DYBAR - Chapter 42 < A Story I Pretend Not To Know >

DYBAR - Chapter 42 < A Story I Pretend Not To Know >

Do Your Best And Regret It

"However. Now there is no need for that."

Olivia's empty voice appeared in Jade's mind at any time. Jade kept asking himself every time he thought of the words that made his heart flutter like a thud.

Why. Why won't Olivia come back? 

And at the end of his thoughts, the person Jade aimed his arrow at was the Empress.

"Your sister had a hard time because of the Empress, right?"

Probably so. Jade had guessed that. The Empress, who was an aristocrat to her core, would not have left Olivia alone, who came from the imperial faction and was labeled an illegitimate child. But he never thought about Olivia's hardships. Because he had a hard time suppressing his anger.

He hated Olivia, who always hovered around him as if she wanted something from him. He became angry every time he saw Olivia calling him brother as if she had never known anything about her taking his mother away from him. 

So Jade always bullied Olivia. He wanted her to please get away from him. Even if he put a dead rat under her bed, chased her out of the house on a rainy day, or even tore up her favorite book.

"Brother!"

Olivia was always the same. That stupid kid of hers always walked around him, smiling. Then, when Olivia became the Crown Prince's fiancée, Jade thought, on the one hand, it worked out. 

He said that the Empress would not like the child, but she still believed that the child was Princess Madeleine.

"My sister's brothers have jewels in their eyes. A purple amethyst for Ethella and a green emerald for Olivia."

... At one time. Because she was his younger sister. 

Jade closed his eyes every time his proud young voice rang through his head. Even then, he thought every choice he had made was the best. 

***

".... Now, what..."

So at this moment in the Princess's palace's drawing room, Jade couldn't believe his ears. The Princess sitting on the wide velvet sofa painted her eye smile in an alluring manner.

"You say I know very well that you don't like half-hearted people?"

For a moment, Jade was out of breath. The Princess's words struck Jade mercilessly.

"As a Princess, I have taken care of that thousand things until now. That scandalous woman seduced Grand Duke Vikander, who was scheduled to marry me. They say people resemble where they were born. How could an illegitimate child born to a lowly dancer go anywhere?"

Unlike the sad, elegant voice, each word was sharp. A thousand things, an illegitimate child, half a thing. Because those harsh words are referring to none other than Olivia. 

Jade looked blankly at the Princess. The Princess smiled with an elegant figure that everyone looked up to.

"How..."

How can she refer to a person with such a word? 

The words Jade wanted to ask were on the tip of his tongue. The Princess laughed bitterly as Jade was unable to properly follow her words.

"Sir. You're not asking me how I knew that? Sir wasn't happy with that half-baby, right? Isn't it Lord Madeleine who was the first to show off?"

The loud falling words pushed Jade to the edge of the cliff. Je treated Olivia poorly as if he was showing off. Jade, who was reflexively trying to deny it, suddenly bit the inside of his mouth hard. The smell of iron rose in his mouth, but Jade couldn't help himself. 

Olivia was treated poorly. And he denied it. Knowing that she would have desperately needed the power of the Madeleine family in that difficult social world. He wanted Olivia to feel shame and pain. So he didn't look back. 

Olivia's debutante suddenly came to mind. The face that looked back at him when the Prince started dancing with another lady.

The fact that he had overlooked without thinking became increasingly clear. As time passed, he remembered how the youthful desperation and anticipation in Olivia's green eyes gradually faded, and the faint resignation became deeper. And eventually...

"I'm not persistent and tenacious. Someday, I will accept you as family. However..."

"Now there is no need for that."

The memory of Olivia saying she no longer wanted to be Madeleine turned into sharp fragments and stabbed Jade. 

When those empty voices filled Jade's head. Jade jumped up. 

The Princess, who was smiling elegantly, looked at Jade curiously, but it didn't even bother her. It shouldn't be his fault that Olivia left. So she can tell her to come back.

"... Lord Madeleine?"

The Princess is called Jade. But Jade walked outside her living room without even hearing that sound. Jade, who always walked proudly, faltered ever so slightly.

He needed someone to ease his guilt...

Despite the Princess's call, Jade Madeleine left the parlor. The Princess blinked her eyes. She couldn't believe this situation was happening right now. Even the maids looked at the open drawing-room door with bewildered faces and lowered their heads.

 "What is happening now?"

