Chapter 2
It might appear differently to others, but in my eyes, Alfonsina seemed far from proud or arrogant.
On the contrary, it was evident that she was overly shy and misunderstood. Even by her betrothed. Poor young lady, I'll do my best to assist, so please be well...
Lethias still had an uncertain expression on his face, but he happily nodded nonetheless.
"Okay. If you say so... But if something unpleasant happens, you should talk about it right away, don't keep it to yourself."
"Wow, how kind of you. Okay, don't worry."
Meanwhile, dessert was served. Lethias checked his watch and scratched his head while I was captivated by the colorful cream cakes.
"It's already this time..."
"Why? Do you have another place to go to?"
"I had to stop by the imperial palace for a while. Do you want to take that out? I'll take you to the hotel."
"I’m all right. The scenery is nice, so I'll take my time and go."
"But... Will you be okay?"
"I am not a child. Go ahead."
So, our Duke, unfortunately, left first, garnering the attention of all the nearby women as he walked. It wasn't that long after eye patches become popular among all men in the Empire. Earrings, too.
Anyway, the cream is really soft. Chocolate is also excellent... I'll pack a few and give them to Valentina and the people she works with. Hehe...
"Excuse me..."
When I first heard the voice, I thought I was mistaken. But when I saw the hesitant man standing at the entrance to the terrace, it became clear that I was not wrong.
"Long time... no see."
A voice I will never forget, no matter how many years have passed.
Viscount Hippolyte. It was Jerome.
For a few brief but seemingly endless seconds, I was frozen on the spot, staring at the Viscount who appeared out of nowhere.
It was strange.
He seemed so tall back then, but now he looked like a regular middle-aged man. He was about the same height as me, who is quite tall for a woman.
His aqua-colored hair was graying in places, and wrinkles were forming around his jade-colored eyes, revealing his indecisive and unprincipled nature.
Well, perhaps that's due to his already vanished sense of guilt?
After a while, I smiled. Casually. Normally.
"I suppose you were following me?"
Jerome's shoulders twitched.
"It's not like that... I stopped by the store in front of me and happened to see you..."
"So, you came up here yourself to say hello to me? When did you arrive in the capital?"
"...just arrived today. So soon..."
"Are you here to celebrate your nephew's birthday? You must have been busy on Letty-oppa's birthday."
Instead of answering, Jerome moved closer to the table where I was sitting with an awkward and unsteady gait. He had to wait until Lethias disappeared before showing up, even after seeing us.
Whatever happened at Lethias's birthday banquet - or more accurately, everything they witnessed during the official meeting - would have been heard by them long ago.
Flor and several other of their cousins were present.
So, after calculating everything, he mustered the audacity to appear so shamelessly on Benya's birthday.
Perhaps through me, he thought that showing kindness to me would somehow improve his relationship with his nephews.
I never imagined he would act as I expected... Although he came earlier than I had anticipated.
"May I sit down?"
"You may."
Jerome took a seat where Lethias had been sitting just a moment ago. His blurry eyes, resembling a rotting fish, carefully examined my face.
"You've grown up beautifully. All of you..."
"Would you like some cake? You used to send it often in the past, to us. Estelle was very happy."
As I pushed the cake plate forward and smiled, his blurry eyes focused slightly, and a genuine tremor began. He seemed to feel guilty for appearing here, but it was still not enough.
"I am..."
"That sounds right, you made sure we didn't feel the cold even in winter. Thanks to you, we could sleep comfortably without even realizing what was happening, and I didn't have to share a bed with your niblings. Isn't that quite right?"
I'll never forget how you insulted even my mother at that time, you jerk. Likewise, it was the Viscount who flinched in place and rolled his eyes as if trying to remember correctly.
Compared to our relationship at that time, everything was completely different, and there was no sense of him raging at me.
"That is, I made a mistake..."
"But I wonder why someone who was so strict with me could be so lenient with others. You saw Letty-oppa's eyes, right? Do you know who dared to do such a thing?"
Silence fell.
Jerome chewed his lips, seemingly unsure of what to do or whether to sit down. I still taunted him with a nonchalant smile. The texture of the cream melting on my tongue was truly delightful.
After a long wait, Jerome finally spoke again. He still sounded hesitant, but compared to earlier, his voice now held a tinge of sadness.
"I don't expect you to understand, but... At that time, I was also immature, and I couldn't find a way to handle it, so I lost my mind. You know, I didn't even agree with it in the first place. I tried my best to find a way to convince my brothers and get you out..."
"Since when were you plotting all this?"
"What?"
"That plan to kill your niblings by using look-alikes. It's impossible that you had only devised such a meticulous scheme after the death of the former Duke, as it was such a short period of time. So, when exactly did it start?"
"I have nothing to do with it..."
"Even if you didn't participate, wouldn't you know? Don't you want to talk?"
I didn't really expect a proper answer, but Jerome unexpectedly started confiding in me. He probably thought I was testing him when I already knew everything.
"As expected, he noticed it before... Well, if it's that child, then it's possible..."
He was referring to Benya, of course.
"It was about two years ago, considering that talk about the first Empress began to surface about a year ago. We didn't know the timing would be so opportune, but when the plague broke out that year..."
"What do you mean about the Empress? What the hell does the poor deceased have to do with this?"
A strange look of bewilderment passed over his face as he uttered his faint sarcasm as if I was trying to play with my words again. However, he continued to talk vaguely about his conclusions.
"So, from the beginning, except for the main family, our relationship with the Empress was... You must have heard that Empress Alicia had a bad relationship with us because she went around in the name of stopping the Serpent's dominance. Of course, the collateral family didn't like that."
"..."
"If we had just pushed our older sister Polonya to become the Empress from the start, none of that trouble would have happened, but my eldest brother was a rare person with little ambition in that respect..."
"So..."
"Looking back now, it's quite funny, but back then everyone was serious in their own way. If things had continued like that, we wondered if it wouldn't be long before we were treated as a mere financier family. As a result, we even conspired with ambition that we should not have, and just in time, the plague broke out... Well, the next one is as you know."
As I know? What the hell do I even know?
As Jerome continued to speak, seemingly unaware that he was rambling, a cold sensation began to spread from the bottom of my ears.
It felt like cold fingers running down my spine, sending shivers through my body and my heart sinking from top to bottom.
Even so, I didn't show it and replied with a hint.
"Therefore... Is all of that true? A viper is not a viper for nothing. I could never have imagined that they would even lay their hands on the empress."
"... I don't think they were going to do that to my eldest brother and sister-in-law. Even though we were making such a plan, we hesitated until the end. However, as soon as he learned that the Empress was sick, our eldest brother immediately noticed and became angry..."
It caused the misfortune that struck the Empire nine years ago, taking many lives, but at the same time, it served as a convenient excuse for them to eliminate their enemy.
It was not without reason that rumors circulated about the Duke of Parke's death. Some believed he had been assassinated by his second wife.
The buzzing in my ears and the throbbing sensation in my stomach intensified. I thought I had already uncovered all the hidden stories from the original work, but it seemed there was more to discover.
Did they know? What about Benya? What about Lethias? Had they also learned about this unbearable, terrible truth?
Knowing their thoroughness, it was hard to believe that Benya hadn't noticed the other factors surrounding our situation at the time.
But even if they suspected foul play, they were likely holding back because there was no concrete evidence to present now. In a world without advanced technology, finding evidence of an assassination from several years ago would be almost impossible.
And even if they did, the matter involved the imperial family, making it nearly impossible to prove their innocence in any conspiracy concocted by the collateral family.
There was only one surefire action that could be taken—blood for blood.
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