(175) Where is hell? (5)
Ariana watched with great amusement as Rachel's lips trembled. It was amusing to see the hand clutching her skirt turn white and her shoulders shake uncontrollably.
Even though Ariana yawned languidly, she did not take her eyes off Rachel. She meticulously took in Rachel's appearance.
Rough skin, hollow eyes, hair more damaged than before, a slightly out-of-fashion dress, and the bracelet and shoes worn at the last party.
The elegant and beautiful Duchess of Bronte, who wore a new dress every time she went out, was no more. The Duchess of Bronte, who was on good terms with her husband and respected by her daughters, had also long since disappeared.
Rachel was walking through hell.
“How could you do this to me?”
The voice trembled as it broke off word by word.
“How could you! How could you act like this toward the mother who gave birth to you!”
“And what about you? How could you treat the daughter you bore like that?”
“I did my best! Don’t you understand? Someone like you shouldn’t have been born! I gave birth to you when no one wanted you, fed you, and raised you. I kept a useless person by my side for over a decade! Where else could someone like you have been treated like a Princess? Yet, because I took you in, you have lived enjoying all of that!”
Ariana gently tilted her head to the side.
Rachel seemed to genuinely believe those words that she had done her best for Ariana.
In the past, she might have been hurt and angry by such words. But now, Rachel's words had no effect on Ariana.
Very good things surrounded Ariana. There was an overflow of people who loved her even if she did nothing.
Sharp words could not pierce their affection.
It was simply astonishing. That Rachel genuinely thought that way. That she felt absolutely no guilt.
“Even beasts repay kindness, so what are you doing? Are you tormenting your younger sibling just because you’ve become the Princess of the East?”
“My younger sibling? Did I have a younger sibling? I’m the youngest of the White family.”
“Victoria! Victoria is your sister, you know.”
Ariana's eyes curved beautifully into a crescent shape.
Rachel thought her words had worked because of the gentle smile.
However, the voice flowing from between the red lips was extremely cold.
“Duchess of Bronte. You seem to be misunderstanding something. I severed ties with the Bronte family four years ago, and there is no connection between you and me. If even you, my birth mother, feel this way, it goes without saying that Victoria, who shares only half of my blood, must feel the same.”
“So... so you’re going to touch my daughter?”
"Who touched it?"
“You’re provoking Victoria from start to finish!”
“Duchess. I never provoked Victoria. I merely defended myself because she was trying to bite me. Think about it. Did I ever make the first move? She is just throwing herself into the fire like a moth to a flame.”
“Still, if it’s you, older sister...”
“Rachel Bronte!”
Ariana raised her voice.
“How long are you going to be so rude?”
“W-w-what? What did you say?”
"Have you forgotten what you constantly told me? You said you wanted to kill me ever since I was in your womb. Don't you remember? You were never my mother for a single moment."
An icy voice struck Rachel. The emanating dignity weighed heavily on her shoulders.
Rachel could not dare to look directly at Ariana, who was looking down at her in front of her.
“Is merely giving birth enough to be a mother? You must know that is not the case. You have never given me even a single shred of the affection that a child ought to have. So I have lived taking that for granted. I have lived believing that it is only natural not to receive affection if I do not prove useful. Do you understand what I mean, Duchess?”
She doesn't know. She doesn't know what Ariana is saying.
All she knows is that Ariana has now completely left her embrace. All that she is no longer Rachel Bronte's daughter.
“If there is something you want from me, prove your worth. If both Victoria and you prove your usefulness to me, who knows? I might even create affection out of thin air to pull you out of that hell.”
"Hell..."
“How is it living without me, Rachel?”
Only then did Rachel raise her head and look at Ariana. Ariana was wearing that meaningful smile she sometimes wore when looking at Victoria.
Her heart sank.
"The husband you were madly in love with is fooling around with another woman, and your two daughters must consider you useless. The Lord of West, whom you still fear, has thrown the Helena you cherish dearly to an old man, and Victoria is going completely berserk."
"You..."
"So, now that you've gotten rid of that daughter who was a thorn in your side, is life bearable?"
"So you're the one who did this!"
Rachel dug her nails and lunged. She jumped over the table between herself and Ariana and reached out her hand toward Ariana's face.
