CHAPTER 240: HIS CONFESSION TO HIS AUNT: PART-2

"Am I really that untrustworthy that he never told me any of this?"

Her shoulders shook as she tried to hold herself together.

"I... We always played together. We always had each other’s backs. When his wife got pregnant, the first person he called was me.

He told me how happy he was, how long he had waited for that joy... he was so happy, I’d never seen him like that before.

And when you were born—" She looked at Leo, tears streaming down her cheeks, but her lips curved into a bittersweet smile.

"My brother was over the clouds, holding you like you were a treasure he’d never dreamed he could have. Hah... you should have seen the way he looked at you, how much he loved you, how fiercely he cared for you," she chuckled through her tears, then whispered,

"Yet he never told me about magic, about being a mage... why? Is that secret really more important than me, than his own child?"

As she spoke, Leo could feel her sorrow and confusion soaking into him, echoing his own trembling heart.

Leo edged closer to her, slowly, and he leaned against her, needing to feel her closeness, giving the comfort that only she could get.

She let herself lean on his shoulder, her head fitting there as if it had always belonged.

"Him being a mage? That snotty brat... ahah..." she muttered, her laughter half-choked by tears, voice shaking. She shook her head, the motion brushing her hair against his cheek.

"Maybe he hid more things from me... Maybe he wanted to protect me from danger... You know, he always got bruised and got into fights with the other children. Unlike you, he was never an obedient one... He really annoyed our parents when he was a child. Ahaha..."

Her voice cracked with memory, as if every word was a trembling echo from a past she missed and longed for all at once.

"I... I don’t know why I’m saying all this," she whispered, rubbing her cheeks on his shoulder as though trying to wipe away the tears that kept returning.

Around them, the sun dipped lower, casting golden-red rays over the school grounds. The festival was almost over... most students and their parents had already gathered for the closing ceremony, so only a few people remained.

"Maybe what Azrael said was true... Maybe tonight will be our end, too," she said, her voice trembling with the weight of fear and love.

She looked up at Leo, her eyes shining fierce and gentle all at once,

"W-We can still run away... There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I want you to run away," she said, her fingers trembling as she touched his face, needing to feel the reality of him, to make sure he was truly there.

She was worried—no, she was sick with worry for Leo, more than for anyone else in the world.

He was all she had left, her only family, and the thought of losing him now, after everything, tore at something deep and trembling inside her.

If she lost him, she would lose everything!!

Leo’s lips trembled as he tried to steady his voice, the words caught somewhere between pain and longing.

"Are you saying that... because I’m your nephew? Or... is it something else?"

She blinked,

"What do you mean? Of course, you’re my nephew. I want to protect you, no matter what.

I can’t let you die, not like what happened to your parents... When you said the accident might not have been an accident after all, I was... I was literally furious. I wanted to chase down whoever hurt my family, but... but now... I can’t lose myself to anger. You being here—that’s all that matters to me, more than anything else in this world."

Leo stared into her eyes, searching for something—an answer, a sign, a crack in the walls she built around her heart... He needed to know.

"So... am I just your nephew? Nothing more?"

Raphael looked confused, her lips trembling.

"What are you talking abou—" she began, but the words died on her tongue as Leo reached out, cupping her cheek with trembling fingers, drawing her face closer to his.

For a moment, her heart skipped a beat, the world falling silent except for the frantic beat of her own heart.

Leo’s voice was quiet but insistent, his breath brushing her skin.

"Look at me... Not the flesh, but the person inside... Are you only looking at your nephew?"

For the first time, Raphael found herself at a loss for words.

The soft red glow of the sunset caught in her hair, painting her cheeks a delicate pink. She couldn’t move—her body frozen, her heart trembling with a thousand unspoken feelings.

Her eyes widened, helplessly caught in his, unable to break away from the dangerous honesty there.

Leo’s gaze was steady, "Answer me... Am I only your nephew? No more than that?"

