Chapter 75
I told Dorothy that if nothing was revealed this time either, Stefan would keep silent about it forever. I added that I didn’t want to live my entire life without knowing the truth about my parents’ deaths.
In the end, Dorothy agreed with me and, with a serious demeanor, taught me an infallible bedroom technique. She had no idea what I intended to demand from Stefan using that technique.
‘This time, I can’t wait until our next night together.’
I still held resentment over what had happened in his office. He hadn’t even properly apologized yet.
But I needed to resolve this before Remington left for the academy. If it wasn’t our designated night together, Stefan would never come near my bedroom.
After seeing off the Marchioness, I headed straight to Stefan’s study.
Knock, knock.
Without waiting for a response, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
“Your Grace, it’s me.”
“Welcome, Madam.”
Stefan was alone in his study, having apparently already finished his conversation with Rita.
“I heard that you attended the Imperial Academy.”
“And who told you that?”
“Marchioness Cotta.”
“Ah… She did visit today.”
“She brought a gift for Remington’s enrollment.”
“…Did she?”
Stefan seemed momentarily startled by the mention of an enrollment gift, as if feeling guilty for not having prepared one himself.
Technically, he was the one who had arranged for Remington to attend the academy, and he was paying the tuition out of his own pocket. Expecting an additional gift would be asking for too much.
But I needed him to come to my bedroom tonight, so I decided to push the topic further.
“The Marchioness gave him a Montblanc fountain pen. She said a fine writing instrument creates fine penmanship, and fine penmanship leads to a fine life.”
“That’s a nice sentiment.”
“Remington is coming to my room after dinner. Would you like to join us, Your Grace?”
“I haven’t prepared a gift…”
I had expected that response, but it was still disappointing. One day, I would have to advise him that excessive honesty can sometimes be a flaw.
“A few words of encouragement would be more than enough, Your Grace.”
I forced a smile and turned to leave his study.
Then, a deep voice—one I had heard somewhere before, perhaps in a dream—stopped me.
“Weren’t you… afraid?”
“What do you mean?”
“Coming into my study alone… Weren’t you afraid?”
“….”
When I turned back to him, his eyelids lowered. His red eyes, which always carried an air of arrogance, now looked subdued.
‘Is he worried that what happened in his office last night left a trauma?’
I had thought he wouldn’t care about something like that, but knowing he had kept it in his mind all this time was a relief.
“…I was a little scared, but I can’t let myself be trapped in that memory forever.”
“I truly apologize. That won’t… happen again.”
“Thank you for saying that, Your Grace.”
I accepted his apology with a soft smile. I had to—if I wanted him to come to my room later tonight.
***
At that same moment, Rita was trembling with rage at Thomas’s betrayal.
“How dare he go to Stefan instead of coming to me?”
Thomas had never once failed her expectations. He had always been an easy man.
From their very first, carefully orchestrated meeting, he had been utterly swept up in her. After just a month of passionate love, he had foolishly dreamed of forever.
Even when she deceived him into believing that her child was the Duke’s and used that lie to enter the ducal estate, he hadn’t uttered a word of resentment. Even when he gave up his honorable position as an aide to protect the child, he had remained silent.
That was why Rita had believed in Thomas’s love without a doubt. To him, she must have been an irresistibly beautiful first love.
“Damn first love…”
She despised the very idea of first love. Watching men cower at the mere mention of it made her stomach turn.
The Duke, even after being abandoned by his first love, had never let go of her, not until his death. He had never once spared even the smallest bit of affection for Rita.
He had spent his entire life resenting and loathing Rita, yet, bound by a sense of responsibility, he had never cast her or Susan out.
A pitiful man.
“Foolish men…”
Of course, first love wasn’t something that only left deep scars on men. I had my own heart-wrenching first love as well.
“Raphael…”
A name that would haunt me even in death. I was the one who met him first. I was the one who loved him first. And yet, absurdly, my friend had taken him from me.
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
The first thing I did to deceive those around me was to deceive myself. After all, if I didn’t believe my own lies and false actions, how could I make others believe them?
And so, I lived trapped in a tower of lies I had built for twenty-one years. If my first love had gone the way it was supposed to, perhaps these hellish twenty-one years wouldn’t have existed.
I wouldn’t have had to shake the Duke of Edmond. I wouldn’t have met Thomas. And Susan wouldn’t have been there to drag me down.
As always, I blamed others rather than myself—so typical of me.
Even now, I believed that if Thomas hadn’t acted so recklessly, I could have found a way to reverse the transfer of the merchant ships and the shops. After all, it was undeniable that Stefan cared for his sisters, even if he didn’t show it outright.
“Just wait until you return, Thomas. I’ll crush you completely.”
Rita felt no gratitude whatsoever for Thomas, who had risked his life to save her daughter. She only resented him for revealing Susan’s secret to Stefan.
But she had Stella—the Duke’s legitimate child—and that gave her confidence. That was why she had the audacity to demand proper treatment as a mother from Stefan.
‘You will never escape me. Not even in death.’
A twisted smile stretched across Rita’s face. Anyone who saw it would have found it horrifying and chilling.
***
After dinner, I waited in my bedroom for Remington.
For his entrance gift, I had prepared a handkerchief with his initials embroidered on it. Even if we were apart, I wanted to remind him that his sister was always with him.
As I absentmindedly fiddled with the wrapping paper, a careful knock sounded at the door.
Assuming it was Remington, I swung the door open and greeted him cheerfully.
“Come in, Remy!”
But standing there, looking somewhat awkward, was Stefan.
“…It seems I arrived too early.”
“Not at all, Your Grace. Please, come in.”
“This is for him…”
Stefan handed me a wrapped item that looked like a book—he had prepared a gift for Remington after all.
“It’s a notebook. He’ll need plenty for taking notes at the academy.”
“Oh, Remington will love it. Thank you, Your Grace.”
“Please, give it to him yourself.”
“No, you should hand it to him directly. And you should give him some words of encouragement too. Come in.”
Reluctantly, Stefan stepped inside my bedroom. His gaze wandered awkwardly until it landed on the gift in my hands.
“What did you prepare?”
“A handkerchief. Remington sweats a lot.”
Stefan gave a silent nod. Then, another knock came at the door.
This time, I was sure it was Remington. In a brighter voice than before, I called out his name as I opened the door.
“Come in, Remy!”
“Sister, did I keep you waiting?”
“Not at all. His Grace just arrived a little while ago.”
Pulling Remington inside and closing the door, I hugged him tightly and whispered warmly.
“Congratulations on getting into the academy, Remy.”
“Thank you, Sister.”
We spoke in hushed tones as if there were no one else in the room. Then, Remington tucked my gift into the inside pocket of his jacket and smiled brightly.
At that moment, Stefan suddenly interjected.
“Remington, congratulations on your enrollment.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
Remington gladly accepted the gift Stefan handed him. But then, an unexpected request came from Stefan’s lips.
“Can you… open the gift from your sister?”
“Huh?”
“I’d like to see it.”
I blinked in confusion at his odd request.
“Your Grace, I already told you it’s a handkerchief.”
“I just want to take a look. I happen to need a new one myself and thought I might get some ideas.”