However, before that hand could reach Ariana, a silver sword blocked her path. Rachel, feeling her life threatened even in her rage, recoiled.
“No, Madam.”
A low, husky voice rang out.
"If you hurt the Princess, the lady will die by my hand."
Shini's golden eyes gleamed coldly.
“Even the slightest wound will kill you, Madam. So step back.”
Shini's sword was emitting a chilling aura, as if it were about to sever Rachel's neck at any moment. Rachel felt a shiver run down her neck and stumbled backward, tripping over a table before falling flat on her back.
Ariana and Shini simply watched the scene calmly, neither laughing nor helping. That was even more humiliating.
Rachel slowly got up and looked around.
She hadn't noticed earlier because she was watching Ariana, but behind her stood a massive, black-haired knight glaring at Rachel. With a look that said he would snap her neck if she took just one more step.
She didn't want to admit it, but she had no choice but to.
Ariana was not Rachel's daughter.
The young girl who used to tremble in desperation for Rachel's love is gone. The woman before her is someone whom the Duchess of West dares not even attempt to touch.
“Ariana...”
Princess of the East.
Under the protection of the Northern and Eastern Lords, she had to admit that she was the one holding the leash of the Bronte family—no, Rachel, Victoria, and Helena.
Rachel wasn't completely stupid, so she guessed what had happened from Ariana's words.
Perhaps it was all Ariana's doing that the Lord of the West and the Third Prince went bankrupt after investing in perfume, that Victoria gradually changed, and that Helena was sold to Viscount Alfred.
Does the Western Lord know that fact?
'No, that doesn't matter. Even if he knew, Father wouldn't do anything for our Victoria...'
Rachel knew what a cruel man the Western Lord was. There was no way a man who had used even his own daughter would embrace his granddaughter.
In Rachel's eyes, Victoria was rushing into a fight she could not win. It would not be the Western Lord's will for Victoria to face Ariana.
If the Western Lord finds out that Victoria messed things up while dealing with Ariana, how will he react?
'He'll probably throw her away without looking back.'
Rachel got goosebumps.
Her heart ached at the thought that Victoria, too, would be abandoned like Helena.
No matter how much she slapped her, Victoria was her daughter. Rachel could do anything for her daughter.
"Please..."
Tears stained with shame and humiliation flowed down Rachel's cheeks.
"Please don't touch Victoria."
Ariana stared at the pleading Rachel with a bitter feeling.
Rachel, who had been endlessly cold toward Ariana, was bowing her head for Victoria. Even though she would never have wanted to bow her head to Ariana, she was enduring that humiliation.
What noble and vulgar maternal love this is.
Laughter flowed out naturally.
Hahaha, the echoing laughter was chilling. Rachel shivered but could not lift her head.
Ariana, who had been laughing for a while, said in a languid tone.
“The Duchess has a terrible memory. Didn't I tell you? I never touched Victoria. It is Victoria who is trying to get close to me by any means necessary. You had better go back and keep your children in check.”
Rachel didn't even know how she got into the carriage. By the time she came to her senses, she was already back at the mansion.
Rachel sat motionless on the bed like someone who had lost their mind. The ladies-in-waiting anxiously asked her this and that, but she did not answer.
'Ariana.'
She was a child who could do nothing. She was a child who had never learned a single thing.
The reason she didn't teach hwr was to prevent something like this from happening. She didn't tell her anything so that she wouldn't even dream of revenge.
Rachel knew that someday the Western Lord would use his granddaughters for his own greed.
Ariana was a sacrifice to be offered to the Western Lord. For the sake of the Western Lord's usefulness, she had to exist only as a blunt knife incapable of stabbing her master.
So, she raised Ariana without giving her any affection. That way, she would crave love and act as she told her to.
'But how...?'
It's only four years.
It has been only four years since Ariana left the West.
But how was she able to drag the Western Lord into an incident that would shake the entire continent, and make the pillar of the West falter?
'I suppose the Eastern Lord helped. Judging by her close relationship with the Northern Lord, the Northern Lord's influence must have been significant as well.'
No matter who helped, Ariana was out of Rachel's reach.
She felt a chill down her spine.
On the day Ariana was taken by the Eastern Territory, the Western Lord told them not to worry about her anymore. However, if left alone, Victoria will continue to care about Ariana. As long as Ariana is alive.
