Chapter 96
- Refining Emotions
2024.01.04.
Serial killer.
“Ugh…”
Overwhelmed by terror, Anne gasped for breath. She struggled with all her might.
Recent news articles that had been causing a stir came to mind.
To think that the killer who only targeted and murdered vulnerable women was a guest at this Lancelot Hotel.
Could it be, Miss Blanchett too?
Her heart sank, and her mind went blank.
“Uuugh…”
Anne, pale as a sheet, began to thrash with all her strength. But the assailant didn’t budge.
Terrified, Anne struggled and brought her heel down on the stranger’s instep.
“Calm down, Miss Anne. It’s alright, calm down.”
“….”
“Duke Leopold sent me.”
“!”
Anne stopped struggling. Then the man continued.
“Miss Blanchett is with the Duke. Rest assured.”
“….”
“Pack Miss Blanchett’s belongings simply and quietly slip out.”
Dazed, Anne nodded obediently for now. Only then did the man slowly remove his hand.
Anne reached out, grabbed the vase decorated on the sideboard, and turned around.
Standing face to face with the man in Lancelot Hotel uniform, Anne opened her trembling lips.
“How, how can I believe that?”
Suspicious eyes stared straight at the stranger.
“He told me to leave this behind.”
The man picked up the box on the tea table and held it out to Anne.
“Open it and show me.”
Anne commanded, putting strength into the hand holding the long-necked vase.
“Ah…”
With a faint groan, the brass vase fell onto the carpet with a thud.
Miss Blanchett.
A brilliant radiance pierced the eyes and spread in all directions. It was the diamond Tiara that the Marquess had gifted.
“The fever has subsided, and the swelling on her instep has also improved significantly.”
The doctor took a few steps back from the bedside and quietly announced.
The woman who had walked in the rain all night suffered from a fever. It was only natural.
“First of all, she needs plenty of rest.”
Yohan nodded and, with a brief gesture of his chin, indicated that he could leave.
“The Duke also needs rest-.”
Yohan brought his index finger to his lips and silently cut off the doctor’s words.
After the doctor left, Yohan sat down on the chair next to the bed.
The curtains of the windows were all closed, and the bedroom was shrouded in twilight darkness like early evening, with only the lamps emitting a soft glow.
He watched Olivia, who was breathing shallowly, with a calm gaze.
Her face was strikingly pale, as if she had been rescued after falling into a lake.
The situation, no different from that day, even gave the illusion that time had been turned back.
‘…Even if I have nowhere to go… I hate… only you.’
So, she went to the lakeside. Olivia.
You hate me so much that you would rather choose death than have me. That’s how awful I was to you. Olivia.
Yohan reached out towards Olivia, who seemed to be sound asleep.
He slowly brushed the strands of hair clinging to her pale cheeks and neck behind her ears. The earlobe that brushed against his fingertips was hot and soft.
‘If there is anyone who should fall into hell because of this, it is not me, but you, Duke Leopold, yourself.’
Diane Brooke’s curse struck his ears.
Although Diane Brooke had pushed her, Olivia’s life was already hell.
A lowly birth. Horrific abuse. And Diane Brooke. But it was he who had driven her into that hell.
‘…I hate… only you.’
A rough sigh escaped from Yohan’s dry lips.
The undeniable truth that he had come to realize after rushing here through the storm was that.
Yohan held a lukewarm towel in his hand.
As he slowly wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on her round forehead, a familiar name was heard mixed in with her faint breaths.
“…Ed.”
His hand stopped abruptly. Yohan’s face darkened, and his thick eyebrows twitched. His insides slowly twisted.
A sharp gaze was fixed on her slender face.
The newly wrapped bandage was now useless. As he clenched his fist, blood seeped out as if the wound had reopened.
“Ed.”
The voice, seeping in like mist again, was tender and mournful.
He felt like he was being thrown into an icehouse. He slowly composed himself.
Suppressing the urge to shake her awake immediately, Yohan swept back his disheveled hair.
‘Yohan….’
The voice that had searched for him while she was unconscious after falling into the lake was recalled.
Her name, Yohan, Yohan, Yohan, worn out by being called hundreds of times by her lips.
In the eyes of the woman who had always looked only at him and called only him, there was no longer anything that could be called affection.
There was no need for confirmation. From the moment she demanded a divorce. His wife’s eyes had been cleanly refined.
Olivia opened her eyes a couple of times in her dazed state, only to fall asleep again.
Each time, a blurry figure came into view, only to disappear like a phantom when she closed her eyes. She fell asleep again without the strength to gauge whether it was a dream or a hallucination.
Then, after a long time, she woke up. It felt like she had slept for a very long time.
Her grandmother appeared in her dream.
‘Dear. Let’s eat persimmon.’
Twelve-year-old Jian wanted peach-flavored pudding, but all her grandmother could give her was the persimmon she had obtained from the landlord.
Jian took a large spoonful of the persimmon offered by her wrinkled hand with a rice spoon.
The moment she closed her eyes tightly and put it in her mouth, it tasted like sweet peach.
‘It’s like having a meal with a baby. Do you like it that much?’
Surprised, she opened her eyes. Before she knew it, her grandmother’s figure had changed into that man.
