Winter Wolf - Chapter 15. Part 3.

Chapter 15. Part 3.

As she instinctively tried to close her legs, his knee slid between them, forcing them apart. Her dress wrinkled and her corset tightened, making it hard to breathe.

“Ha, no… this… can’t…,” she gasped.

“Why?”

He pulled back slightly, asking softly.

*Why can’t we?*

Lysithea, desperately pushing against him, managed to respond.

“I have… I have a fiancé now….”

“Without a ring?” he teased.

“Where is my ring?!” she snapped, slapping his shoulder in frustration. But the impact only left her palm stinging, doing little to move him.

“Here.”

He took her hand and slipped a ring back onto her finger. But something felt different. Lysithea quickly raised her hand to check.

It wasn’t the oversized gold ring that had never really been hers. Instead, a finely crafted platinum ring now adorned her fourth finger, fitting perfectly as if it had been made just for her.

“What is this… ring?” she muttered in confusion, staring at him.

He smiled a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“I thought it would suit you. I hope you like it.”

“That’s not what I meant! Where is my engagement ring?”

“Here.”

He gently lifted her hand, now adorned with the new ring, and kissed it with a polite gesture. Lysithea’s violet eyes widened and her hand trembled. She couldn’t even form the question that burned inside her – what did he mean by all this?

Phantom had come back for her. To erase Lady Spencer, the fiancée of the Grand Duke of Noxar, from this world.

“Lysithea, don’t you like my gift?” he asked, his voice soft but with a deeper intention beneath it.

The ring was undeniably beautiful, but Lysithea knew what his real gift was.

“Why did you do it…? Killing the leader like that, was reckless… Don’t tell me he threatened your life too. Like he did with me?”

Her voice trembled as she asked, but he simply laughed.

“Threatened? No, not at all. I wasn’t the one who killed Bran, after all.”

“Then why did you do something so dangerous?”

He did not deny killing the leader, confirming what Lysithea had already feared. His next words only confirmed her suspicions as true.

“I did it because I was worried. I couldn’t let you keep losing sleep, haunted by nightmares because of him,” he said, his tone calm as he confessed.

“I was worried. Worried that because of him, you’d be losing sleep again, having nightmares.”

He gently caressed her pale face, a touch she had longed for. Lysithea suppressed the emotions swelling inside her and shook her head.

“Our contract… ended a long time ago.”

“I know. That night you told me we didn’t need a contract anymore.”

“That night…?”

“You told me you loved me,” he said softly, his eyes locking with hers.

He moved closer, their foreheads gently touching.

“Is it not true anymore?”

She should have said no, but he didn’t give her a chance. His next question came quickly.

“Am I too late?”

*Too late.*

It was. She had gotten engaged, after all. But the slender platinum ring on her finger glittered faintly, and deep down, Lysithea knew the engagement with the Grand Duke wasn’t the issue.

There were so many things she wanted to demand from him—so many questions, she didn’t even know where to begin.

The memories of the day they parted were still vivid, even after a year.

Lysithea lifted her head and looked at him, her gaze sharp and full of unresolved emotions.

“Why didn’t you answer me honestly back then? When I asked if you’d board the ship with me,” she demanded, her eyes filled with accusation.

“You were already prepared to leave with me. Why didn’t you say anything? There were two tokens.”

“I was scared. Afraid to ask you to come with me.”

His words were brief but struck her hard, causing her gaze to waver in disbelief.

“Liar.”

“It’s true. Hard to believe, but it is,” he insisted, his voice steady, yet sincere.

The faint smile was gone from his face, but his expression was not hard or cold. His eyes were filled with nothing but her, deep in thought as he spoke.

“I was scared. Scared of letting you into my life. That everything about me would change because of you.”

His hand, which had been gently caressing her cheek, slowly slid down to her neck and then to her shoulder. The grip on her fragile shoulder was firm, with a subtle possessiveness. Yet, despite his touch, his voice remained gentle.

“I’m still scared. Afraid that you won’t forgive me. That my lies hurt you more than I can imagine.”

“And knowing that, you still came to find me? Isn’t that a little shameless?”

Lysithea’s words were meant to sting, but his reply remained calm and steady.

“If I didn’t do this, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

Lysithea bit her lip.

*Could it be that the effects of the truth serum still lingered?*

His words were too honest, too raw, and it left her feeling more confused than ever.

But the pain still lingered within her.

