Chapter 23 – Somehow, Suspicious People (8)
‘Good thing I came early.’
If I’d arrived exactly on time, he might’ve nitpicked me for it.
I scurried into the library and started to bow in greeting.
But—
“Why do you think Lynette follows you so devotedly?”
Before I could finish bowing, Eclipse shot the question at me.
Frozen halfway up and down, I thought for a moment and answered.
“Because I saved the Saintess’s life.”
“Is that truly the only reason?”
“I can’t think of anything else.”
Still in my awkward half-bow, I heard Eclipse say:
“Alright. Come sit over here.”
“Yes, sir.”
I’d been waiting for that! I scooted to a suitable seat near him.
He let out a shallow sigh, his face a bit darker than usual.
‘Now that I think of it, something felt off since this morning… Did they really fight?’
The scene from earlier flashed in my head.
“Let him hear it. He’ll just think by himself and never say anything anyway. Our Archduke is famously taciturn.”
Lynette had thrown a fit that made no sense, and Eclipse hadn’t corrected her at all.
Both of them had acted unlike their usual selves.
And after that, Eclipse started paying attention to me—well, technically to the teacher who had Lynette’s exclusive attention.
‘This seems serious. I can’t leave it alone.’
Who am I? Elsie Bloomhire, head of the “Original-Plot Destroyers Association.” Which means—
‘I need to step in.’
Watching his expression, I carefully spoke up.
“I may be out of line, Your Grace, but… did you and the Saintess, um, have a quarrel?”
Eclipse flinched slightly.
Anyone could see I’d hit the nail on the head.
‘Knew it. They fought. Definitely.’
For someone who rarely shows emotion to react like that—it meant I’d truly surprised him.
Thinking, ‘Of course,’ I continued.
“This morning, the Saintess’s behavior puzzled me.”
Eclipse’s gaze fixed on me.
To meet that gaze, I went on.
“I wasn’t supposed to see her off. But the Saintess deliberately summoned me.”
“……”
“And then she grabbed my hands in front of everyone and wouldn’t let go. Even with you right there, she kept looking only at me.”
If you two fight, what am I supposed to do? Try to get along!
‘Why are you so determined to follow the original plot?!’
I had a duty to smooth things over, no matter what.
If there was discord between the siblings, my livelihood could be at stake.
That must never happen. Absolutely not.
“But Your Grace said nothing to her. Or perhaps… you couldn’t.”
“……”
“It felt like the Saintess wanted me to notice the conflict between you two. As if she wanted me to see that there was tension.”
Eclipse listened to the end, then, after a long silence, parted his lips.
“You act as if you can read people’s hearts.”
“…!”
Just as I’d pierced his weak spot, he pierced mine.
‘Reading hearts… that’s half true.’
Because I knew the original story, I also knew what conflicts would arise between the siblings.
I was stepping in early to stop it; in a way, you could say I was reading hearts.
“Can witches do that, too?”
His clear glass-like eyes hid beneath lowered lids.
I was about to answer when Eclipse spoke first.
“That must have been a foolish question.”
He sounded more self-mocking than truly curious.
With a bitter little smile, he said:
“Bloomhire.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Lynette… it seems she trusts you quite a lot.”
I thought so too.
I nodded to show I agreed and that I was listening.
“Perhaps even more than she trusts me.”
Excuse me? No way! Do you know how much she trusts you?
For a second I almost snapped in disbelief.
‘This man’s self-esteem is in the basement!’
Eclipse had self-esteem that was ridiculously small for someone his size and status.
And I knew why.
He grew up in an environment where no one acknowledged him.
‘And now, after he’s fallen out with his only family, Lynette, whatever grain of self-esteem he had left must have sunk to the bottom of the ocean.’
Poor man. It’s hard to believe someone like this becomes the final villain.
‘First, make them reconcile. That’s the priority.’
I took a deep breath, determined to pull Eclipse’s sunken self-esteem back up from the deep sea.
“That’s not true.”
At my firm answer, Eclipse’s eyes wavered.
“The Saintess trusts you very much.”
“……”
“On the first day of lessons, she told me this: that Your Grace is absolutely not someone who would disadvantage others out of personal feelings.”
Even in the dark deep, his eyes shone clear.
“No one says that about someone they don’t trust. She could only say that because she trusts you more than anyone.”
Silence fell over the library.
After that, neither of us spoke.
“……”
He stared into space as if lost in thought, then let out a weak smile.
“…I see.”
His lowered lids finally covered those glass-clear eyes completely.
I wanted to keep looking at them. Strangely, it felt disappointing.
“I’m sorry if I let my emotions show.”
…Come again?
This man, who restrains emotions more than anyone, said that?
A man with a very mistaken sense of self-awareness.
“Your Grace, this may be presumptuous, but may I say one more thing?”
Call it meddling if you like.
No—this was meddling. But at the same time, it was my attempt to restore the siblings’ relationship.
I looked at Eclipse with determination and waited.
“Go ahead.”
For Eclipse, that was a rather ready consent.
I must’ve earned some points with our earlier talk.
“The Saintess wants to talk with you.”
The siblings were usually close and spent time together.
But ironically, what they lacked most was conversation.
To be precise: honest conversation.
“My guess is that she wants to share thoughts openly while showing each other your true feelings.”
Someone who only thinks alone and never says anything.
That’s how Lynette described Eclipse.
As a third party, I had to admit—he really did hold back on speaking.
‘He’s the head of a great house; that makes sense. He knows better than anyone how powerful his words are.’
Born a commoner and now standing at the peak of a class-based society—Eclipse.
He surely knew that a single word from him could cost someone not only their job but their life.
But that carefulness ended up being applied to his one and only sister as well.
For an obvious reason.
‘There are so many who dislike Eclipse for being a commoner-born noble. Ugh, those awful people.’
It was all because of the other nobles who looked down on him.
They disliked even the fact that Lynette was close to him.
In social circles, some even called Eclipse “a cast-off shell.”
They said the true butterfly would be the legitimate heir, Lynette, and Eclipse was just the leftover shell she would shed on her way.
‘Calling a person “a shell.”’
I tried to swallow the anger rising inside me… but—
‘No, the more I think about it, the more absurd it is. A shell? Are they insane? Where on earth would you find a “cast-off shell” this kind and this handsome?!’
My temper snapped.
‘Did you feed Eclipse? Did you pay him? All you can do is sip tea and tear people down with your mouths!’
Rage surged to my throat. I silently growled with all my might:
‘How much did you peck at him that he’s careful even about speaking, you jerks!’
How much anxiety do you have to live with to end up like this? In so many ways, he was a pitiful person.
