Chapter 8: A Night More Dreamlike than a Dream 

“Why all of a sudden…?”

Eden slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again. Her gaze, steady and unflinching, met the man before her. Inside, she sneered at the flickering turmoil passing across his face.

“I should be the one asking that. Edenastie, do you even know why? Do you…”

“What is it that frightens you so much?”

To Eden’s quiet question, Liam opened his mouth with difficulty. Like a man confessing an unforgivable sin, like a general admitting defeat, he murmured lowly.

“Your absence.”

In that moment, Eden instinctively realized it.

That the scale, always tilted toward him, had finally begun to tip in her direction. That he was taking one step after another into a swamp with no discernible bottom, just as she once had in her past life. Foolishly.

“I had a dream. So vivid it felt real. A dream where you lay dead before my eyes. That’s all it was, and yet… I felt like I was going mad. Like I couldn’t breathe unless I saw you with my own eyes. But even when I did, seeing you alive, I still couldn’t feel relieved. Why is that…”

Liam ran a rough hand down his face, rambling in a panic. Eden’s anger slowly boiled as she looked at him, terrified and shaken.

“I don’t understand any of this.”

The memories of her past life flashed vividly in Eden’s mind. His cold eyes staring at her tear-streaked face, the scenery outside the carriage window on the day she left for Rodenberg, the sharp, cutting sensation of cold metal across her chest.

Tears welled in her eyes without warning. Hot drops slipped down her cheeks and soaked the hem of her nightgown.

“So stay by my side. Until I understand. Don’t disappear. Don’t die.”

Each word from Liam pierced through Eden like a blade. She could hardly breathe. Her heart felt like it would burst. She wanted to silence him. To rip him to shreds for looking at her with such desperate eyes. She wanted to grab him by the collar and demand answers.

Why did you use my heart so cruelly? Did it make you happy? 

Why couldn’t you say those words to me back then? 

Why… why did you make me love you?

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here in front of you, aren’t I?”

Eden swallowed the torrent of words rising to her lips and lifted the corners of her mouth in a familiar smile. But the effort was betrayed by the thick tears falling onto her thighs, soaking her clothes.

“You can still touch me.”

She reached out a trembling hand and cupped his cheek. Liam’s gaze burned like wildfire, as though he might devour her at any moment.

“You can still kiss me.”

Eden pressed her lips to Liam’s. The kiss was softer than before, more familiar. As their lips parted, silence fell between them like tension stretched too tight.

Liam said nothing, only watched her every movement with the focus of a predator stalking its prey. His entire body radiated heat. Through the thin fabric of their clothes, Eden could feel how hard and unyielding he was like stone.

“You once asked if I could handle this.”

He pulled her into a tight embrace. His hand slid down her spine, tracing her back. Goosebumps rose wherever he touched. Eden’s heart pounded violently. Instinct warred with reason, part of her wanted to shove him away, another part wanted to draw him closer.

“Even if you say you can’t, I have no intention of letting you go. It’s only a matter of time.”

His whisper was low and slow, but edged with urgency. It tickled her ear like a secret.

“Liam.”

When Eden called his name, he responded by brushing his lips against the nape of her neck. Where he kissed, it burned.

Eden closed her eyes and ran her fingers softly through his hair. The look in his eyes, the way he touched her, all of it stirred a storm of emotions within her. His large, calloused hands moved clumsily but tenderly along her back. That familiar touch, for a moment, quieted her heart.

There had been nights like this before. When Liam’s gaze scorched her skin, and her face flushed every time he traced her body with his eyes. Nights when her heart beat so hard, she feared it might explode.

Yes. There had been nights like this.

“Answer me. Do I need to wait longer?”

“No.”

Brushing away the memories of her past life, Eden wrapped her slender arms around Liam’s neck. Everything was unfolding just as she had planned. That was all that mattered.

Meeting his gaze, she whispered, small but firm, “I’ll try to handle it. I can handle it.”

With that, Liam pushed her down and kissed her. Eden didn’t resist. His lips slowly moved lower, and she closed her eyes.

“Eden.”

He said her name as if he couldn’t hold back any longer.

It was a nickname he had never once called her before. Without replying, Eden wrapped her arms around his back. Liam’s grip on her wrist was surprisingly gentle. And the more tender he became, the deeper Eden’s hatred for him grew.

This wasn’t a new night, it was familiar. She had experienced this over and over in her past life. But as she looked up at Liam’s face, overcome by raw desire, her eyes were hollow.

She bit down hard on her lip to muffle her ragged breathing. She felt blood bead on her lip, but there was no pain.

“Don’t bite your lip. Just make a sound. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Liam kissed her again and licked the blood from her lip. The ticklish, strange sensation made her mind spin.

His black hair clung damply to his forehead with sweat. He didn’t give her a moment to breathe, pushing her to her limits. Eden found herself strangely grateful.

