Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Translated by Gina
Edited by Gina

Once, when I attended a ball with Jemon, I was mocked. Even the Marquis’ servants, who treated him as if he were a king, laughed at me, and…

“How dare you, a filthy Baron’s daughter, love him?” Do you believe you’d be appreciated if you came here?! Get out! “Get the hell out!”

Among those who despised me was the one he cherished the most.

Jemon’s mother, the Marchioness of Deibrik.

She poured me tea and then slapped me across the face.

My feelings for her worsened with time, but I could understand her a bit even though I was obliged to.

I knew her former family, the Wegers, had mistreated her so badly that she had poor management of her emotions.

However, Jemon’s words,

“My mother seems to have misunderstood something. I hope you understand her.”

His insensitive and shallow words were the most hurtful to me.

Jemon’s words and actions told me just how much he cared about me. And it wasn’t hard to predict the ending of my relationship.

And it arrived. It came quicker, brutally, and cruelly than I had anticipated.

“It would have been better if we hadn’t met at all.”

Dating Jemon was painful from beginning to end.

Days where I deeply learned where my place was. It was only natural for my self-esteem to plummet.

For a brief time, I considered tossing it away, but I shook my head. I couldn’t possibly throw away something I had received as a gesture of goodwill. Even if the person who gave it to me didn’t mind if I tore it or threw it away.

Cesio Deibrik, come to think of it, would be fine?

Jemon’s hatred towards him wasn’t normal, and now that he was engaged to Duke Gretel’s young lady, the situation had to be even worse.

Then, perhaps, when Jemon becomes a Marquis…

“What’s the purpose if we’re never going to see one other again?”

It was stupid of me to care about someone I was not close to.

I grinned as I slid the handkerchief into the drawer.

* * * * 

“My mother seems to have misunderstood something, I hope you understand.”

Jemon’s room was a mess.

The table had been flipped over, and the teacup was shattered on the floor.

The Marchioness, who had grasped her by the hair, was crying uncontrollably. Her hands tangled in strands of hair.

When Jemon came, he didn’t even glance at her and walked directly to his mother.

He spat out those remarks only after he had calmed his mother down enough for her to stop weeping and fixed her untidy clothing.

“What?”

“I know you must have been taken aback. But you also know my mother’s condition.”

“…I still haven’t said anything.”

“Terryl, my mother is the most precious person to me. If you say something bad about her, I have no choice but to reconsider our relationship.”

She hadn’t uttered a word yet, and though she waited in silence for him to calm the Marchioness, he closed her mouth with his eyes and marked the boundaries.

Her breath tightened.

She really could say nothing, and Jemon interpreted her silence as he pleased.

“I appreciate your understanding. I will reassure my mother, so please wait in the parlor.”

He pushed her back and dragged her out of Jemon’s chamber.

Her mind was blank. What had just happened?

Jemon had always been kind to her. He behaved as though she were the first and only one.

He must have seen her tangled hair after her mother ripped off her head, as well as her soaked body, yet he never asked whether she was okay.

The fairy tale fantasy was shattered and reduced to ashes at that instant.

She was as miserable and heartbroken as if she had been tossed into the street barefoot.

She felt someone’s gaze on her. Had he come due to the loud noises?

Cesio, sitting in a custom-made chair, looked at her.

Startled eyes darted to her hair and disheveled clothes.

“…Ah.”

Her heart sank with a thud.

“No, no, I’m alright…”

She hastily attempted to make explanations, but she couldn’t talk due to the emotions that had overwhelmed her.

“Do I look pitiful?”

“…”

“There’s no need to feel pity. It’s just that… it’s obvious. Even though we are lovers, it’s still different. Of course, a mother is far more important. Jemon was simply shocked. The Marchioness had just misunderstood…”

Was she attempting to persuade Cesio or herself?

The more nonsense she said, the worse she felt, and she eventually stopped talking.

He sat silently listening to her absurd rambling before taking off his coat and handing it to her.

Whether she wore it or not, she would make the servants laugh.

In any case, it was better if she didn’t reveal any gap.

She bit her lips before thanking him and taking the coat.

He bowed his head and passed by, maybe sensing her embarrassment.

He didn’t intrude anymore, and he didn’t give any more clumsy sympathy.

And she was thankful for it.

She knew of Jemon’s hatred, so she tried to think badly of Cesio, but try as she might, he wasn’t that bad.

Perhaps there was a misunderstanding…

“No, what are you thinking?”

