"Neito..."
The lady says,
wanting to say something to him
as her hands were tempted
to take a hold of him.
"If only I had known
about you sooner,
I would not have fallen for you.
If only I had known,
I would have avoided you."
The man says.
The both of them
could hear their hearts shattering.
Their hearts yearned
for each other,
but their situation
does not allow them to.
While the blonde
loved the woman,
being with her
will remind him
of his parents
that he had lost at a young age.
And sometimes,
love is not enough
when it encounters pain.
The lady
returned to her household
and was greeted
with utmost joy
from her mother.
But her emotional state
was down the drain
and ignored her mother.
She stayed in her room
and felt her face
getting numb.
She wanted to cry,
but her eyes did not allow her to,
yet her heart was aching still.
"Y/N dear,
did something happen?"
The lady hears
her mother's voice
through the doors.
With her mental state
being all over the place,
she stood
from her lying position
and went to face her mother.
"Mother,
I do not wish
to be wedded by Bakugo.
I beg you
to call off our engagement."
Her mother's eyes widened
at her daughter's bluntness
and swollen eyes.
"Dear,
your father wishes
that you marry
the Bakugo family's only son–"
"I said no,
mother!
I do not wish
to be wedded by any man!"
If that man is not Neito,
then I do not want
to be married at all.
"This family – this family
is damned!
Be damned all!
I loathe this family!"
She shrieks
and closes the door harshly.
Fortunately,
for the lady,
her father allowed
that they will call off
the betrothal,
but in one condition.
The lady
must become a concubine
of a high-ranking nobleman
or one of the imperial men itself.
She did not argue with this
any further
since speaking with her father
was just a rare occasion,
and she did not want to leave
a bad impression
since her father
had just accepted
to call off the betrothal.
She was laying
on her thick futon,
something
she was not used to anymore
and did not find it comfortable,
compared to the thin one
in the shrine.
Her thoughts
went to the blonde man.
How is Neito?
I wonder if he had eaten.
Did he sleep well?
She feels her eyes sting
for the first time that day.
Neito, I am sorry.
Before,
she wanted to cry.
But now,
she did not want to get hurt
about her parting
with the boy anymore.
It would feel
shameless for her
if she was hurting
when her own family
was the reason
why the blonde was living alone
in the shrine.
She steps out of her room
and to their small garden.
It was late afternoon
and the breeze
felt a little more cold
than usual.
Slowly,
snowflakes began to drop
and the lady watched them alone.
When the wind got colder,
she embraced herself.
Come closer to me
and my embrace shall warm thee.