CHAPTER 18
Charlotte’s fierce gaze glistened as she lifted her head high, despite her small stature. Vivianne had no time to spare for Charlotte. Especially now that her anger had a precise target.
“Step aside, Miss Windler.”
Her normally soft, gentle gray eyes were now blazing with anger, directed at Edwin.
“What kind of disrespectful behavior is this in front of the Duke? First, you bring a friend here without permission, then he pointed a gun at the Duke, and now you’re throwing money at him? It seems you have no intention of understanding the situation you are in right now.”
Her raised voice and scornful eyes rebuked Vivianne, holding her responsible for bringing a dangerous person into the manor.
“I have nothing to say to you, Miss Windler. I’ll speak to the Duke, so please step aside.”
“Why do you have nothing to say to me? You seemed ready to get down on your knees a few moments ago, but now you want me to move aside? Do you even know who your friend was about to attack, what I nearly lost, or the privileges you enjoy thanks to the Duke?”
Vivianne bit down on the soft flesh inside her mouth. Half of what Charlotte was claiming was wrong. What she nearly lost wasn’t Charlotte’s loss, but her own, and it wasn’t an attack by her friend, but by the Duke.
It was true that she enjoyed certain comforts thanks to Edwin, but everything was part of his plan.
He had calculated and planned it all, and he was here before her eyes to avenge what had happened fourteen years ago. So there was nothing to be thankful or sorry for. What could she be thankful for if she was going to die at the hands of the Duke anyway?
“You’re being excessive. This isn’t something to argue with Miss Windler about, so please step aside. This is between the Duke and me.”
Vivianne suppressed the flames in her heart and continued to speak calmly. She wanted to resolve the situation with Charlotte quickly. But Charlotte, scoffing as she approached, had no intention of backing down from the confrontation.
“Excessive, you say? Did I say anything wrong? You should be ashamed of yourself. Where on earth do you find the nerve to speak so boldly when you can’t even control your own friend who caused this mess?”
“Don’t speak carelessly when you know nothing. This is your final warning. Step aside.”
When Charlotte still refused to let her pass, Vivianne gritted her teeth. Ignoring Charlotte was the best option, but her steps toward Edwin were blocked by a firm grip on her arm.
As Vivianne looked down at Charlotte, who was now standing even closer, Charlotte whispered bitterly.
“And if I don’t move, what are you going to do about it?”
Charlotte tightened her grip on Vivianne’s thin arm, her strength surprising given her small frame.
Just as Vivianne’s brows furrowed in pain—
“Charlotte.”
The low voice that broke through their standoff caused Charlotte to release Vivianne’s arm with a toss. Vivianne turned her head, rubbing the arm that had been held.
Charlotte looked back at Edwin, who pointed with his eyes toward the open door. Charlotte’s angry gaze wavered.
Vivianne Aveline, who had brought a friend to the manor and allowed him to point a gun at someone else, did not seem to understand the gratitude she owed for having received clothing, food, and shelter. She dared to throw the gold coins back at the manor’s owner, who had covered up her friend’s mistake. And now, instead of directing her anger at the person truly at fault, she had directed it at someone else.
When Charlotte refused to budge, Edwin glanced at Sophie, who was nervously hovering behind Vivianne, signaling her to escort Charlotte out of the study.
“Your Grace!”
Charlotte’s resentful tone filled the study upon seeing this.
Sophie approached her cautiously, whispering soothingly, but Charlotte roughly shrugged off Sophie’s arm.
“Did I do something wrong? Why am I the one who has to leave? You should kick her out! Didn’t she try to kill you, Your Grace?”
“Charlotte.”
Charlotte had no intention of hiding her hostility toward Vivianne.
Edwin, now exhausted, looked slightly more annoyed and sighed softly.
“Get out.”
The command, sharp as a dagger, left a sting in her heart. Forced to turn around, Charlotte pushed Vivianne’s shoulder and marched out of the study. Sophie hurriedly followed, closing the door behind them until all the noise disappeared.
Slowly letting go of her arm, Vivianne turned to face Edwin, but despite her initial momentum, she didn’t move any closer to him.
