There is no happy ending

*****
CONTINUED

‘I don’t know where you liked me, so I have to ask: where did you like me?’

‘…….’

‘And can you answer my question?’

Odette will think about what she did wrong. And then she’ll ache with pain, like a seizure. She would feel suffocated by guilt and regret her actions. But it never occurred to Odette that Bliss would suffer as she did.

Proof of this is that even now, Bliss is focused on her feelings.

Bliss Winston was true to his feelings in the end. He wanted Odette to believe in his love, and he wanted her to be unwavering. He was the perfect bastard. Seeing my love so raw made it impossible to hide my impatience.

‘Does it matter?’

‘If that doesn’t matter, then what does?’

Odette loved Bliss, truly and purely, and there were many sleepless nights when she was so excited about her newfound love that she didn’t know whether to call it love at first sight or love at first sound.

It was. …… It was. Odette had to make what had happened with Bliss a thing of the past. Holding on to it would only leave me with bad memories.

Odette smiled wearily at Bliss and started walking away.

‘I loved you so much.’

‘……Odette.’

‘I’m sorry I sold you out.’

I knew it from the start. I knew from the beginning that I shouldn’t have confessed my love……. I knew I shouldn’t have confessed my love to him, not only because of our class differences but because of my father. I wished I could just move on like everyone else.

‘I never should have told you I loved you in the first place.’

Pushing past Bliss, Odette took his hand one last time. It was a brief moment. Bliss could barely speak.

‘Don’t …… go.’

Odette cut him short.

‘……Goodbye.’

Bianca picked up the ring on her ring finger and tossed it as she walked through the corridors of Duke of Winston’s, but Odette did not. The ring Bliss had given me wasn’t an engagement ring; it was a gift. I’d been wearing it on my ring finger all along.

Odette covered my face with her hand and hurried down the corridor. Had she been decidedly selfish, she would have stuck to her guns. She would have thrown Bianca out a few years later and lived well as a commoner with the love of ‘His Royal Highness the Duke of Winston’ to herself. But she didn’t.

Odette was unapologetically selfish and unable to let go of her guilt and remorse. She didn’t have the confidence to overcome the shame that followed her like a tag. She remembered the look on Bianca’s face when she’d threatened to bash her head in if she came near. Odette thought about it.

……You must have felt this way, too.

Odette felt so sorry for Bianca that she wanted to bite her tongue and die.

Bliss and Bianca, the couple of the century, broke up at the beginning of spring. Odette and Bliss broke up in the summer of the same year. It wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t big. No one was interested in their romance.

‘I never loved Bliss in the first place.

I never thought it would end like this.

As we waited for the carriage, Odette bit her lip in agony, agony, agony. Odette was no longer sure of her future. Desperately, she resisted looking back in the direction of Bliss’s study.

Nobody was there left by Bliss’s side, but she couldn’t go after anyone. It was a flimsy sentiment, and it ended just as flimsy.

Bliss thought she could hear a young girl’s laughter in her ear.

***]

Bianca’s ship called at the port of Saranen, a neighboring port of Volona.

Saranen was closer to Osiria and Volona than Falborn. So was the temperature. The sun was blazing and humid in a way that was hard to imagine in Falborn.

As a testament to the heat, everyone in Saranen wore clothes made of thin muslin, and their skin was the color of overripe bread. And every single one of them was sluggish in behavior and speech.

Bianca’s face quickly contorted as she felt the sweat already trickling down her body. It was frustrating. The people of Falborn, even the northerners, were not the most relaxed.

Bianca took a deep breath and turned to Jade.

‘Jade, parasol.’

It was unlikely that the Yangshan would provide any relief from the heat, but it had to be there. It wasn’t the kind of environment Bianca would want to endure after fleeing to the cooler north in the summer. Jade unfolded the parasol she had been carrying and placed it over Bianca’s head.

The thought of having to endure this heat while studying…… made Bianca’s head spin a bit. Getting used to the heat, getting used to the food, and trying to get through her studies was making her bones ache.

