DYBAR - Chapter 134 < The Regrets of the Duke of Madelaine >

DYBAR - Chapter 134 < The Regrets of the Dule of Madelaine >

Do Your Best And Regret

In a quiet forest.

Even when the carriage stopped, Giovanni Madeleine clearly knew what he wanted to say.

".... It's not your fault. I made a mistake."

That's what he heard when he knocked on Hazel's door like any other night, not long after he arrived. It was exactly what it said.

When the small face he had been ignoring approached him, Giovanni faced that sadness again and again. And he hoped he could atone.

It was Olivia's choice whether to wipe that sad face or not, but he thought he could at least say he was sorry.

But.

"I don't know what kind of energy you felt, but the three of you will be returning to the capital soon, so I came out to check for myself to prevent unnecessary speculation."

When Giovanni actually faced Olivia, he was even more out of breath than when he had assumed this situation in his head.

Olivia smiled slowly but clearly, facing the Duke with her back straight.

"So, what kind of energy did you feel?"

In an unfamiliar yet polite way, as if she were meeting someone for the first time.

"Olivia...."

Jade looked at Olivia in disbelief. His trembling voice was very heartbreaking. It's almost as if anyone sees them and thinks they have a very close relationship.

Conrad also had a similar face to Jade. His face looks like he didn't sleep well, with dark circles under his eyes. But Olivia was no longer naive enough to be fooled by something like that

Instead, she had doubts.

Why are they coming here and doing this to her?

Did the Imperial Palace really want Ethella? So is he making that face to appease her?

The Duke was looking at Olivia without saying anything. His tightly closed lips trembled a little, but she thought she was mistaken.

"I don't know what kind of energy it is because no one is talking, but I didn't feel any energy in Vikander Castle"

Because that can't be possible.

"I think this is enough to answer the question. Is there anything else you want to say?"

Olivia added casually.

But even after waiting for a few seconds, the Duke did not open his mouth. There was no block in his mouth.

If someone else had said that, she would have worried for a moment, wondering if his body had stiffened.

Although the amethyst-colored eyes staring intently at her were a bit unfamiliar, Olivia decided to stop caring any further. Conrad, who read her expression, hurriedly looked at Olivia and asked her what she was saying.

"Well, Oliv......"

"It's okay. Little Duke."

For a moment, Conrad's eyes twinkled with hurt. Olivia suddenly remembered that something similar had happened in the not-so-distant past.

Of course, then Conrad came forward and ordered her to call himself the Little Duke, and Olivia was hurt by his words.

Olivia laughed softly, and Conrad's cheeks trembled. Apparently, Conrad also recalled the same memory. Ripples rose over amethyst-colored eyes.

Unbelievably, Conrad found her eyes red, and looked again at Duke Madeleine and his two sons.

He always wore perfectly pressed clothes.

What is his intention? 

Only then did Olivia and people who only knew how to look down on people indifferently look at her. Maybe, a little sad.

"If you don't have anything to say, you don't have to. The reason I asked you if you have anything more to say is out of my kindness."

That can't be possible. Olivia smiled lightly and continued her words. Her heart was beating faster than usual. She couldn't tell if this throbbing was anxiety or the age-old excitement that Father's Day gave her.

"In return for the carriage the Duke offered me earlier."

So Olivia drew her lines straighter.

She cannot owe money to others. Jade glared at Olivia at her extremely noble and common sense words.

But there was nothing scary about her downcast eyes.

However, the confusion and hatred intersected and disturbed her. Olivia blurted out her words.

"I heard it from the Duke of Elkin. The Duke unintentionally took the medicine and then spent the night with my mother."

Conrad and Jade's eyes widened. They looked so surprised that she wondered if that was what her face looked like when she first heard about the drug.

Rather, Olivia hoped that the Duke of Madeleine also had a face like that. He was shocked, as if he knew nothing, and hoped that her anger would go in the right direction.

However, the Duke of Madeleine, who should have been most surprised, was looking at her with an extremely calm expression.

