Please love me.

Urgent news arrived at the mansion, reporting that Ania Bronte had left her family, abandoning the name of Bronte a week after the Emperor’s funeral.

As I was concentrating on my work as usual, suddenly Lorendel opened the door without even knocking. I glared at her with a questioning look, wondering what was so important.

She swiftly placed the newspaper she was holding on the table as if she were slapping it down.

“Why did you enter without knocking.”
“…That’s not important. Lady Bronte…!”

I absentmindedly picked up the newspaper, and upon seeing Ania Bronte’s face printed on the front page, I dropped it.

“What happened? All of a sudden.”

Although Lorendel asked me, I waved my hand to dismiss her.

I felt light-headed.

It was like watching an urgent breaking news report that North Korea had launched a nuclear missile in real time.

Leaving the Bronte family.

I thought it was just Ania’s bluff.
I couldn’t imagine a world where she would actually do it.

Bronte was everything to Ania.

Since she was born, she had lived a life fitting for a lady of the Bronte family rather than Ania, and thanks to that, her 19 years of life had been as Lady Bronte.

Why would she abandon her entire life to propose to me again?

I clenched my chest at the feeling of unease at that moment.

Maybe,
Could it be that she loves me?

Could everything she said, everything I considered lies, be true?

But that can’t be.

If that were the case, everything I’ve read in the original novel would become incomprehensible.

Although the flow of the story has changed due to my possession,
Ania Bronte is a villainess.

‘Still, I won’t love you.’

I remember Ania Bronte, who spat out those chilling words as she turned away coldly, looking at Edward, who was dying.

Even though the flow of the story can change, people do not.

And there was one unchanging fact:
Ania Bronte did not love Edward.

So, the emotion Ania had towards Edward was not love.

It was possessiveness akin to obsession.

Only that.

But if it was simple possessiveness, what reason could she abandon her family to have a chance with me?

‘Let’s get married. Again.’

Even though she left without waiting for an answer to that request, what reason could there be for turning her back on her life?

‘What on earth…’

If she left the family, where could she possibly be now?

Does she have anywhere to go?

I couldn’t understand her.

Only that strange thought filled my mind.

***

The next day.

When I casually went to the dining room, a different scene unfolded.

Someone was sitting at the dining table where the food was neatly laid out.

Aria should be handling the affairs in the Tower.
Father and Johann are in prison, so it couldn’t have been them.
Edward’s mother passed away when I was young, and Johann’s mother fled as soon as she heard the news of the family’s downfall.

I blinked with sleepy eyes.

‘Was there a guest?’

I had stayed up late stamping documents for payment until last night, so I woke up late.

It was already around the time when the sun was hanging on the horizon.

“……”

I blinked again, and then I saw a golden color.

I was shocked.

“Hello.”

It was Ania Bronte.

The woman sitting at the dining table waved her hand lightly toward me.

Is this a dream?
Am I seeing an illusion?
Have I gone crazy thinking about this woman?

“At least greet me.”

No, it wasn’t a fabrication of my imagination.

The woman sitting in the dining room was the real Ania.

I stared at Ania, who was waving her hand with a perplexed expression, then quickly turned my head to glare at Lorendel,
But Lorendel deftly avoided my gaze.

“Lorendel.”
“…Yes, My Lord.”
“Explain.”

Lorendel immediately bowed her head.

“I’m sorry. I found her while patrolling the estate this morning by chance, shivering in the late spring chill, so I couldn’t just leave her there and brought her in. I’m really sorry.”
“Sigh…”

I understood.

Since Lorendel also lived with Ania in the mansion before, it’s natural for her to feel attached.

Besides, I didn’t give any orders not to let Ania in, so I couldn’t complain.

“Let’s eat later.”

I couldn’t bring myself to sit face-to-face with Ania for a meal, so I turned to leave. But suddenly, Ania, who had stood up, grabbed the edge of my clothes.

“Where are you going?”
“My appetite’s gone.”
“I know you haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
“I don’t want to.”

As the atmosphere turned cold instantly, the servants who had been watching from a distance subtly left their positions.