It had taken this long just to get here. Now time was running out. My midterm exams were in about two months, and I wasn’t going to see any noticeable change in just two months. Thinking about it, I couldn’t waste it. The thought of having more things to worry about was not pleasant.

While Bianca was wrinkling her face in displeasure, Rayman was in the midst of taking over my belongings from the sailors. His luggage consisted of books and other necessities for life at the academy.

He deposited them in the wagon that would take him into the academy and approached Bianca, carrying only a light duffel bag.

‘You don’t seem in a good mood, Bianca.’

‘I dread the thought of spending the summer here.’

‘Still, Saranen is a popular holiday destination.’

‘I’m not a crazy person who seeks out hot places myself.’

Seeing the look on Bianca’s face, Rayman shrugged.

‘Oh, you’re in trouble. It’s scorching hot in the summertime in Volona.’

‘It could get even hotter here?’

Bianca asked, but Rayman didn’t answer, just gave her a wistful look. But only for a moment, and then he grinned like a dog. Rayman’s eyes, which were as cold as ice when he was still, began to relax.

Bianca was not mistaken in thinking that somehow there was a hint of mischief in them…….

‘What are you laughing about?’

‘I just thought of something funny.’

Bianca shot him an involuntary glare, her discomfort level soaring in the heat, but Rayman didn’t care.

Rather, he snatched Jade’s yangshan from her hands and stood beside Bianca. Jade’s expression instantly turned strange as he was thrown behind Bianca in the jungle, but Rayman and Bianca, who had their backs on him, didn’t know it. Well, not that Bianca would have cared if they did.

Bianca knew she’d overreacted, she added, looking up at Rayman from under the same parasol. It sounded like an excuse.

‘I…… don’t like people laughing in front of me for no reason, because it makes me feel like they’re laughing at me. I don’t like being laughed at.’

‘Are you making excuses?’

‘Not really.’

‘Okay, well, first of all, I’m not laughing at you.’

Why would I laugh at you, Bianca, Rayman added. Bianca ran her hand through my hair and replied.

‘I know. You wouldn’t laugh at me.’

‘I’m flattered that you do.’

‘So why were you laughing?’

Bianca said, standing casually under the shade of Rayman’s parasol. Seeing the look on Bianca’s face, Rayman laughed and leaned in to put his mouth close to Bianca’s ear.

He said.

‘I noticed it when we were on the boat, you’re a little cute in the heat.’

Of course, Bianca didn’t understand. She cupped one hand around Rayman’s ear as he whispered, and looked up at him shyly. He just smiled, as if she hadn’t said anything.

‘You said you were staying in Saranen until the midterms, didn’t you? I’ll show you a good restaurant, just like I did in Wagner, and I know a place that specializes in agrodolce. It’s hot, you lose your appetite, and studying is stamina.’

Rayman smirked. Bianca thought about pointing out how cute that was but decided against it.

‘I don’t think that’s the whole point.’

‘Of course not.’

‘And?’

‘I want to walk around Saranen with you when we get off the ship, Bianca. We didn’t get to see it on the Bannog, and on the ship we just wandered around the cabins and decks all the time. We need something new.’

Seeing Bianca’s expression, still sullen, Rayman bent slightly at the waist. His long red hair rustled and flowed with the movement. Then he leaned in and put his mouth close to Bianca’s ear. Rayman’s chuckling voice swept across the room.

‘I’m asking you out because I’m working up the nerve.’

‘Manipulative’ was not a word that a lesser noble would have applied to my behavior. Bianca was surprised once by his choice of words, and then again by his eloquence. She’d thought he was just acting foolish and removing his glasses, but he was quite…….

As I’ve come to realize in my time with him, he’s sweet and attentive, but he can also be a bit of a jerk at times. “Like the sound of laughter and whispering.” for example, but with a touch of sophistication. But surprisingly, Bianca didn’t mind. It was weird.

‘Whatever,’ Bianca sighed.

‘Whatever.’

It sounded like sarcasm, but it wasn’t really. It was more like permission. Rayman smiled, clearly recognizing Bianca’s approval.