An alarm rang in my head, and I tried to turn around.
But stopped when I saw tears shine in Ethan Bronte’s dazzling eyes.
He was biting his lips and crying as if the world was ending, as if he had nothing left.
But without making any loud noise. he was sobbing as if he was whispering to the waves.
This was the biggest issue.
Ethan’s appearance was too powerful. Ignoring his tears was like a hungry cat ignoring fish.
If he was crying, no one could pretend not to see it. Even Stefan couldn’t handle seeing him cry.
Furthermore… I’ve never seen Ethan cry like that.
He was close enough to be called my right-hand man. Yet, he had never cried so desperately in front of me.
How could Ethan Bronte, who was always confident, swaying people’s hearts left and right with just a smile, and manipulating the whole world, collapse like that?
I looked at him from a safe distance.
Unlike the Ethan from my first life, this Ethan, crying on the beach, was small.
Crouching in front of the vast sea, he looked weaker than ever.
This was not the Ethan I knew.
This wasn’t the sly and clever golden-eyed serpent from before, but a child who knew sorrow too soon.
It’s not like Ethan was a bad person from birth.
It’s not like he was already using people from inside his mother’s womb, abandoning them, betraying them, and making fun of them.
Yes, no child is born evil, maybe…
I truly wanted to believe so. Even about myself.
What is making him cry like that…
The Duke of Bronte was the one who bumped into my pomegranate juice at Ray’s ceremony.
In other words, he was Ethan’s biological father.
Ethan should have been able to follow the Duke of Bronte to the Islands. Moreover, if someone had such a handsome and talented child, they want to show it off to the social world.
However, Ethan wasn’t introduced to the world. It was because of Ethan’s long-standing complex.
He was the Duke’s bastard son, brought in from the outside.
As a result, he was not allowed to enter Episteme, or any social events held in the capital.
It was only once he reached adulthood did he appear in the social circles.
Bastard, from non-Episteme, a late debut.
Nevertheless, the ‘golden-eyed angel’ drew a lot of attention from socialites who liked gossip, and Ethan made good use of that, quickly taking over the social world.
I feel I have something in common with him
I, too, couldn’t go to Episteme, because I was always behind Ray’s shadow. Still, I wanted to get people’s attention.
Perhaps it was because I was just like him that I was able to discover the twisted nature behind Ethan’s glamorous mask.
Is that why you are crying so much… ?
If you’ve always tried to hide in the house because you’re the eldest, that’s fine.
Because I did too.
Before I returned, I cried a lot because of Carnan, who didn’t recognize me, and because of Ray, who had everything unlike me.
My heart raced as I watched Ethan crouch down alone and bursting into tears.
His image overlapped with my old self.
I need to stay away from Ethan…
He was the one who led me down the tyrannic path and caused me to be beheaded.
Even though I knew there was nothing good about being involved with him, I buried my feet in the sand and didn’t move.
I already knew why I couldn’t turn my back on the crying Ethan.
If Ethan doesn’t become evil, if only he could live a good life like I’m trying to.
Could my return give Ethan a new life?
I waited for his tears to stop.
I waited until Ethan looked at the sea with red eyes.
I waited until he had calmed down, until he was exhausted from all those tears.
I waited until then to move my feet, which had been stuck in the sand for a while, and approached him.
The closer I got, the more his sad beauty became clearer.
“Hi,” I greeted him.
His golden eyes immediately widened at my courageous greeting.
I could clearly see his red bloodshot eyes, tear-soaked cheeks, and wet sleeves.
He was so surprised that he couldn’t even say a word.
“Uh…”
I thought a hello would come out of his mouth, but it didn’t.
Instead of saying hello, Ethan got up, and staggered backward as if he had seen a monster.
And before I could say anything else, he ran away without even wiping off the sand from his clothes.
Just like a princess leaving the ballroom before the fairy’s magic spell breaks, Ethan ran until he completely disappeared.
“Ah…”
I shouldn’t have talked to him. I should’ve let him cry alone..
Why was I pretending to be kind?
As I stood there dumbfounded, Stefan looked at me blankly.
I shook my head at him because his black eyes seemed to ask, ‘Shall I catch him?’
* * *
As soon as the news that the Princess had come down spreaded, letters from the ladies living nearby flooded the detached palace.
They sent letters over and over again, asking to visit, and using the excuse of wanting to pay respect to get acquainted with the only Princess.
When else would they ever get the chance to get close to me? For these local aristocrats, a potential relationship with ‘The Princess’ was a connection worth putting forward to.
