Lord Theodore's Favorite Ritual
Chapter 227: Love, You Are Love.

Chapter 227: Love, You Are Love.

Morning.

Bedroom, Theodore Mansion.

Critic Arley, Critic-Ishire.

****************

Lydia woke up sweating and shaking, she just had a nightmare where everyone she cared for died and she was all alone. She had killed them because the sword she was gripping was bloodied and her hold confident, she could doubt the action and try to reverse her feelings from pride to guilt but then a rather familiar man showed up with a proud smile and told her that she had to do it and nothing else.

Theodore was slowly pulled out of sleep by his wife’s soft mumbling and urgent turns, his hold around her had slackened and he had to pull her into his arms, whispering her neck and shaking her out of the nightmare he would hop into to change for her, she shook, retreating in the beginning before she relaxed and leaned into him, her tears and sweat soaking his shirt.

"Lydia, my love" he whispered, she hadn’t cried this intensely for anything unless their lost child and it broke his heart, she wasn’t a crier so seeing her being transformed into such a wet mess he felt triggered, "Look at me, I am here" he invited, cradling her, she lifted her head, her shoulders shaking slightly from the cry.

Her insistent tears had no place in front of Theodore because he wiped them away immediately they fell, "You are safe, you are love" he reassured her.

She steadied her gaze on Theodore’s clear brilliant eyes, her breath coming out in hiccups as she tried to settle her breath, "I met him" she cried out but Theodore stared at her confused, his fingers pushing errant strands of her midnight locks behind her ear. "Theodore I met him" she insisted, tears running down her face.

He blanched but asked anyway, "Who did you meet?"

She sniffed gathering her hair in a bun in a distracting way but it effortlessly drew Theodore’s gaze to her neck, he found himself leaning in to sniff it before he focused on the topic. "Gooseberry look at me" he invited, his voice soft. She does, her glistening ocean blue eyes trapping him and reminding him of a life they couldn’t live, "Who are we talking about?"

"My father" she let out, no strain or filter, her tone firm.

His heart pounded at a rate that made him fear Lydia could hear it, "And he let you go?"

"He said he is coming for me," she reiterated.

"Where did you meet him?" the lord wondered out loud with a slight frown.

"He caught up to me in the same alley you’d found me in the marketplace the first time we met," she said with a shiver.

He was baffled, "What were you doing there alone?"

"I did... I was just there" Lydia was confused about everything and had hoped to pretend, none of it happened but her sleep and peace of mind was now threatened. She couldn’t be alone.

Of course the man had to be a witcher in this lifetime, Theodore thought. "He lured you," he noted, his jaw clenching.

He had felt that something went wrong that day she came back pale and shivering but the guards and Hound insisted nothing out of the ordinary happened, Though Hound did recount having to double take one moment because of the crowd, "Tell me everything that happened" he invited as he helped her bun the

She went back to that day as easily as she remembers it, after leaving Helena’s shop, and saying hello to the loud Mait, Lydia successfully got her papers and turned back.

She clutched the papers in her hand, her thoughts still swirling with the scandalous and cryptic tales she had just read. She couldn’t believe the king had been in Critic Arley for the burial and he didn’t show himself. Did he feel guilty perhaps?

The muckraker’s joint was a hub of whispers and secrets, and she always left with a sense of unease mixed with curiosity. She started her walk back, the usual din of the marketplace surrounding her. Conan had increased the number of guards after recent events, and she felt their watchful eyes even in the bustling crowd.

As she continued, suddenly a strange sensation washed over her, as if the world around her was shifting. The vibrant colors and sounds of the market seemed to fade, and before she knew it, she found herself standing in a dark, deserted alley. The crowd, the noise, the guards—all had disappeared. She was alone, and a chill ran down her spine.

Lydia’s heart began to race. Panic threatened to take hold, but she was rooted to the spot, unable to move. The shadows seemed to close in around her, deepening the sense of isolation. Just as fear was about to overtake her, a figure emerged from the darkness. He walked toward her slowly, his movements deliberate and almost predatory.

Her breath caught in her throat as the man drew closer. She wanted to run, to scream, but her body betrayed her, leaving her frozen in place. The figure reached her and, with a firm grip, lifted her chin. Their eyes met, and she saw something intensely familiar in his ocean-blue eyes. They were the same as hers—deep, penetrating, and hauntingly beautiful.

The man smiled, and the sudden warmth of it was almost disarming. He released her chin, taking a step back but not breaking eye contact. His voice was a whisper, yet it echoed in the silent alley.

"My daughter," he said, his tone filled with a strange mix of affection and something darker.

Confusion settled over Lydia like a heavy fog. She had never met her father, and the realization that this man could be him left her mind reeling. She wanted to ask a thousand questions, to understand this sudden revelation. But before she could speak, the man’s expression changed, and a chill of horror crept into his eyes.

