Ch#292
Fragment of the Broken Glass Slipper Side Story 4 Episode 6
After speaking, I turned my gaze toward the door of the reception room.
Surely Sir Ailes wouldn't open it and enter just like back then, would he?
Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. I let out a small sigh of relief where no one could see.
"Oh dear, at times like this, you should say you're not interested in Sir Ailes."
Suddenly, Lady Sorin raised her voice in a scolding tone. A cold silence fell between us. Everyone was so stunned by her remark that shattered the mood that their mouths hung open. Some even openly furrowed their brows.
But Lady Sorin, seemingly oblivious, continued speaking.
Someone beside her tried to quietly dissuade her, but she was utterly reckless.
"That way, I can say to you, 'My goodness, you're unmoved even seeing Sir Ailes?' I'm truly disappointed."
I replied in a calm voice.
"It's not our first meeting, but having encountered him several times, he's a man with ample reason to draw interest, so of course. Coincidences do exist. Isn't that enough?"
Lady Sorin, displeased with my words, pouted her lips and whipped her head to the side.
Everyone sighed at her childish behavior and rose from their seats. Thanks to her, the mood was ruined. There was no longer reason to continue the conversation.
As people left one by one, leaving Lady Sorin and me alone, I tossed a word at her, who belatedly realized her mistake and wore a tearful expression.
"Ah, you told me that spring comes equally to everyone, didn't you? Yes, spring has come to me too."
Then I left her as well. Afterward, Lady Sorin sat alone in that spot until late at night when she finally retired. No one approached or spoke to her. Pitiable, but self-inflicted.
Time at House Debenzel passed so quickly that the final day arrived.
The duchess suggested ending the last day with a picnic, just like back then, and everyone readily agreed.
Thus, all returned to their rooms to change clothes. Only I remained seated in the reception room, as the duchess had asked me to stay a moment.
"Would you mind sitting in the reception room and waiting briefly? I have something to discuss with you alone."
Was this the answer to my lingering questions? I accepted readily and waited for her. I was immensely curious what matter required discussion on the final day of the tea party.
A moment later, the door opened. Thinking it was Duchess Debenzel, I rose with a bright smile, only to freeze in shock at the unexpected figure. Sir Ailes stood at the door.
"Mel?"
Was even this reenacted? As I blankly called his name in bewilderment, Mel silently greeted me, then paced about as if searching the surroundings. Soon, as if resolved, he strode toward me and said,
"If it wouldn't be rude, might I ask the lady's name?"
"Mel, no, Sir Ailes?"
"I am Michael Aires of House Aires. Beautiful lady, please allow me to know your name."
Unable to hide my astonishment, I answered his question.
"I am Cisse of House Bischwaltz."
"Lady of House Bischwaltz, then."
Mel smiled radiantly. He looked like a child who had just received a large teddy bear.
I was utterly flustered, never expecting even Sir Ailes to participate in such a thing.
I couldn't decide whether to admire Duchess Debenzel's perfection or be astonished by Mel's unexpected actions.
"Why are you alone?"
Mel's words perfectly evoked memories of the past here. Of course, unlike back then, I now wished to converse with him at length.
"I'm waiting for Duchess Debenzel."
He stepped closer. Then he muttered as if troubled.
"Oh dear, no book."
His words amused me, and I smiled faintly.
"That's why I can't say I'm shy anymore."
"Why not? I am prepared to listen gladly to whatever the lady says."
For some reason, I felt I should play along with him. Thus, I deliberately brought up words from that day.
"Thank you. Then, might you grant me the chance to greet you once more?"
He gazed at me with a slightly stiffened expression.
"What greeting do you mean?"
"A farewell greeting to remind you of your original purpose. What would Duchess Debenzel think upon returning and seeing this scene?"
Back then, I considered conversing with a stranger agony.
Thus, I tried to send him away quickly. I thought reading a book preferable to being with him.
I couldn't understand why a knight like Sir Ailes would waste his precious time on me.
Now, of course, I knew well.
"She would think I am doing what must be done."
Michael Aires approached with a smile filling his face, kissed the back of my hand, and knelt on one knee before me. From his parted lips flowed a heartfelt confession.
"Lady Bischwaltz, unfortunately for you, I cannot help but confess the burning emotions in my heart and the fervent longing I harbor. If you knew what fever I suffer because of it, you would deem me the most pitiable and wretched person in the world.
Of course, as a knight, I know I must endure. That I must wait with gentlemanly composure for your heart to open.
Yet knowing you possess a generous spirit, I thus crave your affection so cowardly, again and again.
I know you won't believe it. The time we have faced each other has not been long.
Yet I swear by God, there is not a shred of shame in my heart. All of me is directed toward you.
My light, my love, my pain. Knowing you has taught me the agony of a heart wrung dry. And how ecstatic that sorrow is. This
is the hunger of the heart. Merely seeing you leaves me famished and parched with the desire to touch.
At times, a desire rises to fill my empty core with your presence.
Yet you are so precious that I dare not treat you lightly. Thus, this pain is solely mine to bear.
Beloved Cisse.
Through loving you, I have tasted a new world.
If my world until now was a barren wasteland of cold ice, now it is filled like a ripened autumn field.
This is a miracle. No one told me such a world existed.
Yet you revealed the miracle to me, awakened me to unfamiliar emotions, and instilled the virtue of humbly embracing all greatness. Thus, I can only kneel before you.
Dearest Cisse.
All artistic things have no end. Thus, we ceaselessly strive with desire for perfection.
Yet you, as art, are so perfect that you frighten me.
I do not know how to possess you. I can only wait for you to extend your hand and embrace me. To offer my complete self to you. It is what I always wish for, again and again.
Cisse, source of my passion. Thus, I beg you to forgive me.
I do not know why, standing before you, I am filled only with greed.
If my emotions lead our relationship positively, then my yearning for you should shine with discernment and cool reason.
Yet why can I not grasp hold amid constant groping toward you? The fact that you hold my hand no longer consoles me. I am forgetting how to breathe.
Yet if there is hope for even such a me, it is that you do not shake off my hand.
Through this, I live. The smiles, touches, and words you show me are my salvation. Through them, I find satisfaction, quell potential anxieties, and burn away all doubts within me.
But Cisse, it is natural for an imperfect me to ardently pursue the ideal of perfection. You are complete without me, but I am nothing without you. Everything has a source. You are mine.
Then how could my life without you contain a soul?
Thus, I seek to bind you with material proof. Even if you condemn it as rude and barbaric bondage, I will accept gladly.
For I am yours nonetheless."
Fragment of the Broken Glass Slipper
Novel by Yeolmae
Author: Yeolmae
Publisher: Kwon Tae-wan, Woo Cheon-je
eBook Publication Date: 2024-05-07
Production: CL Production
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