“I am so sorry, Hanna... I simply can’t continue to pay your hospital bills anymore.” The distant, fading voice of an older woman with a thoroughly defeated, sorrowful face echoed from her last life.
“They were right, Francesca. You are nothing but a crippled curse who exists only to make everyone around you completely miserable.” The cold, biting contempt of a young boy with silver hair reverberated from her first life.
The haunting voices of those who had abandoned her in both of her previous lives, after finally growing entirely sick and weary of her physical limitations, kept playing on a cruel, endless loop in Francesca’s mind.
“Have you... already gotten over me? Did your sympathy for this crippled girl finally end here?”
“W-what?” Miller gasped. He was completely taken aback by her words, instinctively rushing a few steps toward her.
As he closed the distance, heavy tears finally broke free from her eyes, spilling down her pale cheeks. “Why do you keep pushing me away today? Isn’t it because you are finally sick and tired of pretending to care for a useless, broken thing like me...?”
Her grip loosened, and she had immense trouble even holding her cane as her entire body trembled from the sheer weight of the suffocating emotions building up inside her chest.
She let out a hollow, self-deprecating chuckle, though she was still visibly sobbing. “It always happens this way. I guess that is just the cruel fate I am destined for... to be abandoned the moment I am given a small, fleeting taste of true affection.”
“N-no! Francesca, it’s not you! It's not you at all!” Miller yelled, his voice cracking.
Before her trembling leg could give out beneath her, he reached out and wrapped his strong arms securely around her waist to catch her, anchoring her weight against his chest as the pure moonlight glowed down onto the two of them.
“The problem lies entirely with me,” Miller confessed, his own eyes welling with tears as the armor of the fearsome commander completely shattered. “I just... I simply cannot fathom why someone as brilliant as you would ever fall in love with someone like me. A monster.”
Francesca looked deeply into his eyes, her breath hitching as he continued, a tear escaping his own crimson gaze. “I was able to foolishly accept your kindness before, but last night... when I heard you whisper that you loved me while you thought I was asleep... reality dawned on me. Why would anyone ever truly love a man like me?”
“I can’t shake the terrifying thought that it’s just because of your underlying ambition...” Miller said, his heart aching physically with every single word he forced out into the cold night air. “You have wished so deeply to build a warm, loving family of your own. So... I started to spiral. I started to think that it didn't actually matter who your husband was. You would have been able to show this exact same affection and love to absolutely anyone who stood in this position. It didn’t have to be me. I am not special to you.”
Francesca held onto his broad shoulders tightly as he spoke. Her tears were still spilling down her face, but the sorrow in her golden eyes instantly hardened into a fierce, commanding glare.
“So, what you are trying to say... is that I am merely in love with the idea of a loving husband, but not with you?”
Miller felt something break in his own chest. He slowly, painfully nodded his head, tightening his grip around her waist as his vision turned blurry from his rising tears. “After all, why else would a bloodthirsty monster be loved, if not for a convenient desire? I am just—”
Before he could utter another self-destructive word, his speech was cut completely short.
He felt a sudden, soft pressure firmly press against his lips.
A wave of electricity crashed through him as the gentle sensation of her lips meeting his sent his mind into absolute chaos. His crimson eyes widened in sheer shock. A voice in the back of his mind screamed that a monster like him shouldn't dare to touch her, that he should pull away for her own sake but his body overrode his fear.
Leaning entirely into the embrace, Miller wrapped his arms around her tightly, deepening the kiss with a desperate, overflowing passion. At that exact moment, the heavy mist wrapping around Melony Lake completely vanished, brightening the entire valley with the brilliant, unfiltered light of the glorious moon.
As their lips finally parted, Francesca panted softly, her face completely flushed a brilliant red. “What an absolute idiot,” she whispered, lightly punching his broad chest before continuing. “If I didn’t genuinely like you as a person, I could have easily just left you and found another husband, don’t you think? Even if I am neglected and crippled, I am still the daughter of a Duke, you know.”
Miller’s face was fully red with sheer embarrassment as he stammered, “Th-then...”
“Miller... the crimson-haired, red-eyed, handsome-in-my-eyes monster is the exact one I am in love with,” Francesca said softly, reaching up to gently caress his cheeks. “Not the Lord of the Ironwood Viscounty, not an illusionary husband, but you. A bloodthirsty monster? A commoner mercenary? A viscount? Why on earth do any of those titles matter if I am in love with you? The one who always holds me tightly when I am about to fall, the one who constantly looks out for me, and the one who would literally break his own heart over the terrifying fear that my feelings might not be real.”
Miller's grip tightened around her waist as fresh, emotional tears started to flow down his cheeks again.
“How could I love someone like you?” Francesca asked, a brilliant smile breaking through her tear-stained face as she leaned in close. “Because I am a one-legged monster myself.”
“Monsters never abandon their own, you know,” Miller replied softly, the dark clouds of doubt finally evaporating from his eyes.
“So, this red monster promises to always stay by this silver monster's side,” he vowed, lifting her effortlessly into a secure bridal carry and walking back toward the waiting carriage, leaving her cane forgotten resting behind them on the snowy ground.
“There may still come a day... when you regret this,” Francesca tried to counter playfully, testing his newfound resolve.
“It will,” Miller answered, a serious look entering his eyes before it melted into a warm, confident smile. “When you are wrinkled and old, and I somehow fail to find a new way to make you happy every day... that is exactly when that day will come.”
Climbing inside the carriage, Francesca settled comfortably directly onto his lap. As the door clicked shut, she leaned up to his ear and whispered with absolute, breathless boldness, “As a woman... I want to take you to bed tonight.”
Miller's heart jumped, and the carriage rattled softly into motion, speeding along the path back toward the Lord's Castle while the brilliant moon shone brightly in the winter sky, with a thousand stars looking down upon the peaceful northern town.