Episode 55
“Lady?” “Why is she acting like that?” “Don’t you think she’s acting strange?”
Ephelia wanted to run away from those voices. She bolted out in a panic.
At some point, the murmuring faded.
I want to get out of here.
I hate this place.
A hand grabbed her. She didn’t need to look to know whose it was.
“Let go of me!”
“Where do you think you’re going.”
Even his calm voice hurt. No matter how desperately she tried to run, it seemed to him like a trivial struggle he could easily stop. Her lungs burned, her heart pounded as if it would explode, yet to him, she was just prey—a herbivore being toyed with by a predator.
“Anywhere but here.”
Ephelia blurted out. Anywhere was fine, as long as it wasn’t beside him. She didn’t care if she couldn’t return to her adoptive parents. She just needed to get away.
“You’re not going anywhere. You have to stay beside me.”
Those words strangled her like shackles. She felt like she might die.
“Please… let me go.”
She wasn’t asking him to release her hand. She was asking for freedom. Regios knew that—so he only tightened his grip, as if to say he would never let her go.
“Say something that’s possible.”
She was falling apart, but he remained calm. That difference in temperature made it even more painful.
“I want to be happy.”
“I can give you anything you want.”
She could never be happy here. No matter what he gave her, this place was nothing more than a luxurious prison.
“Why are you doing this when you don’t even love me?”
“Tell me what I can give you.”
He was a man who could give her anything—except love. It had never been love, so it could never become love. Not now, not ever.
“There’s nothing here that I want.”
Regios understood what she meant. And he understood that he was included in that.
But even if she didn’t want him, she still had something left.
“Not even family?”
“Family?”
Ephelia let out a short laugh. Family? Her chest felt hollow.
“My family is dead. What family do I have?”
Just like he said—her family was gone. Her gentle father, her warm mother, her kind older brother, her mean younger brother—everyone was gone. It was a pain she never wanted to expose.
Thinking about it—saying it aloud—made it more real, more raw. Even after ten years, it still hurt too much to put into words.
“Who’s my family? My uncle?”
Even though they shared blood, he was worse than a stranger.
“You knew. You were the only one I trusted.”
Her family disappeared when she was too young. And she was terrified of her uncle. The world turned upside down, and she had no one. She knew the things he did were wrong, but she had no one to tell. She simply didn’t know any other way to survive.
She didn’t know what to do. So she trusted him—Regios. Believed he would save her someday. That he would get her out of that hell.
For the first time, fury and sorrow filled her eyes.
“You were the only person I trusted and relied on.”
He was her only attachment. The only thing she loved that remained in the world. Even if he hated her, she had no choice but to cling to him. If she let go of that last thread, she had no reason to live. So letting go at the cliff had been easy.
“You didn’t know because I didn’t say it? Really? You didn’t know? Or did you just not care because you didn’t want me to be your destiny?”
He had simply ignored her.
“Family…?”
Ephelia laughed through her tears. Her face twisted—crying and laughing at the same time, like the situation was somehow funny.
“You’re the one who took away the people I thought were family.”
He used them to threaten her. To control her.
“You said you’d be on my side.”
He had promised that long ago. She believed him. She had to. Because she had nothing else to depend on.
“But what did you do?”
Her scream was full of agony. She had never resented him—not once. She was afraid that if she did, he would abandon her. So she stayed silent.
Even when that love killed her.
“You were never on my side. Just because I was your destiny.”
Regios felt as if he couldn’t breathe. His lips trembled. Nothing she said was wrong. Pushing her off that cliff himself wouldn’t have been any different.
“That will never happen again.”
Ephelia laughed emptily. Even her screams couldn’t reach him. Her pain meant nothing to him. It was suffocating—no matter what she said, he wouldn’t listen.
“I don’t want to stay beside you. You don’t even love me.”
“Do I have to love you? Even if I don’t, I need you.”
Not precious—necessary. Because destiny demanded it. Because he couldn’t endure the emptiness.
“Is the reason you won’t let me go because I’m your destiny?”
“Yes.”
“So you just can’t stand the empty space destiny would leave behind.”
He didn’t answer, but she knew it was a yes. He rejected destiny yet clung to it. But if she was no longer destiny—would he let her go?
“Regios. I’m not your destiny anymore.”
Ephelia exhaled. Words wouldn’t convince him. That meant only one option remained.
She unbuttoned her dress.
Ephelia always dressed conservatively—high collars, modest sleeves. It was nothing like the current fashion of exposing the collarbone and the curve of the chest. So when she suddenly began unbuttoning, Regios couldn’t help but panic.
As the buttons came undone, pale skin appeared—her neck, her collarbone. Regios quickly turned his head and shut his eyes tight.
“What are you doing.”
“It’s okay. Regios, open your eyes. Look.”
“It’s not okay. Put it back on.”
Even with his eyes closed, he could still see that pale skin.
“I’m showing you why I’m not your destiny.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you want to know, open your eyes.”
Not your destiny anymore? He didn’t understand. He opened his eyes.
He saw skin—white, smooth—and something he never expected.
His eyes widened in shock. Tears pooled, then fell.
“Why… why is that…”
Ever since she fell from the cliff, he dreamed of that day every night. He thought nothing could be worse. But this was worse.
“H–how…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence. He reached out but couldn’t touch her.
The skin beneath her chemise no longer held the destiny mark they shared.
Instead, her chest—where the mark should have been—was marred by a terrible scar, as if flesh had been torn away.
The skin below her collarbone was soft and pale, but above her heart was a horrific wound.
He wanted to look away, but he knew he shouldn’t. This was his sin. He drove her to death.
Regios finally understood: she wasn’t living.
She had survived.
Just like the scar on her chest, her soul was wounded.
What have I done.
This was the price for what he had done. But Ephelia paid it instead of him.
“…I’m sorry.”
Words meant nothing. Ephelia smiled faintly, as if she knew that.
“I didn’t show you this for an apology. I wanted to show you why I’m not your destiny anymore.”
He understood. She was asking him to let her go.
The mark was gone. They were no longer bound by destiny.
“I’m sorry, Ephelia.”
But what he was sorry for was different.
“Even so—I can’t let you go.”
Destiny or not, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t. He had already lost her once. He couldn’t endure that pain again.
Even if his existence caused her suffering.
He was that selfish.
