ITAYA 42

~Chapter 42~

Baldwin kept his promise to Anais. During their honeymoon, he focused on her completely. He spent all his time with her and didn’t want to be apart for even a moment.

“…It’s night now, Baldwin.”

Anais mumbled in a low voice.

[It’s night, even to me.]

“At night, you’re supposed to sleep.”

Anais blinked her sleepy eyes and muttered. The two of them were sitting across from each other at a table.

[Anna, we’re on our honeymoon.]

“That’s why we should rest well.”

Anais waved her hand as she mumbled, her face tired. Baldwin smiled silently as he watched her whine.

He even liked hearing Anais complain. The time he spent holding her felt endless and sweet, like the scent of wine.

Even now, as Anais pushed him away, Baldwin was impatient. Their time in Hertel was limited, and every moment with her felt too short.

Baldwin spun his pen on his hand. Around and around again.

With his chin resting on his hand, Baldwin smiled without realizing it. Watching Anais doze off lazily wasn’t bad at all.

Anais was curled up on the sofa. With her knees up and her head leaning to the side, her cheek was squished in a cute way.

Her soft little breaths filled the room. Earlier that afternoon, he had held her in his arms.

They even left their names in the guest record at a hotel in the city.

‘Do we really have to go to a hotel when we have a villa?’

[We don’t have time to go all the way there. It’s too far.]

Baldwin pulled Anais’s hand onto his body. Anais’s face turned bright red with surprise as he led her to the top floor of the hotel.

The ocean view from the highest floor was beautiful, but so was Anais’s face, lit by the balcony light.

Her reddened eyes and lips letting out soft moans were as fragrant as a flower in full bloom.

Baldwin leaned forward and stretched his arm over the table, drawing even closer to Anais.

He scratched his nose lightly, and Anais shifted.

“Mm.”

She turned her head as if bothered.

“Heh.”

A small laugh slipped out. His voice was rough and low, still marked by the aftereffects of his childhood fever.

After that illness, one of his ears still didn’t hear well.

When he was sick, people said he would never hear or speak again, so he considered himself lucky.

He remembered when sounds finally returned to his ears, and when his voice, once trapped, finally came out.

Baldwin had been eleven years old.

He had run toward his parents, overjoyed.

‘I can hear! I can hear now! I can talk, too!’

He learned the pain of losing what he thought was natural. For a month, unable to hear or speak, he shut himself in his room.

After a month, he got some of it back—not perfectly, but enough.

That alone made Baldwin feel like he owned the whole world. He wanted to tell his sad parents the good news right away.

“Huff, huff!”

They weren’t affectionate parents, but he thought they’d be happy.

Baldwin caught his breath outside their bedroom door, wondering what to say first to make them happiest.

Maybe he should surprise them.

He knocked, opened the door, and his parents turned toward him, faces flushed.

Their messy hair and angry eyes glared at him.

“See? It’s your fault. You ruined my life.”

His father’s words made Baldwin freeze. Even through the ringing in his ears, the words were full of poison.

“Look at that idiot you gave me! If I didn’t have any siblings, it would be even worse. People say the Constantine family is cursed!”

Idiot…?

Baldwin bit his lip.

“What if he hears you?”

“He can’t hear. This is what happens when you mix with low blood.”

“I’m a noble, too!”

“Barely, from a ruined family. Your father lost everything gambling. That blood ruined my son! That’s why he’s broken!”

“He’s your son, too! Did I have him alone?”

Their sharp voices echoed in his ears. Baldwin could only stare, unable to say a word.

“That’s why I regret it. I wish I never met you.”

“He’s half Constantine! So—”

His father stared at him and spoke clearly.

“He turned out like this because of your dirty blood. Get out!”

He pushed Baldwin out of the room. Rosemarlin, left alone, cried for a long time, then glared at Baldwin fiercely.

“This is all your fault! What can we do with a dumb kid who can’t hear or speak?”

Rosemarlin shook Baldwin’s shoulder and cursed him. The words sounded like static in his ears, but he heard them all.

For the first time, he saw his parents’ true faces.

Baldwin thought:

‘It would have been better if I couldn’t hear.’

To hear and speak was a curse from God.

Since then, Baldwin thought it was a blessing not to hear or speak.

He shut his mouth and closed his ears.

Once Baldwin stopped talking, people showed their true selves around him.

The nanny, who used to say she loved him like her own, stole his jewelry and even bragged about it in front of him.

‘Young master doesn’t know a thing! I sold your brooch to buy a new dress!’

‘Young master, I really hate you. Why do you get everything?’

Even his friends were no different.

Those who used to worship him turned away easily.

‘He can’t hear. It’s awkward to play with him.’

‘He still acts all high and mighty because he’s a Constantine. He’s so annoying. I never liked him.’

After learning people’s real faces, Baldwin shut himself off completely and pushed everyone away. He couldn’t trust anyone.

That cold, lonely world was where Anais appeared.

Anais was the same inside and out. She was pure, honest, and didn’t know how to lie.

She believed in hard work and loved truth. She broke through his distrust.

She was like rain on dry earth.

From the first day he met her, Baldwin thought about Anais. Every time they met, she proved his judgment right.

He didn’t know what that feeling was, but he thought he had plenty of time.

But then, when Egbert took Anais, Baldwin was left drowning in loss for a long time.

Baldwin remembered all the memories he had pushed aside.

He brushed Anais’s cheek.

“Anna.”

Baldwin said her name softly. It sounded sweet, like a child’s name.

He licked his lips.

He wished he could hear only Anais’s voice. He wanted all his senses to exist just for her.

Baldwin’s eyes narrowed.

Once he let himself feel this possessiveness, it wouldn’t stop.

Anais didn’t know about the darkness inside him.

Baldwin’s eyes turned dark, every emotion focused only on Anais.

“Anna.”

He whispered her name again.

He wished he was the only one who could call her name. Just as Anais was the only one in his world, he wanted to be the only one in hers.

If Anais saw these feelings, she might run away. Deeply wounded, Anais was always cautious, like a frightened deer.

Sometimes he saw hesitation and fear in her eyes when she looked at him.

That must be Egbert’s fault.

Even though Anais seemed strong, she was easily shaken and sometimes broke down.

Baldwin hid his true self for her. If Anais didn’t want it, he was ready to hide himself forever.

“Anna.”

Baldwin called her name again. Even his rough, broken voice sounded sweet now.

He pulled his chair closer, wanting to be nearer to Anais.

His half-working ear caught more of her soft breaths. Baldwin let out a relaxed sigh.

He wished this small space, facing Anais, could be his whole world. Anais made his broken self feel complete.

The sound of crickets came from far away.

A warm, peaceful feeling wrapped around them both. To Baldwin, Anais was everything.