Chapter 43
The Protagonist of a Life Reversal
Yuan stared blankly up at his eyes, swirling like waves.
...What did I just hear?
As she sorted through her confused thoughts, each word he had chosen and uttered was enough to make Yuan's face flush red.
'Is he really worried?'
Yuan tried to find sincerity in Klaud's eyes.
Was this the same man who coldly told her not to cross the line?
Who allowed her to leave the Mansion and bury his dog as she pleased?
Even though she had returned to the bedroom like a drenched rat, later than the time they had agreed upon every day.
'The reason he told me to just leave today was because he thought it would be difficult for me if I slept with him? Is that why he's so angry now?'
Yuan stood there for a moment, feeling as if she had been struck on the back of the head.
When Yuan didn't avert her gaze, she saw Klaud's face redden this time.
Her body still trembled from the lingering cold, but her heart filled with a warm light.
Yuan took Klaud's arm and led him to the mirror hidden behind a large potted plant.
In the process, she absorbed a great deal of the pain that remained on his face.
Although it was still blotchy, his face was much cleaner than when Lancelot had been startled last time.
Yuan urged his gaze, which was fixed on her hand holding his arm, towards the mirror.
"Am I disgusting?"
He stared at Yuan instead of the mirror.
Yuan pulled his arm harder, shaking it.
"Am I as difficult to look at as you think, Your Highness?"
After hesitating, Klaud very slowly shifted his gaze towards the mirror.
His body, which had been dragged along without resistance, suddenly tensed up.
Yuan suppressed the pain she had drawn from him and looked at him in the mirror.
At this point, his face was good enough to make the excuse that the marks were left from an illness he had suffered as a child.
If she took it a few more times, she could cleanse the traces of pain on his face, if not all the pain itself.
If the biggest reason for confining him was these marks, Yuan was willing to endure it.
Considering that he had been pierced by arrows to the point of almost having his limbs severed because he was involved with Yuan, this was pain she could sufficiently bear.
She could bury the pain and screams in her heart and take them out little by little when she was alone.
It would lessen the guilt, and his face would become cleaner.
So, if Klaud stood in the beautifully decorated garden, in the western Annex that had been cleansed as much as the marks on his face, and smiled at her even once.
If things went that way, Yuan felt like she could live gratefully for her new family and home, no matter what cold words he spoke.
Without him constantly asking 'why?' like that, they could become a family where things were natural.
"I wish you could live like other people, Your Highness."
Yuan wanted to live like other people.
An imperfect family. Even in a home that everyone pointed fingers at as desolate.
She wanted it.
Yes, Yuan Pellieresse wanted those things.
Not in a place where she was exploited and lived miserably by strangers brought in by her uncle.
She wanted to have it here, where even if she suffered, she could choose it herself and feel gratified if the other person was even a little happy.
"You said that no one likes being in pain."
"......"
"You don't like being in pain either, do you, Your Highness?"
She wanted him to rely on her, to accept her kindness, to share the pain, and to accept her as family.
Instead of pushing her far away with a single phrase like 'don't cross the line' and being as isolated as if he were on a lonely island.
She wanted them to be by each other's side, sharing warmth even if they were in a little pain.
Without corroding himself with foolish words like having a strong stomach or even liking her.
She wanted him to reveal his original, beautiful face under the bright sun and smile at her without hesitation.
"It's foolish not to rely on me when you can."
"......"
"Ordinary people... everyone else lives like that. They willingly drink any medicine, whether it's cheap or expensive, if it can keep them from being in pain. No matter what side effects there may be."
"Side effects."
"It seems that the side effect for you, Your Highness, manifests as words of suspicion towards me, who keeps saying I'm okay."
"......"
"It's very late, Your Highness."
If Klaud wasn't going to doubt her abilities, he needed to drink tea and perform the ritual of touching him, even though she had already taken more than her share of pain for today.
"If you consider yourself ugly, Your Highness, how about we call it even if I don't wash up?"
It was a clumsy seduction.
Klaud looked like he had a lot to say.
Yuan opened her mouth first to stop him from speaking.
"Let's live like that."
"......"
"Ordinary, like other people."
Yuan handed Klaud the vial in her arms.
Klaud stared at the vial for a long time before swallowing it as if he were drinking poison.
Then, he stood still and stared intently at her in the mirror. At her, looking like a pathetic, drenched rat.
Yuan's gaze lingered on his lips, which had a little brown medicine on them, before she slowly wrapped her arms around his back from behind.
Yuan's warmth, which had become slightly dry and warm, enveloped his back.
Klaud's eyes blinked slowly.
