Translator: Nox

Chapter 99

99. The Perfect and Beautiful Ending

2024.01.07.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of dizziness.

A completely unexpected blow.

Somehow, Yohan opened the door so readily, unlike his usual self. How naive.

Edgar looked up at Olivia, who seemed to be trembling with a chill, with calm eyes.

He didn't say anything.

No, he couldn't.

Hadn't he anticipated this situation?

A sneer escaped him.

Edgar slowly swept back his hair.

Facing the reality of the fear he had tried so hard to ignore and bury, fearing it would go wrong, felt indescribably filthy.

"When... how long were you planning to deceive me?"

Olivia glared at the man, putting strength into her eyes, which were growing hot again.

How foolish had she been? How easy of a woman did he think she was?

"As long as I could."

"..."

"If I could, I was planning to marry you, roll around in bed with you day and night, have children, watch them grow up together, and grow old and die. That's how long I was planning to deceive you."

A night breeze blew suddenly, parting the two and slowly swelling the silk curtains.

The leaves of tropical plants collided, making a sound. Hair scattered by the wind clung to Olivia's cheek.

"So... was it fun?"

Olivia's vision began to blur.

"...Was it fun watching me, like a fool, dance to your tune just because you showed me a little kindness?"

At that moment, Edgar's face contorted.

Uncontrollable irritation swirled within him.

"Don't cry, Olivia."

Edgar momentarily lost it at the sight of the woman's tears, when he should have been begging for forgiveness.

It felt like his heart was being butchered by a sharply honed knife.

The woman cried so painfully. Edgar rubbed his eyes nervously and muttered.

"I said, don't cry.His low, growling voice was anxious, as if about to explode.

"The result was perfect, wasn't it? You went from being a heartless femme fatale to earning the title of Queen of Tennis, and I..."

Edgar paused for a moment.

I...

He chuckled.

I fell in love with a pawn to be used and discarded, along with huge profits.

Really, there couldn't be a more perfect and beautiful ending than this.

Isn't that right, Olivia?

"You didn't lose anything, did you? Neither did I."

Clear tears streamed down her cheeks from eyes that had lost their light. Her soaking face was driving him crazy.

He remembered the woman's eyes that had looked at him like a savior, shining like brilliant starlight. He, who was in reality just an ugly destroyer.

"I'm just that kind of person to begin with."

"..."

"A person who can dare to love you even after doing something like that."

"..."

"That's me."

He didn't care what he did or said, as long as he could keep her by his side.

"I love you. Olivia."

The monotonous sound struck the humid night air and rippled. Like a wave crashing and creating white foam, it swallowed Olivia.

"I love you."

There was no more blind emotion than this for a person starved for affection.

Because that was the same for both the lowly bastard and Edgar.

The child who craved his father's love with tattered eyes had not grown up and was hidden deep somewhere inside him.

It was Olivia who ran to me and kissed me. It was you.

So I have no choice but to love you.

"That is my only sincerity."

You loved a man like this.

Tears welled up with her quickened breath and streamed down Olivia's cheeks.

Such a cruel and selfish man.

Olivia's gaze, which had been wandering in the air, slowly reached Edgar.

Pale moonlight poured down from above, settling into the silence. It was a chilling light that made her eyes ache.

"I regret it."

Her wet eyes blinked slowly.

"Loving you... I regret it."

"..."

Now, of all times.

Edgar chuckled.

"You wavered first, Olivia."

A cold voice flowed from his terribly neat face.

"So. I'm going to stop."

"Stop what?"

The woman, who seemed to be struggling to bear even the weight of the tears hanging in her eyes, slowly opened her lips.

"Let's...

...never see each other again."

The moonlight was obscured by clouds, losing its light. The sound of the wind blowing from the greenery scattered the woman's slender voice.

\\

The Fast Ship carrying Dowager Margaret Wellington was cutting through the calm waves and approaching the docking facility.

Maurice, who had come to greet the Dowager, looked around the far side of the harbor with lingering eyes.

Contrary to his earnest wishes, Yohan was nowhere to be seen.

Maurice, who had been restless since he saw the ship in the distance, broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead and back when he saw the Wellington Matriarch disembarking with her servants and maids.

The late heat was intense.

"You've arrived, Matriarch."

Maurice bowed respectfully and straightened up, his eyes meeting the Wellington Matriarch's cold gaze without any chance of avoiding it.

"Where is Yohan?"

It was as if she had brought the arctic cold with her, and the hot air of Litten seemed to freeze solid. Maurice thought that Johann Leopold must have taken after his mother's side of the family.

"He is staying in Winston. This way."

Margaret clicked her tongue disapprovingly at Maurice, who was politely pointing in the direction where the Carriage was waiting.

