"Hmm?"
Erin snapped back to her senses and replied, "That’s... absolutely fine."
He turned to look ahead toward the water spring. "Till then, we two can stay here, and you won’t feel like you didn’t get the chance to stay here anymore," he said again.
Erin could only nod. He would say sothing intimate in the most unromantic way, but it was still enough to affect her heart—getting to hear sothing truly unexpected from him when she least expected it, when she was not prepared at all.
Lucian showed her around. They wandered for a while in the garden surrounding the residence, which was covered with shades. Ti passed, and evening arrived as the dayti was seemingly shorter during this season.
Lucian also showed her that floor with a few rooms, and she liked it a lot. She could almost imagine her small family- Husband and wife, spending ti here with their kids.
Lucian and Erin enjoyed a tasty al while admiring the beautiful sunset view from the upper floor of the residence.
"It’s dark already. It’s ti for us to leave," Lucian said to Erin who was standing by the large window, looking at the beautiful view of the dark starry sky and the peaks of snowy mountains glowing lightly under the stars.
Erin turned to look at him, and he asked again, "Shall we?"
She stared at him wordlessly for a mont, and nodded, as if she had lost any hope in him.
When they ca to the drawing room, a lady servant inford them, "My Lord, the carriage is ready," and left the room.
Lucian humd and looked at Erin. "Let’s leave?"
Erin, who had been quiet for a while, humd lightly.
Lucian noticed her quiet expression. "I know it’s late. But don’t worry, we will be back to main residence soon. Though it’s dark, it’s safe to travel. And I’ve already sent a ssage to your brothers letting them know we would be returning by the evening so they won’t worry."
Erin kept her gaze lowered and humd again.
"Let’s leave," he said and turned to go.
Just as he took a step ahead, he heard Erin.
"Wait!"
He stopped and turned to look at her. "Hmm?"
She raised her gaze to finally et his. "I... have sothing to talk about."
Though hesitant, she knew she needed to say it. It was important, and making excuses to make herself feel better was not going to work.
"What is it?" His calm, composed, deep voice reached her ears.
"I... want to know what you feel for ," she asked, trying to be brave.
He simply looked at her, and she couldn’t guess what he might be thinking after hearing her question.
She explained, doing her best to stay calm while boldly eting his gaze. "We were together the entire day. You talked about our future ho and even kids, but what about our present? You are with , but I don’t feel like we are together. I know you care, but is just that care enough between us?"
He remained silent, his expression unreadable as he continued to look at her wordlessly.
Erin couldn’t stop herself. She was ready to pour out all the pent-up feelings she had been trying to suppress.
"An entire day we spent together, and you didn’t even hold my hand without a reason—except to help with sothing. Not even once during all those hours did I feel the kind of affection a woman should feel from her partner," her voice grew heavier with emotion. "Do you... only see as a perfect noblewoman who is best suited to handle your family, to bear your children, to be the perfect lady of this grand estate? Is that all I am to you?"
"I am the only noblewoman you are familiar with, and you do not need to deal with soone unknown. Is that the reason you chose , soone familiar to you and want to marry ?"
"I know, you said you like , you think it’s supposed to be falling in love with , but is that really the case? Keeping aside, I, being the most desirable noble family daughter, do you really choose for yourself, for your own reason? Do you really love in a way a man should love a woman, instead of calculating pros and cons that cos with marrying ? Do you really feel anything towards in your heart at all?" Tears started to form in her moist eyes, but she stopped them from rolling down.
"I won’t go back on my word of marrying you, even if you don’t love the way I want you to, because I love you, and I’m selfish enough to want to be with the man I love, the first man ever who moved my heart, despite he acts all heartless with . I can bear my one-sided love for you and won’t expect you to love the sa way, but... I just want to hear it from you...I just want to know, if you feel at least sothing for , other than just looking at the perfect woman to marry."
She finally turned her face away, unable to hold back her tears, not wanting him to see her cry. She wiped them away with her glove-covered hands, kept her gaze averted, and said her final words. "Just... answer once..."
After a long pause, once she had nothing more to say, Lucian, who had been silently listening to her, finally spoke.
"Does the way of showing my feelings allow to not maintain the boundaries of a noble lady?"
Erin felt her mind was overwheld with these hurtful feelings that rose in her heart, the thought of not being loved by him the sa way she did. All she could think was if this was the ti for him to talk about any boundaries with her, instead of just telling her if he felt anything at all towards her.
She inhaled deeply to calm herself. "You won’t understand what I am talking about. Just forget about if I even said anything. Let’s head back."
She walked ahead and just as she passed by him, he held her hand.
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