YED Chapter 139

This is why you shouldn’t get sick. When Beatrice finally managed to get up after overcoming several crises leading up to pneumonia, everything had already happened.

Monde Castle was gone. If it had been during the intermediate process, she could have tried to stop it somehow, but her drunk mother had completely sold off their ancestral castle. How foolish!

Beatrice was furious. She raged about why things hadn’t been handled according to her arrangements.

But the response she got was a nonsensical legal interpretation that her mother, the Duchess, took precedence over her, a mere Duke’s daughter, in terms of legal rights.

“I got rid of your father’s corpse, you little wench! You think your mother’s a fool? It was already rotting!”

“That’s not the issue!”

What kind of noble sells their castle? Even her mother, who used to sell building materials years ago, never gave up the ancestral castle. She knew how important it was.

“Stop drinking so much! How much did you drink to sell off the castle! Haven’t you seen the papers? We’re not even nobles anymore! You never sold it before!”

“You think now is the same as before? I’m getting old! You’re getting old too! You haven’t even gotten married yet! I should have sold that thing earlier!”

“Am I merchandise? Just stop drinking and stay quiet!”

She left her mother behind, who was shouting and cursing. This was really bad.

The news of losing the castle had already spread like wildfire through the newspapers, and what alarmed Beatrice most was that she hadn’t received any response from Peon.

The money she had asked from Peon was preparation funds for hosting a grand banquet. She needed to hold a banquet to somehow turn this situation around, dominate social circles, and show everyone she was still going strong!

Beatrice knew very well that this was the way to survive and maintain her source of income.

She had to hold on for now. Her only creditor, the Light Dragon or whatever, said they would forgive her debt if she brought the Empress. She could do it.

‘I can do this.’

All the prophecies about blood, torn and burning roses, and everything breaking were pointing to her. She could do it. But even if she held on until then, she needed money to survive.

Beatrice Ravalley was a noble! A noble who needed money just to breathe each day and maintain dignity! And she needed even more money to get Monde Castle back!

She needed to take money to that cursed Light Dragon’s merchant subordinate and demand Monde Castle back, giving up other real estate in exchange!

Along with money, she’d probably have to sleep with him too. Well, that would be a benefit for Beatrice who had been desiring that man anyway, but that was for later.

‘Mother is the first problem. I wonder if she cleaned up the traces of father’s death properly with that brain of hers!’

What if they got caught? The rumors must have already spread throughout society, and people would have turned their attention to Monde Castle.

She was worried sick about what would happen if her father’s murder was discovered too. The Duchess of Monde, who kept making mistakes and couldn’t keep her mouth shut, was really irritating.

Couldn’t get married? She didn’t “fail” to get married, she “chose” not to! She would sit in the highest position a woman could achieve in this empire!

For now, before that, Beatrice decided to squeeze every last bit out of the sucker she knew to maintain her dignity.

That sucker who arrogantly ignored her letter had recently discovered plenty of gold veins and mines, making his pockets quite full.

She had no choice but to meet the sucker who was either holed up at home or at the royal palace. Beatrice cornered Peon in some corner of the palace. Or at least, she thought she did.

“Why didn’t you reply to my letter?”

How dare he be so arrogant. She should have bound him tighter with the taboo.

“Don’t tell me Kaela prevented you?”

If that blockheaded girl did that, she would break her bones one way or another. Beatrice asked, filled with murderous thoughts.

“I wish that were true. My wife doesn’t interfere with me like that.”

The words “my wife” coming from Peon’s mouth sounded strange to Beatrice’s ears. It was somewhat suggestive too.

It was surprising how much he had changed after marrying that wooden Kaela. Beatrice found herself unconsciously staring at Peon’s handsome lips, mesmerized.

It wasn’t that she wanted to have him despite the prohibition of him being a married man – she felt an urge to become the “my wife” he spoke of. That’s how much Peon stirred her body.

“Did you deliberately ignore it? Ah, did you want me to come find you personally? Well, it has been a while since we met?”

Beatrice let out a sharp laugh.

“I missed you, Peon.”

As she spoke, she placed her hand dripping with the taboo near his chest. The closer to the heart, the more powerfully the spell works.

Beatrice thought she needed to strengthen the spell through a bit more force and a stronger physical connection.

“You called me a son of a b*tch, but you’re barking much better than I ever did.”

He was attractive. At the same time, he was a Peon she still experienced but felt unfamiliar with. He looked down at her without any expression.

