Chapter 99: The Guilty Ones
Ivan and Lydia lay in the bed inside the hidden room behind the library shelf, wrapped tightly in each other’s arms. The dim light from a single candle flickered across their skin, casting warm shadows against the old wooden walls. Their bodies were tangled beneath the soft blanket, their breaths slow, skin warm, and hearts calm.
Ivan gently traced his fingers over Lydia’s back, while the other hand stayed in her hair, stroking it slowly. Her head rested on his chest, and the soft sound of his heartbeat filled her ears. She lifted her hand and gently touched the scars on his chest, her fingers moving tenderly over each line as if trying to heal them with her touch.
"Ivan," she whispered, her voice so soft it almost melted into the silence.
"Hmm?" he answered, his tone equally soft, warm.
"How did you find this room?"
He sighed, not in sadness, but as someone digging into a memory buried deep.
"I found it when I was a child," he said. "It was not long after my grandfather beat me. I had nowhere else to run to. My stepmother had started locking me up often, and one day I ran to the library to hide. I leaned against the shelf, and it shifted slightly. That’s how I discovered the room."
Lydia’s fingers paused on his chest.
"This place became my hiding spot. Whenever she tried to lock me away again, I would escape here. Because of this room... she couldn’t hurt me the same way anymore."
Lydia felt her heart sink. The weight of her secret pushed on her chest again. She didn’t deserve this kind of love. Not when she had a deal with the woman who had made this man suffer since childhood. The guilt pulled at her ribs.
Ivan noticed the change in her. He noticed everything.
He didn’t ask. Instead, he gently tickled her waist.