Rolling in Bed with the Male Lead

"......Daphne?"

His watery-blue eyes wavered. Richard’s legs went rigid, as though they had taken root where he stood.

His heart pounded erratically against his ribs.

"Hahaha, Richard...."

Daphne wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes as she spoke.

"Why do you look like that? Wasn’t this a joke?"

The sunset stained her cheeks red.

The scent of lavender rode the wind, slipping into the space between them.

Though they stood so close, the distance between them felt immeasurable.

Richard’s lips trembled.

"A joke......?"

He had made this confession dozens of times, but never once had she taken it for a joke.

More than anything, there was that unfamiliar look in her eyes, that strange air about her.

Something felt wrong.

As though she were not Daphne at all.

"I... mean it."

"......What?"

At those words, Daphne’s laughter stopped. Her pale green eyes went still.

"You... mean it?"

As though she truly had believed it was a joke, Daphne’s face turned white. Her exaggerated expression made her seem unlike the woman he knew.

"Really...?"

"Yes, Daphne...."

"I-I’m sorry, Richard...!"

Startled, Daphne seized both of Richard’s hands. Her fingertips were trembling.

"I... had no idea. I didn’t know you truly... saw me that way."

Her breathing quickened. Her pale green eyes wavered and filled with moisture.

This was the Daphne he had always known.

Richard did not answer.

He merely stood there in a daze, letting her hold his hands.

"...I thought you... Cailus...."

Daphne trailed off and closed her lips. She lowered her gaze as though genuinely sorry.

......

That unfamiliar behavior just now....

...Was it only my imagination?

Richard squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and shook away the thought.

Then he slowly shook his head.

"No. For me... it has always been you, from beginning to end."

His subdued voice spread through the scent of lavender.

There had never been a single moment when he did not love her.

Not when she rejected his confession,

nor when she ultimately chose Cailus.

Not for a single instant.

He had never been able to stop loving her.

"I... love you, Daphne."

The confession fell over the lavender field, flowing more quietly than the wind.

"......"

Daphne’s fingertips trembled faintly. Her pale green eyes shook uncontrollably.

"...Richard."

Her lips struggled to form his name.

Her ragged breath scattered into the air. For a moment, countless emotions swept through her pale green eyes.

Surprise, confusion, sorrow... and a fragment of something he could not identify.

"I...."

Unable to continue, Daphne fell silent for a long while before finally murmuring,

"...You’re such a fool."

"......"

"Why... would you feel that way? Why would you say something like that... to me?"

Richard silently met her gaze.

His eyes, steeped in the light of sunset, were unwavering.

"......"

Daphne closed her eyes, then slowly opened them and shook her head.

"I’m sorry, Richard."

Brief and resolute.

Those few words dug deep into Richard’s chest.

"...I think of you as a dear friend."

Her voice did not tremble. It was cruelly clear.

For a moment, Richard could make no expression at all.

As though his breath had stopped, he merely blinked heavily.

"...I see."

His voice emerged low and brief.

"......"

Daphne looked away.

"...I’m sorry, Richard."

The sunset slowly sank over the lavender field.

A gust of wind swept past, scattering violet petals through the air.

Amid them, Richard stood in a daze.

Deep within his chest, the ending he had experienced dozens of times settled over him once again.

Cold, heavy, and painfully familiar—

rejection.

"I’m......"

He forced apart lips that felt parched and stiff.

"I’m... all right."

Richard forced himself to smile. The setting sun settled over his head, making him shine brightly. Like the morning star.

I’m used to this.

How many times had he been rejected?

It was familiar. So very familiar.

I’m not going to agonize over it now.

Richard forced the corners of his mouth upward.

This was the fate he had been given.

A fate he could never escape.

He comforted himself with those words, as though resigning himself to it.

He was fine. It no longer hurt him.

"......"

Step. Step.

Footsteps echoed through the corridor.

The night had deepened, and he returned to the bedroom.

When he slowly opened the door—

Cailus was standing inside.

His back was turned as he leaned against the window.

Moonlight seeped into his black hair, casting a stark shadow.

Richard stopped in the doorway.

......I’m fine. I’m fine.

He pressed his lips together and repeated the words to himself.

He had thought that, just for today, he could let it pass calmly.

But then—

those crimson eyes slowly turned and met his.

"......"

A silent, crushing stare.

An arrogant gaze that seemed to ask how he dared covet what belonged to Cailus.

Richard tried to steady his breathing, but his throat went dry.

......Ha.

A bitter laugh he had tried to suppress forced its way from his throat.

It’s been a while....

He remembered Cailus on the day of the wedding.

Standing beside Daphne.

Looking perfectly at ease, as though that place had always belonged to him.

She is mine.

Cailus had never spoken the words aloud, yet his expression had made them unmistakable.

Richard’s heart sank slowly but heavily.

He twisted his lips into a crooked smile.

...This is what a true protagonist is.

The one who ultimately claimed the heroine, no matter what he did.

He merely had to stand there, and the world revolved around him.

Unlike Richard, who could struggle with all his might and still never escape his fate as the second male lead.

"......"

It was a familiar gaze—

yet tonight, it infuriated him more than ever.

......Why?

The emotion boiling deep inside him churned like molten iron.

Why? Why is it always you?

Rage, inferiority, jealousy—

the strange, seething heat constricted his throat.

Richard slowly curled his fingers inward.

He clenched them so tightly that his knuckles creaked.

"...Where have you been?"

Cailus asked in a low voice.

Richard did not answer.

Instead, he closed the door.

Slam!

The heavy sound echoed throughout the bedroom.

"...Young Lord Friedrich."

Those crimson eyes pierced straight through him.

His heart dropped a beat too late.

And at last, the voice he had been holding back burst free.

"......Why?"

One low, subdued word.

But the resentment within it spread slowly and unmistakably.

"Why is it always Your Highness?"

Richard’s shoulders trembled faintly.

"Why is it always—you?"

"......"

"Why are you always the one...?"

His voice rose as his emotions intensified.

"Why?!"

The words knotted deep inside his chest spilled out as though being forcibly torn from him.

"No matter how hard I try, no matter how desperately I struggle, why is it always you who ends up beside Daphne? Why are you always the only one left at her side?!"

Richard’s watery-blue eyes churned.

Despair, rage, and bitter inferiority swirled within them.

"I... no matter how hard I struggle."

His fingertips trembled as his hand slowly clenched into a fist.

"...No matter how desperately I struggle...."

His throat constricted. He could not breathe.

"I can’t defeat you."

...For an instant, the air fell still as though it had frozen.

Richard glared at Cailus through clenched teeth.

But even that gaze could not hold for long.

"...That’s why I...."

His fractured voice slipped out.

The strength holding his body upright slowly drained away, and his knees buckled toward the floor.

His fist remained clenched, but even that hand merely grasped helplessly at empty air.

He felt hollow, as though something deep within his heart had been carved out.

"......"

At last, the tears burning behind his tightly closed eyelids spilled free.

Drip—

A teardrop struck the cold floor.

"I hate you more than anything."

After those words, Richard bowed his head and could say no more.

His collapsed shoulders cast a deep shadow beneath the moonlight.

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