A Summer With Bitter Rivals - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: A Letter from Four Years Ago

Though her voice trembled, her question held no uncertainty. Emeline looked directly into Zenon’s eyes.

Zenon gave no answer.

His expression seemed clouded by confusion, or perhaps he simply didn’t know what to say.

The wait for his response dragged on. The longer it took, the more Emeline felt a burning impatience.

Zenon Trancium—whatever was in his heart, it shouldn’t matter anymore.

The past is the past, and the present is the present. Emeline knew that.

But… if they had somehow gone astray back then, just as the contradiction she felt from him suggested—

If that was the case, shouldn’t it be set right?

Zenon’s eyes, which had been filled with shock, gradually returned to their usual focus. Now his gaze was calm and clear.

Zenon moved. He slipped his hand out of Emeline’s grip as if to escape her warmth, only to suddenly lace his fingers tightly through hers.

His long, smooth fingers wrapped around the back of her hand. The heat radiating from him felt hotter than the midday sun.

“Emeline Delzeier. Is that what you want to know?” he asked quietly.

She did. Emeline was just about to answer without looking away—

But before she could speak, Zenon pulled their entwined hands toward him.

With not an ounce of restraint, Emeline was drawn in. As she gasped in surprise, his lips descended on hers.

Her balance shifted, and she collapsed into him. Zenon smoothly moved his hand down and drew her stiffened waist into an embrace.

Their lips, merely touching, burned as if scorched by fire.

Though she could have easily overpowered an injured man, Emeline couldn’t push him away. Her whole body froze as if caught in a snare.

She met his gaze from up close.

Beneath the thick, long lashes, his eyes were unwavering. As that steady gaze met hers, her body gradually relaxed.

It felt as if she were under a spell. Her sense of reason blurred.

Carefully avoiding his injuries, she sat on his thigh and slowly closed her eyes.

As if taking that as a signal, Zenon immediately deepened the kiss.

It happened in an instant. Rough breaths filled the space as their lips grew damp under the rising heat.

Without hesitation, he invaded the inside of her mouth. Her eyelids trembled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She knew resentment still lingered for him, but deeper than that, something else burst forth with a thunderous roar.

Her heart pounded so violently it dulled her senses. No one but Zenon Trancium could cause such upheaval in her.

“Haa, mmph…”

The bitter aftertaste of cigarettes blended into their saliva and was swallowed. Each burning swallow made her dizzier.

When their tongues untangled, Zenon drew back slightly and sucked on her lower lip. When it seemed too much for her to bear, he let her breathe.

But each time she parted her lips again, he plunged back in without hesitation. Zenon acted as if he wanted to consume her whole.

The heat of his tongue exploring her mouth made her head spin. Aroused, she couldn’t bring herself to let go of him.

She hated Zenon Trancium. She should hate him.

But the breath, the saliva he shared with her—it was all unbearably sweet.

Then, his hand that had been around her waist slowly slid downward.

The warmth that landed on her bottom gripped her firmly.

The moment he touched her through the thin fabric of her summer dress, Emeline broke the kiss in surprise.

“Nngh…”

A moan escaped her. Her whole body had become so sensitive that even that slight pressure sent a jolt through her.

After what felt like an eternity, their lips finally parted. Their gazes met at a distance close enough for their breaths to mingle.

Both of them, eyes heavy with passion and heat, stared silently into each other.

As her ragged breathing began to settle, Emeline’s eyes gradually regained clarity. And with that, her gaze began to tremble.

“Ah…”

The cicadas, which she thought had stopped, cried out again—bringing a delayed sense of reality crashing down. Emeline’s mind turned blank.

Zenon, watching her frozen in place, eventually released the arm wrapped around her delicate frame.

Instead, he leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against hers, like a stolen kiss. A soft smack sounded.

His once-tense expression had melted into something dazed. His eyes held an emotion far too complex to name.

Just as he was about to speak—

Emeline abruptly stood and pulled herself away from him.