Yuan absorbed a little more pain, watching until the end as his eyes, which were straining not to fall asleep, fluttered shut.
"Lady Regina. What is that?"
"Oh, I meant to put it away, look at my forgetfulness."
"Is that perhaps... a personal letter from the First Prince?"
Regina smiled secretly as she pretended to put away Bolonico's letter of greeting, which she had deliberately left out.
A small commotion arose among the young ladies who had just turned twenty.
Regina was holding tea parties almost every day in preparation for the debutante ball to be held soon in the Imperial Palace.
It was a time when rumors were spreading that a young lady who had not yet formally debuted into society had caught the eye of the First Prince Bolonico.
At first, she felt uneasy, as if she were telling lies with the First Prince's favor behind her.
But as if to quell Regina's anxiety, the First Prince Bolonico was quite proactive.
"Is it true that His Highness has bestowed upon you not only the dress you will wear at the debutante ball this time, but also all the shoes and hair accessories, Lady Regina?"
"What I heard was that the two of you attend music salons in the capital every week, but is there anything more these days?"
The rumors spread quickly and widely.
The First Prince Bolonico did not bother to deliver the letters secretly, nor did he react even when exaggerated or non-existent facts were circulating.
The same was true for Regina.
"I'm embarrassed. I can only say that when we exchange thoughts with good friendship, rumors that are different from the truth sometimes spread."
The scandal with the First Prince Bolonico was a boon for Regina.
Her mother, Priscilla, was originally the daughter of a merchant family, so she was subtly looked down upon in society.
But as soon as her daughter became involved with the First Prince, invitations to tea parties poured in from the haughty aristocratic families, so she had been in high spirits lately.
Naturally, there was speculation that Regina Pellieresse would be the most watched talent at the upcoming Imperial Palace debutante ball.
In short, Regina's value was skyrocketing with the First Prince Bolonico behind her.
Her father, Count Pellieresse, was also somehow managing to get through the difficult period due to Yuan's absence.
That too was thanks to Bolonico's name value.
"I wonder if Grand Duchess Ariesta will be broken off because of this."
"Oh my, strictly speaking, isn't it not a 'broken engagement'? You haven't even had an engagement ceremony, have you?"
"They say true love comes late. Maybe they're not meant to be."
Regina thought that she wanted to drink sweet juice rather than tasteless tea and tried to listen to anything she could pick up.
'Grand Duchess Ariesta.'
When Igor Euphris became Emperor, the one who took over the position of Grand Duke of the North, which he had held, was Count Drietor, the current Drietor Grand Duke.
Ariesta was the only daughter of that Drietor Grand Duke and the protagonist of a life reversal, who had instantly become a Grand Duchess from a Countess's daughter.
For a very brief moment, Regina chuckled, thinking that Grand Duchess Ariesta's situation was somewhat similar to her own.
She too was the protagonist of a life reversal, having gone from a commoner to a noble lady.
"Wasn't the First Prince the true love that came late for Grand Duchess Ariesta? Originally, the Grand Duchess was the Deposed Emperor's-."
As soon as the story of the Deposed Emperor came up, the atmosphere of the tea party became heavy.
Regina's eyes lit up at the welcome story, and she straightened her back.
"Is there something between Grand Duchess Ariesta and the Deposed Emperor?"
"The two of them were originally engaged. From a very long time ago. They were on good terms too."
"Then what does it matter. As soon as His Highness became like that, Grand Duchess Ariesta-."
A young lady who liked to gossip lowered her voice and whispered.
"It's a famous anecdote that she went to visit him, screamed, and ran out of that Mansion."
Sighs of pity and giggling laughter. Regina was excited by the news she was hearing for the first time, but she tried not to show it.
"And immediately, rumors spread that the Grand Duchess had become engaged to his cousin, Prince Bolonico. But when you look at the reality, it was all false. The First Prince's true love may be someone else-."
Princess Celetina, who had been sitting primly as if she didn't want to be involved in the gossip, narrowed her eyes as if to gauge Regina and opened her mouth.
"Lady Regina said that she first met 'him', Prince Bolonico, at the wedding anniversary party at the Black Manor, right?"
The suspicious wedding party held at the Black Manor was a place where only selected people could attend, so Regina raised her nose.
The Celetina ducal family was also an Emperor's closest aide family, so they attended, but she heard that the Duke did not want to take his daughter to the harsh Rockenhardt.
"That's right."
"Is the Deposed Emperor really that hideous? How is the Deposed Empress, who is Lady Regina's cousin?"
Regina put down the teacup she was pretending to drink and opened her mouth confidently.
"The Deposed Emperor-."
