The Villainess Wants To Retire Chapter 522: Hidden wish

"That sounds like surveillance," I said, my voice dry, testing the boundaries.

"It is," he replied, offering no apology.

I gave him my most dangerous look, the one that usually made magistrates tremble. He didn’t flinch.

"I don’t care," he said, eting the look head-on. "You can be as angry with as you want. You will be attended to. I won’t lose you to a silent room because no one was there to catch the fire."

Then, the authority left him again. His voice dropped to a jagged whisper. "I watched you out there. Protecting . While I was..." He stopped, unable to voice the sha of his temporary unconsciousness.

"You were unconscious," I said matter-of-factly. "Soone had to keep the wolves back."

"Eris." It was a warning. Stop deflecting.

I went silent, letting the weight of his gaze settle over .

"Every crack, I counted them," he whispered. "On you. While I couldn’t move. While I couldn’t reach you. I can’t..." He stopped himself, the emotion clearly becoming too much for him to manage.

He had seen it all. Every fracture I’d tried to hide, every gasp of pain I’d tried to swallow.

And in that mont, looking at this broken, blonde-haired man who had fought the world just to stand beside , it hit with the force of a landslide.

I had fallen in love with the right man.

I felt a small, secret smile touch my lips.

This was what I had wanted in the second life I was granted.

My hidden wish, buried under layers of vengeance and political maneuvering, was simply to know what it felt like to be loved.

Truly loved. Not for my utility, not for my crown, but for the ssy, volatile soul underneath.

This story, for all its cruelty, had granted that wish. I was a lucky woman. It was more than enough for to leave this world happily, if that was what the fates demanded.

I turned toward him fully and reached out, my hand finding his where it rested between us. I took it, my fingers lacing through his.

He went very still, his breath hitching as if he hadn’t expected to be the one to bridge the gap.

"Go fix your empire," I told him, my voice steady. "Co back. And when you do... we’ll figure out the rest. Together."

His expression was complex, a knot of longing and fear that I didn’t have a na for. "And if I’m gone longer than—" He couldn’t finish the thought. The fear of returning to a grave was written in the tremor of his jaw.

"I’ll still be here," I promised, my voice firm.

"You don’t know that," he countered, the harsh truth of our reality bleeding through.

"No," I admitted. "But I intend to be. And you know how stubborn I am."

Soren leaned forward, his forehead dropping to rest against mine. We stayed like that for an eternity, just breathing each other’s air, the world outside the door forgotten. The contact was a prayer, a silent pact made in the ruins.

"I love you," he whispered, his voice vibrating against my skin. "I really do, Eris. So much that it hurts."

Sothing happened in my chest, not the violent, soul-searing heat of Pyronox, but a soft, radiant warmth that was entirely my own. My heart felt like it was expanding, pressing against the cracks in my ribs.

I froze. My tongue felt like lead.

Should I say it back? Was it a kindness to let him leave with those words in his ears, or was it a punishnt to give him sothing else to lose?

Fear, cold and sharp, paralyzed . I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t co. I was terrified of the finality of it.

Before I could find my voice, he pulled back just enough to look at . "You don’t have to say it back," he said, his voice thick with a forced understanding. "I don’t expect you to. I just needed to let you know now... before I regret not saying it sooner."

I felt the distinct, crystalline sound of my heart breaking. I didn’t know what expression I was making, but it was enough to make him smile weakly.

He reached up, cupping my face in his hands, his thumbs stroking the fractures on my cheekbones. He saw my hesitation and chose to spare from it.

His breath was warm against my forehead as he exhaled slowly, the weight of his confession received and settled. We sat in the silence that followed, neither of us moving, until a soft, apologetic knock sounded at the door.

Aldric.

Soren didn’t move imdiately. He took one more mont, one last breath of .

"The horses are ready," Aldric’s voice ca through the wood. "When you are, Your Majesty."

Soren lifted his head. He looked at one last ti, his eyes wide and drinking in the image of , as if he were trying to paint it onto the inside of his eyelids.

He stood up, still holding my hand, his fingers clinging to mine until the very last possible second. The letting go was slow, deliberate, and excruciating.

He turned and began to walk toward the door, his back to .

"Soren!" I called out.

He stopped and turned, his hand on the latch. "What?"

"Don’t be careless," I said, my voice flat, masking the scream behind my teeth.

He read the subtext instantly. He understood that don’t be careless ant stay alive because I am not ready to be without you.

"I never am," he said. It was the last thing he told before the door closed and he was gone.

The room fell into an oppressive quiet. I sat alone with the maps and the dying candles, the distant sounds of the palace being nded feeling like a mockery.

My lap felt cold where his hand had been.

The cracks were still there, pulsing faintly with a golden light.