Chapter 556: The Fear of Losing You
Edmund couldn’t help smiling at her reaction. The way she contradicted herself so quickly was strangely adorable.
"Primrose," he said gently.
"No."
"I haven’t even said anything yet."
"You don’t need to." Primrose crossed her arms. "I already know you’re about to give me a reasonable explanation, and I don’t want to hear it."
Edmund let out a quiet laugh. "That’s a little unfair."
Her expression quickly softened. "Edmund, we’re talking about the same skull that tried to influence your mind. What if something goes wrong?"
"What if nothing goes wrong?" Edmund asked calmly.
Primrose opened her mouth to argue, then quickly shut it again. She clearly hated where this conversation was going.
Edmund sighed softly before getting to his feet and walking around the desk.
"No, no, no. Don’t you dare use those puppy eyes on me," Primrose warned at once, trying to push him away.
But Edmund suddenly dropped to his knees beside her chair and looked up at her.
"Primrose, my wife, my love," he said gently as he took her hand in his. "I know it’s dangerous. Believe me, I do. But if Lorelle is right, then I might be the only person who can do it."
Primrose lowered her gaze and took a slow, shaky breath. "Or maybe we don’t need to break the skull at all," she said after a moment. "We could just throw whatever is inside it onto another continent."
Edmund patiently shook his head.
"If we do that, then another continent will end up suffering instead," he explained. "And the thing trapped inside won’t simply forget about us. It will never forget the land where that hatred began. So if that angry God truly awakens one day, it will eventually find its way back here."
Primrose bit her lip. "Then... what if we just run away?" she asked quietly. "We can go somewhere far away. We have enough money to start a new life, so—"
"If we do that," Edmund said softly, "wouldn’t that mean leaving everyone on this continent behind?"
The words hit harder than Primrose wanted to admit. She looked away and tightened her grip on his hand.
Edmund’s expression immediately softened. He knew she wasn’t thinking clearly right now because she was frightened and honestly, he couldn’t blame her.
"You told me that we have to keep fighting," Edmund said softly. "And this... this is one of the ways we can protect the people here."
His gaze drifted toward the window for a moment before returning to her. "Besides, if we turn away now and the Angry God awakens, I don’t think there will be anywhere truly safe for us or for our child."
Primrose let out a heavy sigh and lowered her head to look at their intertwined hands. "Alright."
Edmund tilted his head slightly so he could see her face more clearly. "Alright?"
A faint smile appeared on Primrose’s face. "Yes. Alright." She took a deep breath. "We’ll do it, but I have one condition."
For a moment, she said nothing more, and yet just from the look in her eyes, Edmund already understood what she wanted.
"No."
The answer came so quickly that Primrose immediately frowned. "You haven’t even heard my condition yet."
"I don’t need to." Edmund shook his head. "I already know what you’re going to ask. You want to stay beside me while I break the skull."
The room fell silent and Primrose didn’t deny it, which told Edmund everything he needed to know.
"No," he said again, more firmly this time. "I don’t want that."
Primrose’s frown deepened. "And why not?"
"Because it’s dangerous."
"So is what you’re about to do."
"That’s different."
"No, it isn’t."
Their eyes locked and neither of them looked willing to back down. Finally, Primrose tightened her grip on his hand. "That’s the only way I’ll be able to stay calm," she admitted quietly.
The stubbornness in her voice was still there, but now Edmund could also hear the fear hidden underneath it.
"If that thing tries to get into your head again, I’ll be there, and if it dares to mess with your mind, I’ll fight it myself," she said firmly.
"If it’s truly dangerous, then at least we’ll face it together," Primrose said softly.
The truth was, she wasn’t afraid of danger itself. What frightened her was the thought of losing him.
If something terrible happened, she would rather stand beside him and face it together than remain behind and watch helplessly from afar.
"No one is going to die," Edmund said gently, trying to reassure her. "We’ll be careful."
The moment the word ’we’ left his mouth, Primrose’s eyes immediately brightened. "So we’re doing it together?"
Edmund opened his mouth, only to close it again. He still looked reluctant to agree, but deep down, he knew his wife was probably the best person to have by his side.
If the thing inside the skull tried to take control of his mind again, Primrose might be the only one capable of pulling him back.
"Yes," Edmund said at last with a nod. "We’ll do it together. Carefully."
Primrose immediately wrapped her arms around him. "Yes," she agreed. "We’ll be careful."
To be honest, Edmund wasn’t completely convinced she meant that or rather, he wasn’t convinced that careful was what mattered most to her right now.
The only thing he was certain of was that she didn’t want to be left behind and it seemed like she had become like this ever since their relationship had grown closer.
Whenever something dangerous happened, her first instinct was always to stay by his side. Even so, she rarely tried to stop him from doing something that needed to be done.
Most of the time, she trusted that he would be fine, but this time felt different. This time, she seemed unable to convince herself that everything would be alright.
Edmund gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his head on her chest.
His eyes slowly narrowed as he couldn’t shake the feeling that the skull was affecting Primrose as well.
Maybe not in the same way it had affected him. It wasn’t controlling her mind and he was certain of that.
But there was definitely something, something subtle. Something neither of them had noticed yet and somehow, that possibility worried him far more than he wanted to admit.