"I am coming for you, my dear," he whispered, his voice now carrying a sinister edge.

In an instant, he vanished, and Lydia found herself back in the bustling marketplace. The noise and movement of the crowd returned as if she had never left. She stood there, pale and trembling, the papers crumpled in her hand.

Hound, noticing her slight distress, rushed to her side. "My lady, are you alright?" one of them asked, concern etched on his face.

Lydia nodded weakly, unable to find her voice. She allowed him to guide her to the carriage, her mind still grappling with what had just happened. As the carriage rolled away, heading back to the safety of her home, Lydia tried to steady her breathing. The encounter had left her shaken to her core, and she knew that life as she knew it was about to change.

Her heart was gripped with uncertainty and fear of breaking, "And when I saw him yesterday I thought it was just my imagination until you asked who it was and I knew it was all real and I did not like it" she confessed.

"Your father," Theodore said, his words dripping with dread and vengeance.

"Theodore, you have to tell me what is happening," she begged.

He gulped, wiping his face, "History is trying to repeat itself"

Somehow he had thought that this life was a reward, a forgiveness and there was no repetition but no matter how fancy and long this one is, it is just a delay of the inevitable. But he had prepared, he was ready to fight for this last chance.

"You are all I ever wanted, Gooseberry, all I risked for" he declared, his eyes searching hers.

"Theodore" she breathed through a choking tongue.

"I love you no matter what life we live and you love me but no matter what you say, There is only one of two ways that this always ends, You never get hurt, you just die, you leave" he retold.

So even though her pain was his, during their course of marriage he was happy she only got hrt and would get well and be with him again, she didn’t completely vanish leaving him a shell of himself that only desires to follow her.

"But this time if one of us dies, I hope I die first" he swore.

She sucked in a breath, her palm reaching to wipe the single trail of tears in his right eye.

"Because I do not wish to live without you," He kissed her palm, "I hope I die first, because I do not desire to live one more second after you do" his jaw clenched, he remembers the pain he always felt after her departure and he didn’t want to feel it again.

"It is the scariest, knowing that I would lose you, and I am so lost between the option of it being now or later? it will never be okay with me," he expressed his agony to her, "Or maybe I can break the curse, our beautiful, ill-fated connection by dieing first"

"Theodore you cannot leave me, you should not!" she wailed but it was barely above a whisper that broke and warmed his heart. She was here.

"I do not wish to leave you ever, You are my hope and my hopelessness, you always promise that you will stay, But I have come to know that it is a promise you can not make or keep" he nodded at the end.

He cleared his hoarse throat to continue, "Yet I die for you to make it, Lydia I cannot survive another of your end, So I beg you, let me hope," he blinked, flustered by the dampness of his lashes, he chuckled.

Words couldn’t express how sad Lydia felt in that instant, she felt bones claw up her body trying to dig out her heart, she couldn’t breath fine and that is why she opened her mouth to draw breaths but tears that Theodore could barely contain fell, slipping past his fingers.

"Why I have been hoping we never meet your father is that, directly or indirectly he has been the cause of your death and I would forever fear and hate him for that" he declared with the animosity of a scorned man.

"You are sincere about this tale, I do not want this to be true" she said, biting her lip to stop the trembling.

He shook his head, "Lydia, why would I lie to you?"

Her eyes were glassy and tired now so he kissed one of them, making both of them flutter close, "You asked why I recognised you on the first day─that is because I have seen you before" he answered today, her eyes widened at that, "That is because, I know you, I have loved and worshiped you and again I am reborn to love, cherish and worship you" he sniffed, his smile sad. "I knew you because you have loved me, Lydia" his words, poetic and true.

"And that is why I fear, I fear to lose you, to never meet you again, I fear you will desire something that is not me" his fear of her was irrational but he had suffered three lifetimes drowning in uncertainty, insecurities and hope.

Tears ran freely from her eyes now, "Theodore, my love," she gasped, cupping his cheek.

"Choose me this time Gooseberry, see me" he begged.

"I am sorry" she breathed and he stiffened, "I see you, my love" she let out, making him blink.

"I have waited for you in all of my lives, Gooseberry, and, in all of them you had left, please stay in this one" he pleaded, his eyes locked with hers.

"I wish to stay too, My Lord Husband, because you are forever, Theodore " she whispered with tears in her eyes.

"I love you, even if I do not remember and I do not intend to leave you in this not only dark mansion but a dark world"

He took her salty, tear bathed lips into his and they shared a promising kiss, a kiss that sealed the verbal promise of companionship and because desire and love existed between them every moment could guide them to a path of pleasure and that morning, Lydia welcomed her husband into her warmth, engulfing his engorged hardness into her honeypot, wiping, licking, thrusting and loving, they tangled and a promise could never be as euphoric as the one they made.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.