The Obsessive Male Lead Is Jealous Of My Doll - Chapter 64

Chapter 32.2

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Under the soft light of the early dawn moon, Ignis stood with droplets of water trickling down his hair, but he paid it no mind as he glanced down at the glass ornament neatly placed in the box.

‘Why did I even…’

A quiet sigh escaped him as an indescribable emotion shimmered in his red eyes. He didn’t understand himself.

“Ha.”

It was the first time.

The realization that his body had acted before his mind had left his thoughts in complete disarray.

He pushed aside his irritation and chuckled, slightly amused by his own behavior. Annoyed by the lingering droplets, he summoned a flame, instantly drying the moisture from his hair before sinking into the sofa, finally pulling his gaze away from the glass ornament he had crafted.

‘How strange.’

It felt as if an unquenchable thirst was rising within him.

Every time Karentina looked at the doll Zion with her bright blue eyes and smiled, he found it difficult to maintain his composure. His hair and eye color were so different from Zion’s, yet he couldn’t help but feel bothered by it; it kept getting under his skin.

Ever since he encountered that black-haired woman in the forest, it felt as though he had been cursed, haunted by unwanted emotions burrowing into his heart.

Ignis covered his face with a large hand.

「 There will come a time when I can be of help. 」

He recalled Karentina’s retreating figure, walking away leisurely after looking him straight in the eyes, and sighed again.

“Why couldn’t I say anything back then?”

No matter how much he thought it over, he couldn’t understand it at all.

‘Karentina Lorraine.’

She wasn’t like the women sent his way by the Empress, pursuing their own agendas or clinging to him out of infatuation with his looks. Her straightforward manner of drawing boundaries left him feeling uncomfortable. He should have welcomed it, yet…

She was entirely different from the proud, haughty noblewomen he knew, just as Joseph and Stella had said.

Ignis let out a faint, bemused laugh.

‘I tried to make her cry, but she didn’t.’

He remembered how she had trembled like a frightened animal the first time she was trapped in the wall of fire. He thought that if he spoke harshly, she would burst into tears and fear him. Countless noble ladies, raised like delicate flowers in a greenhouse, had reacted that way and had been driven away.

He had expected the same response from her this time, but…

‘I went through with it, prepared for Damion to grab me by the collar. It was unexpected.’

Instead, Karentina had burst out laughing, and he found it hard to look away as she explained herself calmly.

“What a strange woman.”

Ignis muttered irritably, feeling a growing ache in his head.

「 Brother, did you apologize to Karen properly? 」

It wasn’t just Ignis who had a fear and aversion to people, Stella shared that feeling as well. Because of this, he found it strange to see his sister thinking of someone in such a way.

What could have happened while he was gone?

He struggled to respond to Stella’s question about apologizing. Seeing his sister looking healthier and brighter than before filled him with an unsettling sense of guilt for how he had doubted and treated Karentina so harshly. It felt as though the memory of Karentina, who had rushed to save Stella, constantly lingered in his thoughts.

‘Why would she go to such lengths?’

It was just a fleeting curiosity.

The affection she had for Stella was simple and pure, without any ulterior motives or intentions. When he held Karentina in his arms after she collapsed in Cocoel Forest, Ignis felt his heart harden for the first time. Her face had been as pale as snow, and her body felt unsettlingly light, almost hollow.

As he recalled the faint scent of violets that clung to her, Ignis slowly brushed his hand over his face before glancing at the blue glass ornament on the table and letting out a faint scoff.

“That was a foolish thing to do.”

Making the glass ornament had been a moment of impulse, an action driven purely by emotion rather than reason.

It was so unlike him.

Ignis told himself it was just a repayment for saving Stella as he rose to his feet. Whatever he received, he had to repay, whether in kindness or malice.

He walked slowly down the empty hallway.

When he reached Karentina’s door, he placed the box containing the glass ornament on the floor and turned away, his expression growing cold once more.

‘This is just a repayment.’

Right now, finding that black-haired woman was his priority.

The woman who seemed able to see the future.

The benefactor who had saved him, then vanished like smoke.

Ignis slowly turned around as a flame that seemed ready to ignite flickered quietly around his body.