The Princess clenched her fists and muttered. Her fingertips trembled at the humiliation that came to her belatedly. She called to ask if there was any way she could take the abandoned mine back from that half-assed person. 

He left her alone like this and left the parlor without permission?

The Princess's eyes became sharp. In an instant, the air in the living room turned bitter. The maids looked at the Princess, not knowing what to do. 

The flower of the imperial palace. The maids in this parlor knew best how beautiful and elegant Princess Reina Franz had a great temperament. It was when the newly painted lips and the sound of breathing became rough.

"How dare you do such a cruel thing to Her Highness the Princess!"

A voice yelling came from behind the Princess. She was Baroness Rujas. The Princess's eyes slightly opened as she heard the words of the Baroness, who had assisted her since she was a child. 

The Baroness, who watched the scene astutely, became exaggeratedly angry. 

"Your Highness. Don't worry about Lord Madeleine. He is not even worth frowning upon."

The Princess's sharp nerves eased slightly as the Baroness sat beside her and combed her hair with a soft comb. That's right. He's not even worth getting angry at.

Aside from Jade Madeleine, she can always come back to the abandoned mine. As the Princess's expression relaxed a little, her maids behind her also came up and chirped. 

"That's right, Your Highness. I can't believe he was such a rude person. It's a waste to be called a war hero."

"...It seems that all those who hold the title of war hero are ruthless."

The maids looked at each other with a little relief at the Princess's slow words. There was a clear look of displeasure, but much of the sharp attitude had disappeared. 

As if gaining momentum, Baroness Rujas spoke sweetly and coaxingly.

"Her Royal Highness. Clear your mind of any other thoughts. I will quickly fetch Count Yubler. In the meantime, how about watching the troupe's stunts?" 

"Troupe's stunts?"

"Yes. The troupe that you enjoyed watching at the Summer Palace is waiting for Her Highness."

It's extreme. The Princess suddenly became cheerful. The abandoned mine and Jade Madeleine's rude attitude that had been bothering her a while ago seemed to have been washed away. 

She has a nanny, Baroness Rujas, and maids who are loyal to her. Nothing would change if just one Olivia disappeared. Even if the abandoned mine is now owned by Olivia Madeleine. The Princess nodded her head with a generous face. 

Then the troupe outside the door came in quickly. The performance has begun...

The troupe's spectacular stunts were in full swing. In one corner of the Princess's living room, one of her maids suddenly looked around at the actors with a puzzled look on her face. Then she walked towards the leader who was far away.

"Captain, I have a question."

"Yes. Please speak, Maid." 

"Wasn't there a brown-haired male actor among the actors? Even though he seemed ordinary, he was a pretty good-looking actor at first glance."

The maid spoke calmly and gave a subtle hint to the leader. It has often been the case that maids who are noble ladies sometimes take theater actors as their lovers. The leader was thinking deeply. 

Ah! 

He interlocked his fingers.

"Oh, he's not an official actor, but a wandering actor who watched me practice for a while. In the Summer Palace, the lead actor had a stomachache for a while, so he appeared as a spare."

"He didn't come in here?"

"Yes. We are not a troupe that dares to invite such an outcast into our solemn palace."

The leader, who did not notice the subtle remark, strongly denied it. In the end, the maid swallowed her regret and turned around. The leader sighed in relief. And he looked at the performance with a disappointed face. A fledgling actor who appeared when he was most needed as if he had just fallen from the sky.

"I can't help it even though I'm sad. It would be nice if we went to the palace together."

"It's okay. It's me, whatever."

The regretful face he saw at the last farewell party came to mind. In the director's mind, immersed in his memories of that day, the memory of telling him how often the Princess sang the troupe when she was drunk seemed to have been washed away.

He also told small stories about how many troupes followed the Princess on her trips under the pretense of her recuperation, and how much money the troupes once selected made...

***

Conrad frowned at Jade as he entered his office.

"Jade, aren't you on shift time?"

"...Brother."

But when Jade called him softly, Conrad thought there was something unusual. His sun-painted face was pale. Conrad put down the document he was looking at and nodded his head toward his aide. 

The quick-witted aide went out of the office as soon as permission was given. Conrad said as the door closed.

"What's the matter. Why is your complexion like that?"

The younger sister had not come to the Duke's residence for several days. Everyone in the mansion was already on edge, and it was a moment when they were worried about their younger sister's sudden strange reaction.

"Brother, you didn't know either."

"What."