She closed her eyes to escape the intensity in his eyes, as though he were trying to read every emotion on her face. With her eyes shut, the rest of her senses grew sharper. His hair smelled faintly of the same soap she used. His skin, pressed against hers, was burning hot.

Was it his intoxication affecting her? Eden clutched Liam’s arm tighter, trying to anchor her slipping consciousness.

The wind rattled the window. The rain didn’t stop as the night deepened, dragging into the darkest hours before dawn. Eden was drenched in the sticky darkness. It was a night steeped in burning hatred.

* * *

Liam stared down at Eden’s sleeping face, pale and exhausted from their lovemaking. Her reddened eyelids tugged at his heart. He brushed a finger lightly against her hand, resting beside her cheek, and murmured, “Tiny.”

Strangely, he felt at peace. Eden felt distant, like a dream. Only the lingering warmth in his body reminded him this wasn’t fantasy. It was real.

Suddenly, Liam remembered the first time he met her, a little girl who smiled easily, cried easily. A faint smile tugged at his lips. Looking at her long, graceful fingers, he was struck anew by how much time had passed.

‘When did you become a woman in my eyes?’

As he searched through the fog of his memories, a bitter realization settled over him.

He remembered the sting in his chest when the prince of Barkaan approached her, how it burned to see Eden smile at another. How she had called Carl with such ease after just one meeting. She was so lovely, it made it worse.

He grimaced. The image of his childish jealousy, throwing tantrums over something he hadn’t even claimed, embarrassed him. That day, he had failed at every objective.

He had meant to play along with the Marquis’s schemes, use them, keep them in check. But the moment he saw Eden in that dress, his plans began to fall apart.

Now, Liam whispered into Eden’s sleeping ear like a confession. 

That he’d been captivated from the very first moment.

That he had hated how beautiful she looked, even to others, and kept his mouth shut because he couldn’t bear to admit it.

That all the things he’d said while dancing had been empty bravado.

That even if she had pushed him away with just a finger, he would’ve crumbled without resistance.

“Why do I always act like a madman when I see you…?”

He stared at her face and whispered.

When Eden vanished onto the terrace that night, he had felt like a noose around his neck had finally loosened. At the same time, something monstrous inside him had begun to stir.

Upon his return, Liam started suffocating every noble family at the gathering, exploiting their weaknesses one by one. He trampled the Marquis Munach’s network with a gentle smile on his face.  He would make it clear what it means to touch what belongs to him.

“Yes. I’ve always been a lost cause.”

Almost fooled myself into playing the gentleman.

Liam tapped Eden’s small nail with a finger. She scrunched her nose in her sleep, and his eyes curved in amusement.

“It’d be easier to just kill them all.”

He pressed a soft kiss to the ends of her hair and muttered.

Lately, he often found himself wanting to crawl inside Eden’s head. He used to think he knew her well. But somewhere along the way, her unexpected words and actions began to throw him off balance. He couldn’t read her at all anymore.

“What changed you this much?”

He wasn’t sure of her intentions, but he intended to find out. In truth, he was intrigued by the boldness of someone he once thought utterly harmless. Before he knew it, Liam had been swayed by her. He no longer even felt the urge to push her away.

Eden was like a breeze breaking through his suffocating days. Whenever he heard her footsteps, tap tap, he found himself smiling.

Her chattering voice, her little hands tugging at his sleeve, he didn’t mind them. No, he liked them.

He tapped the tip of her nose with a finger.

“You’re the one who stirred me up, Eden.”

She was the only one who made him rest, who made him laugh, who made him ache.

He didn’t know why it had to be Eden. Why it couldn’t be anyone else. But one thing he knew for certain, Eden had to stay by his side.

“So bear it.”

His blazing red eyes quietly took in the fragile figure sleeping defenselessly before him. She lay still, unmoving, so much so that she overlapped with the image from his nightmare.

In the dream, Eden had stabbed herself in the chest, as if life held no attachment for her. He had tried to run to her, but couldn’t move a single step. The despair and fear he’d felt were seared into his bones.

Liam’s face twisted in anguish.

“Mm.”

Just then, Eden stirred in her sleep and wrapped her fingers around his. Liam’s eyes widened in surprise.

Thump. His heart plummeted. That sudden warmth melted him before he could stop it. Eden was deep in sleep, breathing evenly. His eyes trembled, overwhelmed by an emotion he couldn’t name.

His face, stiff as stone, slowly softened. He looked like he might cry. There was no strength in her grasp. He could easily shake it off. Just pull his hand away. But inside that tiny hand, Liam felt utterly powerless.

That terrified him. And at the same time, made him feel like he was floating on air.

“…Eden.”

Only after her hand slipped away in a restless turn did Liam silently leave the room. Even after the door clicked shut, he couldn’t move for a while. The lingering warmth on his hand, on his body, in his heart, it was too much to bear.

Yes, it was a night more dreamlike than a dream.

……

T/N: They say you can never hate someone so much unless you love them as much… so how much did Eden love Liam in their past life to give herself?