garden on the second floor.
Her sister Sophie was there, and Lumina looked at the scene with her cheek on the desk as if it were a normal scene.
Sophie found a kitten in the garden, and while she was playing with it happily, the kitten climbed up a tree.
Sophie runs after it, climbs the tree, notices that no one is around, and can’t get down.
Although she is supposed to be well educated as a young lady, Sophie’s free spirit has not changed.
“She’s such a tomboy.”
While smiling at her, Stephan and Sharon walk by and spot her.
Stephan, looking panicked, calls out to Sophie, and the next moment, Sophie falls. Stephan held her in his arms.
“I’ve tried to block it many times, but somehow it’s getting in my way and I can’t stop it. Fate is mean to me, isn’t it?”
Lumina looked at them with such a wry smile, and suddenly Sharon arrived—Lumina and Sharon gazed met.
“Ara, I’ve never seen that before.”
Sharon’s eyes go wide, and they look confused, and he pulls Stephan and Sophie apart, saying something to Stephan.
Stephan then looks up and sees Lumina.
The look on his face makes Lumina wonder—he looks like he’s in a panic because he got caught cheating with his partner.
As she wonders what kind of a stupid look the Crown Prince has on his face, Stephan mutters something and runs away.
—Ara?
Stephan then enters Lumina’s classroom breathlessly.
He then pulled Lumina by the hand and left the classroom.
He dragged her to an empty room and confronted Lumina and said,
“I’ve been misunderstood, haven’t I? That is not the case. I’m not sure where Lumina was looking, but it was just Miss Sophie falling and me catching her.”
Stephan said impatiently.
Lumina thought this was the first time, but the way he looked at her and the way his gaze wandered a little made her let out a small gasp.
——Like this, you make me look forward to it, and you betray me.
——I don’t think I can change this one thing that I haven’t been able to change dozens of times already.
——I don’t believe you.
——You’re a terrible person.
She put a smile on her face, and I said,
“Liar.”
Stephan’s eyes widened.
“Lu…mina?”
“That’s what you do. You keep me guessing. and then you betray me in the end.”
“Wait a minute, Lumina!”
Stephan grabbed her arm, and Lumina shook it off and said,
“You…How many times do you have to make fun of me! You…you don’t love me at all.”
“Wait, Lumina, I love you.”
The words came out easily.
Stephan uses those words with ease and intention.
Stephan vows to make an effort to love her and tells Lumina over and over that he loves her.
It was as if he was saying it to himself—convincing himself.
He did not know that he was hurting Lumina every time she heard those words.
They are nothing more than words without heart—words that try to deceive Lumina.
“…So. Your Highness loves me, doesn’t he?”
Lumina says it coldly, in a clear tone.
“A light love… That’s not what love is.”
——Love is heavy.
——The more you love them, the more you hate them.
Stephan’s face grows grimmer.
“Lumina. You say that, but you don’t love me either.”
Badam!
A sharp thud.
The words are like gouging out her heart, and she feels the blood slowly oozing out of her veins.
Slowly, the pain is building up.
“…I loved you… Over and over again…only for you.”
“What are you saying…”
Lumina held back her tears and raised her voice.
“I loved you. Only you. But who are you looking at? Who are you attracted to?! You know what I’m talking about, but you keep me guessing!”
Lumina’s face turned red, and Stephan reached out to hug her.
Lumina shakes him off.
The words she always wanted to say.
words she wanted to shout out for a long, long time.
“You should have been a man and said it out loud! Your feelings… You should have told me what you thought instead of taking your time and dilly-dallying! You thought I was stupid… that I, who loved you, wouldn’t notice your feelings?!”
Silence falls.
A quiet moment.
Lumina stares at Stephan and says
“How could you think that I, who loved you… who only saw you… would not notice your feelings?”
“Lumina, wait. I’m really…”
Stephan trailed off, then turned his eyes to Lumina.
“You swore to me, didn’t you? Shouldn’t you be thinking about that right now, with your hands on your chest? Excuse me.”
Lumina turns away from Stephan and leaves the room.
She needs to get to somewhere where she can be alone.
Before her tears started flowing