Her appetite was bitter. Olivia chuckled.

"The Duke knew."

"Then. If it's not medicine, it can't be."

The Duke sighed softly. The clear memory of that day bound him like a lifelong resentment. It was still the same now. Thanks to this, Giovanni didn't even realize that Olivia's face had blurred for a moment.

It was Olivia's next words that made him realize that he had once again pushed his daughter over the edge.

"So even though you knew, you hated me."

The Duke froze for a moment at the calm muttering. A short laugh passed through the green eyes looking at him.

"Someone slandered the Duke, and because of me, the Duke got dishonorable rumors about me, and a person I really respected died in an accident."

Olivia swallowed her words for a moment. No one got upset when they saw her, even though she inadvertently mentioned the Duchess. Rather, everyone was trembling slightly.

This is really so weird.

Olivia spits out her truth without realizing it.

"I was only six years old at the time."

"..."

"And I'm still only, like, twenty."

Still only twenty.

Every word Olivia said rested on Giovanni's heart like a rock. Her words asking him to come back, all the words she had thought about countless times, were trounced in vain. After a long time, this was the only thing Giovanni could say.

"......I must be very hated."

Olivia was speechless at the answer she couldn't bear to give. Then, as she went down helplessly, she looked at the Duke's shoulder and gave another answer.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Today will be the last time I can say this."

The sound of heavy breathing passed her ears. Olivia couldn't tell whether the breath was Jade's or Conrad's. It wouldn't be a Duke anyway.

Instead, she listened to the sound of the laughter carried by the wind.

It seemed like the festival was still in full swing within the territory. Amidst the laughter of the children, there was the sound of adults singing together, singing songs in a friendly atmosphere, and spending the day feeling the warmth of a friendly touch.

Preparing for the Father's Day festival. It was exactly the Father's Day she had hoped for.

Now Edwin was able to fully enjoy Father's Day. Olivia will enjoy the festival next to him. So it was time to end this meeting.

Olivia smiled slightly and looked in front of her again.

"This is all I want to say. Then, I hope you have a comfortable journey back."

Olivia politely bowed. And she turned around as if she had no regrets. This was her best up to this point.

"Olivia! Wait for a second!"

"I haven't been able to say anything to you yet."

Jade and Conrad spoke alternately as if begging. Their voice was so earnest that it was hard to believe that they were pouring out words to Olivia.

But their younger sister didn't stop walking. When he realized that the end of his steps was a carriage far away, Conrad shouted recklessly.

"Yes, I saw the diary!"

Olivia paused without realizing it. It's a diary... 

She left all her diaries at the mansion except the one she is currently writing.

She didn't know anyone would read it.

Olivia looked at Conrad with her contemptuous eyes. Conrad, who was strong even though he knew what her gaze meant, lowered his head towards Olivia. He said, his hard voice coming out of her.

"As a child, I wasn't supposed to be like that. I'm serious. I told you that......."

What should he say to Olivia that will reach her the most? 

Conrad looked at Olivia for a moment. As soon as she looked at him with her green eyes, Conrad realized what he wanted to say.

"I regret it .."

Regret it.

Olivia pondered Conrad's words with a fresh look on her face.

The 'regret' he talks about doesn't really hit her, is it because this situation is unfamiliar, or is it because she doesn't believe what he said?

Olivia didn't know. But the way he looked at her so earnestly was hitting her hard. He was willing to say he regretted it, but at the same time, she didn't want to hear any more.

She was tired. The reason she ended up talking to people she never wanted to see again was because of Father's Day. She's done talking. Now there was nothing to see, and all she had to do was go back to Vikander.

"Olivia. Please listen to my story just once."

But the voice behind her grew louder, and Olivia's heart pounded like a drumbeat that foreshadowed her anxiety.

Olivia's pace quickened as she headed toward the carriage. She could hear her own breathing rising to the tip of her chin, and she saw Dean walking towards her. The desperate cries behind her also grew louder.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

"Olivia, please!"

