Chapter 47

“Iris, did you do something wrong to Grace?”

“Huh?”

However, there wasn’t a single moment to rest.

At Theo’s question, I gasped and sucked in my breath again.

“That was Grace trying to come in just now.”

“Was it? Did I do that? Why would I? That’s strange!”

I resented my own situation, having to spout such nonsensical excuses.

Still, no decent excuse came to mind.

Having no idea how to escape this awkward situation, I was already crying inside.

“Don’t play games with me.”

Theo grabbed my chin.

As expected, this kind of attitude couldn’t work forever.

‘What should I say?’

I rolled my eyes frantically before blurting out with a ‘to hell with it’ mindset.

“Don’t hang out with her.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry for being so controlling, but… I don’t want you spending time with Grace anymore.”

I raised my eyes slightly to check Theo’s expression.

I wanted to see just how appalled Theo must be after hearing such absurd words.

“……Theo?”

I lifted my head and looked at his face.

“……”

However, contrary to my expectations, Theo didn’t look angry.

Instead, his ears were dyed a bright red as he stared straight at me.

“I’m sorry for being so controlling, but… I don’t want you spending time with Grace anymore.”

I had been worrying about how to apologize to Theo, who I assumed would be furious with me for being so willful.

Feeling guilty, I lifted my gaze, which had been wandering toward the floor, and peeked at Theo’s reaction.

Instead, what I faced was the face of a Theo who had lost his mind to somewhere else, completely spaced out.

“Theo?”

Why was he suddenly acting like this?

I waved my hand in front of Theo, trying to snap him out of it.

Then, Theo—whose face, neck, and even ears were completely flushed—grabbed the hand I had been waving and brought it up to his face.

Through the gap covering his mouth, a small, barely audible voice slipped out.

“Why…”

“Hm?”

“Why do you want me to stay away from her?”

“That is…”

After hesitating, I decided not to give a proper answer.

Hiding things completely isn’t always the solution, but this matter was far too heavy for a young Theo to handle.

If Grace weren’t an aristocrat, and had simply approached Theo out of curiosity about demons, I would have told Theo everything.

But this wasn’t such a simple matter.

“Just because.”

In the end, the answer that came out after much deliberation was so simple it felt anticlimactic.

“Just because?”

I nodded.

It didn’t matter if it looked like a childish reason—just that I hated Grace.

If Theo couldn’t accept that, I was ready to come up with an even more childish excuse.

The guilt of lying poked and prodded at my chest no matter the reason, but I forced myself to ignore it and turned my eyes toward the empty air.

Fortunately, Theo didn’t seem to have any complaints about what I said.

In fact, he looked almost happy.

It was too much of a reaction to simply mean he was glad that a forced relationship had come to an end.

“Just because you hate her…”

Theo quietly chewed over my words.

And having completely swallowed that thought, Theo suddenly pulled on my arm, trapping me within his embrace.

“Why are you suddenly doing this?”

“Just because.”

The breath pouring over my head was sweet. Theo couldn’t stop the laughter that kept leaking out.

“What’s so funny?”

I stood there in a daze, caught by Theo.

Was there really anything to laugh about in the fact that I had brought up a ridiculous reason to tear the two of them apart?

‘Could it… could it be that he thinks I was jealous?’

It was a hypothesis I had tossed out without much thought.

Yet for some reason, that hypothesis felt overwhelmingly persuasive.

“……”

Still, how could I possibly say that wasn’t the case in this situation?

I simply kept my mouth shut and decided not to get in the way of Theo’s happiness.

‘Well, if it makes him happy…’

Without truly understanding each other’s feelings, we simply stood together, letting the falling snow brush against us.

After finishing our conversation with Theo, I was able to relax a little.

I figured he would go along with my avoiding Grace without any arguments.

However, I had forgotten something important.

Theo would not always obediently follow my words.

“I’ll go talk to her properly.”

Peak condition, spirits at their highest.

Theo wore precisely that kind of expression as he spoke to me.

Seeing that smooth smile, I had to press my throbbing forehead.

“Do we… really need to talk to the person directly?”

“What are you talking about? That doesn’t sound like you, Iris. Shouldn’t you be the one telling me that it’s only basic courtesy to show some consideration to someone who used to be my friend?”

“……”

Theo’s claim that he had expanded his vocabulary because of me seemed to be entirely true.

