Chapter 32
“Thank you. At first, I was against it, but ever since you came, the atmosphere in the mansion has improved.”
Kent muttered contentedly.
“I’m sure the young lady is doing better now, right? Is she eating well?”
“The young lady…”
Ray turned slightly towards him as she answered. It was then that Kent noticed her expression was different—she seemed unusually subdued.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Kent asked, swallowing nervously.
Women’s tears always made him tense.
It wasn’t the rational concern of an interested man.
Mixed with his background in a knightly family, where he was raised to be sensitive to sadness, the sight of a woman crying filled him with a deep, unshakable fear.
“Sir, actually, I’ve been waiting here today to say my final goodbye,” Ray said, looking at Kent with sad eyes.
“F-final goodbye…?”
“I’m leaving soon.”
Her nose was red, and her voice was choked. Upon closer inspection, Kent noticed faint tear stains on her cheeks.
Kent’s eyes widened.
“Wait, did your brother come and hit you or something?”
“No, it’s not like that. It’s because of our young lady. I don’t think I’ll be able to serve her for much longer.”
Ray shook her head. Kent’s heart ached as he watched her, a girl who hadn’t even fully grown, wipe away her tears with the back of her hand.
“What do you mean? Isn’t the young lady going to marry Lord Bartol and live in the mansion forever?”
“Well, I’m not so sure.”
Ray gave a bitter smile.
“I’m not sure she’ll even be alive by then.”
“…What?”
“She’s been unwell for a while, and now she can’t even eat properly.”
“That… well, she’ll get better soon, won’t she? The young lady is always so strong.”
Kent responded, recalling the Iris he knew.
“I’ve watched over her in the mansion for years, and she never even flinched at most things.”
“Even when Lord Bartol or Miss Demeyra tormented her, she didn’t seem affected. She just adapted to the situation…”
“You’re wrong, sir.”
Ray replied calmly.
“The young lady cries every night. When no one is around, her pillow gets soaked with tears.”
“W-what?” Kent dropped the cookies he was holding.
Iris cried?
He had always seen her with a calm expression, thinking she had simply accepted her circumstances.
“Why would she suddenly do that…?”
“Because she’s fallen in love,” Ray answered.
“Didn’t you hear? She confessed to His Highness the First Prince.”
“Is that true?”
Kent’s eyes went wide. He had heard the rumors but thought they were just gossip that didn’t concern the servants.
Not long ago, Julius had explained that the First Prince’s visit was for business purposes.
“Yes. But His Highness the First Prince has gone off to war, and now the young lady is being forced into an unwanted marriage.”
“Well, if she marries Lord Bartol, she might be able to live well…”
“Could you do that, knowing it’s her first and last love?” Ray’s words pierced Kent’s heart.
He had always been weak when it came to love. The common theme in melodramatic novels was always love.
As he heard Iris’s story, countless protagonists from novels flashed through his mind.
“Moreover, Lord Bartol loves His Highness the Second Prince.”
“What?”
“Come on, stop pretending you didn’t know. Something happened at the ball, didn’t it?”
“Was that true as well?”
“Yes. So now the young lady faces a life where she can’t give or receive love, where she can’t fulfill her desires. It’s no wonder she thinks death might be better.”
“…”
“She cries so much every day that I think she’s losing her voice. So, I want to ask you for something, sir.”
“…What is it?”
“Please help the young lady die in peace. You can get her some medicine, right?”
“No, no! How could you say that!”
Kent shouted in horror.
“Is that why you came here? I can’t help with that! Never!”
“If you don’t help, you’re a coward, sir,” Ray said.
Her face was chillingly cold.
“Co-coward…?”
“If you do nothing, someone will suffer.”
“….”
“You know it too, don’t you? How much the master and Lord Bartol have tormented the young lady. You’ve seen it for five years, haven’t you?”
Ray lifted her head and stared directly at Kent’s face. The coldness in her gaze made his heart sink.
“You’re just rationalizing, telling yourself it’s okay to stay silent while you witness wrongdoing.”
Every word Ray spoke cut into Kent’s chest.
He could feel the guilt he had buried deep inside starting to rise.
“If you can’t offer any other help, then just let her die. The young lady is suffering more than death right now.”
“W-wait! Alright!”
Kent raised both his hands in surrender.
“I’ll help. But she can’t die.”
“Of course not?”
Kent took a deep breath. Lucilla’s pleas echoed in his ears.
The responsibility he would face once everything was revealed crossed his mind.
But there was no more time for hesitation.
For Kent, nothing would be more emotionally painful than knowing Iris would meet a tragic death because of his failure to act.
And for Kent, emotional pain was the greatest torment.
“I know how to strip away the title of family head.”
He said in a hushed voice. Ray’s eyes instantly brightened as if she had just been waiting for this moment.
“I’ll… I’ll report the master to the royal family. I have proof that he hasn’t been doing his duties properly. If I do, we can stop the marriage.”
He finally spoke the words he had kept buried inside.
He worried whether his report would have the desired effect, but there was no turning back now.
“Really? You swear it? If you lie, the young lady will curse you even as a ghost!”
“I swear, it’s true! So don’t say such scary things…”
“Fine then. Remember your promise.”
Ray jumped to her feet, giving Kent a mischievous smile.
“Wait, when will you report it?”
“Not yet. And keep your voice down.”
Ray pressed her finger to her lips.
“You said you had things to prepare first.”
“Prepare? But you just said the young lady might die…”
“Anyway, don’t go on vacation. Stay at the mansion and wait!”
Having secured his promise, Ray quickly changed her expression and flashed a smile. Without looking back, she dashed into the mansion.
The preparations on her end were almost complete.
According to Iris, ‘they’ would be visiting soon. The ones she had been waiting for.
That would be the right timing.
‘They’ arrived on the twentieth day of Iris’s confinement.
Julius and Lucilla were shouting at each other, their voices raised in anger.
It had been the same routine for nearly three weeks, repeating every day.
“Postponing the wedding?! It needs to be done immediately!” Julius yelled.
“How can we rush the wedding for our only son in such a small, rushed ceremony? We have to maintain some dignity! How much will Madame Wimmer laugh at me?”
Lucilla countered, her voice growing louder in response to Julius’s outburst.
Julius struck back with even more frustration.
“What’s important right now is not the ceremony! We need to finish it, and have Bartol sign a document recognizing his title as Duke, and get that girl’s seal on it!”
Julius struck his chest in frustration.
“If things go wrong, even if it’s strange or embarrassing, we can’t worry about our dignity anymore, you foolish woman!”
“What?! You foolish man! Why are you suddenly acting like this after dragging this out for so long?!”
Lucilla retorted, shocked.
“Because of the vassals…!”
Julius cut off her words and sighed deeply.
“You know as well as I do. Since Iris reached adulthood, the Aphellemion family’s vassals have been subtly waiting for her to inherit the title.”
At the mention of the vassals, Lucilla flinched.
There were many vassals in the Aphellemion family, but she instinctively knew who Julius was referring to.
It had been a long time since she last saw them, but the terrifying image of those vassals sent a chill down her spine.
“We’ve already received letters from them several times. If they find out that we’re keeping Iris confined after she came of age, it’ll be a huge problem.”
“Why would people from the southern regions hear about it? I’ve been blocking everything,” Lucilla replied incredulously.