'Then just kill her.'
A cold smile played on Rachel's lips.
'Right, I guess I can just kill him.'
Ariana sat quietly with her hands clasped together, then opened her mouth.
“How long are you going to keep walking on eggshells like that?”
Cyrus appeared after Rachel left; although he seemed to have something he wanted to say for a while, he kept glancing nervously at Ariana. His eyes, visible beneath his disheveled silver hair, looked just like a puppy being scolded by its owner.
"I was worried about whether you were okay."
Ariana almost burst out laughing.
There are so many words praising the Iron-blooded Northern Lord, but none of them mentioned him as 'cute.' But why is the man standing before her right now so cute?
“Are you okay? You don’t want to cry?”
The cautious voice snatched away even the unpleasantness that had been lingering like a hangnail. Ariana found it strange that she was actually this fine.
She has always dreamed of a moment like this.
The moment they, having come to walk the hell she once lived in, despair and plead before her. The moment they beg her, just as she did to them.
“I don’t want to cry; it’s just ridiculous. They haven’t experienced even a quarter of the hell I went through, yet they’re acting like the world has collapsed. They’re terrified as if they’ve fallen into hell just because they were embarrassed at a party. It’s funny because it’s amusing and pathetic.”
Cyrus stroked Ariana's cheek as she smiled conspicuously. Ariana closed her eyes and felt his cold body temperature.
"It’s not like I was beaten or starving; it’s not like I’m locked up in a moldy prison without a drop of water or being strangled with a rope, so isn’t it ridiculous that I’m acting like that?"
"Right, it's funny."
“How could they do that?”
Rachel was overflowing with maternal love, enough to bow her head before Ariana for Victoria's sake. She was a Rachel who could endure humiliation for the sake of her daughter.
“I feel sorry even when I see a stranger fall, so how could that woman be like that?”
Cold lips touched her forehead and the bridge of her nose. His lips landed on her eyebrows and eyelids, and on the corners of her eyes and cheeks, as if to comfort her, then pulled away.
Cyrus, having kissed so tightly, spoke softly.
“There is no need to know now. Just live as if you don’t know. Your life will be different from that woman’s.”
Ariana watched with great amusement as Rachel's lips trembled. It was amusing to see the hand clutching her skirt turn white and her shoulders shake uncontrollably.
Even though Ariana yawned languidly, she did not take her eyes off Rachel. She meticulously took in Rachel's appearance.
Rough skin, hollow eyes, hair more damaged than before, a slightly out-of-fashion dress, and the bracelet and shoes worn at the last party.
The elegant and beautiful Duchess of Bronte, who wore a new dress every time she went out, was no more. The Duchess of Bronte, who was on good terms with her husband and respected by her daughters, had also long since disappeared.
Rachel was walking through hell.
“How could you do this to me?”
The voice trembled as it broke off word by word.
“How could you! How could you act like this toward the mother who gave birth to you!”
“And what about you? How could you treat the daughter you bore like that?”
“I did my best! Don’t you understand? Someone like you shouldn’t have been born! I gave birth to you when no one wanted you, fed you, and raised you. I kept a useless person by my side for over a decade! Where else could someone like you have been treated like a Princess? Yet, because I took you in, you have lived enjoying all of that!”
Ariana gently tilted her head to the side.
Rachel seemed to genuinely believe those words that she had done her best for Ariana.
In the past, she might have been hurt and angry by such words. But now, Rachel's words had no effect on Ariana.
Very good things surrounded Ariana. There was an overflow of people who loved her even if she did nothing.
Sharp words could not pierce their affection.
It was simply astonishing. That Rachel genuinely thought that way. That she felt absolutely no guilt.
“Even beasts repay kindness, so what are you doing? Are you tormenting your younger sibling just because you’ve become the Princess of the East?”
“My younger sibling? Did I have a younger sibling? I’m the youngest of the White family.”
“Victoria! Victoria is your sister, you know.”
Ariana's eyes curved beautifully into a crescent shape.
Rachel thought her words had worked because of the gentle smile.
However, the voice flowing from between the red lips was extremely cold.
“Duchess of Bronte. You seem to be misunderstanding something. I severed ties with the Bronte family four years ago, and there is no connection between you and me. If even you, my birth mother, feel this way, it goes without saying that Victoria, who shares only half of my blood, must feel the same.”