Zenon lifted his gaze toward her, who had disappeared from his arms in an instant. Emeline stood by the bed, her expression lost.

“Zenon Trancium, just now…”

Her still-uneven breath made her voice tremble. Emeline didn’t know what to say and hesitated for a long time.

She could feel in her very bones that what had just happened—and the situation itself—was wrong. Once she came to her senses, it felt like she had been struck in the head.

In the end, Emeline parted her lips, then turned her body away.

“…I’m sorry. Next time—next time, let’s talk again.”

Leaving those faltering words behind, she fled the hospital room.

She was so flustered that she left without even picking up the hat she had set on the table.

Staring at the door she had rushed out through, Zenon let out a hollow sigh.

He blankly raised a hand to touch his lips. The faint powdery scent and floral fragrance she had left behind still seemed to linger at the tip of his nose.

Zenon let out a foolish chuckle and lowered his head.

But his hollow smile slowly faded.

He had just realized something. The very truth he had always wanted to know—her feelings.

Zenon murmured quietly, with a trace of loneliness, “You should’ve at least let me hear your answer…”

And you should’ve said it.

That you still love me.

‘…Emeline Delzeier, when will you throw everything away and come to me?’

Still caught in thoughts of her, Zenon finally lifted his head.

The loneliness and helplessness that had clouded his gaze were now gone. With a more solemn expression, he reached for a file folder from the nightstand.

She hadn’t pushed him away. For that moment, as if both had escaped from reality, they focused only on each other.

As they closed their eyes, exchanged breaths and kisses, something unspoken had clearly passed between them.

‘Now that I know your feelings are the same as mine, I will never let you go.’

Recalling the letter she had left him four years ago, Zenon flipped through documents that would further secure his position.

If her world rejected him, he simply had to earn his place in it. And from there, bring her out.

He had been preparing that plan for four long years, but after returning to Elvarto, he had faltered for a while.

Because of the unease and resentment born from a misunderstanding that arose unexpectedly.

He feared that what he had believed to be her suppressed emotions under her family’s pressure might actually have been her true feelings.

That because it was her true heart, she had chosen to push him away so cruelly.

But not anymore. He had just learned what her real feelings were.

And they were no different from the sincere love he had believed in over the past four years.

‘Now I know for certain. Your life is suffocated by obligation, and that’s why you can’t choose me.’

That the letter you sent four years ago was something forced upon you by the world trying to separate us.

It would be a lie to say he hadn’t felt disappointed or bitter—but still, he understood her.

To win her choice, Zenon was finally ready to rise above everyone else.

Desperately hoping that she would leave her world behind and choose only him.

In the height of summer’s sweltering heat, the cicadas began to cry louder.

***

As soon as Emeline left the hospital in a hurry and boarded the carriage, all strength drained from her body.

She sank into the seat as if collapsing and covered her mouth with one hand.

‘What did I just do…?’

When Zenon pulled her close and their bodies met, she hadn’t been able to think at all.

Was it because doubt had crept into the hatred she’d directed at him? Being swept away had been unavoidable.

The hand covering her mouth slid down. Her fingers brushed over her lower lip, still warm from the heat. Her face flushed only now, belatedly.

And belatedly, a sense of uncertainty came over her.

She had warned Zenon’s fiancée to conduct herself properly—and yet, what had she just done?

Letting out a sigh, she leaned against the backrest. She rolled her eyes toward the fast-moving scenery outside the window.

Come to think of it, she had been so shocked by her own wrongdoing that she hadn’t even gotten a proper answer from him.

Could she take his kiss as a yes?

Or was it, like the letter he had left before, nothing more than a game? Was he simply toying with her?

Or could it really be that everything around her was twisted, and he had loved her all along?

After much thought, Emeline sighed and shut her eyes tightly.

Her heart was still pounding wildly.

‘What am I going to do now…’

She shouldn’t forget. He had a fiancée, and she had a fiancé.

There was no excuse for Zenon Trancium to be part of her world.