Reborn To Change My Fate-Chapter 178 - Hundred And Seventy Eight

The words rushed out of him, sudden and forceful. They hung in the warm air of the study like a thunderclap.

"I love you, Marissa."

Marissa froze. Her body went completely still, as if she had been turned to stone. Her mouth opened slightly, her breath catching in her throat. Her fingers, which had been clutching the silver locket so tightly, suddenly lost their strength.

The locket slipped. It dangled from her fingers by its chain for a split second, spinning in the lamplight, before she caught it against her palm again.

"What?" she whispered. Her voice was barely a sound. It was a breath of pure disbelief.

She stared at him. She looked for the joke. She looked for the trick. She looked for the political angle. In her life—in both her lives—men did not say those words without wanting something. Her father wanted status. Carlos wanted money and the title.

But Derek... Derek just looked at her.

"I love you," Derek said again. His voice was louder this time, firmer. It wasn’t a question. It was a declaration.

He stepped closer, closing the last inch of distance between them. He reached up and took her face in his hands. His palms were warm and rough, calloused from the sword, but his touch was incredibly gentle. His thumbs brushed away the fresh, hot tears that were still spilling onto her cheeks.

"You are surprised," Derek said softly, watching her eyes. "You shouldn’t be."

He took a deep breath, as if confessing a crime.

"I started having feelings for you," Derek admitted, a small, crooked smile touching his lips, "from the day you tied me up."

Marissa blinked, a tear falling on his thumb. She remembered that night. The intruder. Lorena’s plan. The drug. The way she had bound him to the bed to save herself.

"You used me," Derek said, his eyes shining with a strange mixture of amusement and admiration. "You drugged me. You tied my hands. You used me as a prop to get away from trouble with Lorena."

He shook his head slightly.

"Any other woman would have screamed," Derek whispered. "Any other woman would have fainted or begged for help. But you... you took charge. You took the Grand Duke and made him your pawn." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He moved his hands slightly, his fingers tangling in the hair at her temples.

"I was angry," he said. "But underneath the anger... I was impressed. I always admired your strength. I admired your wit. You were the first person in this house who wasn’t afraid of me."

Marissa listened, her heart pounding against her ribs.

"I always look forward to what you do next," Derek confessed. "Every day. When you challenged the exorcist. When you stood up to Ashlyn. When you saved the dancers. When you put Carlos in his place. I watched you."

He leaned his forehead against hers.

"I always think of ways to break your hard exterior," he murmured. "I wanted to see what was behind the mask. And when you gave me that genuine smile for the first time, I wanted it all to myself, I wanted to make you smile everyday. I wanted to make you love me, too."

Marissa trembled. She had spent so much time building walls. She had spent so much energy being cold, being calculating, being safe. She thought those things made her unlovable.

"But Derek," she whispered, her voice shaking. "I am..."

Derek pulled back slightly so he could look her in the eye. His gaze was fierce.

"I don’t care," Derek vowed.

He looked at her with a raw intensity that burned.

"I love the woman standing in front of me right now," he said. "I love the schemer. I love the woman who plots in the dark. I love the cold, ruthless woman who does whatever it takes to survive. I love the materialistic woman who loves to take control."

He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb.

"I love you, Mari," he whispered, using the nickname he gave her. "I love you."

The walls inside Marissa’s heart crumbled. They didn’t fall slowly; they collapsed all at once.

She looked at him. She saw the man who had bought her a flower wreath. She saw the man who had restored her mother’s picture. She saw the man who had killed for her, lied for her, and stood by her side against the King’s own guard.

She realized that she didn’t have to fight him. She didn’t have to protect herself from him. He was her protection.

Her hand, the one holding the locket, moved.

She dropped the locket on the table. It landed with a soft thud on top of the pile of gifts. She didn’t need to hold onto the past right now. She needed to hold onto the present.

She reached up. Her hands were shaking. She placed them on his face, mirroring his gesture. She felt the rough stubble on his jaw. She felt the warmth of his skin.

"I..." Marissa started. Her voice broke. She swallowed and tried again.

"I... I love you too, Derek," she whispered.

The moment she said it, a look of pure, unadulterated joy washed over Derek’s face. The tension in his shoulders vanished. The worry in his eyes disappeared. He looked like a man who had just been given the world.

He let out a breath, a sound of relief.

He leaned into her touch, nuzzling his face against her palm. He closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of her hand on his skin.

"You do?" he asked, his voice rough.

"Yes," Marissa said. Tears streamed down her face again, but they were happy tears. "I do."

She looked at him, her heart overflowing.

"I have never been loved by another man like this before," Marissa confessed.

She thought of her past life. She thought of the cold, political marriage she had endured. She thought of the loneliness. She thought of her childhood.

"Even my own father," Marissa whispered, her voice trembling with the old pain, "never loved me this way. He loved my sister. He loved his status. But he never looked at me the way you do. He never tried to know me."

She ran her thumb over Derek’s cheekbone.

"You gave me a dance hall because you knew I liked money," she said, a watery smile appearing on her lips. "You made me a wreath because you knew I liked flowers. You fixed my mother’s picture because you knew I missed her."

She looked into his dark eyes.

"You saw the worst parts of me," she said. "The parts that plot and hurt people. And you loved them anyway."

Derek opened his eyes. They were wet.

"They are the best parts," he said firmly. "They are the parts that kept you alive."

Marissa sobbed. It was a release of years of holding back.

"Thank you, Derek," she wept. "Thank you so much."

She stood up on her tiptoes.

She pulled his face down to hers.

She kissed him.

Derek’s arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her body flush against his. He held her as if he would never let her go. He kissed her with all the pent-up emotion of the last few months—the worry, the desire, the admiration.

Marissa kissed him back with everything she had.