A storm was raging on the daily life I wanted to be quiet.
Yes, Let’s just go, say hello once and be done with it.
Equipped with the heart of a good person, I invited the ladies to the detached palace.
But soon after, I realized how difficult it would be to live a good life because of this decision.
“Oh, you are so cute!”
Who is it? Who dared to say the word cute?
I looked around at the ladies around me with sharp eyes, but they were elevated during a special time in the detached palace, and they didn’t even care about my murderous gaze.
“Oh, you look like a doll!”
“I heard you were sick. And indeed you are too thin, here, have some more delicious food.”
The ladies looked at me and chuckled.
It made me anxious to see that everyone thought of me as their niece.
Curly blonde hair and round blue eyes. A bit too small for my age.
They were very happy to see me in my dress.
All the food the servants served was piled up on my plate.
“Eat some of this too, Princess.”
“Thanks for your concern, but I can eat on my own,” I replied.
But due to the ladies’ excessive consideration, I had to repeat that sentence many times.
In order to stop the catastrophe, I took a fork and chewed on the oyster mushroom.
“How smart you are! You’re not a picky eater……. You learned well from the royal family,” on of them said.
“Oh, look at the Princess. She chews and eats so well,” another one added.
Then, they all laughed at how wonderful I was for eating a single oyster mushroom.
Oh, I’m tired.
This was like being surrounded by a hundred Rays.
“How could such a young Princess come so far away alone?”
“I want to take the princess to my house once. She will not be lonely even though the place is shabby.”
No, I’m here to enjoy loneliness.
“Really, Princess. How about coming to my house and stay for a few days?”
They said in a cheerful voice as if they were trying to become my mother.
The fact that I lost my mother since birth seemed to stimulate their sympathy. Anyone would feel sympathetic if they saw a young girl who was not brought up to be loved by her mother, living alone in a large palace.
It would be good gossip to chew on.
“Thank you for your kind words, but that’s alright, madam. I don’t want to bother you,” I refused.
“Oh, what do you mean! It would be an honor, not a bother, for the princess to come to my house!”
No, you mean to honor? It’s not that I’m bothering you.
I tried to be kind and smiled.
“Don’t you feel lonely and bored living alone in this separate palace?”
“No, it’s okay.”
“How did you grow up so fast….and be so brave.”
No, it’s really okay. I’m telling you it’s fine, take what I say as it is. Please.
“You are old enough to play with friends.”
No, I’m way past that age.
“My child is the same age as the princess. I have to bring her to say hello.”
What?
I lifted my head and looked at the woman who had brought up the stupid subject.
But the other ladies immediately thought it was a good idea and said they should also bring their own children to play with me.
What nonsense are they talking about!
I imagined children around the age of ten running around in the detached palace and clinging to me.
I could abreast the garden full of immature children who had not yet experienced puberty.
That would be terrible!
My peaceful palace would turn into a mess, and I into a babysitter!
It was hard enough to handle Ray, but about all those kids?
“Right now, it would be hard for me to run around and play together with them because I’m still recovering, but I’ll invite you separately later when I get better.”
I hid my clenched fists and politely declined with a nice smile.
I had to defend the detached palace’s peace.
“At this age, you can’t even go out and play…! I want to give you some medicine that is good for your body.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not enough to take medicine,” I waved my hand, dismissing the offer.
Please don’t send anything like that. My disease is a disease that can be cured only if you leave me alone.
“Haha, the princess is also mature, but I guess you are still young since you hate medicine.”
“Originally, children do everything they can to avoid taking bitter medicine.”
The ladies laughed among themselves again.
The more we talked, the more misunderstandings kept piling up.
I turned my eyes to Stefan and Clara, sending them a silent request for help, for them to get me out of this situation, but Clara was watching me with a pleased smile, while Stefan stood there like a wooden stone, as usual.
Rather, Clara clasped her hands together and nodded at me, as if seeing me be more talkative than usual save her soul—of course I did, but It was to defend myself against the raging attacks of these ladies.
Oh my God, no one’s on my side!
Alright. Life is inherently lonely anyway. Everyone is born alone and dies alone.
“Princess.”
In that moment, one of the ladies who was sitting on one side called me out.
The Duchess of Bronte.
“I would like to invite you to my house someday, is that okay? I promise I’ll never give you bitter medicine,” said the Duchess in a dignified voice.
At her words, Ethan, who was crying on the beach last time, flashed through my mind.
I hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Thank you for inviting me, Duchess.”
Today, I decided to add ‘Ethan Bronte’ to my bucket list.
* * *
