Be Fascinated

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Chapter 35

Amelia was having tea with Claude. The invitation came from Amelia.

“It’s the first time the Empress has asked to chat with me.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Talk about what? Philia?”

He got to the point so suddenly that it was like a stab. But rather, Amelia noticed that this man couldn’t afford to waste time.

“Miss Philia is a really sweet and kind girl. It’s nice to have a Lady who’s close to me.”

“Close? From what I’ve gathered, Your Majesty is quite close with the saint.”

“Yes, I’m building my friendship with her, too. The more friends, the better.”

The woman who used to lack confidence became the empress and her gaze changed. She looked straight into his eyes and she now knew how to smile while disguising it as pretense, though she also knew how to smile sincerely. But Amelia had a certain color.

“Miss Philia really likes primary colors. She said she liked the bright colors of the teacup and her clothes. She’s so cute, isn’t she?”

“I know.”

Amelia burst into a peal of laughter. She did it because of the way he looked, as if he said that just to express that he knew more about Philia than her.

“But you’ve still allowed me to see her?”

“I thought Your Majesty could do something for me.”

“What is it?”

“Your Majesty is in a similar situation, correct? My brother wouldn’t have left you alone, would he?”

Amelia laughed again.

“Grand Duke, Miss Philia and I are different.”

“What is different? My brother and I are crazy about you and her, respectively.”

“…….”

“Isn’t Her Majesty also imprisoned here?”

“Did she have hope after seeing me?”

Amelia asked curiously. Claude didn’t answer. Then, Amelia continued.

“It is a vain hope. How would a butterfly caught up in the web look at a spider? Would she smile?”

“…….”

“Do you think she could smile?”

Amelia’s words sounded quite cold. She poured the tea slowly.

“Did you call me just to tell me this?”

“When I first visited, Miss Philia told me to go back if I had come to see her because of the Grand Duke.”

“…….”

“Miss Philia seems to be thinking only of the Grand Duke.”

Claude heard that and fell into deep thought. Amelia let him be without saying anything.

After a while, Claude cautiously spoke up.

“What did she tell you?”

Claude may have responded to the conversation to ask this question. Amelia put on a strange smile.

“Are you curious?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, you don’t care what she thinks.”

“Your Majesty.”

The reddish brown eyes lit up with a cool warning light. It was an unspoken warning not to interfere with his private life any longer. But Amelia wasn’t so scared.

“You already know the answer, don’t you?”

Claude did not respond to Amelia’s words. Whatever the answer, Claude would not change. She looked out the window and towards the sky. Enough time had passed.

At that moment, Claude came to his senses as if he had noticed something. He looked at Amelia with scorching eyes as if to kill her.

“Don’t tell me!”

“Yeah, I made her run away. As Miss Philia wants.”

The eyes with murderous energy have engulfed her. But Amelia spoke calmly.

“You said we were in a similar situation? Do you want me to tell you the difference between me and the Lady, Grand Duke?”

“…….”

Claude looked at Amelia.

“It’s that I choose to be with him.”

“…….”

The answer was more straightforward than expected. Claude ran out of the palace.

Philia felt the wind as she rode on horseback. There were knights by her side. The sky was blue, and colorful flowers were blooming on the way out to the castle gate.

The Empress helped her.

She can go out. She can run away. She had only met her a few times before, but the empress was trying to help her with all her heart.

So what if the empress wasn’t sincere anyway? Now, Philia had let everything go.

She rode the horse and faced the wind. Just leaving the mansion gave her a great sense of pleasure and liberation.

As soon as she left the capital, the Great Plains appeared. Philia and the knights eventually managed to escape the capital.

“Philia!”

At that moment, Philia heard the devil’s voice. Her whole body began to shake.

“Get off your horse and wait here.”

A knight named Reinkel said. It was unsettling that even the knights stopped talking. Her heart was pounding. Her body trembled.

Already. He already followed. He noticed that she had run away and came to catch her. What if she gets caught? Will she go into the mansion again and become his doll? She had her wrists tied the other time. Will her limbs be tied this time? Or will she end up in a dungeon?

Philia’s eyes fluttered anxiously as she glanced at the man who was pursuing her. The man was like a knight of death who had come from hell. The black horse he rode had foam in the mouth, and the eyes were bright red and full of anger. Claude raised his sword and struck down the knights that rushed to him.

“Your Highness, you must not do this!”

Claude didn’t even respond and struck down the knights with his sword.

As a prince who was well versed in martial arts, the knights were helpless under Claude’s sword. If they had not worn armor, they would all have been hacked to death.

At that moment, Reinkel came out with a sword. Claude faltered when Reinkel appeared as if it was true that he was an excellent knight. Was there any hope?

Reinkel turned behind and looked at Philia. He looked at Philia with a mysterious gaze, then looked at Claude and let go of his sword.

“What is this!”

Even he gave way. Philia felt betrayed as she stepped back. Claude got off his horse and approached Philia. The bloody red brown eyes seemed to pierce through her with murderous intent.

“Phil…”

Philia was frightened. She ran away. As he reached out, her hair, which had almost reached the tip of his finger, barely escaped. Claude blindly pursued the woman who ran away.

The chase was so desperate. It wasn’t that the one to be caught would die. The pursuer did not hold any such grudges.

They were just whispering love to each other. However, the man chased after the woman madly, and the woman pursued by him was also afraid and desperately ran away.

Catch her.

I have to catch her.

I will catch her and lock her up again.

The clothes he wore to match the formalities of the imperial palace got in the way, but it didn’t matter. Occasionally, the sharp grass of the plain brushed his cheeks, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t see anything on his sides, only the scattered, colorless blonde hair.

If only he could hold onto that golden hair. If only he could hold that woman back in his own arms!

But the chase wasn’t easy either. Like a herbivore being chased by a wild beast, she ran for her life.

However, in the first place, Philia, whose body was weak, couldn’t compare to a man who had trained his body, and so she couldn’t last long. His long legs overtook her with his strides.

“Kyaaaaa!”

Eventually, Claude grabbed Philia’s shoulder and turned her around.

As if inside a nightmare, Philia screamed at him. Philia had a violent color.

The color of her feelings of hatred and fear of him. It was so vivid, but he was trying so hard to turn a blind eye to it.

Then, the deep feelings that he had heard from her disappeared. He was looking at Philia as if in shock.

It was as if he had seen her face for the first time. She was feeling so terrible.

“No, no, please!”

Philia screamed at him and pulled a dagger out of her arms. Claude thought that Philia was going to kill him, and he unknowingly stopped all actions.

But as he thought that she was going to stab him, Philia brought the dagger to her neck, as if she were going to stab herself in the throat at any moment.

At least she seemed to know what Claude was afraid of.

A saint who hated blood. A woman who smiled so brightly. How did that timid and fragile woman become so headstrong?

How did she become like this when she had such a bright smile?

For her, how did it come to this—for him to have turned into a nightmare worse than her own death?

“Philia… I…”

Instead of answering, Philia gasped roughly.

“I…”

I, you…….

Claude was about to say something he had never said before. He tried to express those feelings, his obsessions, tried to form everything into words.

“No!”

I love you.

Claude couldn’t speak after that. Even that, because it was obvious that Philia would feel terrible. The woman who smiled as if she was happy when he said he liked her— she had disappeared like a mirage.

He lost all his motivation. He let her go.

The intense obsession and lust he had for her were lost in front of the loathing she had for him. Turning away, he got on his horse and headed blindly in the opposite direction of where she was going.

Contrary to their deep feelings, their separation happened so easily.

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