"Three years ago, you received a building from the Duke of Linchester."
Summer was approaching. The wind was cool, but the sun was quite warm.
Dresses had shorter sleeves and leather gloves were replaced with thin, short lace gloves.
Millea invited Bridget to join her for tea outdoors.
After dismissing all the maids and attendants, the two sat facing each other under the canopy.
On the tea table was a beautiful vase of flowers arranged by Millea and homemade cookies filled with her sincerity.
Bridget's hand, which had been tilting her teacup, stopped.
She put down her glass and stared at Millea.
"I thought you had stopped investigating."
"I was going to do that. But didn't Bridget ask me to? I was curious. What circumstances would make you volunteer to investigate?"
Bridget's face was more calm than expected.
"You have betrayed His Majesty."
"Yes, I did."
"I don't think you asked me to do background checks to find out. Maybe Bridget has something else to say?"
Millea studied Bridget's expression and eyes delicately.
Even at this moment, Bridget was confessing with her whole body that she was a sinner without a word of refutation or denial.
"The secret that Bridget can't tell... I've been thinking about it. Why is it that you give me the clue but can't tell me, and expect others to solve it?"
"..."
"It seems to me that you love His Majesty very much. What reason could there be to betray that love? Money?"
Bridget let out a sigh.
Millea chuckled and shook her head.
"There is no need to keep good faith with the Duke of Linchester over assets that were taken away without even being able to get a hold of them, so money would be the wrong answer."
"..."
"There must have been someone you had to protect."
Only then did a subtle change occur in Bridget's calm expression. She lifted her lowered gaze.
"The day your family came to visit, it was the first time I saw Bridget lose control of your anger."
Millea had tried to tell Chloe and Leticia that they had been having a small argument at the restaurant.
But since Bridget couldn't control her emotions all day, Millea had no choice but to let the matter slide.
"People who you had to protect by betraying even the ones you loved, but who you no longer wanted to protect. Was it by any chance your family who truly sold you out?"
Tears welled up in Bridget's eyes as she stared at Millea. Her expression fell into a pitiful state.
She had been keeping her mouth shut as if she had put glue on it and had not uttered a single word, but now she finally spoke up.
"At the time, I believed that was the best option."
Millea sighed, squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them.
She had a feeling it would be true, but It was as expected.
"Julian didn't know that my brother was following me. I was the one who led Josh to Julian."
Bridget didn't know Julian's identity. at the time.
Their first encounter was when she saw magic flowing out of an abandoned warehouse at the foot of a mountain, and out of curiosity, she chased after it, only to find him dying.
Julian was like a wild animal. He would growl and attack Bridget when he saw her.
Bridget penetrated his guard over several days and treated him, and Julian, intoxicated by her cleansing power, stopped by the warehouse to see her even after he had fully recovered.
That's how the secret meeting started.
Bridget didn't know what his red eyes meant.
Julian didn't reveal his identity, and Bridget didn't ask either.
Just being together was fun and good. She was satisfied with that.
However, Josh, who had been chasing after Bridget to punish her as her older brother, knew who Julian was the moment he saw his red eyes.
Heir to the curse. If so, royalty. But an unknown boy. There was only one answer.
The King's illegitimate child was having a secret affair with his sister, and the person who would pay the most for that information was Josephine.
It was after she was locked up by Josh on the day of their arranged rendezvous that Bridget discovered Josh's actions.
After hearing the story, Millea let out a deep sigh.
'It's the best.'
What choices could Bridget have made at that time?
Josh was the head of the Florence family. If he died, the Florence family would have fallen.
Millea thought of Lauren and Chloe. What could a widow and two daughters do in a fallen family?
So Bridget, obsessed with the idea that Julian would kill Josh, had only one choice.
Millea felt suffocated. Bridget was probably even more suffocated.
To protect her family, she framed the situation as if she had betrayed them and chose to hurt Julian.
Bridget's crime against Julian was to hide the truth.
Millea now realized why Bridget had been so blind to Julian to the point of self-destruction. It was redemption.
Can she blame Bridget?
'It's annoying. How can the sky be so annoying?"
When Bridget gave a hint, it meant that she acknowledged that it was a difficult task to solve on her own.
Although she felt psychological pressure to the point where she wanted the truth to be revealed, even indirectly, she could not bring about the downfall of her family on her own, so she asked Millea for help...
"Why like this..."
Millea beat her chest as if she was going to burst.
"Why are you so stupid, Bridget? I thought you were so smart, but you're so worthless."
Just by looking at Lauren who had run away crying and Bridget who was very angry, Millea knew that her family was ungrateful and still making unreasonable demands on Bridget.
"I was wondering why you were so devoted to His Majesty, but it turns out you are not devoted to Him alone."
"What is my problem?"
Bridget asked earnestly. She really wanted to know.
Could it be that the reason the situation has become so complicated is be /cause of her? It was a question she had been asking herself over and over again while she was in the convent.
It was so hard for Bridget to find the answer, but Millea gave it to her in a way that was almost disappointingly simple.
"Bridget's problem is that you live for other people."
"..."
"That's why you're being swayed. Excessive altruism actually ruins both yourself and the people around you. That's not good. It's foolish."
"What should I have done...?"
"His Majesty, you should have trusted Julian."
Bridget looked blankly at Millea.
"If you truly loved him, you should have trusted him and asked him for help. He would have done anything for you."
Bridget covered her mouth with both hands. Her face was shocked.
"You believed in your own sacrifice that you would just embrace it and solve it on your own, but you didn't trust the person who actually loved you."
Bridget didn't know.
She really didn't know.
Millea suddenly grabbed her wrist as she was lost in thought and self-reproach, making her look at her.
"Don't blame yourself for the past. You've come too far to sit back and look back, and it's impossible to turn back."
"What should I do...?"
"Look ahead. Find someone who can help you. Trust the people you love. Here I am."
Millea said firmly.
"People can't change overnight. I know very well that you can't abandon your family."
"No, I'm going to cut ties with my family now..."
Millea glared at Bridget with eyes that showed utter distrust.
"Would such a person allow her younger sister to barge into a banquet and allow her family to enter His Majesty's bedroom?"
"..."
"You can't break a relationship alone. If one side clings too tenaciously, it's impossible. Unless you go somewhere far away. Your family is in the capital, and you can't leave here. You can't imprison them, so how can you break a relationship?"
"Then how..."
"It's never easy to abandon your family. They were once your everything, the people you grew up with. It's hard no matter how hard you try to distance yourself from them throughout your life. So I'll help you."
"You're not telling His Majesty the truth?"
"If you do it now, the Florence family will be destroyed. There is a time for confession. Can you be okay with watching your family die at the hands of those you love?"
Bridget bit her lip.
"Look. Let's keep the secret buried until the opportunity to reveal the truth comes while avoiding the worst. I don't know if that opportunity will come while His Majesty is alive."
"Thank you, Millea. I'm sorry."
Julian said the same thing, and so did Bridget.
That wasn't a very pleasant thing for Millea to hear. But what can she do?
"I'll keep an eye on Bridget's family. Trust me."
Until this morning, Millea had been unsure whether she could forgive Bridget for betraying Julian.
But somehow she reached out to Bridget.
These stuffy people.'
Her heart ached.
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