In the transparent sunlight pouring through the front window of the Grand Bleu, he tilted his head and smiled.
‘…Ed.’
A large hand slowly reached out and cupped her face. A smooth and warm sensation lifted the tip of her chin.
Her heart began to beat uncontrollably. And at that moment, Edgar disappeared, and she was standing face to face with Sara Pavlova on the center court of Dumblin.
‘You’re a fake. Olivia Blanchett. A fake Queen.’
Olivia opened her eyes wide.
“….”
Only when an unfamiliar ceiling came into her gradually clearing vision did she realize that this was not the suite at the Lancelot Hotel. Come to think of it.
The bewildered Olivia raised her body.
“You’re awake?”
It was a rather indifferent voice. Olivia turned her head towards the sound.
Standing there silently was not a hallucination. It was that man. That meant here. Her widened eyes darted around.
Could it possibly be the Leopold Hotel? The thought alone was terrifying.
As if he had noticed her gaze, he explained.
“Rest assured. It’s a Manor House on the outskirts of Litten.”
“…The clothes.”
“Rest assured about that too.”
Olivia, looking down at her body, which had been changed into pajamas, raised her eyes. Yohan was also neatly dressed.
Wearing a black sling over a crisp, unwrinkled shirt, he looked neat. The bandage wrapped around his left hand was also clean.
That was why his bloodshot eyes looked particularly sharp.
“Why are you here?”
Making people uncomfortable.
Olivia glanced briefly at the man’s dark eyes and asked.
“To see you wake up.”
The blunt answer was a little cold. His gaze, unrefined as if he was angry, was prickly.
Olivia turned her gaze away. She slowly scanned the wall to find a clock.
How long had she been like this?
The space, with thick curtains drawn, was difficult to distinguish between day and night.
“Where is Anne?”
Olivia, who had briefly regained consciousness while being moved from the Carriage to the bedroom, had looked for Anne.
‘…I have a favor to ask.’
‘Tell me.’
‘Call Anne.’
“Downstairs.”
“I want to see her.”
“Later. After you eat.”
Yohan, who simply dismissed Olivia’s request, had a meal brought in.
A clear stew with fish meat removed was set on the bedside auxiliary table. He dismissed the servant and personally waited on her.
“Eat.”
Olivia obediently took the spoon. Her bloodless face was pale.
“I can eat alone.”
“You liked it, didn’t you? Being watched over.”
Yohan said quietly, looking at Olivia silently.
“Now… it’s uncomfortable.”
The sound of water filling an empty glass stopped for a moment. Then, the fully filled glass was placed in front of her.
“Eat.”
She didn’t have the strength to argue with the man. Resigned, Olivia listlessly ate the stew.
She decided to focus solely on recovering her strength and getting out of here as soon as possible.
‘I definitely want to defeat the Princess. Even for that, I will definitely win.’
The words she had once vowed to Edgar came to mind.
So perhaps. Although the method was wrong, she activated such a pathetic defense mechanism, saying that it might have been for her own sake.
‘Recruiting Olivia Blanchett was truly a divine move. To think that such a dark horse caught Edgar’s eye. That guy is really lucky.’
It felt like the clear broth was caught in her throat.
‘The operating profit alone is five times that of last year. The clash between the noble Princess and the lowly bastard, he really is a business genius.’
The softly minced fish meat felt like grains of sand.
That can’t be.
“Focus and eat, Olivia.”
“….”
Olivia stared blankly at the half-empty bowl with eyes as cold as a knife’s edge.
Her eyes were red, but she didn’t let go of the firmly held spoon.
Her mind, completely distracted, grated on Yohan’s nerves.
He wanted to grab her wavering blue eyes and pull her towards him.
On the day of the final match, Yohan, who arrived at the stadium one step later than Edgar, tasted a bottomless hell.
The woman who had been his wife, and Edgar.
Before kissing Olivia’s lips, Edgar raised his narrowly opened gray-blue eyes and stared directly at Yohan.
The two men’s gazes collided in the air.
‘Olivia is not allowed.’
‘Then try and stop me.’
Edgar smiled, curving the corners of his eyes smoothly.
With the expression of a man holding a straight flush in a poker game, he lowered his head.
As the silver flashes poured out simultaneously like the fire of a battlefield, Yohan’s eyes sank deeply. More quietly than ever.
Shouldn’t he repay this humiliation?
He took out a single mortal card to turn this game around.
Sara Pavlova.
Yohan, who knew Edgar’s financial details inside out, had already received reports on their transaction details.
He didn’t want to use this royal straight flush if possible, but since the provocation had come from the other side first, Yohan sent an urgent telegram to Sara Pavlova, who had gone down to her hometown.
「Make Olivia aware of their transaction」
And as a result, Olivia was diligently continuing her meal in front of him. Yohan thought that was enough for now.
“But….”
Olivia opened her lips, placing the spoon silently on the plate. Her eyes met his as she raised her head.
Yohan gazed at her silently with a much more relaxed gaze.
“Why were you there?”
“….”
No answer readily came to mind, no matter how much she thought about it. The person who had returned to Rondos. Moreover, in such a state…
Yohan frowned slightly. A moment of silence flowed, and just as he was about to open his lips.
“Olivia!”
At that moment, the bedroom door began to bang loudly as if it would break.
