I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 79

【 Another Confession 】

I was led by Evan Bell’s hand and arrived at his bedroom.

I didn’t know why he’d brought me to the bedroom instead of the office I always went to, but it didn’t feel like the kind of atmosphere where I could ask. I had no choice but to swallow the questions that came to mind.

As soon as Evan Bell arrived in the bedroom, he left me standing by the door, stared at me in silence for a long while, then finally opened his mouth.

“…Why did you say you’d introduce her?”

“…Pardon?”

At the question that dropped out of nowhere, I reflexively asked back.

Seeing that I truly seemed not to know, Evan Bell twisted his face in irritation. His already sharp features grew even sharper.

“You just told Laura Ellington yourself that you’d introduce her to me. You even promised you’d work hard at my side so she could become my wife, and you’ve already forgotten?”

“Ah….”

Only then did I realize why Evan Bell was angry with me.

He didn’t like that I’d joined hands with Laura Ellington behind his back.

‘Well, he doesn’t particularly have plans to marry, and then he finds out someone is trying to pair him up with another woman behind the scenes. Of course he’d feel disgusted.’

Still, it wasn’t like I had nothing to say.

“That was because that woman was too aggressive. It felt like she wouldn’t leave until she wrung a promise out of me….”

“….”

“So I had no choice but to brush it off by saying I’d try mentioning it to you. I never actually intended to tell you about Laura Ellington, and I had no intention of introducing her to you either.”

“….”

“It looked like you heard the entire conversation I had with her, Boss. Since you heard it yourself, I think you’d know better than anyone.”

I thought this would be enough to clear up the misunderstanding. But the moment I finished answering, his expression twisted even more harshly.

It seemed that something I’d said had offended him. But I’d told the truth plainly, and there wasn’t a single lie anywhere.

As I searched my mind for what might have upset him, Evan Bell opened his mouth, forcibly swallowing the deep sigh that threatened to burst out.

“…Do you not care if I marry another woman?”

“….”

‘Well, it’s not like I particularly care, is it?’

I didn’t know why that topic was coming up here, but I wasn’t Evan Bell’s parent, nor was I in a position to comment on his marriage.

Evan Bell was a complete stranger to me. It would be ridiculous for him to marry someone according to my wishes or seek my permission.

And the most important thing in marriage was his own heart. If he wanted it and loved someone, then it didn’t matter who he married. It was entirely his decision and his feelings.

Of course, it would be troublesome if he said he wanted to terminate the contract because he needed to prepare for marriage, but as long as it didn’t interfere with reaching the ending, who he married later was none of my business.

…I couldn’t possibly lay out all those inner thoughts in detail, so I answered with silence instead. But it seemed to show on my face.

Evan Bell narrowed his eyes and looked at me with a gaze that said he couldn’t believe it.

“You really don’t care?”

“….”

“Even if I put on a ring of the same design with another woman, kiss her, and hold her in my arms right in front of you, you’d be completely fine with it?”

Startled, he bit his lip as if trying to suppress the emotions rising up inside him. Then, after a brief silence, he spoke hoarsely.

“I… I… I don’t think I’d be fine at all.”

“….”

“Just imagining you smiling while being held in another man’s arms makes my insides twist so badly I want to die, so how can you be so unaffected?”

Evan Bell tried to hide the surging sorrow behind his usual cynical expression, but he couldn’t conceal the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes.

I felt a sense of déjà vu at Evan Bell’s reaction.

A few days ago, when he’d summoned me at an hour when even servants and birds were asleep.

When I’d suddenly been caught by him and ended up lying on the same bed.

When, with a face flushed hot from alcohol, he’d poured out words I couldn’t understand like a rambling confession, then looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

The Evan Bell before me now overlapped with the image of him I’d seen at dawn back then.

If there was only one difference between then and now, it was that this time, not a single drop of alcohol was in his system. He was completely sober.

I instinctively realized that this was a moment where I had to face him head-on.

Cleanly, directly, to figure out why Evan Bell felt possessive toward me, why he looked at me like the person he loved most in the world even though he’d said I was the person he hated most in the world.

It was time to find out the reason.

Once the tangled emotions that existed between us were sorted out, I would naturally be able to decide how I should treat Evan Bell as well.

I steeled myself, closed my eyes briefly, then opened them again. Gathering every scrap of courage I didn’t even know I had, I called out to him.

“Boss.”

What do you want me to do?

That was the question I was about to ask.