I had no counterargument against Theo, who was dropping completely valid points sentence by sentence.

“But… but…”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of saying something like, ‘Iris hates you, so I can’t hang out with you anymore.’”

“Then?”

After thinking for a moment, Theo spoke with a completely nonchalant face.

“Differences in personality, unmentionable family history, psychological distress… there are plenty of reasons we can make up with lies to cut ties.”

“……”

What on earth is this…

My jaw dropped in sheer absurdity.

‘Theo, are you going through a divorce or something?’

Where on earth did he pick up phrases like that? The words rolling effortlessly off his tongue were as dark as could be.

“Anyway, I’ll go sort it out, so wait here.”

“No way!”

Theo tried to casually walk past me, but I desperately blocked him.

“If you say it so abruptly, it’ll make me look like the bad guy.”

Now I was practically throwing a tantrum. Theo narrowed his eyes, looking perplexed by me.

“It’s true that I told you not to hang out with Grace, but… still, there’s such a thing as a shred of guilt!”

“I feel like I’ve said this several times already, but you’re really acting weird today.”

“I know…”

I wiped my face with the palm of my hand.

Covering a lie with a string of more lies was absolute torture.

Watching me, Theo seemed to have a thought, and patted my head.

A moment later, a calm voice reached my ears.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to feel guilty about anything.”

“Huh?”

When I raised my head, I met the gaze of Theo looking down at me quietly.

Unlike usual, eyes as deep as an abyss were reflecting me.

I felt like I was about to be sucked into the profound darkness contained within those pupils.

“Actually, that girl doesn’t see me as a human being in the first place.”

“What?”

My heart sank heavily into my chest.

Surely, what Theo was about to say wasn’t…

“She was just some young lady somewhere who treated a contract with a demon like a joke.”

“……”

Too shocked to process it, I couldn’t say a single word.

Theo already knew about Grace. That meant he had endured Grace’s behavior all this time, for that long period.

“Why….”

Why on earth hadn’t he cast Grace aside sooner?

In truth, I already knew the answer.

‘Because of me.’

I had no face left to stand before Theo.

I began to take small steps backward to put some distance between us.

Theo caught me and pulled me tightly back against him.

“I didn’t endure it forcibly because of you. I left her alone simply because it didn’t bother me.”

“It didn’t bother you?”

Liar…

As if reading my thoughts, Theo answered serenely.

“I wasn’t hurt at all. No matter how she treated me, or what she called me.”

“Why? Are you so used to it that you aren’t even upset anymore? Is this all because I—”

Every single action of mine filled me with regret.

Why had I assumed that Grace, who always acted so confident, wouldn’t have directly stated her intentions to Theo?

Why had I forced Theo, who said he hated it, to keep getting along with Grace?

Not realizing that Theo was getting hurt while standing by and watching idly from the side…

Every single wave of resentful regret pushed me deeper into agony.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

I had always thought I was looking out for Theo. I believed it was the right thing to do and acted accordingly.

I hadn’t realized that to Theo, those actions of mine might have felt like coercion and violence.

“You’re overthinking things by yourself again.”

Sighing softly, Theo reached out and lifted my chin.

“Don’t think about anything else, just listen. There are no white lies in what I’m saying. I wasn’t hurt by that girl’s words or actions, and I didn’t really care about them.”

As if trying to convey his sincerity, Theo stared straight into my eyes.

“How could you possibly be like that?”

“You make me say the same thing every time.”

Before I knew it, a thin smile curved across Theo’s lips.

“You said it yourself. Even if everyone else calls me something different, you would always call me by my name.”

“……”

“Believing those words, how could I possibly get hurt?”

Before I knew it, the corners of my eyes grew hot. Tears that welled up instantly spilled over and ran down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry. I’m not very fond of you crying because you’re upset.”

I grabbed a fistful of Theo’s clothes.

Theo, who once had been the same height as me, had grown tall enough that I now had to look up at him.

And as much as his body had grown, his heart had grown right along with it.

The child who used to hide away in fear of contempt was now strong enough to comfort me instead.

I was the only one who hadn’t realized that the small hand I once led had long since outpaced me and was now guiding the way.

“…Even if it gets dangerous, I’ll stay by your side. Because I said I’d protect you.”

Theo answered my words with a smile.