~ Please support this site by disabling your ad-blocker ❤️ ~
______
Hello, lovely readers! ^^
Sorry for the interruption, but we'd like you to help with a tiny request. It'd mean a lot to us if you're willing to spare 3 minutes to help with this poll on Ko-fi telling us what series brings you/which you read mostly on this site. Here's the link - https://ko-fi.com/polls/What-series-do-you-enjoy-the-most-on-our-site-Or-A0A71UA533 Thanks in advance! Bless you all. đź’—
Chapter 185: As Long As I Can Stay by His Side
“Huh...?”
Surprised, she raised her head, her eyes locking straight with GĂ©rard’s as he stared down at her.
Reflected in his handsome features was neither the disgust nor the displeasure she had anticipated.
Instead, his intense gaze burned with a strong, hidden heat—one that sent a sudden shiver running through her.
“I told you before that everything in that world was an illusion. It is utterly absurd to let yourself be swayed by such things time and time again.”
Hearing GĂ©rard’s clear-cut perspective, Ortansia gasped softly.
He had completely compartmentalized it.
To him, everything that occurred in that world was nothing more than a trick of a demon.
To let one’s heart be continuously tossed about by such a thing was sheer foolishness.
“...I understand that it is difficult to switch gears immediately after being trapped in that world yourself. But think about it.”
Fixed in GĂ©rard’s unyielding gaze, her body felt pinned in place, unable to move a muscle.
As she stood frozen, GĂ©rard posed a question to her, slowly and deliberately.
“Is the place you want to return to by his side... or is it by mine?”
At those words, the lingering doubts smoldering in Ortansia's heart were laid bare.
‘Where... where I want to return to is…’
All this time... ever since the moment she resolved to rewrite fate and save her father, she had been torn.
...Is this truly for the best?
What is the best path to take? How can I bring happiness to Father and Brother? Ortansia had wrestled with these questions endlessly.
But what mattered right now was...
(...what I truly want to do.)
That illusionary world created by the devil might indeed have been a realm where the members of the House of Vérité lived in happiness.
Yet there had been no place for Hortensia in it.
...She had forced herself to believe “this is how it should be.”
Turning a blind eye to the rising tide of anxiety and regret that threatened to consume her each day, Hortensia had smothered her own heart.
Yet, deep down, all along...
‘I wanted to go back. To that place where I grew up, where Father, Brother... and everyone else were waiting.’
Perhaps it was because she had been unable to discard that desire entirely that the real GĂ©rard’s voice had reached her in the first place.
...She had loved the GĂ©rard of that world.
He was the one who had awakened those brand-new feelings within her.
However, if he had not been “GĂ©rard,” but a completely different person whom she had met in the exact same manner...
‘I never would have fallen for him in that way.’
Just as that other GĂ©rard had pointed out, Ortansia had been looking at the real GĂ©rard through him all along.
She had been drawn to the man who reached out to her in her loneliness.
Yet the person Ortansia had truly longed to see...
‘...was my brother, standing right here before me.’
The realization struck her with unmistakable clarity.
“The place I want to return to... is by your side, Brother.”
Guided by her heart, Ortansia spoke the words aloud.
At once, she saw the tension melt from GĂ©rard’s expression, softening into something gentle.
“Then stop wavering. The place you belong is with me. Treat that as an undeniable law of nature.”
“Yes...”
At GĂ©rard’s characteristically domineering declaration, Ortansia nodded softly.
Right now, even his forcefulness felt comforting, she was simply happy that he was trying to bind her to him with his words.
“Now that your mind is made up, let us leave at once.”
Saying so, GĂ©rard effortlessly scooped Ortansia up into his arms.
“B-Brother! I can walk on my own?!”
“I know.”
“Then why...?”
Facing her bewilderment, GĂ©rard opened his mouth as if to explain.
However, after swallowing his words and falling silent for a fleeting moment... he offered an entirely outrageous justification.
“Because I want to.”
Hearing those words, a surge of warmth rushed through her chest.
‘Brother... he doesn't hate me after all…’
She had been terrified that revealing what happened in that world would break their bond—that he would push her away.
Yet GĂ©rard hadn't changed in the slightest.
He did it simply because he wanted to.
Guided by that simple rule, he treated Hortensia exactly as he always had.
‘To Brother, I really am his little sister…’
Feeling a profound sense of relief paired with a faint trace of bittersweet loneliness, Ortansia wrapped her arms tightly around GĂ©rard.
‘...No, as long as we can remain family, that is enough.’
She wouldn't ask for more, as long as she could stay by his side from now on.
So... she would go home with him, back to the ducal estate where she grew up.
The moment she made that quiet resolve, a single path materialized across the endless, sprawling plain of snow.
Read only on https://royaltywrites.com.ng/
Hope you enjoyed the read!! If you did, please vote on for this novel on novel updates, leave reviews, and support; pretty please.
—————————
Please support this translation by dropping a Vote for this novel on novelupdates.com and donating! ❤️
Hope you enjoyed the read!! If you did, please vote on for this novel on novel updates, leave reviews, and support; pretty please.
—————————
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
0 Comments
What's on your mind...