The Man in Front of Me Is Not Everett Rohas
I stared into the mirror again and again. Only then did Edwin belatedly learn that Lina had gone out.
Why today of all days?
The resolve he had barely pulled together began to unravel.
No. I can't let that happen.
Once you hesitate, the second attempt requires far more courage.
Besides, he didn't have much time left.
Edwin decided to simply wait for Lina at the detached palace.
When he arrived at the garden overlooking her room, he spotted a letter placed on one corner of the terrace.
It said that if he was reading this, it meant her outing had been extended, so they would see each other tomorrow.
The round, plump handwriting was utterly adorable.
Edwin carefully folded Lina's letter and set it aside.
He was willing to wait several hours if that's what it took. He wanted to see her today.
Edwin stood motionless in the garden, gazing endlessly in the direction she would return from.
But even after the sun set and night fell, Lina still hadn't come back.
It was only after the Saintess returned that he finally received news of her.
She went to a friend's house.
It felt as though the gods had deliberately filled his day with nothing but misfortune.
Yet that misfortune was only the beginning.
The next day, even as the sun began to set, Lina still hadn't returned to the detached palace.
Worry crept in. What if something had happened to her?
He was the one who had dismissed her escort knights so she wouldn't notice anything, but now he was beginning to regret that decision.
Edwin, who had been anxiously staring outside, finally stood up and ran.
She was probably just enjoying a long-overdue reunion with her friend, relaxing and having fun on her day off.
Still, he wouldn't be able to calm down until he saw Lina's safety with his own two eyes.
He had clearly received a report from Kylus that Lina had gone to her friend's house. He knew she had been staying at the detached palace lately. Yet like a bird with a powerful homing instinct, Edwin headed straight for Lina's house.
It might have been pure intuition.
The moment he arrived, he looked up at the window of her room.
Fortunately, the light was on.
Just as Edwin let out a sigh of relief, the window opened.
His eyes met Lina's.
For the briefest instant, he clearly saw that her eyes were swollen.
Who?
Who dared make her cry?
It had been a very long time since Edwin had felt this properly angry.
While Edwin's mind raced, frantically narrowing down the list of possible culprits, he heard the sound of Lina coming down the stairs.
The unusually short intervals between footsteps suggested she was in a hurry.
Edwin waited right by the entrance, just in case she might trip and fall.
Bang!
Lina flung the door open with a violent motion that was very unlike her.
A wide-brimmed hat hid most of her face, but her purple eyes—swollen to half their usual size—glared at him fiercely.
To Edwin, however, what caught his attention first wasn't her furious expression, but the red, puffy skin around her eyes, raw as if scraped by rough cloth.
Edwin reached out with an incredibly gentle hand to touch the swollen area beneath her eyes.
Or at least, he tried to.
Lina's hand slapped his away coldly, stopping him immediately.
Edwin felt hurt that she was pushing him away, but he told himself it was only because she was in a bad mood.
“Did you cry?”
Edwin asked, pulling his hand back as if nothing was wrong.
“Yes.”
Lina's voice was icy as she answered.
Her tone was so different from usual that Edwin's instincts screamed a warning.
He quietly rolled his eyes, carefully reading her mood.
But that only seemed to anger her more.
“Aren't you going to ask why?”
Lina didn't even give him a chance to respond before continuing.
“It's because of you, Everett Rohas. I heard the Crown Princess of Bellot is pregnant.”
Each word was sharp as a blade.
“How did you…?”
Edwin muttered without thinking, then jolted in alarm.
He had stayed up all night waiting for Lina, and the words had slipped out in a moment of exhaustion.
But he wasn't given any chance to explain.
“How what?”
At the classic line of a cheating bastard, Lina became so furious her vision blurred.
Just moments ago, this man had acted like his heart was breaking at the sight of her tears.
But now, his face was merely dazed, as if he couldn't even imagine that she knew he was seeing the Crown Princess behind her back.