“You have no idea how miserable my life became after meeting you,” she said quietly.

After meeting him, her loneliness deepened. She had learned what it meant to live with regret and longing.

“Can you even believe it? That the days I spent with the assassin who came to kill me were the happiest days of my life? And yet, even those days were filled with your lies. How do you expect me to forgive you for that?”

If only she could have forgotten, maybe she wouldn’t have had to endure such pain. Swallowing the rest of her words, Lysithea wiped away the tears that had begun to fall.

She felt miserable, longing for him even after being betrayed. In a foreign land where no one loved her, even in her nightmares, her heart still clung to him. She couldn’t accept that. The thought of never seeing him again had once left her with a cold, aching emptiness, but now that they were face to face, the bitterness she had buried inside surfaced again.

What was she going to do with this maddening contradiction in her mind? Lowering her head to hide her tear-streaked face, she struggled to control her emotions.

“Then give me a chance,” he whispered, lifting his hand to gently wipe away her tears, his rough fingers tracing her wet cheek.

“A chance to atone.”

“Atonement? What are you talking about…”

His breath lingered over her damp skin as the tears began to dry, leaving a sting where sorrow had once flowed.

When Lysithea finally lifted her head, she was met with his face, full of desperate longing, as if he were thirsting for her forgiveness. His voice was soft, pleading.

“If the memory of Phantom has become a nightmare for you, let me erase it. Just as I buried the memory of Bran.”

“But you are Phantom…”

“I am no longer Phantom.”

His voice was clear, his eyes unwavering as he spoke. There was no hesitation, no need for any truth serum now. Lysithea knew he was telling the truth.

“Then… who are you?” she asked, needing to hear it for herself.

“Ian,” he replied.

The short name sank into her heart. As she unconsciously repeated the name, he added the rest.

“Ian Croce.”

“Ian Croce. That’s my real name.”

“…Whose name did you steal this time?”

Lysithea asked with a hint of sarcasm, though she didn’t quite believe her own words.

He smiled again, that familiar smile.

“This one’s been mine from the start. But if you don’t like it, you can change it.”

“Is it your name?”

“Why? Does it not suit me?”

His playful smile put her at ease, and despite herself, Lysithea felt her cheeks flush. It was a foolish question to ask.

That name suited him perfectly. The way his voice, soft and low, pronounced “Ian” made it clear—it was truly his real name.

Ian. The boy who had been exiled from his hometown for accidentally killing someone. The man who had spent years making a living by taking lives.

Phantom. Or perhaps her last broker, the man who came to take her life but ended up saving her countless times instead. The one who stole her nightmares away. Terrence Cadas.

“Ian… Croce,”

Lysithea said his name awkwardly, the sound unfamiliar on her tongue. Three names swirled in her mind, but only one of them was truly his.

When she called his name, Ian smiled.

“Say it again.”

“Ian.”

“Again.”

“Ian…”

As she repeated his name, his lips slowly met hers, silencing her voice. The grip he had on her shoulders softened, the once firm hold becoming gentle as his hands relaxed.

His kiss was tender and affectionate, like the kind shared at a wedding. When their lips parted, Lysithea suddenly realized something.

He had come to love her. He had eliminated the enemy that had turned her life into a thorny path, shed the name tied to his dark past, and come to save her from a future of misery. He brought a ring, a promise of a different life.

“Will you accept me, Lysithea?”

His voice was low and careful, his question delicate.

Lysithea found herself momentarily speechless, overwhelmed by the chain of unbelievable events.

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll disappear. Forever.”

Ian placed the ring back in her hand, the Grand Duke’s engagement ring he had taken from her earlier. Lysithea stared at the clunky, unappealing ring, gripping it tightly before looking up at him.

“If I accept you… what do you plan to do then?”

Ian responded in a gentle voice, “Just one last thing you might not like.”

Her eyes widened, alarmed by the thought.

*Is he planning to kill someone again?*

Before she could panic any further, he leaned forward and spoke softly to calm her.

“I’m going to kidnap you.”

“Where to…?”

“Anywhere. Wherever you want to go.”

It was a firm, clear answer—just like him. He had always been the same, always offering her proposals she couldn’t easily refuse.

But…

“Kidnapping is fine, but not today,” she said, drawing a line.

Ian raised an eyebrow, the impatience in his expression unmistakable. Seeing his unease, Lysithea smiled gently.