“Remove your paw.”

While Beatrice hesitated, Peon sharply knocked away her wrist with his gloved hand. A startled Beatrice stepped back and touched her knocked-away wrist.

“Why didn’t you reply to my letter?”

There are people you don’t even want to exchange words with. But if you don’t, you have to listen to all their one-sided nonsense.

It was better to shut their mouth before they started rambling. Of course, Peon preferred physical methods of shutting mouths.

But he wasn’t just eager to get rid of what was in front of him like before. Sometimes you need to say things you usually wouldn’t.

Even someone as taciturn as him had to say what needed to be said. Of course, since they usually wouldn’t understand at his normal level of speaking, he had to be kind enough to make them understand at their level.

“I’m not free enough to respond to every bit of nonsense.”

“How can you treat me like this? We-we’re friends. I only have you. When I’m struggling so much right now, friends should help each other.”

Those with inflated egos start with ‘I’ right away. Because ‘I’ am struggling, you should help ‘me’. It’s natural for others to help ‘me’, and it’s natural for ‘me’ alone to live well without considering others.

“Friends, what nonsense.”

Peon’s scoffing laugh made Beatrice suddenly afraid. Peon, who had always seemed easy to handle and look down upon, this guy who didn’t even know his own abilities and stupidly crawled on the ground – she felt threatened by someone who used to be her brainwashing target.

When Beatrice felt afraid, she chose to attack more sharply rather than defend. She opened her eyes wide and smiled.

“Why? Dogs should help other dogs. Have you forgotten that you and I are in the same situation?”

We’re on the same side, Peon. I only have you, and you only have me. We need to rely on each other to survive. It was the same tiresome words she always spouted.

Beatrice struggled to bind this huge man with the taboo that wasn’t working well. After contacting the merchant man in Avenro, she had become stronger and gained more knowledge. So she believed she could do it.

“You’re really stupid and make a lot of misunderstandings. Wake up. We were never in the same situation.”

Strange. All the prophecies said she would win, but she didn’t know why her whole body was starting to tremble. Beatrice tried hard to say something. But Peon didn’t let her ramble as she pleased.

“I was just a soulless beast who had to do what you ordered.”

Actually, even expressing it this way was difficult for Peon. Speaking about how his self was broken, how he had to forcibly do things he didn’t want to do, and how in that process he severely hurt the person he loved most – it was too difficult to put into words.

“And you’re still treating me that way.”

His purple eyes filled with derision pointed at the thin white hand that was busily moving.

Could he have noticed the taboo? Beatrice’s pink eyes widened in shock.

That couldn’t be! It was her most powerful spell that she had created since she first started dabbling in magic when she was very young. A spell that prevented the son of a dragon from even realizing the power flowing through his body, and from even thinking about awakening.

“Keep living like that, Beatrice.”

He coldly called out to Beatrice, who was still just confused and unable to properly grasp and accept reality. The name that he had always called warmly with a bit of affection sounded different.

Beatrice got goosebumps for inexplicable reasons. The Peon who would have previously asked about falling in the river first and worried if she was hurt anywhere didn’t say any of those things. How, how could he treat her like this?

“You, you’re saying you won’t help me. You’re saying you’ll betray me.”

Peon, who was about to say there was no betrayal or loyalty in a relationship that never existed, closed his mouth. There was no value in explaining to someone who wouldn’t understand.

“Even though you have so much money! When I’m barely breathing, you won’t even help with that? How can you do this when my mother and I did so much for you!”

“Let me be precise – my mother hired your mother to take care of me, Beatrice. Your mother was a maid following her master’s orders and received generous compensation in return, which is why Monde Castle hadn’t been sold. You should be grateful.”

Beatrice was speechless for the first time. That Peon, that guy who didn’t even know his own abilities and stupidly crawled on the ground, was now treating her like a mere maid’s daughter.

“Besides, I do have a lot of money, but all my money belongs to my wife so I need her permission.”

Peon genuinely smiled as he deliberately referred to Kaela – Kaela who had cried asking for divorce – as ‘my wife’.

“Are you proud of being under your wife’s thumb?”

“Yeah. I’m proud. I’m also proud that my wife is so smart she would never give money to someone like you who borrows without any ability to pay back and lives luxuriously.”

His handsome face was overflowing with pride in his wife.

“So just keep living like that, Beatrice.”

Peon’s expression completely hardened as he looked at Beatrice, who was too dumbfounded to even respond.

“I told you it would be fun when I returned to Craine.”