Vivianne, keeping her distance, gazed into his blue eyes with quiet resolve. The detached, almost mocking coldness he displayed, as if nothing had happened, made Vivianne’s heart boil.
“Isn’t your goal to take revenge on me and my family for what happened fourteen years ago?”
Her voice, heated by rising emotions, trembled slightly.
“I can accept it calmly. If killing me a hundred times over, as you promised back then, would ease your burning resentment and the pain of old wounds, I would gladly die a hundred times. But to send someone I love to their doom, just for revenge, just to torment me—I cannot forgive that.”
Vivianne’s eyes, struggling to keep calm, turned fierce. Edwin, with his brows slightly furrowed, scoffed.
“Love?”
“Because of the people I love, you lost the ones you loved. I’ll accept being a sinner in your eyes as much as you want. I never resented you for deceiving my mother and forcing her into a huge debt. That debt—I could pay it off myself. And when I die by your hand, it will end there.”
Vivianne’s voice quivered as she clutched the pale green dress tightly. Her rebellious expression, trembling with rage as she clutched the skirt, was strangely satisfying to Edwin.
Vivianne was easily angered when someone close to her was threatened.
Recalling how she had raised her voice to defend her family against insults at the dinner table, Edwin understood her fully now.
“But if you drag Theo, an innocent person, into this and use him as a pawn in your revenge… I won’t stand for it. Don’t involve people who have nothing to do with our business.”
Vivianne spoke firmly, but her eyes were red. She was on the verge of tears, but she held them back so well that Edwin almost felt the need to praise her for her restraint.
Should I make her cry, or not?
After a moment of contemplation, Edwin’s lips curled into a small smile as he looked down at the gold coin at his feet. He pushed it with his foot, and the coin slid across the floor, stopping in front of Vivianne’s shoe.
A malicious tone descended upon Vivianne. Though the cold command made her thin shoulders flinch, she felt that today, she had to break free from her obligation to obey him.
“I won’t be toyed with by your games any longer, so if you’re going to take revenge…”
“Killing Theo Evans would be easy. I could leave him barely alive if I wanted. Earlier, I even thought about burning down the tailor shop. Who knows,” Edwin smirked and shrugged nonchalantly.
Vivianne’s face went pale with shock, and her lips, drained of color, quivered pitifully.
“Or maybe I should take a more refined approach? Everyone saw that Theo Evans pointed a gun at me, so there were enough witnesses. All we have to do is bring him to justice, and hanging is a foregone conclusion.”
Vivianne’s imaginative mind brought tears to her eyes almost immediately. Though Theo Evans was still alive and well, it was as if she already believed him dead. For someone she claimed to love deeply, her tears didn’t seem quite as fervent. Or was that just his impression?
“Still not going to pick it up?”
Resentment built up inside her chest. She reluctantly bent her knees, looking at the gold coins that had fallen in front of her feet. As she clutched one tightly and sobbed heavy tears, Edwin smiled with satisfaction.
“I’d rather… you kill me now. If you really must eat me, then yes. I’ll fatten up as much as you want, Duke.”
Edwin burst out laughing at her sudden words, but Vivianne continued speaking, unfazed.
“If anything happens to Theo, I can’t go on, Your Grace. I came all this way, fleeing from King Mayr, only for my father to go missing and my mother never to return. If something happens to Theo as well, I… truly…”
As Vivianne retraced everything, she realized that she was the cause of it all.
When rumors spread that Mayr wanted her as his mistress, she should have reassured her worried parents and agreed to it, saying that if it was what was best for the family, she would accept it. Now, unable to turn back time, all that remained were bitter regrets and tears.
“So please, don’t involve innocent people. I’m asking you this favor.”
The anger in Vivianne had long faded, replaced instead by a raw, overwhelming anxiety. She felt like crying, but she really shouldn’t. Vivianne looked pitiful, not realizing she was in no position to make such a plea.
“Innocent people?”
Edwin straightened up from where he had been leaning on the desk and took a deliberate step forward. Vivianne lowered her gaze, following the sound of his footsteps as his shoes softly brushed past her. She glanced back at him, aware of his presence behind her.
