Chapter 23
“What do you mean, Count? You did it on purpose?”
Henry asked, incredulously, but Cayente did not answer.
Instead, he stared at a corner of the dimly lit bedroom, recalling the moment when darkness began to creep into his life.
How could he describe the feeling of that day?
— Cayente, sir! You must return home immediately!
— What’s happened? The factory work isn’t finished yet.
It was just a week after his twentieth birthday when Cayente was at the Clue textile factory, helping the workers with their tasks.
His father had insisted that the factory owner didn’t need to help with the workers’ tasks and that he didn’t need to know how the fabric was made, but Cayente had disagreed.
To create better products, it was necessary to understand how they were made.
Since many had entered the textile industry after realizing it was profitable, it was no longer enough to rely on sheer volume.
The passion of the workers who made the products was just as important.
— The Count…
— Father? What about him? Did he get drunk and cause another accident?
He had believed this so innocently at the time.
A servant had rushed in, mentioning his father, and Cayente thought that it was just another one of his father’s mishaps—maybe breaking something in the store while drunk, or another woman appearing with a child claiming it was his and demanding money.
All of them were situations that were foolish but solvable with money.
— The Count… He’s dead.
— What?
— He fell from the rooftop of the new office building…
Cayente couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
— Say that again. Who… what happened?
The simple sentence, yet the meaning of each word felt alien to him.
Despite the clarity of the words, Cayente couldn’t understand them.
Still, pain began to squeeze his heart. His mind rejected the reality, but his instincts recognized it.
Something enormous and horrifying had happened.
Some say that when something unacceptable happens, memories fade, but for Cayente, that wasn’t true.
He could still clearly remember the feeling of the towel he had hurriedly wiped his dirty hands with, and the looks of the workers who had stared at him, bewildered.
He remembered rushing toward the door and the bright sunlight that blurred through the open window, obstructing his vision.
The air, the weather, and even the half-dazed smile of his mother, who seemed disconnected.
— No… this can’t be right. Kay… this is all a lie, right?
His mother, who had once wondered how she had ended up married to a man like his father, was nothing like him.
His father had been loud and extravagant, throwing money around wherever he went, and had lost interest in her for younger, prettier women.
The reason Cayente had grown up to be a decent person was all because of his mother.
Now, his mother stood trembling, unable to comfort her twin daughters who were standing in front of her.
— Brother, what are we going to do? Are we going to be okay? People are coming and demanding their money.
— Don’t worry, Ayla. I’ll handle it. Right, brother?
Even though he reassured Ayla and held her, tears began to fall from Isabella’s frightened eyes, and the sounds of people banging on the doors filled his ears.
Cayente hadn’t forgotten a single thing.
“Injured?”
“Is it the young lady? Yes, she has bruises on her lower lip, and there are cuts on her neck.
We had to quickly find a cloth to cover it.”
“I imagine you want to escape.”
“Count…?”
“We need to set the date for the wedding.”
“Why… the wedding date, all of a sudden?”
“We need to settle this first, so you can’t think of anything else.”
“Count…?”
Cayente didn’t intend to explain his actions. He had no excuses for his behavior, but Henry’s worried gaze had driven him to madness.
“You’ll apologize, won’t you?”
“No.”
“Count!”
Henry shouted. Cayente had sometimes shown his rage in fits, but this was the first time he didn’t regret such behavior.
Yet Cayente was lost in thought, somewhere between regret and something else.
Perhaps, the crying sound he had heard faintly, half-asleep, was Yulia’s.
His actions, which were intended to be indifferent and irritating, had probably been too much. But did she still worry about him?
For a moment, as he lost himself in thought, Cayente realized the weight of her sorrow—the sorrow that they both had to face.
But… that was the right thing. She should cry and fall apart in the face of her own misfortune, not understanding why.
— Henry, who did my father go to meet that day?
This marriage, this was all for that.
When a letter arrived from the Clue family, Yulia wasn’t even expecting an apology.
“Yulia! Finally, the wedding date has been set!”
It was ironic that the wedding date was set just as Yulia was starting to feel uneasy about the marriage.
She had stopped trying to understand the reason behind the events from the day before.
Whatever the reason, Cayente’s actions had been wrong.
No matter how much someone wasn’t her parent, trying to teach her about the world’s cruelty—there was no reason that would make her want to understand.
She didn’t want to be hurt by his repeated indifference and his casual treatment of her anymore.
“My lady, the jewelry store has contacted us, asking when we can come to see the final wedding rings.”
Yulia didn’t want to go, but she had no choice. She had already spent the money, and as Cayente said, she was already his possession.
“Are you ready, Miss? We’ve paved the way for the new carriage, so today it should be more comfortable for you!”
“Thank you, Daike.”
“It seems the new dress is really beautiful. You look even more stunning today, Miss.”
“You’re the only one who compliments me, Daike.”
“What? Doesn’t everyone else say you look beautiful? Even the Count?”
Daike had tried to contradict her, but Yulia only meant that no one else had said it with the same meaning.
The Baroness, Ian, and even Lucy had called her beautiful, but none of them had looked at her the way Daike did.
