Chapter 8
Theodore took a step back and replied.
“Is that so? I did.”
“You did. You said it at the Knights’ Commander inauguration ceremony too. That becoming a knight had been your dream since you were a child.”
The memory of listening to his speech beside Lucas, who was holding his appointment letter, was still vivid.
“…It’s just about possessing beautiful, shining things.”
As he said this, Theodore’s eyes gleamed brighter than I had ever seen before.
Ah, I think I finally understand now. The very reason Theodore tried to kill Lucas.
He must have been consumed by ambition—to eliminate the last remaining bloodline of the imperial family, plunge the empire into chaos, start a civil war, and become king.
To think he would die so senselessly because of the twisted desires of her husband’s subordinate…
But what was even more unjust and heartbreaking than that was the proposal of the man who killed me.
Why on earth was that foolish murderer, Theodore Parhen, so insistent on marrying me?
And why me—Vivian Dartion, nineteen years old, who had nothing to do with beautiful, shining things?
“As you can see, I’m just a cursed woman locked in a basement.”
“To be honest, that’s exactly why I like it.”
“…”
“Because it’s me.”
“Could you speak plainly so I can understand you at once?”
“I’ve already told the Count. As soon as dawn breaks, he is to move your quarters above ground.”
His words left me with an odd feeling.
Because the only one who would ever reach out to me, trapped in darkness, was Lucas.
“…You chose me because you want to play the hero.”
At that, Theodore raised an eyebrow in displeasure and said,
“Does guiding a woman not to be struck and not to be kept in a basement make me some kind of great hero?”
Summoning the last of my strength, I spoke to him in a trembling voice.
“What if that woman is the daughter of your former employee… the one who used to talk back to you? Wouldn’t that change things?”
“And if it did change things, in what way exactly?”
“Well… your former employee would now grovel at your feet. And you could play the savior to his daughter, who lives without ever seeing the light.”
He answered without so much as blinking.
“I’ll take that as a thank you for being your hero.”
“Are you really a businessman? Or are you just a con artist who makes money selling counterfeit goods?”
“Vivian, there’s a great deal I’ll need to teach you about me. I suggest you take some interest in the man who will be your husband.”
“There are two words I will never allow you to use: husband and interest.”
Seeing one corner of Theodore’s mouth curl up at my answer made my blood boil.
“Then would lover be acceptable? Or if not that… perhaps a kiss?”
It seemed he had a perverse taste—the more a woman recoiled, the more satisfied he became.
“Just because you bought me for five million gold doesn’t give you the right to mock me.”
It was true that he frightened me, but I couldn’t show him any opening to exploit.
Even though I still couldn’t meet his eyes while sober, I did my best to speak as clearly and steadily as possible.
After listening quietly, he spoke again.
“That was a joke because you seemed overly tense. I apologize if it made you uncomfortable. But I will definitely clear up the suspicion that I’m a con artist. The trading company I lead, Chalet, is based on gemstone distribution. It is my business ethic to never deal in counterfeits.”
Of all things, gems.
The thought that the precious pearls—almost a symbol of the Olanum Empire—might pass through Theodore’s hands and reach Lucas sent a chill down my spine.
“If I have any personal greed, it is simply to be the first to obtain rare gems that others have yet to discover.”
How could I believe that? Even Theodore, the Knights’ Commander who had sworn to the heavens to uphold the empire’s honor, had changed.
This time, he might start by skimming a few gems, then unable to contain his snowballing greed, he might trample over someone else’s family.
And if Theodore was a greedy businessman, he would try to kill Lucas even faster.
I had to stop him again this time. No matter what it took.
“That’s quite an excessive greed. It can’t be easy to achieve.”
“What if I told you I’ve already achieved it?”
If he had already achieved his goal, did that mean he had already approached Lucas?
At his cryptic words, I lifted my head. Our eyes met, and my body instinctively stiffened. Heat rushed through me, and my temples throbbed.
He continued.