At that moment, Olivia stopped walking. Dean started running toward her with a worried look on his face but then stopped. He, with a helpless look on his face, seemed to be slowly driving all the knights around him away, as if chasing them away.

Meanwhile, Olivia recognized words echoing in the forest.

Please, please, and please again.

All the sounds of this night spread like tinnitus. Soon laughter filled her.

A loud laugh was heard that seemed to tear the night sky. For a moment, Jade and Conrad looked at her, forgetting to hold Olivia.

Olivia was smiling brightly.

"Do not."

"What?"

"Those words aren't that light."

"......What do you mean, that....."

"Please."

Olivia said between her teeth. She said no more words than she wanted to say to Madeleine...

"Please, protect me just this once. Don't leave me alone during the banquet."

Now, she can say this while laughing.

The voice she heard in her ear was unfamiliar. Maybe it was because it was the first time she was saying out loud what she had always wanted to say.

But unlike how she felt back then, when she felt like there was dirt all over her body, it wasn't Olivia who was contorting her face now.

The Duke of Madeleine clenched his fists as he stood still and watched his sons. Without realizing it, his hands were shaking.

A moment ago, something about Olivia passed down her face. The desperation of the moment and the smiling face.

That....... This was Olivia from the past, someone whom Giovanni Madeleine had ignored dozens of times.

"Please, just have some juice. This is a juice that I really put a lot of care into."

As the calm voice continued, Giovanni closed his eyes tightly. Like a regurgitation, all the scenes he had ignored came to mind.

It was sharp and intense, incomparable to the tea he occasionally remembered after Olivia left or the afterimage of her in the imperial palace.

"Please, please hang my portrait in one corner of the room."

From the child who glanced around the room as if envious and smiled brightly when their eyes met....

"Please, just look at me once."

Every time he hugged Ethella, the girl was far away and smiled.

"Please, acknowledge me."

At some point, the child came to report on her date with the Crown Prince.

"Please, please, please, father."

The voice calling him was ridiculously dry. Pieces of pierced memories began to fall towards him. 

Olivia was laughing so hard. The process of the child gradually suppressing her laughter was depicted before his eyes.

Looking at those cruel scenes, Giovanni realized. Even this is an illusion created by his guilt.

Because Giovanni never faced Olivia in the pain of those days.

Only when Giovanni became aware of this fact did he realize that the voice that had been pushing them without a breath had stopped.

When he opened his eyes with a burning feeling, Olivia's broken words continued.

"Father. Please let me call you father."

The truth that that child revealed himself.

The Duke looked at Olivia and a chill ran down his spine. Now Olivia's eyes were completely avoiding him.

Where is Olivia looking now?

To catch those eyes that seemed to be leaving forever, the Duke hurriedly called her child's name.

“Come, Livia.”

It was an unfamiliar sensation as if he was calling someone else's name. When he realized this, the Duke felt a sharp, scratchy pain on the inside of his throat.

Olivia smiled brightly.

"...... To me, that was 'please'. Something that has never been done."

"..."

"So don't ask me for favors. That's because it never comes true."

The low murmur was extremely raw. Perhaps because the emotions she had been hiding so closely were revealed, Olivia's eyes turned red.

"I tried to hold back, but why do you keep pushing me like this?"

There were thin tears in her green eyes. At the same time, the Duke could not breathe. What passed his nose was Olivia's sad, tear-like smell.

"Really, I really do. I hate the Duke so much."

It's much thicker and more painful than what he was used to.

Clear tears welled up, threatening to fall at any moment, but Olivia stared at the Duke until the end instead of blinking

"I hate the Duke of Madeleine so much."

As if revealing her sharp inner thoughts was enough, Olivia turned around. Quickly, she walked away.

Meanwhile, Giovanni realized that he had never seen Olivia cry before.

The dam, which had been overflowing, burst. At the same time, accumulated resentment and hatred swept over the Duke of Madeleine.

The original sin was himself, not anyone else.

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