173 - Pieces of the Broken Glass Slipper
Shattered Glass Slipper Shards Episode 173
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Roena looked at me, unable to hide her contempt. Biting her lip and glaring, she was quite fierce. She seemed unable to believe that I had ordered her to leave.
The shock soon turned into sorrow, and her flushed face crumbled with sadness.
The voice that leaked from her pale lips, wheezing, was full of injustice and sorrow.
"Why, why only me...!!"
But that was it. The body that had risen energetically to protest collapsed as soon as my gaze touched it. Her Adam's apple, bobbing as if swallowing hard, was particularly prominent today.
The desire to argue, but the inability to do so, the heart aching with frustration, was fully revealed in her trembling lips.
Rather than repeating myself, I pressured her by not breaking eye contact.
Then Roena looked around as if seeking help, instinctively looking for Margo, to be enveloped in the old vixen's skirts and sob. After all, that was all she knew how to do.
But today, she had come to me alone, without Margo. She had impulsively rushed over, fooled by the old maid's words that I was scheming to take over the Bishvarts Family. She hadn't even thought to bring an ally.
All this time, I had patiently comforted her so many times that she had made a big mistake. She thought that if she whined and complained as usual, things would somehow work out, like that.
So, I didn't feel sorry for her current humiliation.
In fact, the Roena before returning would have tried to find something she could do before saying such things to me. No, she would have tried to take care of her father's life first, even if it meant giving up all the beautiful dresses and jewels she was enjoying now.
The Roena I knew didn't glare fiercely or tremble with fear, desperately looking for a way out on her own when her wishes weren't granted.
At least, she had a sense of responsibility and a will to solve her problems, very different from the stupid thing standing in front of me now.
"Why do I have to listen to your requests!"
Roena, unable to withstand my gaze, finally revealed her true feelings.
She didn't seem to want to admit that her request had put her stepfather in danger.
That's why she seemed to want to be comforted that she had done her best to pull things in her favor, to ease her guilt.
But when I didn't listen to her and coldly rejected her, she felt resentful and sad. Her pride was hurt and she couldn't stand it. But what more could she do?
"Leave."
I commanded again in a firm tone.
"Can't you listen to me just once, just once?"
"I told you to leave."
"Please, Sissae!"
"Can't you hear me, Roena?"
"In the end, you always just give orders like this..."
Stunned, she hesitated for a while, watching my reaction, but eventually couldn't withstand my fierce gaze and staggered backward. And wiping her cheeks, red with anger, she left the room.
She didn't throw out cheap lines like 'You'll regret it,' but it was true that she had bad feelings towards me. It was as heavy as the silence left in the study. No, it was an emotion that perfectly suited my drowsy, heavy eyes.
I sighed and collapsed onto the sofa. My dry eyes were as parched as cracked earth, and it stung even when I closed my eyelids. My hazy mind was distorting everything like wavering smoke.
Sir Ayres would be here in a little while...
I don't know how many days it's been since he saved me. I needed to be in my right mind to thank him and to probe whether it was something the Crown Prince had ordered, but my body, as limp as waterlogged cotton, was struggling even to sit on the sofa.
I couldn't avoid seeing the face of the person who saved me, so I hesitated, which turned out to be rude.
Should I say that I'm not feeling well and refuse the visit now? Even as I was thinking about this and that, my eyelids kept falling heavily.
I shouldn't fall asleep... I should at least send Sir Ayres away before sleeping...
Even as I struggled to get up, I just twitched as if bouncing, and my vision, turning blurry as if enveloped in fog, was now sinking into a daze.
My ears were perfectly open, but my mind was trapped in a swamp, unable to move.
It was around that time that the door opened and someone came in.
I heard footsteps and felt a presence, and after a while, I felt someone staring down at me. Along with a low chuckle, someone's fingers touched my cheek, groping around as if to confirm something.
Touching my eyelids and brushing my eyelashes was an attempt to see if I was really asleep. That's why it was very careful.
"...How cute you sleep."
The softly whispered voice was quite familiar. It was the voice of someone I knew well.
"It makes me want to kiss you for no reason."
The hand that had been hovering around my cheek caressed the bridge of my nose and soon slid down to my lips. The fingertips, lightly pressing on the soft flesh of my closed lips, were as hot as if they contained fire.
Thanks to that, I wasn't falling properly asleep, nor was I being dragged into a nightmare. I was just stuck in an awkward state, neither sleeping nor waking.
However, as I shivered slightly from discomfort, there was a touch that gently patted my cheek, as if telling me to wait. And something soft fell onto my body with a thud.
It was an unfamiliar sensation. The familiar comfort I had recently experienced was calmly seeping into my body, and the tension was easing.
Where had I felt this texture before?
The hand gently patting my shoulder was dripping with affection. As the scent permeated my nose, a sweet sleep, with no trace of nightmares, was miraculously blooming.
This, I think I felt it in the carriage? Wait, the carriage?!
In an instant, my mind snapped awake. My head was tingling as if cold water had been poured over my crown. I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids and blinked laboriously a few times. The face of the knight I was supposed to meet today was engraved on my gradually clearing eyes.
"Aires... Sir Ayres?!"
Good heavens, I must be out of my mind.
Without even thinking about managing my expression, I stared at him blankly and hurriedly got up, and something slipped and fell to the floor.