“A rare gem that others haven’t yet discovered… to me, that’s what you look like.”
I knew he was out of his mind, but I didn’t know he could be this shameless.
Deflated, I snapped at him.
“So you’ve acquired a woman for five million gold. What’s next?”
“Hmm, what would be good? Shall we have a child, you and I?”
“What? You’re absolutely…!”
For the first time, my infertility felt like a blessing.
Summoning every ounce of courage I had, I finally managed to force out the words that had gotten stuck.
“I would rather die than bear your child.”
“My, you’ve developed a habit of answering even light teasing seriously.”
“If we’re done talking, please leave. The only advantage of this basement is that no one bothers you when you’re alone. That’s the one thing.”
“…”
“Are you going to take even that away from me?”
Theodore seemed about to step back, but then his gaze fell on my blistered palms, chafed from gripping the reins too tightly. I hid my hands behind my back and explained.
“There’s nothing to see. My skin is thin, so it blisters easily.”
But in an instant, he grabbed my wrist. His hot lips touched the back of my hand and then lifted away. It happened so fast I couldn’t even reach out to stop him.
Dear God. If I committed sins in a past life, punish me some other way, but please answer me. I sought God with earnest heart, but it seemed He had plugged His ears.
I turned to Theodore’s black-haired head as he walked away and muttered inwardly.
‘I must have been momentarily insane to see you overlapping with Arti.’
Whether he knew or not, he said,
“Sleep well.”
As the basement door closed, Theodore leaned against the corridor wall and stood there for a moment. The sensation of her hand still lingered softly on his lips.
He quietly gazed at the sliver of light entering from above the steep staircase leading to the ground floor.
He hoped he had arrived not too late.
Seeing Vivian’s pale, listless face up close felt like a heavy stone pressing down on his chest.
He had to admit, twisting the Count’s arm and throwing him to the ground was quite satisfying.
But he knew that compared to the isolation Vivian had suffered in this mansion, today’s act could not even be called a small revenge.
Theodore climbed the high basement stairs one by one toward the ground, recalling old memories that had probably long since faded from her mind.
‘If you’re going to make fun of that child for being a commoner, don’t serve me either. Get out of this mansion. I’m cursed.’
The precocious nine-year-old Vivian, babbling with her small lips.
‘You can’t stay with me too long. They say the curse might spread. So go away.’
The twelve-year-old Vivian, neurotic, with red veins standing out in her eyes.
‘Do you know how to read this word? Ah, sorry. You’ve never been to the academy either, have you?’
At fourteen, curious Vivian had read through the dictionary he had stolen and secretly placed for her in just two days.
‘You know, I think knight uniforms are the coolest thing in the world.’
She always wore dark clothes, but her bright eyes grew larger and clearer. That’s what she had said.
“Disappointed I’m not a knight?”
Her pale green eyes had trembled violently like a sprout before a storm when she saw his face and realized he was the one who had sent the proposal. Her neatly pinned gray hair. Skin so thin it seemed to show every vein.
Vivian was so excessively beautiful that Theodore almost felt sorry for daring to send a proposal as a mere common-born merchant.
On her delicate hands and arms were several scratches, as if from reins.
When he had approached to take off his jacket for her, the smell of dirt and grass—hastily covered with perfume—had hit him intensely.
Where on earth had she been?
Theodore lowered his head in frustration.
She was the only woman whose heart he could not read through her expression.
He hoped that her anticipation of escaping the basement would outweigh her disappointment in her marriage partner.
Even if he couldn’t show up as a knight on a white horse, he was grateful to have become a man who could bring his own carriage and hold out handfuls of gold coins.
‘I would rather die than bear your child.’
He knew you couldn’t buy someone’s heart with money, but he still hoped those sharp words from her pretty lips weren’t sincere.
As he emerged from the basement as dark as night, the fierce midday sun stung his eyes.
Theodore half-closed his eyes and blinked slowly three times.
Just as Vivian always did in bright light.
Gradually, his stinging eyes began to accept the light.