Raphael averted her eyes, unable to meet his searching gaze, her voice a trembling whisper.

"W-What are you talking about?"

Leo gave a small, gentle smile, refusing to let go, "Look at me... Come on, look into my eyes and answer me."

She hesitated, struggling for breath, before finally focusing back on him, eyes glistening. As she parted her lips to speak—"I only look at you as my nep—"Her voice stopped, the words dying as she stared into his eyes again, as if even a small lie would shatter the fragile bond they had fought so hard to hold onto.

Raphael’s eyes shook with emotion, her whole body trembling, the truth she’d hidden all this time caught in her throat.

"W-What’s wrong with you? Let me go," she whispered, yet her hands never moved to push him away, never even tried to escape from his gentle touch.

Leo leaned in, his voice soft, almost pleading, "Raphael... Look at me. Not as the boy you’ve always known, but as the man you love... look at me."

Raphael’s face flushed a deep, burning red. Her heart pounded wildly and uncertainly, sending a wave of heat up to her cheeks that she couldn’t hide.

She shook her head, now really struggling to escape from Leo’s palm, but he only tightened his grip, gentle but insistent, refusing to let her slip away—not from his touch, and not from the question!

"W-We need to leave... Let me go! W-We need to prepare for the war... I-It’s getting dark!"

Her voice trembled, not just with fear of what lurked beyond in the gathering darkness, but with the greater fear of what she felt rising inside her.

"No! First answer me..."

Leo’s voice, so soft yet so unyielding, struck something deep within her. She had never heard him like this,

"Am I your only nephew, or... more than that?"

"I-Is that really important?"She tried to protest, her voice shaking, her throat tight with the effort to keep everything buried.

But his gaze wouldn’t let her hide. It was as if he could see through every mask she’d worn, as if he was reaching past her defences and calling to something raw and unspoken in her heart.

"Yes," Leo replied, quietly but firmly.

He looked at her like she was the only thing that mattered, as if every hope he’d ever had was in this moment, trembling between them.

"Arrh! Leo!!"

Raphael gritted her teeth, trying to glare at him, but her resolve crumbled.

What’s wrong with him, she thought, panic mixing with a helpless ache—why was he so insistent, so dangerously close, when danger itself was looming everywhere else?

Still, when she looked into his eyes—eyes filled with so much love and pain and pleading—her own heart shuddered.

The familiar certainty of her role as aunt, as protector, slipped from her grasp. She wanted to scold him, to break free, but instead all she could manage was a broken whisper, her lips trembling,

"M-Maybe... m.. more than a nephew."

For a moment, the words hung between them, shimmering with everything she couldn’t bear to say aloud.

A dam inside her nearly burst with relief and terror, love and shame and longing, all colliding as her breath caught in her throat.

The part of her that had always yearned to be loved—to be seen—could not look away from him!!

Leo’s smile bloomed slowly, warm and trembling... For the first time, she saw him not as a boy lost in a cruel world, but as a man—one who dared to reach for her even while everything else threatened to pull them apart.

He let her go, finally, fingers lingering for a heartbeat longer, and Raphael, still blushing, scooted away from him, heart pounding out of rhythm.

She stared at the sky, the sun almost gone now, the horizon burning orange and violet.

For a second, nothing happened. No words passed between them, only a silence so tender and sharp it made her chest ache.

Her hands shook, pressing into the grass, trying to ground herself, but all she felt was the wild trembling inside.

Leo took a breath, steadying himself, though she could see the fear and love swirling in his eyes. Then, softly, with a courage he didn’t know he had, he said,

"I... I love you."

Raphael’s world went still. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief... utter, breath-stealing disbelief.

For an endless moment, she could only stare.

Love?

Tears shimmered in her eyes, but her lips trembled with something like a smile, caught between joy and pain, between right and wrong, between the person she thought she had to be and the person she wanted to become... for him!