Sir Ayres' long, elegant fingers caught it just as it was about to fall completely and pulled it towards him. It was a cloak that only the imperial knights could wear. That was what had been covering my body.
"Please forgive my rudeness, Sir Ayres."
I was worried about whether I had been drooling in my sleep, or snoring softly, my heart was pounding.
My ears were open, but even that was hazy and I wondered if I had been mistaken, so I was worried about the disgraceful state I might have shown without knowing.
I should have greeted him in my right mind, but I had shown him this unsightly appearance, so I had no excuse even if I was questioned.
Since Sir Michael Ayres visited me every time, it was the maid's mistake to open the door right away, assuming that he would be fine.
She had judged that there would be no problem with him going in, since I had been talking to Roena in my right mind just a moment ago.
Michael Ayres smiled softly and spoke to me. His voice, flowing out lower than usual, was as smooth as if draping velvet. The distance, which was so close that he was almost touching me to cover me with the cloak, was also contributing to the eerie tension.
"Rudeness? On the contrary, I wished time would stop."
My cheeks were flushing at the embarrassing words. Not only that, I didn't know where to put my eyes at the gaze that sweetly stared as if looking at something lovely.
Come to think of it, he was standing too close, unlike usual. The touch I had felt in my sleep was not a dream, but a delusion.
Could it be that,
'It makes me want to kiss you for no reason.'
Was this sound real...?
Just speculating for a moment made my earlobes tingle. With a feeling of 'no way,' I gently met his gaze, and he was slowly examining my reaction with a polite attitude.
It was as if he was gently caressing my entire face with his eyes, from my forehead to my chin, there was no place where the man's gaze didn't touch.
It was a neat gaze with no trace of ulterior motives.
I guess not. There's no way he would say such a thing. It must be a delusion.
"You look very tired."
I reflexively touched my cheeks and eyes and said that I was fine. And I expressed my belated words of gratitude.
"I can only thank you for saving me, Sir. How should I repay you?"
But Sir Ayres' reaction wasn't very good. If it had been the usual him, he would have said words of humility that it was okay or that there was no need to worry, but he was just listening silently with a calm expression.
I was wondering if I had said something wrong to his coldly frozen face.
"It's the second time already."
The Knight of Ice kneels again. His legs, which are extremely haughty to other women, were acting cheap in front of me.
It felt strange that he was only looking at me like that, as if he didn't care that his neat uniform was dragging on the floor and wrinkling. So, even if Sir Ayres was acting like he was holding back his anger towards me, I didn't feel unpleasant. I was just curious about which of my words had touched his emotions.
"Sir Ayres?"
"It's the second time you've almost been in danger in front of me. And you're thanking me. How can that be covered up with words of gratitude?"
His fingers hovered in the air and then gently landed on my knee, as if testing the waters. The other person's hand covering the back of my hand was surprisingly lukewarm and moist. It was proof that he was nervous about the contact, even though he was angry.
"What if I had arrived late? No, what if I hadn't even known? The first time was the same. I was restless, wondering if I was late, and I rode my horse like crazy. My lady, I was worried about you."
His voice gets lower and lower. The voice, swirling darkly as if resembling darkness, was sharp as if holding a knife, unlike the polite tone.
Ironically, that knife was aimed at Michael Ayres' heart. The strongly furrowed brow, as if he was being hurt by his own words, was so deeply lined that it was difficult to use the word 'deep.'
But that looked quite pitiful. That's why I didn't open my lips even though the words 'Wasn't the first time a trap set by your lord?' were up to my throat.
"The second time was really maddening. I understood the vulgar word 'crazy' very well. If I had just seen the letter you left me and stepped back, thinking, 'Oh, okay,' I don't even want to imagine what would have happened. I just felt like I was going to die. No, I wanted to kill. So tell me, how can this be expressed with words of gratitude?"
Something that might be a curse flickers and disappears through his grinding teeth. He seems to be restraining himself as much as possible, but Sir Ayres was angry.
At those who created such a situation. And at me, who had become like that. At himself, who was tormented by imagining the countless possibilities that a fleeting moment could create.
So he tells me not to be grateful. He says that he can't cover up the dizzying moment with such soft words, and that it would be better to resent him for being late.
Although he doesn't say it out loud, he seems to have been greatly hurt by seeing me being dragged away by a stranger while struggling.
...But something's a little strange? This sounds like he didn't know such a thing would happen.
Surprisingly, Michael Ayres was confessing that he was able to save me back then because of his gut feeling. He was saying that it wasn't something the Crown Prince had done. It was unbelievable, but he was sincerely confessing.
"Say you won't do such dangerous things again. Anything is fine, please. I don't want to taste the pain of my heart being torn to shreds by you anymore."
He brings his forehead to the end of my knee as if collapsing. It was a pitiful sight, like a large dog laying down its tired body.
The voice, speaking in a whisper, was so full of the desperation and fear of that time that it made me unable to move.
I was sure I was wearing several layers of petticoats and pants under my dress, but the subtle warmth coming from the other person's skin seemed to spread gently over my round kneecap and skin.
Even though I should have been disgusted by the skinship that was spreading little by little like dyeing cloth, I was just staring blankly at the man's head, as if bound by something.
"Instead of saying thank you for saving me, never again."
He takes a breath, as if catching his breath, and continues.
"Never do such dangerous things again. So that no one but me can touch even a fingertip of my lady, you."
Is that why? I couldn't possibly shake off this man with the gentle eyes.
