Chapter 329: I Love You
Ashley sniffled as her sobs softened, her brows rising.
What did he say?
She wiped her eyes and pulled back from his chest, looking up at him — eyes still glistening, corners red, lashes damp. Even the tip of her nose was red from crying.
"Huh?"
Lucian exhaled and reached up to wipe the corner of her eye with his thumb.
"Sorry," he murmured, only for her to catch his wrist.
"Why are you sorry?" she hiccuped. "Lucian, just now you said... what?"
Despite the tears still clinging to her eyes, something else gleamed in them. Expectation. Surprise. Hope — all tangled together.
"You said...?"
Lucian’s lips parted, but no sound came out right away. He held her gaze, one hand cupping her cheek, his thumb brushing it gently, his other hand holding hers.
Slowly, he leaned in. His lips touched her forehead, then her cheek, the corner of her eye, her nose, and finally her lips. Each kiss softer than the last — unhurried and quietly comforting.
He rested his forehead against hers, still cradling her face.
"I want you to be mine," he whispered. "All of you." He hoped this wasn’t a dream. Hoped it wasn’t one of the confessions he only ever played out in his head. "I need you to want me — even just a fraction of how much I want you. From then until now. That was always the truth."
Ashley’s mind stalled. She couldn’t process it.
Lucian drew back slightly and looked into her eyes.
"I was lying," he said. "When I told you it was all pretend. When you asked if I had feelings for you, and I said no — that was a lie."
He paused as something long-suppressed swelled in his chest — emotions too large and too unpredictable to contain, like a storm with nowhere to go.
"You have no idea," he breathed, "how suffocating it is to need someone this much and be afraid it’s too much for them to carry."
He hadn’t wanted to make her responsible for his feelings. For his pain. For a love so consuming he couldn’t always tell where it ended and obsession began. It was already suffocating enough for him to feel it. He had feared she couldn’t bear the weight of it.
But after everything — after believing he was already dead, after seeing the look on her face as he collapsed — he knew he couldn’t keep hiding behind that fear. And seeing her choking on her own tears, he could no longer wait for a better moment.
She had been suffering because of his silence.
He would rather break his own heart than watch hers shatter. He’d tear it apart himself if it could fix hers.
Ashley held her breath, her fingers curling around his wrist, listening to every word, every exhale — unable to ignore the faint tremor in the hand against her cheek.
Five years of marriage in her first life. Over half a year in this one.
He had never said any of this before.
And she had never questioned his denials, either. Because this was Lucian. He always had reasons for everything, and it had seemed foolish to her to think that anything he did could be rooted in love.
He drew back far enough to look at her fully. The moment her face came into view, a fresh tear slipped down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb.
"I..." He steadied his breathing. "I love you, Ashley. I always have. And I want to stay with you and Primo for as long as you’ll let me."
His lips curved faintly. A brief flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes — and something that looked almost like nervousness.
Ashley’s lips trembled. She bit down on them to keep still, but tears blurred her vision again.
"You will?" Her voice broke. "And... you love me?"
He nodded.
She pressed her lips together and forced the words out. "I thought... I was just hard to love."
That was why she had never questioned his denial. She had made her peace with it long ago. If her own father couldn’t love her no matter what she did, it was because she was simply hard to love. She had accepted that. So when Lucian said no, she hadn’t been surprised.
"No," he shook his head, wiping her tears with the back of his hand. "It was very easy."
Ashley hiccuped, helpless against the tears that kept coming. It was maddening. "I thought you regretted marrying me instead of Isabella."
Lucian’s brows furrowed. "Why would I marry her?"
"I mean — if it wasn’t me, wasn’t there supposed to be — huh?" Ashley blinked, her swollen eyes lifting to his. "Weren’t you supposed to marry Marshal’s daughter? And he tricked you, or something, with a spare daughter?"
"Marshal... tricked me?" he repeated, confused.
He didn’t answer right away, but as the question hung between them, Ashley slowly worked it out herself. Marshal tricking Lucian? Not a chance.
"I named you to Marshal," Lucian said. "If it wasn’t you, there would be no negotiation."
He paused, the words sitting heavy in his mouth. He knew how that sounded — that he had engineered this marriage just to have her. Just to have a chance to win her heart, or have her close enough for him to reach. It was wrong. That was exactly why it had felt so suffocating. Because he knew, in that moment, he would have done anything.
"I’m sorry," he exhaled, eyes briefly closing. "I didn’t —"
"Why are you apologizing?" Ashley tugged his arm, sniffling. "Don’t. You should be sorry if you’d named someone else."
His brows lifted. "Huh?"
Ashley cleared her throat and wiped her face with her sleeve. When her vision finally cleared, her lips stretched into a wide smile. Tears still clung to her lashes, her nose still pink, but her cheeks had taken on a different warmth entirely.
She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. When she pulled back, her smile was brighter.
"Lucian, I’m glad you took me out of there," she said. "If you hadn’t, I never would have known you. Or Primo. Or those idiots across the street. Not Nolan or Betty — not Auntie Liza or Uncle Tom."
She squeezed his hand. "If you hadn’t, I never would have known what it feels like to be loved. To be valued. To feel like I am enough exactly as I am."
She tilted her head lightly. "So let’s not talk about that anymore, okay? Let’s just focus on what matters. No more lies. No more hiding."
A quiet settled between them as they looked at each other. Then, slowly, both of them smiled — and she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"Can you say it again?" she asked, watching his brows lift slightly. "What you said. Those three words."
A soft chuckle escaped him. He held her gaze and obliged.
"I love you."
Ashley smiled as he caressed her cheek. He hadn’t expected anything in return — just being able to say it to her was enough.
But she giggled and said,
"I love you too, Lu."
Lucian’s breath caught, his heart stuttering in his chest. Staring at her smile, her hands holding his, he knew one thing.
They were beginning a new Chapter — and it started with three words he never thought he’d say out loud.
I love you.
