Chapter 63: Too Late for Regret (Magic Castle Bonus)

Chapter 63. Too Late for Regret (Magic Castle Bonus)

Rey’s PoV

I was on my way to the banquet hall when my eyes met hers.

The Saintess.

Elia had apparently just come out of her room after cleaning herself up from the disaster formerly known as the King’s Birthday Hunting Event. Her white dress was spotless again, her pale hair neatly brushed, and not a single trace of dirt remained on her face.

Saintess mode restored.

I kept my expression calm while internally wondering whether the Dark Lord’s curse had secretly evolved into something new, like making sure I encountered Elia at every possible opportunity.

There were hundreds of rooms in this palace. Multiple corridors. Several staircases. An unreasonable number of doors.

Yet somehow, here she was.

Again.

"Rey—"

She called my name.

And then...

Nothing.

I waited perhaps half a second before realizing she genuinely had no continuation prepared.

Her lips remained slightly parted. Her eyes moved across my face as though she were searching for something that used to be there.

I knew that expression.

Not personally, obviously.

My romantic experience as Evan Veyr had been exactly zero.

My most committed relationship had been with magical research, and even that relationship occasionally became abusive whenever an experiment exploded in my face.

However, having no romantic experience didn’t mean I had never witnessed romantic disasters.

Researchers had love lives too.

Unfortunately.

I’d spent plenty of lunch breaks watching colleagues complain about relationships while I ate snacks and procrastinated on whatever research report I was supposed to finish. I’d witnessed breakups, reunions, cheating scandals, regrettable drunken confessions, and one spectacular incident involving two researchers, one laboratory assistant, and an engagement ring that ended up inside an experimental slime.

Excellent entertainment.

So yes.

I recognized Elia’s expression.

It screamed, "I regret leaving you. Can we go back to how we used to be?"

Nope.

I wasn’t touching that plotline with a ten-meter enchanted staff.

I needed boundaries.

Clear ones.

Preferably painted in bright red with an enormous sign saying "NO ENTRY. TURN AROUND. ABANDON HOPE."

So before Elia managed to gather enough courage to continue, I turned away and resumed walking toward the banquet hall.

Apparently, Elia disagreed.

Her footsteps quickly followed mine. "You’re going to the hall, right?"

I kept walking.

"We’re going the same way," she added.

I gave no reaction.

She fell into step beside me, though she maintained enough distance that our shoulders wouldn’t touch.

"I wanted to say something about what happened in the hunting ground."

Still nothing from me.

The banquet hall wasn’t far.

"I’m sorry," she said.

My steps remained steady.

"For what happened there. I never meant to support them or anything. They forced me to."

Ah, the classic "I didn’t mean it."

I had heard variations of that sentence countless times in research disputes.

"I didn’t mean to overwrite your data."

"I didn’t mean to disclose your unpublished findings."

"I didn’t realize that experiment belonged to your project."

Amazing how a person could sabotage three years of work and suddenly develop the emotional intelligence of a potato when consequences arrived.

Intent mattered.

But results mattered too.

Sometimes much more.

"Rey..."

I continued walking.

She clearly expected something from me.

Forgiveness?

Reassurance?

Perhaps she wanted me to say it wasn’t her fault.

That she had been pressured.

That I understood.

Unfortunately for her, I understood perfectly.

That was precisely the problem.

"You betrayed me," I finally said. "At least have the sense to stay with them."

Her footsteps faltered.

I didn’t stop.

"If you keep changing sides whenever the situation becomes uncomfortable, eventually you’ll lose everything."

"I never betrayed you."

That stopped me.

Not because the words hurt.

They irritated me.

Slowly, I turned around.

Elia stopped several steps behind me.

Her expression was defensive now, but there was uncertainty beneath it.

I looked directly into her eyes.

"Really?"

One word.

That was all.

I didn’t need to list everything.

My gaze did it for me.

It said, ’I know what you did.’

The servant.

My food.

My drinks.

The monster brought toward my estate.

The people watching me.

The conversations behind closed doors.

And before all of that, there was the simplest betrayal of all.

When Rey had been dying, she left.

Elia’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

At least she wasn’t stupid enough to ask what I meant.

I stepped toward her.

She didn’t retreat.

Perhaps the Saintess expected the old Rey to appear if she stared long enough.

The man who’d positioned himself between her and danger without thinking about it. The man who’d adjusted battle formations around her limitations and made certain she never exhausted her mana.

I stopped close enough to see the tiny shift in Elia’s breathing.

Her eyes widened slightly.

For one strange second, the corridor felt too quiet.

Then I smiled.

Not warmly.

Elia recognized the difference immediately.

Her shoulders stiffened.

I leaned closer to her ear, lowering my voice so only she could hear.

"Please keep this in mind, Elia."

She went perfectly still.

"I’m not your Rey."

Her breath caught.

I straightened slightly, but remained close enough to hold her gaze.

"So, stop chasing me."

Something flickered across her face.

Pain. Shock. Maybe denial. Whatever it was, I didn’t care enough to identify it.

"We’ll never go back to how we used to be."

There.

Clear boundary.

Large sign.

Possibly surrounded by a moat.

I stepped away.

"Rey, wait."

I didn’t.

Her hand lifted as if she wanted to catch my sleeve, but she stopped herself before touching me.

I turned and continued down the corridor.

My mood wasn’t even ruined.

That surprised me.

A year ago, Rey’s memories might have twisted painfully at an encounter like this. Even now, there was still an uncomfortable pressure buried somewhere inside my chest, the emotional residue of a man who had once trusted Elia completely.

But it wasn’t enough to make me turn around.

That Chapter was over. ℴℴ𝘮

Behind me, Elia hadn’t moved.

I could sense her presence fading as the distance between us grew.

Perhaps my words had been cruel.

Cruelty was occasionally useful.

False hope would have been worse.

Besides, I had no interest in becoming the emotional support structure Elia could return to whenever Darius disappointed her.

I’d seen that pattern before.

Rey had been the person she clung to once.

Now Darius filled that position.

If that arrangement collapsed someday, she could find someone else.

Just not me.

I reached the end of the corridor and turned toward the grand staircase.

Music drifted faintly from below, accompanied by conversation and the clinking of glasses.

I pushed open the banquet hall doors.

Now where was my food?

More importantly... Where were my wives?