Ten Years Too Long
Ten years had passed since then. It had been a while since we last met.
Magicians with true genius all seemed to carry one small screw loose in their heads. Evelyn was no exception. From the very beginning she had been incapable of feeling empathy for others.
Take the way she dressed to attract a man. She spent more effort on that than she ever did on basic hygiene or manners. All her investment in beauty amounted to keeping her skin and clothes clean.
She had enrolled in magic school to learn spells, yet she spent more time gossiping with her classmates about clothes, cosmetics, and accessories than on her studies. I never understood why. It seemed utterly ridiculous.
‘Why do they even do that? It’s pathetic.’
That was why her eye for taste was so poor. Her eyes were properly placed. She could tell the difference between pupils and irises, but she had no idea whether the products actually suited her face. She would buy them anyway, look in the mirror, and still feel nothing.
And then there was one more problem on top of that.
Her relationships.
Ever since she was little she had thrown herself into magic alone. Spending time with anyone her own age was a total waste of time in her eyes. So she never once asked for advice.
That was exactly why she ended up looking like a seven-year-old brat playing with her mother’s lipstick. A bully had cornered a weak classmate in the classroom, smeared lipstick all over her face, and was now grinning while checking whether I was watching. The expression was completely sincere.
I had figured out from the men who approached me that my looks were above average. So why not make herself even more appealing? In Evelyn’s mind, this was simply logical.
“I wish you hadn’t done it at all.”
The moment I gave her that honest answer, a short laugh escaped her lips.
Yeah, she had been right to stay away from all that fuss.
Her classmates spent hours comparing outfits and judging accessories while I watched and sneered. I had always secretly thought I should try it once myself.
For a moment I slipped into the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. After Zach’s blunt words, my face looked strangely plain. Back when I had first finished the makeup I had actually thought it improved my appearance. Now the truth hit me. It was ridiculous.
I twisted the faucet, turned on the cold water, and scrubbed my face clean.
“Damn it!”
It still hadn’t washed off properly. Looking back, some of the products must have been waterproof. The saleswoman had said the base had to be varied, but I had bought every single one she recommended. That was the problem.
No matter how much I rubbed with soap, some products refused to come off while others merely smeared and turned my skin gray. I gritted my teeth and scraped it away with a towel.
Finally it was gone.
But it hadn’t actually made me look better. It was as if someone had painted a beautiful portrait and then splashed water on it. The colors were all messed up and the result was grotesque.
“Haa…”
There was no point staying in the bathroom. I had to go back to Zach. I studied his expression. If he had laughed and held his stomach I might have felt a little better, but his gaze was pitying.
As if he pitied the entire life I had lived up to this point. That look pierced me like a knife. My skin stung.
“Ahahaha… I even tried to cheer myself up, but it’s still weird on me, huh?”
“Yeah. So don’t do it again.”
“Yeah.”
In the awkward silence I picked up a bottle of liquor and gulped it down without using a glass.
“So let’s get back to it. Who is that woman? What makes you think you can divorce me for her?”
Zach took a deep breath and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. What could I say in answer to the question of who Yuria was? What words would make Evelyn stop questioning and accept it?
I couldn’t tell the truth. The woman I had accused of being a whore was actually Yuria, and she had risen from the dead. The moment I put those words in my mouth I didn’t know what would happen. If Evelyn went to the Church and reported it, Zach and Yuria and I would all be in mortal danger.
I had no idea how Evelyn would react, but handing someone a weakness was just plain stupid.
Then what? I had no choice but to lie.
“She’s my lover.”
Other nobles often pretended to have wives while carrying on with mistresses. I was simply following the same script. Evelyn believed me.
“She looks exactly like you.”
Yuria and I had been senior and junior at magic school. Even though Evelyn was far stronger, Yuria was respected in her own year. So we had crossed paths several times. And because Yuria’s appearance was so striking wherever she went, I remembered it clearly.