"Olivia. That kid is treated like that."

Jade, who had been speaking intermittently, could no longer speak. But Conrad raised his eyebrows. Olivia. Conrad reacted sensitively to the name that made the Duke stand up these days.

"I came because I heard something. Because of what she did."

Jade heard she left for Vikander territory today. Did she explode something more?

But Jade muttered with his dumbfounded face.

"The Princess looked at that kid and said she was half-hearted."

"So."

"That's why, Brother! Not only the Empress but also the Princess said that. Then everyone would have done the same! She said she was half-hearted about Olivia."

"So what."

A cold curse fell on Jade's voice as he screamed out his emotions. Conrad Madeleine, that is, his brother, was a fair man to everyone. A cold, strong, and warm person who takes after his father.

"I hoped so and left her alone."

So Jade couldn't believe it even more. He really didn't want to believe that Conrad really knew everything and left Olivia alone. In that razor-sharp social circle, in front of the Empress and Princess. The person who made Olivia hear so many insults was his older brother. 

Conrad smiled slowly.

"You really didn't know?"

And that's him. Because it's so clear. Jade couldn't say anything. What he pretended not to know has come back in such a painful way. 

As soon as he realized that, Jade clenched his fists. But he couldn't stop his amethyst eyes from turning red. Conrad, who couldn't see his eyes, raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

"The house is already noisy because of Olivia. If you've stopped, come back home now."

Like.... As if nothing happened. 

***

The news that Jade Madeleine had returned to the Duke's residence for the first time in a long time quickly spread around the Duke's residence. 

However, Ethella, who went to see Jade when he did not even show up for dinner, had a hunch. There was a vaguely dangerous aura about Jade as he changed into his uniform as if he had made up his mind. 

Jade was just like Ethella, who stumbled before going to her sister to ask for her forgiveness.

"Where? Olivia."

Ethella sighed. What she had hoped for so much happened too late. Ethella spoke quietly.

"Sister is gone."

"What?"

Jade's eyes widened as if he really didn't know. He could clearly see the dark underside of her eyes as Jade strode towards her.

"Where? To Vikander territory?"

His voice was full of confidence as if that was the only place, but Ethella shook her head.

"I won't tell you that."

“Ethella!”

Despite the spirit of calling her name out loud, Ethella calmly looked at Jade.

"I know. You should have done that a long time ago."

Jade's eyes shook as if he had been caught off guard. Seeing that, Ethella's heart ached even more. She wishes he were just a little, just a little faster.

 No, if only Jade had gone with her when she went. But the unfulfilled family disappeared, untouched, like her afterimage. 

Ethella strengthened her trembling lips. The bridge of her nose twitched.

"...Sister is so kind. She also forgave me for visiting so late. So, I can't tell my brother."

After barely finishing speaking in a trembling voice, Ethella turned her back on Jade without any regrets. It was only when she left Jade's room that she let out a sigh that seemed to soothe her aching stomach.

Let's wait one more day and show it to Brother Jade. Ethella recalled her letter from Olivia.

***

"Miss... A letter has arrived."

Sally was the first to reach Ethella in the middle of the day with a letter from Grand Duke Vikander's residence. It wasn't long before her eyes became bright with anticipation. 

The letters, Sally said, were full of her sister's affection. The letter Olivia sent her was similar. She was going to the territory of Vikander, and if she wanted to write a letter, she should first send it to the Grand Duke's residence. 

Sweet words were written in elegant handwriting. There was only one thing different from Sally's letter. There was another letter that clearly detailed how to write ledgers, budget details, and meetings with the bank president. On the letter was written a request to deliver it to 'Jade Madeleine.' 

Not brother, but Jade Madeleine. 

Ethella, seeing that sentence, clearly understood what her sister was trying to say. As Eshela turned her head, she stepped on the spot where her family portrait, which had been hanging in the hall on the first floor, had disappeared. 

The color of the wall was particularly dark in that exact spot, as if something had been attached and then fallen off. A part of Ethella's heart felt empty, just like that. 

Her father, who ordered the portrait to be thrown away, will never know. The portrait went to Ethella's room. 

Ethella looked around the mansion with her sore eyes. Curtains and beautiful flower decorations that change with each season, windows and hallways that are always neat. The Duke of Madeleine's residence was admired by everyone. How her sister's hands touched every corner of the mansion. 

Now Ethella wouldn't be able to see it anymore.

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