I Will Live for Your Death (20 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 31

Ilyd was entirely clad in black.

A deep darkness that seemed to allow not even a single ray of light. If not for her tightly pinned-up hair and eyes, one might believe she had emerged straight from the shadows themselves.

Though she often favored dark-colored clothing, black suited her especially well. A mysterious light—containing every hue in existence—flowed gently over Ilyd’s body.

Judging by her mourning attire, she was likely on her way to console the families of the fallen. She quietly bowed her head and offered a silent greeting toward Claudius.

That was all. Behind the tightly woven black veil, her face felt cold—devoid of either tears or joy. Ilyd immediately turned away and receded from his sight.

The black silhouette slowly grew distant. Even exchanging a single word face-to-face was now an immense luxury. Not that their prior interaction had been much of a conversation at all.

He had wished, just once, that she would look back. Even if it were a painful, pitying glance toward a pitiful man—it wouldn’t have mattered. If conversation itself was a luxury, surely such a small wish was permissible—but it was merely Claudius’s own hope.

He gazed after Ilyd while stroking Celina’s hair. What if the woman in his arms right now were the Empress?

It had been quite some time since he’d felt hair between his fingertips. Even the scent of Ilyd lingering in his memory had now grown faint. What had that fragrance been like? Perhaps something close to the damp, vivid freshness of a garden blooming with wildflowers after the rain.

Yet the scent he’d tried so hard to recall vanished instantly, replaced by the perfume Celina had brought with her.

Back when he was still Crown Prince, he sometimes reached for Ilyd’s hand first. Watching her flinch and shiver involuntarily had been utterly endearing.

‘What was it like when I held her?’

Had she been slightly smaller than Celina, whom he now embraced? Since she always fit snugly in his arms, he couldn’t see her face—and that had frustrated him.

Perhaps that was why he’d held Ilyd less often.

Claudius wanted to witness every single moment of Ilyd. The subtle shifts of her lips and eyes, the slight tremble of her eyebrows, the way her pale, smooth cheeks flushed vividly red before fading back again—he longed to see every fleeting expression.

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