She was not going to let her heart soften just because he’d helped her once.

She shook her head and made her way to the stairs.

She didn’t have time for idle thoughts; she needed to go to the drawing-room on the first floor.

Whether she was angry at him, they fought, or he apologized, she had to wait for Jemon.

However, because she had not looked properly ahead when she took the stairs, she stumbled and lost her balance.

Her shoes, still wet from tea, were slippery and her eye level changed drastically.

She didn’t have time to scream, she just closed her eyes.

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her just before her body was going to roll down the stairs.

“Ah, th-thank you.”

She raised her head to express her gratitude. Her heart was pounding in shock.

She naturally assumed the person who had helped her was a passing servant. Cesio was the only one near to her, but he couldn’t walk.

Someone else would have come to her help. Of course, she thought that.

“How you…”

The man standing in front of her, with a wheelchair behind him, was Cesio.

And it was his hand that held her arm and his arms that supported her.

How could that person be standing?

He was unable to walk. Certainly, he was sitting in a specially designed chair just a moment ago…

“Ah, now I get it…”

“It’s a ridiculous dream.”

As soon as I realized that, I opened my eyes.

The Deibrik’s hallway was absorbed into a side of my mind, and when I woke up, I saw a blue sky and the training area.

That scene was much more familiar to me now.

“That’s unexpected, daughter. I can’t believe you’re sleeping so well in the middle of the training grounds.”

I had got accustomed to my father’s admirably sarcastic remarks. And it was a bit sad that I had gotten used to it.

“It’s been three years since you’ve been here, right?”

“Why ask that so suddenly?”

“Because it’s strange. I should be a sucker for my daughter after all this time. Why is your father’s progress so slow?”

“What nonsense is that.”

Yeah, it had been three years since I had come to the north.

Though it felt like it had been thirty years.

After finishing all of the required studies, I had been practicing swordsmanship all day, every minute and second.

I was proud of myself for learning swordsmanship when I was appointed as a knight, but it didn’t last long.

Since then, the training got worse and worse, to the point that if I could, I would throw away the petty title of Sir Rihan.

Since then, a lot has changed. The country was filled with a hum that was not limited only to mortals. 

The greatest change took place in the capital.

“The Emperor has been killed.”

The story I had heard from my father came to mind.

“They disguised themselves as knights, but it’s obvious. It’s clear that the Duke of Tanitar is responsible.”

“But he’s not the new Emperor?”

“That man is just a puppet of Tanitar. He has managed to find a man who has no abilities other than blood vessels.”

“You should go to the capital.”

Duke Rihan sighed heavily at my suggestion.

“I have something urgent to do, so I can not leave right away. So you should go first. We need to show the face of the next successor Rihan anyway.”

The death of the previous Emperor and the ascension of a new Emperor. Something was stirring in the capital.

We weren’t sure whether the aftermath would reach Whitefall, but we had to confirm it as rulers of this region.

And this was the day I was heading to the Imperial Capital.

I rose from my seat and stretched out for a long time.

Since it was obvious that I would not be training during my stay in the capital, my father insisted that I train intensively for weeks’ worth. My entire body was crying for mercy.

I wielded my sword all night, without rest even after sunrise.

Consequently, I passed out for a while.

“Now that I think about it, you are so mean. It’s not like I’ll be playing and eating in the capital for a year, how can you force me to train until I faint?”

“What do you mean, faint? You fell asleep because you were exhausted. How can a fainted person dream?”

“So it’s okay if I tell Mother what you just said?”

“…”

The beast, stabbed in its weak point, glared at me.

‘If it’s something you should not have done, do not do it in the first place.’

“How’s Mother’s cold?”

“As is customary. I have already called a priest, so she should be better as the day goes on.”

Perhaps my father’s words about my mother being too fragile were excessive, but she had yet to adjust to the northern land.

It wasn’t serious, but the illness didn’t seem to stop, so I could not even jokingly hope for a younger brother.

She still had strong colds these days, and I could hardly stop her from coming to see me off.

Even with a healthy body, she struggled with the cold up north, what would I do if she gets worse?

A priest was called, but she still had to be careful.

Come to think of it, it was also a three-year change that my mother weakened like a pudding after coming north.

“I’ll be there shortly, but keep writing letters once you’re in the capital.”

“Yes, yes, moooom. I’ll do all in my power not to worry you.”

I could hear a horse neighing outside.

“Well, Father, I’ll see you later.”

It was time to leave.