Beatrice was about to ask when he had ever said that, when she suddenly felt the desolate and cold spring chill of Lusenford.

[It will be fun when I return.]

Peon had said that while watching prisoners being carried out in horrible states.

More than Lusenford.

“Isn’t it fun?”

Beatrice gasped sharply. She wanted to say something, but Peon was already walking away at the far end of the corridor.

****

Kaela gave up dreaming about the future around age twenty-three. No, maybe it was twenty-two.

After her father passed away and she lost everything, and her health didn’t support her in that cold place, she gave up rather quickly. She tried erasing the future where Peon would eventually look back at her if she worked hard enough, but that was the last thing she erased.

She gave up and forgot many dreams. So completely that her numbed mind couldn’t even recall them again. She’s not sure whether forgetting the last remaining dream came first, or forgetting how to dream itself came first.

Her mind had become rigid and wouldn’t move well except for the Grand Duchess duties she had been doing mechanically. She forgot many things. That’s why it was so difficult for Kaela to think about and prepare for the future again.

She had tried to just live a little bit, just a little bit longer without thinking about what comes after, but Peon keeps interfering. While she understood this mentally, she found Peon so annoying. And she found herself twice as annoying for understanding.

He still flaunted his absolute influence over her. Her pathetic self sways back and forth.

Peon probably wouldn’t even waver. The victim mentality and wounds are still deep. That’s why she hated Peon. She hated him who remained everywhere to the point of making her give up on the future.

“Sorry for coming suddenly, Kaela.”

And the majority of that hatred was provided by this woman who was even apologizing for “suddenly barging in” which didn’t suit her at all.

Kaela and Beatrice, who had fallen into the Ener River together at the Crown Prince’s engagement banquet, faced each other in the reception room of the Lusenford townhouse on a hot and humid summer day.

Kaela, who hadn’t done any outside activities since the accident, was wearing thin and comfortable summer indoor clothes with her hair braided and ribboned by Peon that morning, but Beatrice was dressed impeccably from head to toe in an outfit that wouldn’t be out of place in the royal palace.

“I should have asked for permission in advance, right? I’m sorry. How are you feeling?”

Beatrice, whose speech had dropped back to informal from formal, asked about her well-being while pretending to be close.

Cecile and Sir Renard’s eyes anxiously darted around, wondering what Her Highness the Grand Duchess was thinking to allow someone who suddenly barged in demanding to meet her.

Cecile knew Beatrice’s personality very well, and the sharp and well-informed Sir Renard had noticed everything too.

Wasn’t she too dangerous and provocative a person for Her Highness, who was gentle to put it kindly and honestly could collapse or commit suicide at any time?

She had barely used formal speech when His Highness was present, but now with no one around, she immediately switched to informal speech, which was concerning.

Moreover, wasn’t she that famous person who recently went bankrupt after hosting obscene parties and was selling off her house after accumulating massive debt, according to widespread rumors?

“As you can see, I’m recovering. What a hassle this is in summer.”

Kaela responded calmly.

“Right? The medicine tastes awful, and it’s so hot but you have to be all bundled up, it’s really suffocating and difficult.”

For every word Kaela spoke, Beatrice tried her best to speak ten.

It was touchingly different from usual, when she would either take people away saying playing with Kaela wasn’t fun and isolate her, or mock, belittle, and be mean even when speaking to her.

“…but who knew the boat ride would turn out like that? It was such a good idea in this hot weather, but I was sad that it ended up like this for you and me.”

Sad? That couldn’t be true coming from Beatrice. Kaela took a sip of the cold tea mixed with lemon, ginger, syrup, and herbs. Drinking your favorite tea when meeting someone you dislike helps somewhat.

“Sister. What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well…”

Beatrice hesitated, but Kaela knew well that she actually wanted to get to the point quickly.

“I’m not sure if you’ve seen the articles, but our house is having some difficulties right now. Don’t believe the articles, they’re too exaggerated. It’s not that bad. It’s not that bad, but…”

Her pink eyes rolled around. Kaela watched intently as Beatrice tried to read the situation. It was a very interesting sight she had never seen before.

“Still, I need to stop it quickly. I should have someone I can ask for help.”

“But you don’t.”

“Yeah. I don’t, so…could you lend me a little bit? Not much, just enough to put out the urgent fire, and then money will start flowing again.”

Kaela listened silently.

“Just ten million liquettes. Okay?”

Cecile’s jaw dropped as she listened.