Uriel frowned. How strictly did Pascal III teach his granddaughter? He might have been proud to see his granddaughter casually pull out her mother’s memento as she was getting closer to the throne.
The chilly wind blew, and the sound of music from afar paused. Apollonia suddenly changed her position and made eye contact with Uriel.
Her sunset eyes took his breath away yet again.
“Do you want me to play it for you? The lyra?” She leaned toward him, the distance between them narrowing even further, almost to the point of touching, but she didn’t even realize.
‘This is dangerous.’
His heart was about to beat out of his chest. Uriel wondered briefly whether he should get up or not.
“…What kind of song is it?”
But the words from his mouth were completely different.
“The song Tan played earlier! I want to practice!”
Although it was hard to believe, she was extremely excited. It was the first time he saw something like that too. He tried to persuade her to return once again…
“…Allow me to hear it.”
But his mouth moved on its own. Additionally, Uriel’s eyes couldn’t leave her rosy cheeks and crinkled smile.
She picked up the lyra and started playing.
It was a languid and mellow song with a few bursts of energy. It seemed like she had the talent of remembering any song she heard once. The problem was, apart from her original techniques, her drunk hands did not follow her head.
The melody was fine, but it was cut off once in a while, and each time that happened, Apollonia burst into laughter. It was a terrible performance, but Uriel’s eyes and ears only focused on her as if there was nothing else that mattered in the world.
Her parted lips, her facial expression that looked shy whenever she made a mistake, her laughter that punctuated those pauses. Pale shoulders, pale fingers, long braids that shone even in the dark…
The sound of her laughter danced like music in his ears. All of her movements filled his senses.
‘I don’t think I’m ready to like anyone.’
What he said a little while ago rang in his head. Uriel smiled bitterly. He knew that what he said was a lie.
“You’ve never liked anyone?”
No. No way. He was quite desperate for someone, actually. Someone who never left his mind from the moment he first met her, taking over his soul.
When she coldly threatened to kill him, when she earnestly commanded him to stay alive, and when she gained the people’s trust by showing her heart…
His master and the only woman in his life.
Apollonia.
Uriel was in love with her.
Before he knew it, the performance was over. Rather than ending it properly, Apollonia had fallen asleep while playing.
‘At times like this, she’s no different from a child.’
Her head was leaning against his shoulder.
Uriel couldn’t budge as he took in her steadily moving shoulders, the breaths that tickled his neck, her hand wrapped around one of his arms. She was so peaceful, so serene in that moment, as opposed to the drumming of his own heart.
Her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her cheek under the moonlight.
Suddenly, he had the urge to own her. He wanted to kidnap her and cut her off from this world so that no one but himself could reach her.
The emperor, Petra, that bastard Tan, and even Sid Bian.
It would destroy her, though. Her plans, her ambitions, and her occasional warmth would disappear altogether.
Uriel shook his head. His rational side wondered about Apollonia’s future, which had not yet come. He wanted to see her getting what she wanted, watching her up close throughout every single path she chose.
He burst into a small laugh. Had he been delusional? She wasn’t a prize that anyone could own in the first place. She was born a natural leader, and he wouldn’t have changed it for anything.
“Apollonia.”
He knew she couldn’t hear him. If she had, she would have been angry at him for calling her name recklessly.
“I’ll be your person.”
His eyes shifted from Apollonia’s closed eyes to her lips.
She was someone whom he could never have. But there was one way to keep close to her.
“I’ll be yours.”
He wanted to risk his life for her, over and over again…
How wonderful.
Perhaps because Uriel moved as he talked, Apollonia’s red lips shifted slightly.
He wanted to touch them.
Just… just once, his entire life in exchange.
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