Chapter 126: Dust, Distance, and What Is Not Said
Lyria's POV
At first, I said nothing.
There was something in the way he stood there—so certain, so unmoving—that made it difficult to speak immediately. Not fear… not exactly. More like the kind of hesitation one feels when they realise they are being seen a little too clearly.
Earl Hawthorne shifted the supplies slightly in his hands, as though to remind me of his purpose.
"I do understand your desire for privacy," he said at last, his tone gentler now, "truly I do. But I cannot in good conscience stand by and watch you struggle with this alone."
I exhaled slowly.
It would have been easier if he were simply stubborn in silence. But he was not. He spoke as though he genuinely meant it.
Still…
That did not change anything.
"You are a-an Earl," I said carefully.
"Though my identity h-has been… exposed," I hesitated on the word, "I still hold no s-standing. It w-would not befit a man of your p-position to be s-seen with me."
