Villains also get Second chance

"It hurts."

"…"

He shook off some of the power in his hand, and I silently watched what he was doing. His hand-wrapping skills of the wounded hand with a handkerchief was surprisingly good. I smacked my lips without my knowledge and spoke.

"You are doing this well."

"…I am used to it."

He replied with a restrained voice. At that time, he must have mistakenly touched the wrong side, and I was overcome by an enormous amount of pain. I spit out a sharp moan without realizing I was hurt.

"Ah ugh!"

"Ah…"

He was noticeably taken aback when he heard my moan. I bit my lips to the point of almost making it bleed to deal with the pain. He apologized quickly.

"I am sorry."

"…It is fine."

In fact, it wasn't okay at all, but i had no desire to tell the truth. It was a shame to look like this in front of him. I barely endured the pain and watched him tie the wound with a trembling hand.

"It is done."

It was a word he said a long time later. I pulled my hand out carefully. The part tied with the handkerchief was hot and stung. I stared at the hand tied with the handkerchief, and at one point opened my mouth.

"Handkerchief…"

"Hm?"

""… I'll wash it up as clean as possible."

"It is fine. Do not waste your effort on this."

"I feel strange as if I feel like I owe him something."

At that, he sighed.

"How demanding."

"…"

I wanted to tell him that it was he the demanding one. It was because of him that I was being demanding. No, it was because he, and no one else, was at the heart of all this misery. I spoke to him with an expressionless face.

"Thank you anyways, Your highness."

"Are you trying to set the boundaries now, Marianne" he asked as he looked at my expressionless face. He had seen me loving him, bridging, glaring, fighting, but this was the first time had he seen nothing on my face.

"We were always in boundaries, your highness. It only strengthened with the divorce."

"But we are not divorced yet"

"But we will be soon"

"Yes, but we are not now, i am still your husband"

"Have we ever treated me seriously, like a wife and husband should be. Do you take me as a wife?" i asked as my voice getting drained of energy.

"I have given you all the rights of a wife." he retorted back.

"Ha"

"So you want that right, alright."

-PLIP PLOP, PLIP PLOP.

At that moment it started to rain. Up until earlier, the sky had been clear, and at some point, it was rapidly darkening now. I looked up at the dark sky with raindrops falling on my face. It was definitely a clear sky until just now, and now there was sudden rain, so for sure, I must have been receiving a lot of bad luck today.

"Ah…"

It was then I made a dry sound as I was dragged to the side by Cassius. Before I could snatch my hand and ask what he was doing, his mouth opened first.

"It is unreasonable to go back on horseback now. There is a place that serves as a shelter from the rain, so let us go there."

"…"

Just a little further, was the duke's Palace, but the problem was that we couldn't drag the horses there. I had no choice but to follow his words.

We arrived under a large tree. My mouth opened at the immense size of the tree, the biggest one I had seen since I was born. It was a magnificence that seemed to be a few hundred years old. I muttered in a voice that was full of marvel.

"It is very big, this tree."

"This is a thousand-year-old tree. It is a tree that comes down from the time of the founding Emperor."

During his explanation, I was forced to be surprised again. The tree was large enough to boast a thousand years of greatness, and thanks to this, the two people and two horses were provided with enough space to escape the rain.

Wherever I sat, he followed, sitting by my side, and at the end I just let him be.

Both of us were silently staring at the raindrops falling beneath the leaves, which made a light sound. The silence between the two of us was accompanied by some awkwardness, but I did not feel that the silence was only so strange. The clear sound of raindrops falling on the floor removed some of the awkwardness.

I stared silently at my injured hand. The red blood has already stopped moistening the white handkerchief.

Nevertheless, I was caught up in the illusion that I seemed to still be bleeding for some reason, with the thought, 'Can I really erase this bloodstain'?

"That time…"

"Yes?"

"About that time."

He brought it up seriously. I looked at him with a puzzled look. He was cautious as if he seemed to be hesitant about something.

"In the morning, you have heard Killian denying to give you the rights." he asked, as he looked away, "is that the reason you are so hurt today?" his voice had certainty that even I did not have.

"I don't know, your highness' 'I told the truth, I was hurt, yes! But was that the reason that i was feeling so suffocated and lonesome suddenly as if all my hard work, my love and care costs nothing, or was i being greedy to bound Killian to me.

"I think you would be a wonderful guide, philosopher and mother." he whispered and my head turned towards him, "you are a very great mother Marianne. you are much more better than his real mother and anyone who have ever taken care of him, he did not know what he is loosing, just like me. i am sorry, Mari. " he added as his fingers cleared the water from my face was it rain or tears, i, myself did not know.