Chapter : 23
Almost all of the servants were talking about me.
I wasn’t sure whether to call them perceptive—or whether I should grab every last one of them and throw them out.
“Sage said the same thing. She said Master has finally grown up. That it feels like your adolescence is over.”
“Adolescence? She said that about you?”
Amon sniffed and smacked his lips.
“She didn’t say it to me directly, but I heard it while I was in Sage’s room. Sage told Jina it was a secret, but I don’t have secrets from you, Master.”
“What a good boy.”
I pinched Amon’s cheek hard and stepped into the shop in front of us.
“An honest Amon deserves a present. The jewelry you’re wearing now will disappear someday, so let’s replace it with something that won’t.”
“Wow!”
Amon cheered and dashed into the jewelry store.
And no sooner had the door closed than it swung wide open again, revealing a familiar face.
“Lady Calsiren. You’ve come.”
A man dressed with suffocating austerity, possessing a face more beautiful than most women. He was standing behind the counter now, but in ten years’ time he would become the master of this place—Adrian.
He smiled brightly, showing neat, even teeth.
“It’s so cold today. To think you walked all the way here. If you had contacted us, I would have sent a carriage.”
“Huh?”
That smile felt ominous. Had I been here recently too?
“Please come in! There are other guests inside as well.”
“No. I want somewhere quiet.”
Ignoring my uneasy feeling, I stepped inside.
Right. What does it matter if I shopped recently? I don’t even remember what I bought.
Before anyone could guide us to a private room, Amon started pointing at various pieces and picking out jewelry.
“Master’s buying me earrings!”
When he bragged about something no one had even asked, Adrian quickly selected three pairs of earrings and a ring, then followed after us.
“You’ve come at the perfect time. Just today, we received jewelry that would suit you beautifully, my lady. The size is small, but—”
“Bring them. We’ll look at the catalog later. Show me the good pieces first.”
“Are you regretting the necklace you looked at last week and left behind?”
I nodded calmly.
“Yes. I thought I should see it again.”
The store’s reception room was decorated more extravagantly than most noble family parlors.
While Amon ate freshly baked bread, Adrian flattered me until his mouth nearly went dry.
“As I mentioned before, only five sets will be made, so changing the gemstones isn’t possible. However, each stone carries its own meaning, and it suits you perfectly, my lady—”
“Fine. I’ll order this one too.”
“We’ll need to engrave it, so it will take some time. Is that all right?”
“That’s fine. But you design it yourself. I don’t want anyone else.”
At my words, Adrian let out a small groan.
He struggled desperately to hide the trembling at the corners of his mouth.
“Understood. I’ll complete it to the best of my ability.”
“Keep the design of this one, but replace the gemstone with the kyanite we saw earlier. Make this brooch tourmaline, and this one star rose quartz. That’s possible, right?”
“Of course. Is there anything we can’t do?”
An hour later, Adrian left the room looking like he wanted to cheer just like Amon had when he first entered the store.
“Master, can’t I change my jewelry right now?”
“Why? What you’re wearing now is much nicer.”
“It’s too small.”
“……”
When I gave my permission, Amon hummed happily and followed Adrian out.
A minuet flowed through the now-quiet room. I leaned back leisurely and flipped through the catalog I hadn’t finished browsing.
Perhaps thanks to the shopping, my body and mind—both of which had felt on the verge of collapse—seemed noticeably better.
“Right. If you’re stressed, you should relieve it.”
Monia would scold me, but this much reward was modest, wasn’t it?
I had lived diligently even at the brink of death, and lately I’d truly been working nonstop, cutting into even my eating and sleeping time.
I was deeply focused on the jewelry when a soft palm covered my eyes.
In an instant, my vision went dark, and a cool fragrance drifted over me.
“Ah…”
I shuddered at the familiar scent of perfume brushing my nose.
“Ren.”
When I sucked in a sharp breath in surprise, a clear laugh fell coolly from above my head.
“So you’re the woman who made Adrian happy?”
“……”
“No matter what, don’t you think you spent a little too much? I can practically hear Monia yelling all the way back at the estate. …Why aren’t you saying anything, Ren? Guess who I am. Come on.”
“Blair.”
