Chapter 562: Seo’s Emotions

A happy moment.

A sad moment.

A fun moment.

A boring moment.

A strange, confusing moment.

Scenarios after scenarios, scenery after scenery—an endless flow of shifting atmospheres that most people seemed to adapt to naturally.

Social awareness.

That invisible thread connecting people.

A natural quality everyone was born with the moment they interacted with another.

Everyone but her.

For as long as she could remember, Seo Gyeoul had always found that concept foreign, like trying to read a language she was never taught.

Why did people expect her to smile during a happy moment?

She was already happy inside—wasn’t that enough?

Why did she need to constantly react when a conversation was flowing?

When she enjoyed simply listening.

Why did others expect her to cry when someone close to her was gone?

Didn’t her quiet sorrow matter less because her tears refused to fall?

Emotions.

She understood them, in her own way—she could feel them clearly within herself—but translating those feelings outward had always been a troublesome puzzle.

A wordless gap stood between what she felt and what others demanded she show.

For all her innocence, Seo was painfully aware of her ignorance. She knew she wasn’t “normal.” She knew the eyes on her carried judgment, disappointment, sometimes even pity.

“Be more aware,” they told her.

“Act like the others,” they urged.

“React properly,” they demanded.

And Seo tried.

Truly, she did.

But the truth was, no matter how much she learned, no matter how much she mimicked, the rhythm of the world always felt one step ahead of her—while she remained a quiet observer, standing just outside the circle of light everyone else seemed born to bask in.

“Hehe, Seo, you really are too cute… though I think you need to be more aware of those around you,”

her older sister once told her, laughing lightly as if it were just a harmless remark.

But even in that playful tone, Seo felt the weight behind the words—an expectation she didn’t quite know how to meet.

“My little princess doesn’t need to change. You can be as innocent as you want!”

Her doting grandfather always said so, his hand gently patting her head, his smile warm and indulgent.

He made her feel safe, made her believe that being herself was enough—that she didn’t need to force a mask she didn’t understand.

“Seo… as long as you perform your duties, it doesn’t matter to me how you view the world, nor how you let others view ours. Just don’t let your actions reflect poorly on the clan’s prestige.”

Her father’s voice was colder, steadier. It wasn’t cruel, but it was detached—like he was addressing not a daughter, but a successor, a piece of the clan’s legacy.

Different people. Different opinions.

Close or distant, everyone seemed to be concerned, invested, or quietly affected by her simply being herself.

Was that a good thing? Or was it a bad thing?

Seo didn’t know. She never fully understood.

But she wasn’t oblivious. She was painfully aware, in fact.

Aware that her silence, her lack of reaction, her stillness—these things made people uneasy, made them question her, made them try to push her toward something else.

And although she often brushed off their words, pretending she wasn’t listening, deep down Seo knew they were right—at least in part.

She needed to change.

She needed to show more.

To express more.

Her emotionless self couldn’t always remain. Not forever.

Because if she kept hiding behind her quiet indifference, she feared one day no one would be able to understand her at all.

….

“Seo… if you want an important person in your life to realize how you truly feel, grab them, show them, and let those words deep inside you spill out. Let them see it. Fufu~ that’s how I managed to catch the clan head’s attention, you know…”

“What you committed was adultery, Mother.”

Her mother’s lips curled in amusement, not shame. “Fufu~ adultery? Whoever told my sweet innocent Seo such words… was it the maids again?”

“No… I often hear it from my siblings. Mother, they say what you committed was a sin—both to the clan head and to their mother. And that I was the greatest sin of the clan.”

For a moment, silence.

Then her mother laughed softly, a light, airy sound that carried a bitterness hidden beneath.

“I see… fufu, well I suppose in their eyes I am the devil who stole their father’s attention. And you, my little one, would naturally be branded as the proof of that crime. But don’t ever let their words reach you, alright?”

Seo tilted her head, blank eyes reflecting her mother’s face. “How would it get to me?”

Her mother paused, then chuckled again, softer this time.

“Haha… oh, silly me. With my dear Seo, perhaps I never have to worry about that. Though now… I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad one, hah…”

“What do you mean?”

“Hnn-hnn—it’s nothing. Don’t mind me.”

Her mother waved the question away too quickly, the flicker of unease already buried under her usual teasing tone.

“Just promise me you’ll ignore your siblings’ words. They don’t matter. And besides, all of this… it’s Beol’s fault. Even though I told him I’d leave immediately after what happened, he’s the one forcing us to stay here—” she stopped herself, coughed lightly, and changed tone with practiced grace, “—a-ahem, anyway, just take my advice to heart, alright my dear?”