At that moment, Evan Bell suddenly furrowed his brow and pressed a hand to his forehead, then his body tilted sharply to the side.

“Boss…!”

Startled by the sight of Evan Bell failing to support himself properly, I hurriedly caught him.

Thankfully, I managed to keep him from collapsing onto the floor, but trying to support the weight of a large man by myself, it now felt like my own body was about to give out.

‘He’s heavy as hell. I should’ve worked out more!’

Vowing that I would definitely start exercising once I returned to my original world, I clenched my teeth and endured with all my strength. It would be a disaster if he hit his head on the floor and got a concussion.

And with a voice trembling just as much as my arms and legs, I checked whether he was conscious.

“Boss! Are you all right?”

“….”

“Boss? Boss!”

I called Evan Bell again, but he didn’t move at all. Only the sound of his rough breathing reached my ears. He had clearly lost consciousness.

‘For now, I should call a servant and have a doctor examine him… but I can’t hold on any longer.’

My legs were already shaking violently, protesting that they could no longer bear Evan Bell’s weight. The same was true for the arms supporting his torso.

‘Evan Bell’s body is sturdier than mine, so I need to control the center of gravity and lay him down as carefully as possible. If I at least cradle his head and protect it, he shouldn’t be seriously hurt….’

That was when it happened.

“…?!”

Without any warning, the strength suddenly drained from my legs, and I collapsed to the floor on the spot.

My panic barely had time to set in before something even more surprising occurred.

I should’ve been crushed beneath Evan Bell’s heavy body, flailing helplessly, but strangely enough, nothing happened. We were simply sitting down side by side on the floor.

“…?”

‘What is this? I was sure I was going to fall backward, so why am I completely fine?’

Still bewildered by the situation I couldn’t make sense of, I sat there on the floor when suddenly, a familiar sensation wrapped around my waist.

I slightly turned my head to the side and looked down.

Evan Bell’s arm, which should have been hanging limp, was wrapped firmly around my waist.

And it didn’t take long to grasp what that meant.

“…Boss. You just deceived me, didn’t you….”

“Look, Lucia.”

Evan Bell cut me off. The arm around my waist tightened, like someone afraid I might run away.

“You were worried when I collapsed too. You could’ve just left me there, but you didn’t. Just like that, I did the same.”

“….”

“I was worried about you.”

At that moment, I immediately realized what Evan Bell meant by being worried.

He was referring to the time he’d discovered the bruises left on my body and pressed me to find out who had done it.

That he’d been worried about me being hurt. Just like how I’d supported him when he collapsed and worried over him.

I asked Evan Bell, who was burying his face against my chest. It was the question I hadn’t been able to finish earlier.

“Evan.”

“….”

“What do you want me to do?”

“….”

“What do you want from me?”

At my questions, Evan Bell hesitated for a long time before answering. Like a child hiding from something frightening, he kept trying to bury himself against me.

I waited patiently for his answer. I didn’t rush him, nor did I coax or comfort him to draw out a response.

I simply stayed still, waiting until he was ready to give me his answer.

A deep, quiet silence enveloped Evan Bell and me.

How much time passed like that?

At last, as if emerging from deep anguish, Evan Bell opened his mouth.

“…I don’t know.”

That was the first word he forced out with difficulty.

Evan Bell clutched me as if he might crush me, his hands full of pain, and confessed what was in his heart.

“I really don’t know anymore, Lucia.”

“….”

“I hated you to the point of wanting you dead. I wished for every moment of your life to be miserable, and for everything about you to be stained with regret and tears. So when I met you again, I wanted to take revenge by controlling you however I pleased. I thought that if I treated you like a whore, I could be freed from this terrible pain.”

“….”

“I definitely thought that, but I’m still suffering, and now I don’t even know what I want from you anymore, Lucia.”

Evan Bell lifted his head and met my eyes as he spoke. In his gaze directed at me, confusion and anguish, sorrow and pain pooled like tears.

“Do I want you to be unhappy because of me? Or do I want you to be happy?”

“….”

“When I first saw you here, I was clearly hating you. So why does my heart drop just from seeing a single bruise left on your body, and why can’t I laugh even a little at your misfortune?”

“….”

“Why, Lucia. Answer me. Please, teach me, Lucia….”

As if seeking an answer from God, Evan Bell asked me questions that couldn’t be answered, his face stained with pain like tears.

And as if he already knew the answer to those questions, he pressed his lips to mine, wetting my cheek with bitter tears.