As if responding to my cold voice, the warm hand lifted away.
“I knew you’d get it right away.”
Blair lightly kissed the corner of my lips.
When I exhaled, a sigh-like moan slipped out.
Dressed in a white semi-formal suit, her hair tied up high, she smiled brightly down at me.
“Why did you come alone? If you’d called me, I would’ve helped you pick jewelry that suits you.”
“With you? I’d have to be insane.”
“Hmm?”
The moment Blair tilted her head, I struck her cheek with all my strength.
Smack!
A sharp, tearing sound rang out as Blair’s body collapsed to the floor.
“Aah!”
Her high-heeled shoe slipped off, and she fell harder than I’d expected.
Blair lay there, staring blankly into space as if time itself had stopped.
“…?”
As the cherished daughter of a baron, it was probably the first time she’d ever been slapped.
I looked down at her coldly.
A faint rustling sound echoed from the hallway. The door burst open, and a small boy ran in, smiling.
“Master! I heard Lady Blair was coming here—… Huh? Lady Blair?”
Amon, carrying a jewelry box, rushed toward us in shock.
When Amon nearly screamed, Blair finally seemed to come back to her senses.
She laughed hollowly, as if she’d been too startled to even feel pain.
“Ren?”
“Don’t call me by a nickname.”
When I glared at her without blinking, she lowered her brows like a scolded puppy.
“Why…?”
“Why?”
“Yes. You… did you just hit me?”
Even as she spoke the words, her eyes looked dazed, as if she couldn’t accept what had happened.
“Did I make some kind of mistake…?”
“A mistake.”
Her words were so absurd that I found myself mocking them aloud, repeating her words back to her.
When I snorted in contempt, she lightly bit her lip.
“Master, why are you doing this to Lady Blair? Did you fight?”
Amon, who had run to my side, tugged at my hand.
I hid Amon behind my back and took another step toward Blair.
“Blair. How dare you.”
It was something I could never forgive. You killed me.
If the future had unfolded as it originally did, would she have spared my family? A madwoman who, obsessed with a goddess, murdered her lover and her friends?
“Master, don’t fight. I’ll hold Lady Blair down for you.”
“Leave her lying there.”
I gripped Amon’s arm tightly to keep him from approaching Blair.
Blair, who had been lying face-down, moving only her lips, awkwardly pushed herself upright.
“Hah… Ren. You seem… really angry today. Why?”
Even though she asked in a forced bright voice, I stared at her with eyes burning icy blue.
“I told you not to call me by a nickname.”
“Then what should I call you? Should I call you ‘my lady’ too?”
“Just don’t put my name in that filthy mouth of yours.”
“Are you out of your mind? Amon, is this really our Ren?”
Perhaps Amon’s scream had escaped the room, because Blair’s knights began calling her name and pounding on the door.
“Lady Blair. May I come in?”
“Is Lady Clevian inside with you?”
As they made a commotion as if they might break in at any moment, Blair sighed, her face strained as she suppressed her anger.
“Don’t come in! We’re talking privately.”
Even in that moment, she was trying to avoid crossing a line—very much like Blair.
She rubbed her cheek with slender fingers, then glared at me, her face flushed red.
“Ren.”
“I said I don’t permit nicknames.”
“…Fine. Calsiren. You wouldn’t have laid a hand on me without a reason. Tell me why you’re acting like this. If I’m truly at fault, I’ll apologize. But if this turns out to be nothing, you’ll have to take responsibility for your actions.”
Blair spoke through clenched teeth, cutting her words sharply.
She must have been furious—heat flushed red across her exposed collarbone and the backs of her hands.
Unlike her, my voice was deathly pale.
“I don’t need to tell you why I’m angry.”
“Why are you really like this?”
She looked at me with wounded eyes, but even the tears pooling at their corners felt repulsive to me.
Every night, I fell asleep forcing myself to erase the image of Blair killing me, afraid that the moment of my death might appear in my dreams. I couldn’t even sleep for long.
After inflicting on me the agony of having my body torn apart and the humiliation of being trampled alive, she dared ask why, pretending to know nothing?
Not a chance.
You can call my name with an innocent face all you want—I know exactly what kind of person you are.
Ah… if only I could strangle her to death right now.
