In my heart existed a conviction—
—she"s still in love with me.
Since I had finally understood.
Seventh day.
"Well then, Gilbert, Anne Marie, you can place your signatures here."
"Before that, Your Majesty, I"m terribly sorry but my name is Maria. If I sign under the name "Anne Marie", wouldn"t that be an act of forgery?" She laughed innocently, yet my brother wasn"t amused.
"Oh? But when you first signed for the marriage, you wrote that name. That"s why, you have no choice but to sign under the same name for your divorce."
Although his explanation was riddled with holes, Anne Marie seemed to abide rather straightforwardly. "Oh, well."
Then, she followed it with, "Unable to write my own name on the divorce papers… At this point, can I even say I married you in the first place..?"
The words she had forlornly said, along with her sad expression crushed my heart. Then, the word finally escaped me—
"—I"m sorry…"
Apologies were meaningless—I already knew that.
"Anne Marie, I"m so sorry for everything…!! I"m sorry, please—…"
Yet I still couldn"t stop my mouth from uttering the same word over and over again, like a broken record.
Dion and his wife, Maria; the members of Brent Family—everyone stared at me.
In the room deafened by silent, only my apologies resounded.
"We shall now take our leave, Your Majesty, Duke Westin."
Count Brent, whom had been quiet throughout the entire thing, told us so.
So… this is it.
I can no longer see her anymore—
"—wait! Please wait! I won"t insist on seeing her again, but at least, letters! I don"t care, I don"t care if I can"t ever meet her anymore, but let me write to her! It doesn"t even matter if it"s a one-sided correspondence, just please—! Please allow this one for me—!"
I didn"t even realize when I had started rambling.
Raymond was furious, "You said it with your own mouth that you won"t ever involve yourself with her again—"
"It"s fine."
But the display of his immense rage was immediately put to stop—
—by none other than her.
"Marie?"
Anne Marie. It was her.
"Soon, I"ll be joining the monastery. I believe I"ll have too much time on my hands until then, hence, corresponding with him is no problem at all. Moreover, I think that"s a good idea." She laughed.
Of course she would say that.
Since she didn"t know what I had done to her.
And she also wouldn"t reject the plea of a desperate-looking man.
That"s just who she is.
I wonder how many time it is already, for me to be indulged by her like this.
And I didn"t care.
I didn"t care if it was stemmed from her kindness, pity, or anything—
If anything, I just wanted to have a connection with her, no matter how slim.
Yes, that"s how desperate I am.
"…Well, there"s a chance that my story will bore you, though."
"There"s no chance of that!"
The stories that came out of her lips taught me how boring all the books I had busied myself were.
Emotion, heart, people—she taught me those kind of joys.
"If that"s what my daughter wants, then so be it. I have no qualms about it." Said the expressionless Count.
Then Anne Marie and I said our goodbye.
Anne Marie did it sadly, but she didn"t shed any tears.
Neither did I.
That night, I wrote her a letter.
I was not used to writing such a personal letter, so I didn"t know what to write at first.
But time was slowly, but surely, slipping out of my hands. She would enter the monastery someday. I couldn"t waste my time because I knew I would regret it afterwards.
"Marie."
What am I supposed to do with the contents…?
I will only baffle her if it"s filled with words of apology.
Well then, should I talk about the beautiful sunset I saw today?
Once, she had mentioned to me that she liked beautiful scenery.
Truthfully, it was because of her ability to perceive the beauty of the moment. Just like that day, near the lake.
"…huh?"
Why…?
How did the paper get wet?
I got up to prepare another one, only to notice a drop of water that had stained my clothes.
I was… crying?
I can"t see her anymore.
It finally registered to me, how painful this was.
Since when?
How? Why?
I don"t know.
But it was the day I lost her that I realized;
I was capable of loving someone.
To love them enough to feel this searing pain, that tore me apart.
***T/N: …So, some people were saying that this story did not get a HAPPY ENDING because of what happened in this chapter–aka they divorced.
I beg to differ.
LIKE WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT. WHO ACTUALLY WANTS OUR PRECIOUS ANNE MARIE TO END UP WITH HIM!? CHAMPAGNE AT MY HOUSE, 9 PM.