“I’m sure the Count thinks you’re beautiful, Miss! Didn’t his eyes grow wide when you entered the ballroom at the royal party last time?”
It didn’t matter what he thought. Cayente would continue to behave like this, and she couldn’t avoid being hurt by him.
“The jewelry store is near the Count’s office, so will you go there as well?”
“No, Lucy. There’s no need.”
Yulia swallowed her true feelings. She didn’t want to see that face, not anymore.
Once again, her small wish was left unfulfilled.
This translation covers the emotional and inner turmoil of Yulia and Cayente, as well as the conflicts arising from their complicated marriage.
She arrived at the jewelry store, where Daike greeted her with his usual warmth. “Miss, the final wedding rings have arrived. Would you like to see them?”
Yulia nodded mechanically, her mind still elsewhere.
She didn’t know why she was doing this, going through the motions.
Was it because she had no choice, because she had already committed herself to this life with Cayente? Or was it because, despite everything, there was a part of her that still hoped for something better?
Daike led her to the display, where the rings sparkled under the soft light.
They were beautiful, elegant, the kind of jewelry that would make anyone feel special.
But Yulia felt nothing.
The rings were just symbols of a life she hadn’t chosen, of a future that was being forced upon her.
As she examined the rings, her thoughts drifted back to the night before.
The pain, the anger, the way Cayente had grabbed her, kissed her with such desperation, as though he were trying to reclaim something that was never his to begin with.
The memory of his grip on her throat, the way his lips had felt like a punishment rather than an act of love, still lingered in her mind.
“Do you like them?” Daike asked, breaking her from her thoughts.
Yulia forced a smile, nodding in agreement. “They’re beautiful,” she said softly, her voice betraying none of the turmoil she felt inside.
Just then, her attention was drawn to the window.
She could see the streets outside, the busy market, the people walking by. It all seemed so far removed from her world, so different from the life she had been thrust into.
She wanted to be out there, free, walking among them, making her own choices.
But instead, she was here, trapped in a gilded cage, a puppet in someone else’s play.
“Miss?” Daike’s voice brought her back to the present. “Shall we choose one?”
Yulia nodded again, but her mind was elsewhere.
She couldn’t bring herself to care about the rings, about the wedding, or about anything.
All that mattered now was surviving, enduring the days ahead, and trying to find a way to reclaim some piece of herself.
Later that day, as she returned to the Clue estate, Yulia felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
She had gone through the motions of the day, but it had all felt like a blur, a series of events she couldn’t fully comprehend.
When she entered the mansion, she was greeted by Henry, who seemed to be in a hurry.
“Miss, the Count has requested your presence. He’s waiting for you.”
Yulia felt a knot form in her stomach.
She knew what that meant.
Another confrontation, another round of hurtful words, another moment where she would have to swallow her pride and play the part she was assigned.
She followed Henry to Cayente’s study, where the door was already open.
Cayente was sitting at his desk, his back to her.
He didn’t turn around when she entered, but the tension in the room was palpable.
“I hope your day was productive,” Cayente’s voice was cold, almost detached.
Yulia stood silently for a moment, unsure of how to respond.
She wanted to say something, to confront him, but the words caught in her throat.
“I saw you at the jewelry store,” he said, his tone more biting than usual.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
Yulia’s gaze hardened.
“I don’t need your approval,” she said, her voice low but steady.
“I don’t need anything from you.”
Cayente’s eyes flickered with something akin to anger, but he masked it quickly.
“You think you can walk away from me, Yulia? You think you can escape this life I’ve built for you?”
“I never asked for any of this!” she shot back, her emotions boiling over.
“You’ve trapped me in this life, Cayente. You’ve taken everything from me, and I’m just supposed to accept it?”
There was a long, tense silence between them.
For a moment, it felt as though the world had stopped, as if they were standing at the edge of something irreversible.
Finally, Cayente stood up and walked toward her, his expression hard but his eyes searching, as if looking for something in her.
“You’ve always been mine, Yulia,” he said quietly.
“You may not understand it, but you’ve never been able to escape me. Not truly.”
Yulia’s heart clenched.
“I’m not yours,” she whispered.
“I never was. And I won’t be.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Cayente standing in the doorway, the weight of her words hanging heavily in the air.
She didn’t look back, not this time.
As the days passed, the wedding preparations continued, but Yulia’s heart was no longer in it.
She felt like she was merely going through the motions, living a life that didn’t belong to her.
Every time she looked at the rings, every time she stepped into her dress, she felt more and more disconnected from the woman she used to be.
And yet, despite everything, she couldn’t let go.
Cayente’s shadow still loomed over her, a constant reminder of the life she was bound to.
The wedding day finally arrived, and Yulia stood at the altar, her heart heavy with a mix of resignation and defiance.
She was surrounded by people, but all she could think of was the life she had lost, the future she couldn’t control.
When the ceremony was over, when the vows were exchanged, Yulia felt nothing but numbness.
She had given up everything once, but now, she would have to give up even more.
And so, she stepped into the next chapter of her life, knowing that the path ahead would be filled with more pain, more struggles, but also, perhaps, the chance for something she hadn’t yet realized: the strength to survive.