"How badly is he hurt? Dr. Biden said he was lucky."

Margaret rubbed her throbbing forehead as she listened to Yohan's condition.

"How on earth are you taking care of him?"

Margaret Wellington's face became stern.

"I am sorry."

"Why on earth did he come to Litten, which was not on the schedule, in that condition? And how did you let him come all the way here without keeping an eye on someone who is not even in good health?"

"...I have no excuse."

Maurice bowed even more deeply than before.

He shouldn't have sent a telegram to Leiden.

Just when his back was about to ache from bowing the whole time, he was able to reach the Carriage.

The Carriage carrying the Wellington Matriarch, the maid, and Maurice began to move carefully through the workers unloading luggage from the wagon.

The Carriage, which had completely escaped the bustling harbor, slowly began to pick up speed towards Golden Avenue.

The twilight sunlight streamed into the silent Carriage.

Margaret gave Maurice, who was sitting rigidly like a well-trained soldier, a short command.

"Let's go to Winston."

"Yes... Y-yes?"

Maurice moistened his lips with his tongue. At the same time, he was frantically racking his brain.

Leaving Johann Leopold alone was a mistake. He should have had people posted inside and outside the bedroom.

The thought of the Wellington Matriarch and the former Leopold Duchess meeting made him feel faint.

Margaret Wellington was a person who had made Yohan's marriage to a lady named Josephine her last task in life.

So, if she witnessed the illegitimate grandson, whom she had not been satisfied with from the beginning, with Blanchett, now that she was divorced, she might grab the back of her neck and slap Blanchett.

"Since you received word that the Matriarch was coming, he is probably coming up here."

He had urgently contacted Winston, but there was no word from Yohan.

What on earth was he thinking? Only Maurice was withering away with anxiety.

"It's too late to leave now. You might get lost along the way, so I think it would be better to go to the hotel first to relieve your fatigue and then meet the Duke."

Maurice watched the Wellington Matriarch anxiously.

"Tell him I'll be there with Yohan tomorrow morning."

"Yes. I will prepare accordingly."

Maurice, who finally swallowed a sigh of relief, was about to lower his gaze to the notebook he had spread out meaninglessly when the Wellington Matriarch asked.

"Was the reason for moving without a schedule because of that child?"

"..."

It was a woman's intuition. Although she was old, Margaret's intuition, which she had sharpened throughout her life, was still highly accurate.

"Ah, no. There was an urgent problem with the hotel-"

"What urgent problem could there be with a hotel that has only been open for a month or so?"

"There was some friction with the Litten City Hall when purchasing the hotel site, and that problem has resurfaced, so she came."

Maurice scratched his nose and stammered out excuses. The Carriage had already entered Golden Avenue.

As Maurice, who had been sweating profusely, turned his head, the banner hanging on the front of the Lancelot Hotel filled his vision.

Olivia Blanchett, the new queen of the Dumblin Championship, smiling brightly while holding a golden trophy, fluttered gently in the breeze.

"I must have lived too long."

The Wellington Matriarch, who had witnessed the end-of-the-century world where illegitimate children were rampant, clicked her tongue.

As if she had neuralgia, the Wellington Matriarch rubbed her throbbing forehead while the Carriage turned the corner of the Pale Hotel.

\\

Olivia, who had fallen asleep after crying for a long time, woke up earlier than usual. The surroundings were tinged with rose color in the light of the newly rising sun.

'I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Rest for today, Olivia.'

Without a word of apology.

Of course, it wasn't a crime that could be forgiven even if he apologized. But this was also a reaction typical of that man.

At first, she was wary, and then she relied on him.

Then her heart fluttered, and she gave her heart like that. Somehow, her first love was too easy.

Without even knowing she was being deceived.

Like a fool.

A bitter smile came to her lips as she recalled the lyrics of a common pop song that easy love is not love.

From the beginning, he was a man she should not have shaken.

She should have suspected it when he swayed too easily, like a leaf fluttering helplessly in the wind.

The events of last night, which felt like a nightmare, felt distant. Olivia hoped that time would pass like this and slowly fade away.

She had lived strong even when her mother abandoned her and when her father passed away.

Love, what is it...

Just like she brushed past that man with limping steps on the balcony.

Just pass by like that. As if she had been in some great love...

Unless it was a great scam she had been caught up in.

The morning glow rippled in the sky beyond the large glass window.

Olivia, who had been staring blankly at the scene, slowly got up. It was when she turned her head to find the wall clock that she sensed someone's presence.

"..."

Her eyes met Johann Leopold's. Olivia's face stiffened.

"By any chance. Is this the only room here?"

"Surely not."

He smiled at the serious question.