CHAPTER 87……………………….
Ricardo opened his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sunlight.
Alicia had come to apologize, and… hadn’t he heard that the tea she prepared was poisoned?
Memories resurfaced one by one, and he urgently pulled the bell rope.
“Are you all right, young master?”
The doctor examined him, and the servants recounted everything that had happened since he collapsed.
It didn’t feel like a dream, yet when he regained consciousness, the situation had already been settled.
He had even learned the truth about his sister’s death.
As Ricardo listened to the long explanation, he didn’t say a word.
“Then please get some rest.”
Like the ebbing tide, the doctor and servants left, and he was alone.
Before long, Linaria came to visit.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel so well, it’s hard to believe I came back from the brink of death.”
“I heard from the doctor. He said you’ll need rest for a while, so once the Fletchers’ punishment is finished, just focus on recovering.”
Ricardo grew awkwardly quiet.
“The cats are fine. Thankfully, it was the mother cat that ate the poison, so her life isn’t in danger.”
“……”
“She’ll be weak for the rest of her life, but with steady care, she’ll be fine.”
Linaria studied Ricardo’s face.
“I thought it would be the first thing you asked about when you woke up, but… was I wrong?”
“…No, you’re right. That’s such a relief.”
Ricardo fidgeted with the scar on the back of his hand. The scratches from the cat’s claws were almost healed.
“I heard… it was revealed that my sister’s death wasn’t an accident.”
His voice came after a long silence, still staring at the scar as if lost in thought.
“Thank you.”
“It was nothing. I just blurted it out because I felt guilty.”
“If not for you, I wouldn’t even have heard those words blurted out.”
Ricardo gave a self-mocking smile.
Seeing that, Linaria was struck by a sudden thought:
I should have ignored the Fletcher family’s scheme. When they tried to cut off Ricardo’s breath, I should have looked away.
She had come here to kill him.
Opportunities to let him die so naturally would be rare.
She should have let him die.
But she helped him—and because of that, Ricardo was alive now.
Alive… but destined to be a traitor in the future.
“I suppose you must hate the butler… no, my mother.”
Perhaps it was because of Linaria’s serious expression, but Ricardo misunderstood.
“After Father died, and then my sister passed away, Mother was in great distress.”
“……”
“Though I am her son, that emptiness wasn’t something I could fill.”
For a moment, Linaria felt a sense of kinship.
She too had once been weighed down by the grief of failing to fill her late mother’s absence.
“Luckily, I became an Obel. If I’d wanted to run away, I could’ve escaped from her.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Even as Ricardo Obel, I’m still my mother’s son.”
“You truly loved her.”
Even if that love never reached her.
“Perhaps even Alicia’s plan wasn’t out of malice. Because I never made things clear to her, she might have felt driven to it.”
Ricardo blamed himself.
Linaria couldn’t listen any longer.
“Imagine someone slaps you in the face while you’re walking. Would that be your fault?”
“No.”
“Exactly the same.”
“……”
“Love can become a kind of violence too.”
Ricardo’s expression was still clouded, so she changed the subject.
“Father said, if you wish, you don’t need to punish Lady Sophia. She may remain as the housekeeper if you prefer.”
Just in case, she added:
“Father also knows everything about this matter.”
“…And even so, he said that. I can only be grateful to Duke Obel.”
By rights, Sophia too should have been punished for joining in a plot against the heir of Obel.
But he was given the choice out of consideration for Ricardo.
“I’ll take my leave now. Please rest.”
Linaria’s mind grew tangled.
Why did Ricardo betray the family in the future?
It wasn’t for family, nor for a lover, nor for personal gain.
If he were someone who thought only of his own interests, when he realized he’d been poisoned, he would’ve sought a physician—not a veterinarian.
People reveal their truest selves in the face of death.
And so Linaria decided to postpone the plan to kill Ricardo.
As soon as Ricardo regained some strength, he immediately reclaimed the contracts from the imprisoned Fletcher couple.
Next was Alicia’s contract.
“Lord Ricardo.”
Alicia had awoken the same day as him, but the poison she herself had prepared had affected her the most.
The aftereffects left her unable to even hold herself upright.
According to the doctor, she would live like that for the rest of her life.
“Lord Ricardo, please listen to me.”
She still hadn’t let go of her obsession with him.
But Ricardo ignored her words and reached for her hand to reclaim the contract.
At that moment—
“There’s something I couldn’t say that day!”
Alicia clutched his hand tightly.
“I love you! Truly, I do.”
She cried out desperately.
“Alicia.”
Ricardo breathed out her name like a sigh.
“I never loved you. And I likely never will.”
Drip, drip.
Tears streamed down Alicia’s cheeks.
“Why?”
“……”
“Is it because my face displeases you? Because my love wasn’t enough? Because my parents are shallow? Or is it because—”
“None of those are the problem.”
He cut off her rapid-fire excuses.
“My heart simply does not turn to you. Don’t blame anything else.”
“That only makes it more miserable.”
Ricardo said no more. He only reclaimed the contract as Alicia sobbed uncontrollably.
Now she would live the rest of her life with a broken heart and ruined body.
Half of that life would be spent in prison.
And the final matter left was deciding the fate of Ricardo’s mother, Sophia.
Sophia was dismissed from her position as housekeeper of the Obel estate.
It was Ricardo’s decision.
It was surprising—she had been by his side all his life, and he might have kept her there forever.
But no longer. She was sent away to a quiet countryside, where she would spend the rest of her days.
Ricardo declared he would never see her again. She would live a life completely severed from Obel.
“I thought there might be some resistance…”
In the temporary office, Linaria looked out the window at Ricardo.
He was escorting his frail-looking mother, who had grown thinner in just a few days.
Perhaps because she had once witnessed Sophia’s disturbing obsession with her only son, Linaria had expected the woman to lash out and refuse to leave.
After all, from this day on, she would never see her son again.
But Sophia was docile—almost weary.
It seemed both mother and son had resolved to let each other go after this incident.
When the carriage carrying Sophia departed, Linaria turned to leave as well.
“…Hm?”
That was when her eyes met Ricardo’s.
Flustered, not knowing how to react, she saw him striding purposefully somewhere.
Soon, he knocked on the door of her office.
“…I came to see the cats.”
“They’re all asleep.”
As if by silent agreement, neither mentioned Sophia.
Ricardo carefully approached the cats.
The mother cat stirred, opened her eyes briefly at his presence, then closed them again.
She had once clawed him fiercely, but now seemed to recognize that he would not harm her.
“Brother.”
Ricardo, still gazing at the cats, turned his head.
“I had something I wanted to tell you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Something important.”