“So... so you’re going to touch my daughter?”
"Who touched it?"
“You’re provoking Victoria from start to finish!”
“Duchess. I never provoked Victoria. I merely defended myself because she was trying to bite me. Think about it. Did I ever make the first move? She is just throwing herself into the fire like a moth to a flame.”
“Still, if it’s you, older sister...”
“Rachel Bronte!”
Ariana raised her voice.
“How long are you going to be so rude?”
“W-w-what? What did you say?”
"Have you forgotten what you constantly told me? You said you wanted to kill me ever since I was in your womb. Don't you remember? You were never my mother for a single moment."
An icy voice struck Rachel. The emanating dignity weighed heavily on her shoulders.
Rachel could not dare to look directly at Ariana, who was looking down at her in front of her.
“Is merely giving birth enough to be a mother? You must know that is not the case. You have never given me even a single shred of the affection that a child ought to have. So I have lived taking that for granted. I have lived believing that it is only natural not to receive affection if I do not prove useful. Do you understand what I mean, Duchess?”
She doesn't know. She doesn't know what Ariana is saying.
All she knows is that Ariana has now completely left her embrace. All that she is no longer Rachel Bronte's daughter.
“If there is something you want from me, prove your worth. If both Victoria and you prove your usefulness to me, who knows? I might even create affection out of thin air to pull you out of that hell.”
"Hell..."
“How is it living without me, Rachel?”
Only then did Rachel raise her head and look at Ariana. Ariana was wearing that meaningful smile she sometimes wore when looking at Victoria.
Her heart sank.
"The husband you were madly in love with is fooling around with another woman, and your two daughters must consider you useless. The Lord of West, whom you still fear, has thrown the Helena you cherish dearly to an old man, and Victoria is going completely berserk."
"You..."
"So, now that you've gotten rid of that daughter who was a thorn in your side, is life bearable?"
"So you're the one who did this!"
Rachel dug her nails and lunged. She jumped over the table between herself and Ariana and reached out her hand toward Ariana's face.
However, before that hand could reach Ariana, a silver sword blocked her path. Rachel, feeling her life threatened even in her rage, recoiled.
“No, Madam.”
A low, husky voice rang out.
"If you hurt the Princess, the lady will die by my hand."
Shini's golden eyes gleamed coldly.
“Even the slightest wound will kill you, Madam. So step back.”
Shini's sword was emitting a chilling aura, as if it were about to sever Rachel's neck at any moment. Rachel felt a shiver run down her neck and stumbled backward, tripping over a table before falling flat on her back.
Ariana and Shini simply watched the scene calmly, neither laughing nor helping. That was even more humiliating.
Rachel slowly got up and looked around.
She hadn't noticed earlier because she was watching Ariana, but behind her stood a massive, black-haired knight glaring at Rachel. With a look that said he would snap her neck if she took just one more step.
She didn't want to admit it, but she had no choice but to.
Ariana was not Rachel's daughter.
The young girl who used to tremble in desperation for Rachel's love is gone. The woman before her is someone whom the Duchess of West dares not even attempt to touch.
“Ariana...”
Princess of the East.
Under the protection of the Northern and Eastern Lords, she had to admit that she was the one holding the leash of the Bronte family—no, Rachel, Victoria, and Helena.
Rachel wasn't completely stupid, so she guessed what had happened from Ariana's words.
Perhaps it was all Ariana's doing that the Lord of the West and the Third Prince went bankrupt after investing in perfume, that Victoria gradually changed, and that Helena was sold to Viscount Alfred.
Does the Western Lord know that fact?
'No, that doesn't matter. Even if he knew, Father wouldn't do anything for our Victoria...'
Rachel knew what a cruel man the Western Lord was. There was no way a man who had used even his own daughter would embrace his granddaughter.
In Rachel's eyes, Victoria was rushing into a fight she could not win. It would not be the Western Lord's will for Victoria to face Ariana.
If the Western Lord finds out that Victoria messed things up while dealing with Ariana, how will he react?
'He'll probably throw her away without looking back.'
Rachel got goosebumps.
Her heart ached at the thought that Victoria, too, would be abandoned like Helena.
No matter how much she slapped her, Victoria was her daughter. Rachel could do anything for her daughter.
