Chapter 74: Co Clean
—REN—
For one dreadful mont, I thought Lady Aria might actually accept him.
The possibility struck with such force that I could barely breathe.
The entire ballroom had fallen silent. Hundreds of nobles stood frozen in place, watching the scene unfold before them with attention usually reserved for royal decrees and declarations of war.
And perhaps this was not so different.
At the center of the ballroom stood Lady Aria.
Aelith’s hand remained extended toward her.
The elven prince looked calm and utterly certain of himself. His expression carried the confidence of a man who believed the outco had already been decided. He looked as though he rely awaited the formality of hearing her answer aloud.
That confidence alone made my blood boil.
I watched Lady Aria carefully.
She looked shocked, confused, troubled.
But more than that, she looked...
...hurt.
Like she had just been betrayed.
She looked completely unprepared for what had just happened.
That was what angered most.
She had walked into this evening expecting a banquet.
Instead, she had been placed in the middle of a public declaration she never agreed to.
Sebastian who was beside , looked as though he was monts away from strangling soone.
The duke maintained the appearance of composure, but his eyes had beco frighteningly cold.
Matthias remained standing between Lady Aria and Aelith, his sword still raised. Although his posture remained disciplined, the tension radiating from him was impossible to miss.
Even Lord Ezekiel had abandoned his usual amusent.
The archmage’s gaze never left Lady Aria.
As for , I could not stop watching her.
I needed to know what she was thinking.
Because despite everything, I knew sothing the others did not.
Lady Aria liked Aelith.
Not in the way the prince clearly imagined.
But she trusted him.
After the incident outside the capital, after the mana examinations, after the pixies he sent to help with her dress, she had co to regard him as soone important.
Soone safe.
Soone she considered a friend.
And that frightened .
Because Lady Aria’s heart was far too kind.
She forgave too easily.
She trusted too deeply.
If anyone could accidentally find themselves agreeing to sothing outrageous simply because they did not wish to hurt another person’s feelings, it would be her.
Lady Aria finally moved.
Aelith’s expression softened imdiately.
The movent seed to reassure him.
The prince smiled and lowered his hand slightly.
"Aria," he said gently.
The familiarity of it made Ezekiel’s eye twitch.
Lady Aria stopped a few steps away from him.
For several monts, she said nothing.
Then she looked down at the bracelet around her wrist.
The silver vines glead beneath the ballroom lights.
I recognized it imdiately.
I hated it imdiately.
The mont I first saw it weeks ago, I had known sothing was wrong.
I simply had not realized how wrong.
Lady Aria slowly touched the bracelet with her fingers, and when she finally spoke, her voice was almost quiet.
"Aelith."
The prince smiled.
"Yes?"
The sadness in her eyes made my stomach sink.
"When you gave this bracelet," she began softly, "I thought it was because you were worried about ."
Aelith nodded imdiately.
"I was."
"I thought it was because you wanted to help ."
"I did."
"I thought it was because we were friends."
That was when the smile vanished from his face.
Lady Aria lowered her gaze briefly before looking back at him.
"I never asked for a prince."
Aelith’s expression tightened.
"I never asked for a claim."
His confidence was clearly beginning to crack.
"I never asked to beco soone’s bride."
"Aria—"
"No."
The interruption was gentle.
But it was firm.
For perhaps the first ti since I had t her, Lady Aria spoke with absolute certainty.
But she did not sound angry.
"I listened when you told this bracelet would protect . That whenever I called you’d co and help. And you did."
Her fingers tightened slightly around the silver vines.
"I trusted you. I believed you."
Lady Aria took a soft breath.
"But do you know what hurts the most?"
Aelith tried to reach for her and explain but he was rejected right out. The confidence he had possessed monts earlier was completely gone.
"Aria..."
"I thought we were friends."
The words landed harder than any sword strike. Aelith looked as though soone had physically struck him and he seed genuinely shaken.
Lady Aria smiled sadly.
"I really believed that when you helped , I thought it was because you cared."
"I did care."
Aelith panicked as his answer ca imdiately.
Desperately.
Lady Aria shook her head.
"Then why didn’t you tell the truth?"
Aelith said nothing, because he had no answer.
Lady Aria looked down at the bracelet again.
"If this bracelet ans sothing important among elves..." Her voice trembled slightly. "If accepting it ant sothing this serious..."
She lifted her gaze to et his.
"Why didn’t you tell ? Why did you lie to ?"
My heart ached at her words.
After all, there really is no reason to lie to her. And the fact that I am seeing the look of betrayal on her face right now made think of my own case.
I clenched my fists as I thought about it.
She had trusted soone. But that trust had been used against her.
Whether we intended harm or not no longer mattered.
The result remained the sa.
Slowly, Lady Aria reached for the clasp.
Aelith imdiately took a step forward.
"Aria, wait."
But she did not stop.
The bracelet slipped free from her wrist and the crystal embedded within it dimd instantly.
Aelith stared at the bracelet in her hand as his expression beca stricken.
As though he had just witnessed sothing irreplaceable shatter before his eyes.
Lady Aria held it out toward him.
"I don’t want it."
The prince froze.
For several seconds, he simply stared. He looked from the bracelet to her face and then back again.
His hand never moved.
"Please don’t do this."
The plea was so quiet that I almost did not hear it.
But I did.
And so did everyone else.
Lady Aria’s smile trembled.
"It’s really sad."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
The sorrow in it made sothing tighten painfully in my chest.
"Because I genuinely liked having you as a friend."
Aelith closed his eyes briefly.
The pain on his face was impossible to hide.
"But I don’t think friends do this to each other."
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
The ballroom remained utterly silent.
Lady Aria extended the bracelet once more.
"Here."
Aelith looked at her with pleading eyes.
He looked completely lost. Like a man who had suddenly realized he had made a terrible mistake.
And in that mont, I too realized sothing for myself.
I need to co clean as well if I wanted to stay with her.
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