Chapter 2
If you think about it, it’s actually more surprising that Charlotte fell in love with Alfonso.
After all, Charlotte was someone who saw everyone, regardless of age or gender, as nothing more than tools to be used.
Some might call her cruel, and others might say she’s heartless.
but what does it matter?
She grew up in the Noha family, where even your own blood could be stripped of the family name and thrown out if they fell behind.
That’s all she ever learned.
‘Not exactly the most lovable personality.’
Charlotte acknowledged her true nature without much fuss.
So, even after she found herself helplessly in love with Alfonso, she never expected him to love her back.
Even when he frowned every time he looked at her, or when he told her outright that he didn’t like her.
Even when she found out he had fallen in love with someone else.
“Was it Adeline Rabeuze?”
The woman Alfonso had fallen for.
Charlotte remembered her face vividly.
A woman with short, sandy-colored hair and cute dimples that appeared when she smiled.
She was completely different from Charlotte, who had a sharp impression and long red hair.
They didn’t even have the same hair length.
‘She was definitely the fourth woman to have a marriage proposal with Alfonso’
She was sure of it, because right after ruining that engagement, Charlotte spread rumors and forced Alfonso to marry her instead.
After their marriage, Alfonso started talking to Adeline more often, thanks to the jewelry business run by her family, the Laverouz.
Gradually, they began to spend more time together.
Why they met so often, Charlotte didn’t know.
She only remembered how much better Alfonso seemed to fit with that woman than with herself.
So one day, Charlotte went to Alfonso’s office to ask him directly.
“You seem happy with her Alfonso.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That woman.”
Ignoring his response, Charlotte continued, and Alfonso’s lips pressed into a straight line.
“…Do you love her?”
There was no need for clarification.
As soon as Charlotte mentioned “that woman,” Alfonso’s face twisted in pain, as if he’d heard something deeply agonizing.
“…What’s your point in asking that?”
“I’m just curious. Do you love her?”
“And if I say I do?
Will you spread rumors about her too?
Just like you did to me?”
“I was just asking. I don’t see why you’re getting so angry.”
“She has nothing to do with this. Leave her alone.”
“‘Isn’t it more accurate to say she’s someone you love than someone irrelevant?”
“Charlotte.”
Alfonso gritted his teeth, clearly fed up. Yet, he didn’t deny it.
He just stared at her like she was something vile, and finally said in a voice full of misery:
“…Please, stop making my life so miserable.”
What could be a more clear confession than that?
If she could, Charlotte wanted to ask him, “Did I really make your life miserable?”
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.
She was afraid of hearing him say yes, of having to face the fact that she had made him unhappy while harboring feelings of love for him.
That day, Charlotte decided to divorce Alfonso.
Not because she was angry. She simply wanted to correct what had gone wrong.
And also because she genuinely wished for Alfonso’s happiness.
‘If I divorce Alfonso, everything will go back to the way it was.’
Alfonso wouldn’t be unhappy anymore, and he could even marry the woman he loved.
The thought made her heart feel like it was being ripped apart, but if that’s what it took for Alfonso to be happy, she thought it would be worth it.
‘It was my father who ordered me to marry Alfonso.’
But luckily, her father, Dominic, had died in the three years since, and her half-brother Quincy, who adored her, had taken over as the head of the family.
So there shouldn’t be any major issues with getting a divorce.
Charlotte sent a letter to Quincy, asking him to proceed with her divorce.
Once the letter was sent, she actually felt a strange sense of relief.
Yes, that was it.
Until two weeks later, when Alfonso was poisoned by a mysterious toxin and died.
* * *
“I’m sorry to say, but your husband has no chance of survival.”
“We tried to extract information from the suspect, but they committed suicide before we could interrogate them. Now, there’s no way to identify the culprit…”
A mysterious poison. A suspect who killed themselves before being questioned. And Alfonso, who left this world with no chance to act.
She trembled as she opened the coffin.
It wasn’t because she was afraid to see her dead husband.
It was because all those methods felt too familiar.
But when she looked at Alfonso’s peaceful face lying in the coffin,
‘…Ah.’
Charlotte could no longer deny the truth.
Anyone else might not have known, but someone raised in the Noha family couldn’t miss these signs.
It was Noha who had killed Alfonso.
The moment she realized this, Charlotte rushed to Noha.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as her dry lips parted.
“…Why did you kill him?”
A hot angry flame flared up inside her.
“Why? Was he such a threat that you had to kill him? Did he defy our family? Why? What reason could there possibly be?”
She was grasping at straws.
Quincy was the only family she cherished, so she desperately wanted to believe there was some justifiable reason.
“I even wrote in my letter… that I loved Alfonso. I told you that, but…”
Why did he have to die?
Even though he might have said harsh things in front of her, he had never once failed to offer her a hand when she stepped out of the carriage.
Even when everyone openly called her a villain to her face, he never once uttered the word “villain” to her.
She had never even smiled properly in front of him, out of fear that he might see her true feelings.
Why, why…?
“You said you wanted a divorce, didn’t you, Char?”
“…What did you say?”
“If you just got a divorce, there would’ve been issues with alimony and whatnot. Killing him and taking Eduard as well was much simpler.”
“…Is that really the only reason?”
“That’s all? This is the Noha way. You know that better than anyone.”
“I told you… that I loved him. I said I loved him…”
“Think rationally, Char. This was for your own good. I know you loved him, but—”
“If you knew, you shouldn’t have done it.”
Charlotte spat out her words, her venomous eyes glaring at Quincy like a snake. She looked like someone standing on the edge of a cliff.
“You knew. You knew everything and still killed him. You did it because you knew! And you dare say it was for my sake? It wasn’t for me, it was for the family!”
How could they? How could the family she had dedicated her life to kill her husband?
How many times had she written in her letters that she loved him deeply?
The tear tracks on her cheeks burned as if they had been scorched.
Every drop of tear felt like it was squeezing out her own blood.
She hadn’t realized crying could be so painful.
Has the death of someone ever been this agonizing?
She wished it was blood flowing from her instead.
Then, at least, the pain would have been hers alone.
She wished it had been her who died instead.
Then, Alfonso would still be alive, breathing in this world.
If only she had never met Alfonso. If only she had never married him.
Then Alfonso would still be alive…
As she felt the tears stream down her cheeks like rain beating against a window, Charlotte bit her lip hard.
“Die, Quincy.”
For the first time in her life, the bloodline she had never denied, even in her life filled with the infamous title of “villainess,” now felt hateful to her.
Every moment she had taken pride in her family now felt like a sin.
Sometimes, love is a tragedy. The whispers etched into her mind echoed again and again.
Charlotte cried until her voice was hoarse that day.
She had Alfonso’s body frozen and preserved, and she roamed the continent in search of a way to bring him back to life.
Even as her once beautiful red hair turned entirely white, even as her delicate hands, always so well-kept, became ruined, Charlotte didn’t stop.
Every time she closed her eyes, the mistake she had made strangled her.
-Please, stop making my life miserable.
The voice of the man who had first taught her what love was remained so clear, but the man himself was no longer there, and that fact tormented her.
Charlotte couldn’t stop.
And finally…
“To revive a human life requires a great sacrifice, Miss.”
She had found the answer.