"Please..."
Tears stained with shame and humiliation flowed down Rachel's cheeks.
"Please don't touch Victoria."
Ariana stared at the pleading Rachel with a bitter feeling.
Rachel, who had been endlessly cold toward Ariana, was bowing her head for Victoria. Even though she would never have wanted to bow her head to Ariana, she was enduring that humiliation.
What noble and vulgar maternal love this is.
Laughter flowed out naturally.
Hahaha, the echoing laughter was chilling. Rachel shivered but could not lift her head.
Ariana, who had been laughing for a while, said in a languid tone.
“The Duchess has a terrible memory. Didn't I tell you? I never touched Victoria. It is Victoria who is trying to get close to me by any means necessary. You had better go back and keep your children in check.”
***
Rachel didn't even know how she got into the carriage. By the time she came to her senses, she was already back at the mansion.
Rachel sat motionless on the bed like someone who had lost their mind. The ladies-in-waiting anxiously asked her this and that, but she did not answer.
'Ariana.'
She was a child who could do nothing. She was a child who had never learned a single thing.
The reason she didn't teach hwr was to prevent something like this from happening. She didn't tell her anything so that she wouldn't even dream of revenge.
Rachel knew that someday the Western Lord would use his granddaughters for his own greed.
Ariana was a sacrifice to be offered to the Western Lord. For the sake of the Western Lord's usefulness, she had to exist only as a blunt knife incapable of stabbing her master.
So, she raised Ariana without giving her any affection. That way, she would crave love and act as she told her to.
'But how...?'
It's only four years.
It has been only four years since Ariana left the West.
But how was she able to drag the Western Lord into an incident that would shake the entire continent, and make the pillar of the West falter?
'I suppose the Eastern Lord helped. Judging by her close relationship with the Northern Lord, the Northern Lord's influence must have been significant as well.'
No matter who helped, Ariana was out of Rachel's reach.
She felt a chill down her spine.
On the day Ariana was taken by the Eastern Territory, the Western Lord told them not to worry about her anymore. However, if left alone, Victoria will continue to care about Ariana. As long as Ariana is alive.
'Then just kill her.'
A cold smile played on Rachel's lips.
'Right, I guess I can just kill him.'
***
Ariana sat quietly with her hands clasped together, then opened her mouth.
“How long are you going to keep walking on eggshells like that?”
Cyrus appeared after Rachel left; although he seemed to have something he wanted to say for a while, he kept glancing nervously at Ariana. His eyes, visible beneath his disheveled silver hair, looked just like a puppy being scolded by its owner.
"I was worried about whether you were okay."
Ariana almost burst out laughing.
There are so many words praising the Iron-blooded Northern Lord, but none of them mentioned him as 'cute.' But why is the man standing before her right now so cute?
“Are you okay? You don’t want to cry?”
The cautious voice snatched away even the unpleasantness that had been lingering like a hangnail. Ariana found it strange that she was actually this fine.
She has always dreamed of a moment like this.
The moment they, having come to walk the hell she once lived in, despair and plead before her. The moment they beg her, just as she did to them.
“I don’t want to cry; it’s just ridiculous. They haven’t experienced even a quarter of the hell I went through, yet they’re acting like the world has collapsed. They’re terrified as if they’ve fallen into hell just because they were embarrassed at a party. It’s funny because it’s amusing and pathetic.”
Cyrus stroked Ariana's cheek as she smiled conspicuously. Ariana closed her eyes and felt his cold body temperature.
"It’s not like I was beaten or starving; it’s not like I’m locked up in a moldy prison without a drop of water or being strangled with a rope, so isn’t it ridiculous that I’m acting like that?"
"Right, it's funny."
“How could they do that?”
Rachel was overflowing with maternal love, enough to bow her head before Ariana for Victoria's sake. She was a Rachel who could endure humiliation for the sake of her daughter.
“I feel sorry even when I see a stranger fall, so how could that woman be like that?”
Cold lips touched her forehead and the bridge of her nose. His lips landed on her eyebrows and eyelids, and on the corners of her eyes and cheeks, as if to comfort her, then pulled away.
Cyrus, having kissed so tightly, spoke softly.
“There is no need to know now. Just live as if you don’t know. Your life will be different from that woman’s.”
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