Chapter 551: Extra - 4: With or Without Feelings 6
Maisie Joyce met Claire Chapman’s gaze calmly for a long moment before slowly asking, “Are you saying you genuinely want to be with me?”
“…Yes!”
Claire Chapman was so frustrated he felt like he could vomit blood. ‘Have I not made myself obvious enough?!’
A fleeting look of confusion crossed Maisie Joyce’s face. Then, she uttered a single word. “No.”
Claire Chapman hadn’t missed the slightest change in her expression. He’d had a bad feeling just a moment before, but hearing her say that clear, single word still felt like a dull knife was slowly sawing away at his heart.
A dark look flashed in his eyes as he leaned back against the sofa.
His fingertips, resting on the armrest, twitched twice before he suddenly spoke in a low voice, “You don’t believe me? You think that when we were together before, it was all for mutual gain—just a transactional relationship. And now that you’re no longer the City Lord of Southreach and have lost your superpower, you have nothing to offer in an exchange. So I have no reason to make a request like this, right?”
Maisie Joyce’s pupils contracted sharply.
Claire Chapman knew he’d hit the mark, but that only made him feel worse.
‘He was just now realizing how dense this woman was when it came to romance!’
‘All that time he spent running around helping her in Southreach—did she really think it was all just for personal gain?’
‘It was just too ridiculous!’
‘Even if she were the City Lord of Central City, why would he have done all that if he didn’t have feelings for her!’
‘She was underestimating him!’
‘And underestimating herself!’
Claire Chapman took a deep breath. “Do you have that little confidence in yourself? You think you can’t attract me with your own charm? That you need some sort of added value, some benefit, to be worthy of being with me?”
His words were undeniably harsh. He was aiming to provoke her anger, hoping she would finally vent all her resentment and dissatisfaction.
‘To untangle the knots in her heart, he first needed her to be willing to expose them.’
But Maisie Joyce couldn’t summon a trace of anger. Instead, a profound sadness spread through her chest. She lowered her eyes and remained silent.
Claire Chapman’s hand clenched into a fist, then relaxed.
His tall frame suddenly shot up. He walked over to her, knelt on one knee, and wrapped his arms around her body, which seemed particularly small as she sat on the sofa. He stared directly into her eyes, his presence overwhelming.
“Speak! Say what’s on your mind!”
This was far from the first time he had touched her—they had even seen each other naked more times than she could count. But now, under his intense, close-range gaze, Maisie Joyce felt her skin begin to tremble. Through her clothes, she could feel the scorching heat from where he pressed firmly against the small of her back, as if some strange fire was burning her.
She couldn’t help but avoid his gaze, stammering, “Y-you, let go first. I… I can’t talk like this.”
A glint appeared in Claire Chapman’s eyes as he said resolutely, “Talk! Or we’ll stay like this until nightfall, and then until dawn!”
The two of them remained locked in a stalemate for a long while.
Maisie Joyce finally realized he wasn’t going to change his mind…
‘Why has this man become so aggressive?’
‘This was nothing like the conversation she had envisioned. They were supposed to be rational and reserved, just like every time before…’
“We got together because of mutual interests in the first place…”
Maisie Joyce sighed and suddenly began to speak.
“If you told me you were in love with me back then, I’d honestly just laugh.”
“Later on, maybe you developed some feelings for me, but not many. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have left so easily after I tested the waters with my words.”
“I won’t deny it, I had started to fall for you then. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have tried to test you.”
“But look what happened. I got a terrible result.”
As she spoke, Maisie Joyce gave a slight, wry twist of her lips, her eyes filled with a hint of melancholy. But it was only for an instant before her calm expression returned.
“Afterward, I thought it through. You can’t force these kinds of things, especially when so many other factors are involved. So, I decided to give up.”
“And then… the thing with Leo Joyce happened…”
At this, she looked up and met Claire Chapman’s gaze directly. “Back then, I was actually prepared to die. I even kept a knife on me. I thought that if I really couldn’t hold on any longer, I would kill myself rather than end up like Leo Joyce.”
“I never expected you to come and save me. But I was, and still am, truly grateful. So, so grateful.”
“I don’t want to die. I want to live!”
“Now, I’ve actually survived. But I’ve found that all the ambition, all the desires I once had… they’ve all disappeared.”
Maisie Joyce said with a smile, “The me I am now… I don’t like to overthink things, and I don’t like complications. I just want to live a quiet life. I’ll find some simple work, go home at night to cook myself a nice meal, get a good night’s sleep, and wake up refreshed the next day to do it all over again. On my days off, I want to travel a bit, wander wherever my heart takes me, and just see the world.”