His obnoxiously smooth, handsome face only fueled her rage.
I kicked Everett in the shin with all my strength.
The hard leather toe of my shoe struck his shin perfectly.
Yet Everett remained standing without so much as flinching, while I was the one who yelped in pain, as if I'd stubbed my toe on a corner.
“This is so annoying!”
I stomped my foot hard, venting my anger on the innocent floor.
The fact that he was completely fine made me feel even more pathetic, and the fact that only I was hurting made it worse.
While coming down the stairs, I had sworn dozens of times that I wouldn't cry in front of Everett. Yet tears still welled up.
“Don't cry. Please?”
Even after being caught with another woman, Everett still tried to soothe me like the loving partner he pretended to be.
“I told you it's because of you!”
I hated him for it and shouted.
The tip of my right foot was still throbbing.
Instead, I swung my fist at Everett.
I wanted to at least deal some physical damage equal to the pain I was feeling.
“You'll hurt your hand, Lina. This is all my fault.”
Everett stood there obediently, letting me hit him, looking completely lost.
He seemed to want to grab my hand but stopped mid-motion, probably thinking it would only make me angrier. Instead, he pleaded with words alone.
As if I'd care if his hand gets hurt.
I was bitterly regretting how I'd neglected my strength training all this time.
Everett was completely fine, yet I was the only one in pain.
I hated him for not even offering a single excuse.
“If you knew it was wrong, you shouldn't have done it in the first place!”
Filled with resentment and fury, I swung my fist with all my might.
So hard that I lost my balance and staggered.
Everett lowered his stance as if to catch me.
I didn't want to end up in his arms, so I desperately tried to regain my footing on my own.
And then—
Thud.
I didn't fall, but my blind punch landed squarely on Everett's jaw.
Even the ever-composed Everett flinched this time, clearly feeling the impact.
In an instant, his jaw began to swell.
That must hurt.
For a second I almost apologized, but I pulled myself together.
Ed— no, he deserved to get hit.
Still, I glanced at the area around his jaw as if I hadn't noticed anything and lowered my fist.
Instead, I began pouring out my words.
“Out of all the men I've met, you're the worst.”
“I'm sorry. I was wrong.”
No matter how harshly I spoke, Everett only repeated his apologies.
The sincerity in his voice made me want to foolishly believe him and say it wasn't true.
“The worst liar. Just go to hell already.”
But I couldn't do that.
This wasn't something that could end with my forgiveness.
I barely managed to spit out those words before shoving him away.
“Go tell the Crown Princess yourself and apologize. And don't ever show your face to me again.”
The last part wasn't for his sake—it was for mine.
Because even now, my heart was on the verge of collapsing.
I was glad I'd already booked passage on a ship leaving for another continent today.
This sticky lingering attachment probably wouldn't fade unless I crossed an ocean.
Tears began to well up again.
Before Everett could see them, I turned my back on him.
I'd go home like this, sleep for now, then get up, finish packing, and leave.
It was a perfect plan.
The moment I tried to take a step, Everett blocked my path.
Then, as if this were his last chance, he shouted desperately.
“The Crown Princess's child isn't mine!”
What kind of new garbage was this? I stopped dead in my tracks.
Seeing that I'd halted, Everett spoke rapidly.
“The one who's going to marry the Crown Princess is Everett Rohas.”
Should I take that as an admission?
At the words coming from the Everett Rohas standing before me, I began to doubt whether I'd heard him correctly.
My expression grew increasingly fierce—enough to make the tears that had been pooling vanish completely. Everett hurriedly added,
“So I'm not Everett Rohas. The one marrying the Crown Princess is the real Everett Rohas!”
In that instant, the memory of when I'd visited the Imperial Guard and thought there seemed to be two Everett Rohases flashed through my mind.
I very slowly processed what Everett—no, Fake-vert—was saying.
The Everett Rohas standing in front of me… isn't Everett Rohas?