“White hair, red eyes. She looks exactly like the girl you liked. The last time I saw her was when we were students. Seven years ago, right? Yet the moment I mentioned her you recognized her instantly. How much pain must that have caused you?”
Zach listened in silence. I could neither agree nor disagree with anything she said.
“But I really can’t believe it. You’re divorcing me for some worthless whore because she looks like your ex-wife? That’s all?”
“She’s not a whore.”
“Haha, interesting. So you didn’t fuck her? Never touched her down there?”
The second Zach fell silent, Evelyn laughed and shook her body.
“Then she really is a whore. The kind of woman who sleeps with a married man. Just from how you describe her outfit she sounds like one of the cheap street girls. Calling her a whore was the mistake.”
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“Enough. Let’s not get hurt. Just… tell me what you want.”
Hah.
Evelyn’s nose let out a short snort. I couldn’t believe it. It was absurd. Who was the real perpetrator here? Zach. Then who was the victim? Evelyn herself.
But what the hell was this?
“This is bullshit. The victim is me, and I’m standing here feeling pathetic and it pisses me off.”
I poured the liquor straight down my throat. Some of it spilled over my chin and dripped onto the floor.
“Hey. If you’re going to have a lover, why not just say it? I’m not some tightly wound guy. Why? Everyone has at least one.”
Evelyn tapped the empty bottle with her fingertip and her eyes sparkled. Her pupils reflected the bright light like white-hot bulbs.
“Hey. Let’s try it since it’s been a while. I haven’t done it since our honeymoon days. That’s why. All that stuff with the whore… you’ve been holding it in too long. I never gave you enough attention, so you turned to someone else. Am I right?”
Evelyn in her nightgown casually spread her legs. Between her snow-white thighs the black lace of her panties peeked out.
I was a man who had gone without sex or even masturbation for a long time. I felt my gaze drifting toward her. Evelyn noticed and gave a short, knowing laugh.
But that was the end of it.
Zach did not move a single finger. He stayed perfectly still.
“Why? Don’t you want to?”
“Ah. You finished work early today and only just got here. Were you already with that woman? You fucked her and came?”
“That’s not it.”
“Really? I’ll believe it.”
Evelyn smirked.
“There’s one thing I’m curious about. Since we’re talking about it, I should know. How long have you been seeing that whore?”
“Don’t call her a whore.”
“The first time I saw her was when we were still in magic school. Ten years ago. We met again recently.”
Evelyn broke into a wide smile.
‘She’s lost it.’
I had known Zach’s heart had been wounded after Yuria died, but I never imagined it would go this far. He was insane. Out of his mind.
He had missed Yuria so much that when he saw someone who looked like her he convinced himself she had returned from the dead. And he believed it completely.
If I could simply correct this illusion, all the problems would vanish.
Joy.
If that were true, Zach would never have betrayed me for a single whore. He had always been a decent man by his own standards. How could he throw away his loyalty to me over lust? It was impossible.
Then?
His mind had broken.
He had seen the woman who resembled his dead ex-wife and completely lost it. If I could simply make him realize that the whore he was seeing right now was not his dead ex-wife, he would come back.
Evelyn laughed with a low, mocking giggle while Zach looked uneasy. Evelyn always found satisfaction in breaking people she had friction with or caused conflict with. That was her specialty.
Every single time she laughed like this.
“What are you thinking?”
“You. You think Yuria is alive again, don’t you?”
Zach had never practiced hiding his feelings in his life. Yuria had always said she loved his honesty. That was why his face, his expression, his gestures moved freely.
His eyebrows lifted. His pupils shrank. His nostrils flared. His lips naturally parted to breathe in more air. His shoulders trembled. Both hands clenched into fists.
Zach realized in that moment that he had agreed with Evelyn’s question.
‘What is this girl?’
During our school days I had heard countless stories about Evelyn’s talent, but they were only within the realm of magic. Besides, no matter how clever a person was, how could they possibly deduce that someone had risen from the dead?
‘What is it? Is she really a genius?’