“Alright.”

Her mother’s smile softened then, a rare glimpse of something tender, something without the mask.

She reached out, cupping young Seo’s cheeks between her hands.

“And one more thing, Seo. Waiting for something to happen will more often than not lead to an ending you’ll regret. Especially in matters of love. If you want something… don’t wait. Seize it.”

Her thumbs brushed Seo’s face gently. Her voice dropped, just above a whisper. “And remember this above all: you are not a sin. You are a being born out of love. Never let anyone make you forget that.”

Seo blinked slowly, her expression unchanged, but her small voice answered, “Okay…”

…

She recalled her late mother’s words.

Back then, even up to the present, she had never truly understood what her mother was trying to tell her.

She knew the meaning behind those words, but understanding had always come to her like fog—visible, tangible even, but impossible to grasp. And so she never really minded them.

At least… not until she met him.

Riley Hell.

When they first crossed paths, only one word had ever stuck in Seo’s mind. Interesting.

He seemed like a mage at first, yet turned out to be a great swordsman.

He looked thin, almost fragile, yet his body was strong—solid, trained, as muscular as her grandfather’s.

He carried the face of someone cold and unfeeling, but his voice, his gestures, the way he always paid attention to little things… were warm, almost irritatingly so.

He looked like he didn’t care about the opinions of others, and yet, Seo had noticed how he often sighed or twitched when those same opinions piled around him.

Riley was contradiction itself.

A mirror and an opposite. Someone who felt strangely familiar yet entirely foreign.

Her first real friend.

Her first best friend.

The only person who seemed to understand her, even when she failed to express anything at all.

Her indifferent stares, her blank silences, the pauses that others always misread—he never took them as walls.

For Riley, they were simply a part of her.

He never forced her to smile, never demanded her to react.

He simply existed beside her, and somehow, that was enough.

Looking into his eyes had become its own habit.

Those warm, steady eyes that made her lips tug upwards without her even realizing it.

Or at least… she thinks so.

Just being around, him made her day brighter.

Just being around, him made her heart feel lighter.

Touching his hand, hearing his voice, feeling the warmth of his presence—every little thing about Riley stirred something inside her she couldn’t define.

He was fun.

He was kind.

He was everything she never thought she needed.

And every time she was with him, her heart would beat in ways she could neither control nor explain.

Emotions were always a hard concept for her.

But even she eventually realized what she might be feeling for him.

Love…

She wasn’t fully sure. But… she often thought so.

“Miss Seo, you need to make a move now or else you won’t be able to keep up with the others! I heard from Yui that young master Riley’s been all too chummy with his girls lately!”

Her personal maid, Lina, was relentless with her teasing, always pushing her forward.

Lina insisted the feelings Seo carried were love, plain and simple.

That she was in love with Riley.

But was that really the case?

Or was she just… interested in him?

Was it admiration? Curiosity? Something deeper?

She didn’t know.

But what she did know was this—she wanted to be with him. Forever.

The thought of a world without Riley in it felt dull, colorless, unbearably empty.

That’s why it never really bothered her when she noticed others drawn to him too. It only felt natural.

After all, who wouldn’t want a Riley in their life?

If she was lucky enough to have him, why shouldn’t others feel the same way?

At least… that’s what she kept telling herself.

But then—

“I, Snow Luvenitia White Germonia Leven, First Princess and Crown Princess of the Germonia Empire, am pleased to announce—before everyone here—my engagement to Riley.”

“Hehehe~ I, Alice Holloway, also announce before everyone here that I am betrothed to Riley as well~.”

“I, Rose Brilliance, am also betrothed to him.”

The grand ball.

The sudden announcements.

The dazzling lights, the music, the way the entire crowd held its breath.

She could still see it clearly.

The way Riley was pulled close, kissed openly, kissed boldly by three different girls—while she stood in the background, watching.

Her heart sank.

A sharp, unfamiliar ache spread through her chest, heavier than any blade wound she’d ever suffered in training.

She didn’t cry.

She didn’t move. She didn’t even look away.

But inside, something fragile had cracked.

It hurt.

More than she ever thought it would.

It felt like her heart had stopped breathing.

A suffocating weight pressed down on her chest, sharp and unrelenting, like the tip of a sword poised against it.

She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak.

She could only watch the scene unfold—the glittering ball, the dazzling gowns, the radiant smiles.

Riley surrounded by three girls, each basking in their own unique happiness with him. And she… she wasn’t part of it.