Edwin’s eyes were on the study wall. To be exact, he was looking up at Vivianne’s portrait hanging there as he stood in front of it.
“Did Evans say that? That Baytness pointed a gun at him, who has done nothing wrong?”
At Edwin’s question, Vivianne’s eyes flashed as one fact crossed her mind amid his relaxed yet arrogant demeanor.
“Sorry, but I am the victim of today’s incident. So, purely for justice’s sake, should I bring Theo Evans to the execution block, since I have no choice?”
“Your—Your Grace…”
“Listen carefully, Miss Aveline. Since you don’t seem to know, I’ll explain.”
Vivianne’s heart sank to the depths of despair. What she had feared from the start was Theo coming face-to-face with Edwin. She had been worried that Theo, who sometimes couldn’t control his anger, would suddenly confront Edwin about the incident in the carriage.
“Theo Evans asked me about it. About what happened in the carriage that rainy day.”
Vivianne’s legs wobbled. Steadying herself, she closed her eyes tightly, her breathing shaky.
Edwin likely hadn’t hidden what happened that day, so Theo must have learned about it. He must have found out what happened in the carriage that day.
And after that, what did Theo do? Once Theo learned that the Duke had choked me, what action did he take against him?
“When I told him I’d strangled you…”
Edwin’s calm voice confirmed her worst fears, causing Vivianne to gasp.
“He said he’d kill me.”
With that final, decisive blow, Edwin brought an end to the day’s events.
“So now, tell me, Miss Aveline.”
“…”
“Who is the perpetrator, and who is the victim?”
At that moment, with her head bowed and her lips trembling, a large hand suddenly entered her line of sight. Before Vivianne could make sense of the situation, her body was yanked forward, forcing her to lift her head.
The distance between her and Edwin was now only a hand’s length.
His large hand gripped the skirt of the dress Theo had given her as a gift, pulling her into his dangerous proximity.
“Wh-What are you…?”
Vivianne, flustered, twisted her body in an attempt to free her skirt from Edwin’s grip, but it was a futile effort.
“Actually, you should be grateful for my patience instead of throwing the gold coins I gave to Evans back at me.”
“Your Grace, please… my dress…”
“What was it you said earlier? That I deceived and coaxed your mother into debt? That’s not something to blame on me. You should blame your incompetent father, who left you no choice but to borrow money, even knowing I’m a survivor of Raven.”
A dark shadow fell over her gray eyes. Before she could fully comprehend the truth, she saw the murderous intent in his blue gaze as he looked down at her. For the first time, she felt an instinctive fear that she might actually die, and her eyes squeezed shut.
“Because of you, I now want to kill Theo Evans. Yes, just as you said, the death of someone unrelated to our business is unnecessary. Then… what must be done to keep Theo Evans alive?”
With her vision blocked, her other senses heightened. She felt the intense grip of his hand holding her skirt, the friction as he tightened his hold, and the metallic taste flooding her mouth from the wound she’d caused by biting the inside of her lip.
Through the haze of despair consuming her, Edwin’s scent grew stronger.
“Wouldn’t everything come to an end if you were the one to die first?”
With another forceful tug on her skirt, her frail body was pulled harshly against his unyielding body.
The man’s scent overwhelmed her senses until it was all she could feel.
“Did you say you’d gain as much weight as I want?”
Vivianne slowly opened her tightly shut eyes and looked at him.
The distance between them was closer than she had imagined. Just as she twisted her body in another attempt to resist, his hand gripped her firmly, seizing her with an unfamiliar, unsettling touch. Vivianne’s eyes widened as she looked down, dazed, at the rough hand holding her with such force.
“Look carefully.”
Then he released her as though discarding a piece of meat. He stared at his own hand, which had treated her with such disregard, and then extended it toward her.
“Come back to me full. When the time comes, you can die. And then, in return, Theo Evans will live.”
Her numb eyes traced the line from his palm to Edwin’s blue eyes. Perhaps because of their proximity, she noticed a hint of green in his gaze—a detail she hadn’t seen before, despite once believing his eyes were purely blue.