In an instant, only the two of us remained.

Ania looked up at me with a sly smile.

“A husband and wife eat together.”
“What?”
“So let’s eat breakfast.”
“You seem to be mistaken… I never said I would remarry you.”
“You promised.”
“Me?”
“You had asked me what I wanted so much I would abandon my family for it.”

She did ask that.

But it wasn’t a promise.

I was only curious.

“’Please love me…’ I’m pretty sure I said that.”
“I never said I would do that.”
“Take responsibility.”
“Why me?”
“I have nowhere else to go. Not anymore.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Why not?”

I retreated as Ania approached me suddenly.

“It’s not for my family, and it’s not for money either.”

She spoke as if innocent, but it was hard to believe her completely.

The Bronte family was on the decline.
It was losing strength and crumbling.

So, could she have thought of leaving the Bronte family and marrying me instead?
Or perhaps, if not that, she might have thought of killing me to secure her inheritance rights.

But even so, I couldn’t bring myself to chase away this woman who had left the family and ran away.

No matter how powerful the Empire was said to be, there was always a threat lurking outside the territories and castles.

As much as I detested Ania Bronte… I didn’t want her to die.

That was the reason.
Just that.

I sat at the empty table and started eating.

“You can stay.”
“Thank you, Edward.”
“However, the marriage is invalid.”
“Why?”

“Do you have to ask? I am the head of the Radner family, the master of the Radner Manor. You’re still an ignorant lady who doesn’t know what’s happening in the world, but I am quite an important person in the Empire. So if I were to remarry you, who left a ducal house… it would be absurd.”

“Why?”

I heard Ania’s perplexed voice.

“Just be thankful for being able to live here. I will do that much for you in exchange for leaving your family.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“Then what?”
“I told you… I want you to love me.”

The chair next to me was pulled.

Ania sat down on it and looked at me quietly.

“Just to love me. That’s all.”
“I can do everything else, but not that.”
“Edward.”
“If you want to sit beside me, don’t disturb me. I’ll allow that much.”

As I tried to ignore the woman sitting next to me and put food into my mouth, Ania grabbed my arm.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but I ignored them.
I had to ignore them.

Giving away my heart was the last line.

I could give away my money, this mansion, but I couldn’t give my heart to that woman.

I knew how pathetic that would make me… so I had to ensure I wouldn’t be betrayed again.

“Say you love me.”
“……”
“Promise you’ll love me.”
“Stop being annoying, Ania Bronte. I never told you to leave your family or mentioned I’d love you! I said I would come back, but it was you who unilaterally filed for divorce!”

I slammed my fist down on my plate.
It shattered, and shards flew, one of them grazing my cheek.

Something warm trickled down my cheek, making my skin hot.

“If you wanted me to say I love you, you shouldn’t have left me in the first place.”
“I’m sorry. But…”
“Don’t make excuses. It was you who said you wouldn’t make excuses.”
“…Yes, you’re right.”

Ania wiped away her tears with her sleeve, then adjusted her posture and picked up the fragments.

I knew I would react like this from the beginning… but I had to express my anger.

“No matter what you do, you can’t change my mind.”

As I muttered to myself while wanting to have a meal, I turned to look at Ania.

Just as my anger was about to flare up again, the sight that met my eyes was strange.

“If I can never have your heart…”

Ania grabbed the knife on the table with both hands and stretched it out in front of her neck.

The blade… was aimed at her own throat.

“Ania Bronte.”
“Then I have no reason to live.”

Ania’s elbow quickly folded, and the blade flew towards her tender skin.

And reflexively, I reached out and quickly knocked her hand away.

The knife fell to the ground, and a splash of blood scattered as it hit the floor.

On Ania’s neck… a thin red line was drawn, and blood droplets flowed below it.

“What are you doing?”

My chest pounded as if it were about to burst.

If I had been just a little slower, Ania would have stabbed herself in the throat with the knife.

Ania let out a faint smile.

“Edward. Love me.”

In the laughter tinged with deep sorrow, I was frozen stiff, unable to open my mouth.

Author’s Note (Author’s Review)

Not a horror novel…?