🌻 🌻 🌻
AFTER we made our hectic escape, the carriage clattered on while I slept. It stopped at a nearby village that had a convent. Leik had already made preparations for us there, and once we arrived, Kiki and I were guided inside to have our wounds tended while we took a bath. Though men weren’t allowed inside, they were permitted to rest in the church. We’d be safe for the night.
We didn’t sustain any major injuries. Kiki had accidentally rubbed her eyes after touching the tear gas, but her tears had already subsided, and I only had a few minor scratches on my hand and legs. Once we entered the simple guest room, Kiki started to help me change. After we were in our nighttime clothes, she helped me undo my hair.
“Are you all right, Lady Iris?” Kiki asked.
“I’m just fine,” I replied. I stood up, a stole around my shoulders.
“Where are you off to?”
“I’d like to bring a blanket for Lucas.”
“Then I shall go with you.”
“I’m fine. I can go alone. I’ll be relying on you tomorrow, too, so I’d like you to rest well.”
I took a blanket from one of the beds and slowly walked down the corridor through the back gate of the convent. When I entered the church, I spotted Lucas on a chair, looking up at a goddess statue. I quietly approached him, and he turned around and squinted at me.
“You’re still awake,” I remarked.
He looked tired. Lucas always put on a strong front in front of others, but very rarely, he’d gaze into the distance, looking a touch forlorn. He usually had that look in the evening after a busy day or the morning after spending the entire night outside for work while waiting for his cup of coffee.
Admittedly, I liked that expression. It felt like he was being vulnerable, only with me. I unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. I sat beside him and snuggled up close so we could share the blanket as I gently rested my head on his shoulder. As I felt his warmth, an inexplicable sense of peace overcame me. Lucas wrapped his arm around my shoulders and drew me close to his chest, allowing me to feel his warmth even more. Happiness filled my heart.
“I was just thinking I wanted to see you,” Lucas murmured. “I was calling out your name in my head.”
His voice and his heartbeat filled my ears.
“Then perhaps I heard your call,” I said.
“Perhaps so,” Lucas said. As his chest vibrated, I could tell that he was chuckling. “You sure you don’t want to head back?”
“I’d like to be by your side.”
“This chair’s hard.”
“I want to be with you, Lucas.”
“All right.”
We indulged in the other’s warmth for a while before he took my hands and fiddled with my fingertips. He was checking for any wounds.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I brought you along and even got you hurt.”
“I decided to tag along, knowing full well about the potential dangers,” I replied. “I would’ve been angry if you refused to take me.”
“Why?”
“We promised, didn’t we? I would go with you on your journey to track down any traces of your mother.” I gripped his hand to tell him that he didn’t need to worry about my injuries. “I’m your wife, you know. You mustn’t keep spoiling me.”
“I know. I’m not rebuffing your resolve or anything.” He drew my head close and planted a kiss on my bangs. He sighed deeply as though to confirm that I was still by his side. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Um… Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you a bit down? About stuff aside from my injuries.”
“I can’t hide anything from you, huh?” As he hugged me, he slowly started to tell me what Marquess Diascia had declared to him. “In short, he basically said that my existence caused my mother to become unhappy,” Lucas said.
The marquess had practically shown contempt for Lucas’s birth and his mother’s life. As my husband told me the facts, rage welled up within me.
“You’re angry, aren’t you?” Lucas asked.
“But of course,” I replied. “How could I forgive anyone for insulting you and your mother?”
Lucas gave a wry smile. “Even if I trust your words and my mother’s diary, when he’s so straight with me… It kinda hurts.”
“Lucas…”
“My mother left her household because she couldn’t see eye to eye with the others. Even if she returned to her old life, I doubt there was a place for her. But when I see that painting, it reminds me of her affluent childhood, and I can’t help but think a little. Was it really for the best? Did that young lady, innocently smiling in that painting, need to pass away in tatters and poverty?”
I gazed at the ground, thinking back to the day I visited that convent and his mother’s grave. It was a well-maintained and quiet place. I thought about the journal where she jotted down her thoughts and the memories of Lucas’s childhood that he told me about.
“I know it’s not my place to speak so casually of your mother, but there’s one thing that I’m rather certain of, Lucas,” I said, grasping my husband’s hand. “Your mother was happy. Why not trust the words that she’d written herself? She mentioned her happiness. No matter what anyone says, only you can prove that she had been happy.”
As I gripped his large hand, I gazed at my husband, who had more life experience than me. This was the man who spared me, and as he sat there vulnerably like a lost child, I thought about my role. He had entrusted me to support him above anyone else.
“When you feel anxious, please feel free to rely on me at any time,” I added. “I will tell you that I love you, and I’m happy as many times as it takes.”
“Iris…”
“Your mother didn’t hesitate to name you after your father, a name that means ‘light.’ You were the one who lit up her world until her final moments. Don’t fret. No matter how anxious you become, I shall be by your side.”
Lucas looked up and gazed into my eyes before he quietly pressed his lips against mine. I said not a word and allowed him to do as he pleased. Regaining his fiery attitude, he smiled.
“Iris, you’ve been overly polite with me again,” Lucas smiled.
“I’m doing it on purpose,” I replied sheepishly, fighting against the embarrassment. “You promised to kiss me if I remained polite, didn’t you?”
He tightened his embrace and kissed me once more. It was different from the previous one, filled with more passion than ever before.
“Iris,” Lucas said with a sigh.
He was so close as he stared into my eyes, the pale moonlight trickling through the glittering stained glass behind him. He looked frighteningly serious as he stroked my cheek and ran his fingers through my hair. As my hair dropped onto my shoulders, I felt the stole fall behind my back. I shivered from the cold as Lucas stroked my back.
“Iris…” he murmured.
“Yes?”
“Don’t go back tonight.”
He didn’t wait for an answer as he filled my vision. I closed my eyes, hoping to feel his warmth more intimately.