Chapter 13
“You, love me?”
Chloe asked again with a bitter laugh.
There was no answer from Gideon. How absurd of a question it was. Whether he loved her or not.
Of course, Chloe knew objectively that she was a beauty. How could she not, with eyes to see? Ever since she debuted as Chloe Langsher in high society, she had always been considered one of the first beauties.
The influence of her family’s reputation played a big role, but still, from the perspective of someone who had received numerous suitors, she knew quite well the behaviors of men who fell for her or courted her.
And at least for the past three years, Gideon’s behavior had been far from love.
“If that were the case, you wouldn’t have made plans to set me free. According to our plan, you wouldn’t have seen me for the rest of your life.”
At that, Gideon, as usual, with an expressionless face, subtly furrowed his brows. But Chloe, not seeing it, grabbed his wrist. And at the same time, she pulled out the thin blade hidden inside his sleeve and straddled him.
In an instant, the thin blade was placed under Gideon’s chin as he lay down. But Gideon didn’t resist, and she smiled as if she had expected that.
“But from the beginning, you always put me first. Before your own life. Isn’t that strange?”
“Gideon. You are my savior. I’ve survived because of you. So I endured. Why did you save me, why go this far for me…? At first, you said you saved me for Luke, but let’s discard that flimsy excuse now. In the end, you deceived Luke to save me. Why did you do that?”
She finally voiced the question that had been circling in her mind for a long time.
“Because I’m Troy Langsher’s daughter?”
Father. I believe you’re a bad person. But as a human, I can’t help but have expectations. That what I inherit is not just your sins…
Troy Langsher was a villain who deserved to die.
Gideon knew that one single premise had dominated Chloe Langsher’s entire life.
That this woman was so kind as to risk her life for the victim of a crime she hadn’t even committed, that she was so strong as to not collapse even while dreaming of nightmares filled with guilt for her dead family…
He knew it too well.
Staring into her eyes, which didn’t even blink, Gideon suddenly thought:
Wouldn’t it be okay to tell her a little, if it made her feel more comfortable? With her looking at him so desperately…
Despite knowing that countless secrets would collapse like this, his tongue moved impulsively.
“When I was very young, before you were born… Your father saved my life.”
“Father… What benefit did he get from it?”
Gideon shook his head. As a result, the thin blade pressed against his skin.
“Out of pure kindness. Just because, out of pity for a child, even though there was no benefit at all. That’s your father.”
A gaze mixed with distrust and hope lingered on his face.
In that suspicion, in that small hope buried in it, perhaps in the hope that his family had performed a good deed, Gideon could not regret the piece of truth he had uttered, even though he knew he couldn’t pick it up.
Ah. So this is why people make mistakes even though they know they will regret them.
“So why are you telling me the real reason you helped me now?”
Her question lacked strength.
“Because you met His Majesty.”
Gideon remembered Chloe Langsher’s face from three years ago. The face of a martyr who had already accepted her own death.
“You said you were willing to die, even gladly in His Majesty’s hands… You still think that way, don’t you?”
He whispered to her, not denying, as she remained silent.
“As if I saved you for no reason.”
“…”
“I hope not. That’s why I’m telling you now. You are my benefactor’s daughter. I hope you didn’t feel guilty about life just because you met His Majesty… I hope…”
She hesitated, then removed the blade from Gideon’s throat.
He grinned there. He threatened as if he would confess the truth right away, but with just a few words, this happened.
He trusted people too much. There was no one as blind as he was in that regard.
That’s why twisted humans get entangled. Just like Troy Langsher.
“When I was young, I happened to learn quite a high person’s secret. Because of that, not only me, but also my parents were almost killed, and your father saved me and my family at a considerable cost.”
Chloe’s eyes, as if asking if it was true, felt very naive to Gideon.
How easy it was to deceive the good-hearted. Suddenly, he thought that’s why Luke Olfenster was still struggling in Chloe Langsher’s shadow.
