My Fiancée Hates Me
Chapter 121: End of Us [Erik]

[Erik's Perspective]

"... Mother, is the heinous monster you speak of your other son?" I asked.

"

'... That thing is not my son. It is just a monster that should have died several years ago. It is useless if it does not resemble my King," she answered.

If I did not look like Father, you would have abandoned me too....

It was soon my birthday, but I had many other things pressing in my mind to pretend to get in the mood of anything.

With so many things going on, I did not have any time to meet either Garett or Arielle. It was better this way because I did not have to think of either of them.

I am truly happy that Arielle could finally be happy after all of her suffering, but that does not mean that she will allow me to be by her side romantically...

When Arielle came to my party dressed in a light pink floral dress, she resembled a blooming flower from the curved ends of her skirt. She was smiling happily by Garett's side.

It was such a depressing feeling to watch as my former wife smiling and dancing with another man. I wanted her to be happy but held complex feelings deep inside.

I decided to take a break from the party by going out on the balcony of the second floor.

I leaned over the railing and sighed after taking in a deep breath of the cold night air.

"Your happiness will continue to slip away if you keep sighing like that," a familiar voice said.

I turned back to see Arielle carrying a pair of drinks.

"What are you doing here, Arielle?" I asked her.

"You seem troubled for someone celebrating his birthday today," Arielle said as she tried handing me one of the drinks in her hands.

It is not only my birthday today...

After glancing at her bare shoulders, I took off my jacket and put it over her shoulders before accepting the drink.

"It's easy to get a cold on nights like these," I said as I turned back to the night sky.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Arielle said with a smile.

It almost hurt to look at Arielle...She was just as radiant or more than before.

The darkness of the night sky somewhat eased my pain filled eyes.

"...It seems like you are always intent on solving everyone else's problems than your own," I said.

"I like to stay busy," Arielle said.

"I think the more proper term is 'nosy'," I said teasingly.

"Mean boys will not receive snacks," Arielle said.

"Snacks?"

When she came to me, both her hands were already full of the drinks.

She suddenly dipped her hands into the sides of her dress and magically pulled out a bag of biscuits.

Dear God...she has been hiding snacks in her dress.

"It has been a while since you have had my baking, right?" Arielle asked as she offered the biscuits.

It seems a bit immoral to accept food that had been inside of her dress earlier, but I will offend her if I do not accept them after she had already offered.

"I will take it," I said as I took a biscuit.

"How is it?" Arielle asked as she watched me eat with expectant eyes.

"...Delicious," I said as I tried holding back my tears of shame.

"You seem bothered lately. Do you mind telling me why?" Arielle asked.

"...His Majesty assigned me a difficult task that will decide on the future of this kingdom, but I have my doubts," I said.

"Doubts?"

"I do not want to accomplish his task for various reasons," I said.

Normally, she would just tell me to get through it and just do it.

"If it is troubling you so much, maybe it is time to just tell him that you are unable to do it," Arielle said. "There are some instances where you just have to let go before you can move on..." Arielle has suffered more than I have. Her words came from experience of not being able to let anything go back then...

"...If you had to choose between whether Garett or I die, who would you choose?" I asked.

She was stunned for a moment and took a deep before staring deeply back at me.

"...Are you asking me to make a difficult decision?" Arielle asked.

"...Garett is my brother, is he not?" I asked with a serious expression.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but soon sharpened and turned cold.

"Why do you want to know?" Arielle asked.

"...For the interest of the kingdom," I answered.

"I see what this is... You want to know if Garett is using me for possibly revenge against you, the King, or maybe even the entire kingdom?" Arielle asked.

"He grew up not as a Prince, so I expect that he harbors some feelings of resentment," I said.

"He does not harbor any greed for

the throne or revenge like I once did... You should also know that very well. In our past life, I interrogated Nevel Pillar. He told me how Garett endured endless hours of torturing. He kept his mouth shut the whole time and ended up losing his tongue because he would dare turn on his own country. If he wanted revenge against this country, the easiest way would have been to hurt you by

selling out your weaknesses," Arielle

explained.

If he really wanted to hurt me, he would have stolen my bride right before the wedding...He had the ability to do so but didn't. "Arielle, I..."

"If in the case that he does harbor such feelings, I would be the one to kill him first...but I would crumple all of my feelings and crush it all to a fine powder before leaving a husk of what is barely considered a living thing in its place. If I can take his place, I would be willing to give my life several times over," Arielle said.

I wonder what kind of answer I wanted to hear from her...That I wanted her to choose me over him?

In the end, she chose a patriotic answer...for her country, for her neighbors, and for friends and family. In none of those situations, neither Garett or I are enough to make her change her mind or betray her ideals. This part of her is what I always liked most about her.

"You love him that much?" I asked.

"I do," Arielle answered.

"...What if I told you that you could protect him by abandoning your engagement and marrying me instead?" I asked.

"... You would not force me into a situation where you know that both you and I will be unhappy," Arielle said resolutely.

"In our past lives, I once confined you and did horrible things to you...How can you say for certain that I will not harm you again?" I asked.

"... That time, you were also in pain," Arielle said as she reached her hand out and touched my cheek. "I failed to notice your suffering and caused you to develop a deep loneliness, but you always regretted hurting me, right? I know that you are hurting because you look like you are suffering again. What is the real truth behind why you are asking such things?"

"...I do not want to say it," I said as I removed her hand from my cheek.

"Erik..."

To get me to confess, she calls my name out sweetly like a little devil.

"...I do not want to spill all of my feelings over you after I had already been rejected, but I seem to no longer be able to contain these feelings any longer after seeing you so happy with Garett," I said. That smile used to belong to only my eyes to see.

"Erik, I..."

I covered her lips with my hands.

You are going to reject me once you open your lips, right?

"I love you...I cannot stand watching you smile so happily with someone else when you almost always cried around me. What was I to you? Just a painful memory? Even though we married for political reasons, you were my fiancée, best friend, lover, wife, and Queen. You were someone who saw me more than a Prince and saw me as myself. You were my everything to me. I loved you and still love you so much that it kills me inside to see you walk off with

someone else," I said.

"... Why did you wish me well the other day?" Arielle asked as tears ran down the side of her pained expression.

I knew that she would cry if I said those words...

I grabbed her hands.

"It was from the bottom of my heart. I sincerely want you to be happy, but please let me speak of words filled with selfishness and unbecoming of me. No matter how many times I am reborn, I keep on falling for you...Don't get married to someone else," I begged. "I cannot imagine anyone else as my partner for life."

"...Erik, you taught me the pain and joy of being in love and exactly what it meant to be a woman. I am grateful for all the love that you have given me. You have always been special to me from the moment I met you. I will continue to keep you in my heart forever," Arielle said as she slipped her hands out of mine and hugged me.

She then handed me back my jacket before going back inside.

Arielle became even more gentler following what she had experienced in two lifetimes.

That must be why it hurts twice as much to receive a rejection like this.

I stood there with my back leaning against the railing as I wallowed in my own thoughts and covered my eyes with my right hand to block the tears.

"Haha...it really is the end of us now," I said as my sad laughing slowly turned into sounds of crying.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