No Need For Regrets

Chapter 14

 

Above Lexion’s black eyes, a pair of earrings glimmered softly.

 

“Get out of the way!”

 

Closing his eyes, Lexion still vividly remembered that day’s Seriniel, even the slightly trembling voice.

 

Lexion remembered everything.

 

Every moment that Seriniel had forgotten, he remembered them all, alone.

 

Originally, he should have debuted in the dance scene several years earlier. Lexion was older than Seriniel.

 

But there was no one to take care of Lexion’s debutante, having been treated as a parasite despite having a maid for a mother.

 

Still, he didn’t mind much. The ridiculous antics of the nobles disgusted him.

 

And as time went by, his mother began to suffer from illness. It was a disease.

 

Although the ducal couple, as well as the only legitimate son of the Rosenvester family, Lexion’s half-brother, would often resort to violence.

 

Even that didn’t matter.

 

Lexion only had one thought.

 

To escape from this house.

 

With his mother.

 

Before she passed away and left him forever…

 

“My wish, Lexion…”

 

And one day, it happened.

 

“Participate in the debutante ball.”

 

His mother, whose illness had already taken its toll, made such a fervent request.

 

“Half of your blood is mine, but the other half… belongs to the nobles. So, you have every right to go there.”

 

What value could such a foolish act possibly have?

 

They didn’t even consider me a noble like them.

 

They would just come to mock me.

 

Though his unspoken sincerity roared inside him, Lexion ultimately decided to grant his mother’s request.

 

Because she pleaded so earnestly, despite her sickly condition.

 

Lexion debuted belatedly. Of course, everything he anticipated happened without fail.

 

Being a partner in the debutante ball, his half-brother and his gang beat him senseless. It was a humiliating ordeal.

 

“You parasite, how dare you show up here!”

 

Even as he heard their mocking words, Lexion only had one thought.

 

His mother would be even more saddened by his disheveled appearance.

 

That was all.

 

But that thought didn’t last long.

 

“Stop it!”

 

It was the first time someone had helped him.

 

That day, Lexion looked at the sudden appearance of a girl with eyes so empty.

 

And he immediately recognized.

 

The girl who fearlessly intervened in the brawl… was someone completely different from him, from birth.

 

That’s why she could act so naïvely.

 

Staring at the earring that fell in front of him with a dull thud, Lexion thought.

 

…Compassion?

 

Like offering alms to beggars on the street. It was probably just cheap sympathy…

 

“Get up. Quickly.”

 

It was something unexpected. Despite such thoughts, why couldn’t he reject the small, white hand extended to him?

 

Perhaps it was because it was the first time someone had helped him, or perhaps…

 

Because the disheveled face of Seriniel, who smiled brightly at him, was so adorable. Maybe it was both.

 

They returned to the ballroom together. Seriniel didn’t say a word, and neither did he.

 

Should he say thank you?

 

But would expressing gratitude make her uncomfortable, seeing it as just pity?

 

Should he apologize for causing her trouble?

 

Where was this person’s partner?

 

Who was this person…?

 

Was everyone at the gathering pretending not to notice him because they pitied him?

 

Because he was pitiful?

 

Lexion’s thoughts didn’t last long. It was abruptly interrupted by a request for a dance.

 

“Would you… dance with me?”

 

Lexion thought Seriniel was foolish. Where was her capable partner that she had left behind, to request a dance from someone as insignificant as him?

 

Slowly, very slowly, Lexion reached out his hand to Seriniel.

 

He was curious to see if she would hold his hand without hesitation.

 

And Seriniel, smiling affectionately, took his hand.

 

Surprisingly, it was enjoyable.

 

Even though they both looked disheveled, it felt that way.

 

Before parting ways, I should return the earring.

 

Lexion fiddled with the earring in his pocket unnecessarily. Despite knowing that the sparkling, glamorous earring would reveal traces of blood from the burst wound, he did so.

 

If I give this back, it will be the end.

 

The noble lady in front of him would never meet him again. Even if by some chance they were to meet again, she wouldn’t dare to speak to him as she did today.

 

Their relationship was nothing more than one where they couldn’t even converse unless it was at the other party’s favor.

 

They danced and strolled around the ballroom together. There was no conversation exchanged, but Lexion’s eyes were busy. His gaze incessantly followed Seriniel.

 

Lexion tirelessly absorbed Seriniel’s face.

 

The flushed cheeks, the still disheveled dazzling golden hair, her emerald eyes shining brighter than the earring he held in his hand… and so on.

 

In the meantime, the time to part ways approached diligently. A lavishly decorated carriage stopped in front of Seriniel, and Lexion realized that his one-night dream was coming to an end.

 

“I am Seriniel Verdellete.”

 

Verdellete…

 

He knew that family. The Verdellete Marquis.

 

The Marquis couple had a legitimate daughter only after many years of marriage.

 

It seemed that it was Seriniel.

 

“May I ask which noble family you belong to?”

 

There was no answer.

 

The Rosenvester family had never accepted him as part of their own, and if she were to find out about him, a despised parasite living under persecution…

 

Lexion feared how Seriniel would react.

 

“I don’t have such a thing.”

 

That was the end. Lexion turned away after those words, and Seriniel couldn’t hold him back.

 

As he turned around, he saw the departing carriage. Seriniel was on it.

 

That’s how Lexion couldn’t return the earring.

 

“No… It’s not that I couldn’t return it, I chose not to.”

 

Lost in memories, Lexion murmured to himself in a low voice.

 

“I hated it.”

 

If he didn’t return this one earring, the events of that day might feel like a dream.

 

Then, it would seem like his encounter with Seriniel never happened.

 

Yes, that’s why he didn’t return the earring.

 

He saw Seriniel several times.

 

Of course, those were encounters she didn’t know about, but still.

 

Watching Seriniel smile brightly and turning away secretly.

 

That was the only solace for Lexion.

 

“Unfair?”

 

Reflecting on the conversation he had with Seriniel at Paul’s shop, Lexion sneered.

 

“I don’t know what’s unfair. From the beginning, feeling unfairness between you and me has always been my part.”

 

That statement was sincere. Lexion had never been superior in his relationship with Seriniel. He was always beneath her and always felt unfairness.

 

“The nauseating noble game…”

 

I wonder if you realize how everything I had built up crumbled into pieces when I heard that answer again.

 

“If you knew, you wouldn’t say such things.”

 

“Having forgotten everything alone…”

 

Unfair, you say.

 

Lexion chuckled briefly.

 

“…That’s enough.”

 

He really thought that was enough.

 

…The fact that Lexion became a duke was purely because of Seriniel.

 

But it had become completely useless. The moment he saw Seriniel’s face smiling happily before her marriage to Callian.

 

From the beginning… I probably wasn’t qualified.

 

To appear in your life, to interfere in your future.

 

That’s why Lexion stepped back.

 

Leaving behind the earring he held in his hand, still clutched in his palm.

 

…But not anymore.

 

“Shall I help? Yes, I can do that.”

 

It may have sounded like persuasion, but it wasn’t.

 

If you won’t hold my hand, I can grab it myself.

 

Especially if you’re not happy. That’s why you’re not smiling.

 

“… “

 

Lexion carefully placed the earring he was holding back into the jewelry box.

 

Then, without saying a word, he quietly stared at the sparkling earring.

 

For a very long time, for quite a while.

 

Just as he had always done.