How much affection did this woman pour into just one year of fake lovers’ game?
Gideon vaguely guessed the absurd delusion the emperor had at that time. Was it a plan to forgive the woman who cried and clung to him so much once she was satisfied?
It even seemed quite specific.
When Gideon was busy preparing for the rebellion, and Luke spread out palace blueprints for hours, he thought he was planning some great strategy, but it turned out he was planning where to confine Chloe if he became the emperor.
The conclusion was he’d confine her to any palace, but Gideon closed his mouth when he saw Luke’s smiling face.
Luke Olfenster was genuinely enjoying himself. Just with his imagination.
If she had been confined to the emperor’s bedroom according to that plan, she probably would never have been able to leave for the rest of her life.
If that were the case, this naive woman might have thought of it as a punishment, but to Gideon’s judgment, Luke Olfenster was the type of person who would have confined Chloe Langsher, even if he had to make up false accusations and monopolize her.
That was evident from his childhood.
In his childhood, Luke Olfenster approached anyone near Chloe Langsher. Not figuratively, but literally.
Although Hayden was the primary victim…
“Hayden could be born thanks to your father. If your father hadn’t saved my parents, he wouldn’t have been born because of my mistake.”
Gideon didn’t feel good whenever Hayden was rude to her. Despite intellectually understanding that Hayden had enough reason to dislike “Marie Edant.”
“That’s the real reason why I saved you…”
Despite wanting to believe, there was still lingering distrust in her tone. Gideon shook his head.
“The person I wanted to save was Troy Langsher, not you. But that man, just before the rebellion, asked me for your life.”
Gideon stared into her eyes, which had grown remarkably wide, and whispered the testament of Troy Langsher he had heard.
“He said so. To save you. If someone were to survive in this mansion, it should be you.”
“That can’t be true. Did that mean Father already knew about the rebellion? If so, he wouldn’t have been so careless that day, would he…?”
The quick denial lost strength as it went on. In her confusion, her eyes, sharp as ever, glared at him.
“Can you prove that your words are true?”
The question was a clear indication of how much the premise that Troy Langsher was a villain dominated her mind. She asked again as if probing.
“It’s a lie, isn’t it?”
Slightly. Gideon muttered to himself. In reality, most of his words were true. Gideon truly didn’t want to lie to her.
“Your father left me with words just before he died. Of course, I don’t know what he meant by that, but you will, won’t you?”
“…”
“Thanks to you, it won’t hurt. Thank you.”
For a moment, Chloe stopped breathing as if she had forgotten how to breathe.
Yes. That’s what she did. On the day of the rebellion, the day the mansion burned, she had put a painkiller she had made herself inside her father’s clothes.
That was a fact known only to her.
…Or, Troy Langsher might have used that painkiller before he died.
“Why… why didn’t you run away…?”
He didn’t answer. Silence is not a lie. After realizing this fact, Gideon reduced his words. Even after learning that silence was just a temporary reprieve from the truth.
Chloe started to cry silently.
Gideon didn’t know exactly why she was crying. Was it because she learned that Troy Langsher had chosen death himself, or despite that, he tried to save her?
Perhaps her strong sense of responsibility, unlike any other person, made her father repent for the fact that he had taken responsibility for his own sins.
“…”
But Gideon thought from the moment she started crying that the reason was not important at all. He wanted to say something but closed his mouth. He wasn’t good at comforting.
Instead, he embraced her and slowly patted her back.
He didn’t want to lie. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t intend to make her cry.
Ironically, at that moment, Gideon already understood the feelings of Hessel Olfenster, who was already dead. The contradictions committed by the man he believed he could never understand.
The Hessel Olfenster Gideon saw in his childhood was a beautiful man, like a statue made of gold. He remembered staring at him, mesmerized, and the blue eyes beneath the long, flowing blond hair seemed to darken as they looked at him.
“You ruined everything.”
Once he really thought so, but now Gideon understands.
It was Hessel Olfenster who ruined everything.