But everything should be fine. Yes… everything should be fine, shouldn’t it?

As long as she was still by his side, it didn’t matter.

As long as she was there, watching, following—everything should be fine.

If Riley is happy… then I’m happy.

That was what she repeated to herself over and over, like a charm, like a spell to ward off the crack inside her chest.

His attention might be divided now, shared across others, but… surely she had her own place in his heart too.

A place only she could occupy. Just like how he was special to her… surely, she was special to him as well. Right?

The ball ended, and the music faded. But the ache inside her remained.

That night, quietly within her room, Seo stood before the mirror.

Her blank reflection stared back at her—except her eyes were wet, her face streaked with tears.

It was the first time she had ever seen herself cry.

The first time she truly understood what she felt for Riley.

It wasn’t just interest. It wasn’t just friendship.

Much like the others around him… she too loved him.

Her mother’s words came back to her then.

She clenched her trembling hands against her chest. I have to change…

She needed to make a move.

So, she tried.

She started small—changing how she presented herself, how she carried her expression, how she dressed.

She wanted him to look at her differently.

She wanted his gaze to linger.

“How is it?”

“She’s beautiful,”

And it worked—at least, on the surface.

Riley noticed her, complimented her, gave her those same warm looks he always did.

But to Seo, it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t the same.

Not the same gaze he gave Rose. That gaze—gentle, tender, brimming with something heavier than friendship. The affectionate eyes of a lover worried for his beloved.

Seo could see the line clearly now. A line between her and him.

“Seo, child… aren’t you going to eat?” Lavine said.

“Oh… yes. I will.”

She picked up her fork, poked a small bite of cake, and placed it in her mouth without tasting it.

Her eyes drifted again.

To Riley. To Rose.

Watching them smile, laugh, lean into each other.

Watching them share another kiss.

Don’t wait. Seize it.

Her mother’s voice echoed once more, louder this time, resonating with the ache in her chest.

That was the moment Seo realized what she needed to do.

If she wanted his gaze—the same gaze, or something even greater—she couldn’t just wait quietly anymore.

….

As she and Riley walked side by side, Seo recalled another memory of her late mother.

“Seo… if there ever comes a time when the one you love is already taken by another… I want you to understand something. Love doesn’t just end there. Don’t give up. Push him—push him into a corner where he can’t escape, and make him see how you truly feel. A little skin might help, though in your case, your face alone is enough to make anyone reconsider. What I’m saying, my dear… is don’t let him run from you. Not if you truly want him.”

Those words had once sounded strange, even ridiculous. But now…

Yes. Time and time again, Riley always seemed to drift away from her. Always slipping just out of reach.

Seo tightened her grip on his hand, fingers interlacing firmer, as if anchoring him beside her.

She glanced at him. His eyes weren’t on her.

They were wandering somewhere else. Somewhere far.

When he’s with Snow, he always smiles softly, like the world itself eases around her.

When he’s with Alice, he can’t contain his grin, all mischief and delight.

When he’s with Rose, his gaze never leaves her, steady, unshakable, almost worshipful.

But when he was with her? Seo could tell. His thoughts drifted. His gaze strayed past her, always toward something ahead. Something not her.

That needed to change.

She moved.

“Riley.”

He turned to her. “Yes?”

Her lips pressed together for a second before she spoke. “…Do you like kissing in public?”

“Huh?” His expression shifted in surprise.

She took a step closer, her voice steady despite the tremble inside her chest.

“Since we’re in public right now… can I kiss you as well?”

Riley’s eyes widened slightly.

“…Seo, I think you’re misunderstanding something—”

“But you kissed Rose openly earlier, and back at the grand ball, you kissed Snow and Alice too. In front of everyone. So… as your best friend, doesn’t that mean I can kiss you as well?”

His brows furrowed.

“Seo, I think… you’re rushing things too fast. And also… I don’t know where you heard all that, but—kissing isn’t something you do just because of titles or roles. You’re supposed to only kiss someone you like. Someone you love.”

Her chest tightened. She leaned in, locking her gaze on his, refusing to let him look anywhere else.

“But I do like you, Riley.” Her voice cracked faintly, the slightest tremor breaking through her usual calm. “Do you… not like me? Back then, you said you did. Was that a lie?”

Her grip on his hand grew firmer.

Her other hand moved to his chest, pressing against the warmth of his heartbeat, needing to anchor him in place.

She needed him to see her.

To truly see her.

So, she spoke, her voice ringing with all the emotions she never managed to show before.

“Please… like me as well, Riley.”

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