WMHMS - Chapter 122

"I just asked in case. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm prying into your personal life." 

The Baron's gaze suddenly shone toward me again.

It was the fleeting moment when my gaze met his silver-blue eyes.

The first time he spoke to me with a completely blank expression.

"...I heard that the Marchioness's daughter was also an abused child." 

"I didn't intend to make it public, but it seems someone heard about it that day." 

The day my mother-in-law tried to put me in an awkward position at the ball.

It seemed that the Baron was probably there as well.

"Why did you bring that child out?" 

The Baron's voice was also not the usual smooth, low tone.

As if finally taking off the mask.

His low voice was beautiful but lifeless.

I answered slowly to the cynical, cold gaze that seemed to have not the slightest attachment to life.

"Because that is how it has to be." 

"Just because it's the right thing to do?"

"I didn't do this for a noble cause like justice. Isn't it actually stranger to tell a child to escape the house on their own in 10 years when it is obvious they are being abused?"

The Baron, after a moment of silence, asked me back.

“...Is that so?”

"It’s nothing special. I simply didn’t want to see the things I went through being done to my child again, and that’s it." 

Honestly, it was even funnier to just leave it alone when it was so obvious while living in the same house.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"The wounds me and Linea suffered cannot be undone, but at least we can avoid living like the people who inflicted them. Anyone else would have felt the same way."

Upon hearing those words, the Baron once again just looked down at me with eyes that could not read his thoughts.

He let out a low laugh that seemed almost self-deprecating and nodded his head a couple of times.

"Yes."

"If the Baron had had such an experience as well."

I continued speaking to the man who was saying nothing.

"I think of you as someone resisting following in the footsteps of someone you no longer want to resemble. That is what I saw today."

Judging by the overreaction to violence.

That was probably his strongest trauma, and he stood in the way.

"Anyway, I apologize if I'm speaking without knowing better, but if my prediction is correct, you did a great job." 

"..." 

This time, it wasn't to win his heart or anything.

It's just a consolation.

As human beings, we can at least say a word of understanding to someone who has had the same nightmare.

The Baron's eyes slowly traced the empty air. They were eyes that seemed to be ruminating on the past.

Soon, he let out a short, low breath and asked me.

"A small party is scheduled to be held at the salon soon. Would you like to come with your husband?" 

"Are you sending two invitations?" 

"Yes. Because you wouldn't want to be misunderstood, would you?"

Unlike before, the corners of the Baron's mouth, which had curved upward again, held a sense of relief.

And the way he spoke became much more playful.

So I nodded.

“Then I’ll go.”

"The invitation will be sent out tomorrow. I will now make my quick exit before your husband arrives." 

The Baron bowed to me.

I said goodbye to him for the first time as he turned to leave.

"See you later... Raphael."

As soon as he heard those words, Raphael paused for a moment.

However, he never looked back.

***

That night, the salon.

The balls at the imperial palace were for the nobility, but the parties held at Raphael's salon were different.

Status is merely the most trivial privilege here.

And in this place where people of all social standing were happily chatting and laughing, there was also a woman who had stopped by to see her lover for a moment.

“Raffi.”

“Are you here?”

She entered the secret room, the place where the two always used to have their clandestine meetings, but Raphael, who was sitting and reading something, could only manage a slight smile toward Ideline.

One of her excuses for coming and going here was to convey 'her husband's instructions' to the other side.

It is suspicious for a woman who married without a reason to attend a party hosted by single men alone.

“Come here.”

Noticing the look of inward disappointment on Ideline's face, he put down what he was looking at and called out to her.

Raphael pulled the approaching Ideline closer and naturally seated her on his lap.

His firm thighs firmly supported her body.

Only then did Ideline's expression relax as she was held in his broad arms.

"Why do you look so upset?"

At Raphael's soothing tone, she hugged him by the nape of the neck.

Raphael slowly stroked Ideline's hair with his fingertips as she silently acted spoiled.

Ideline whispered softly.

"Did you hear that the funding has been cut off?" 

With a look that seemed to say, "So that's what you meant," Raphael let out a twisted, hollow laugh and nodded.

"I heard a tax audit started right away that night. I heard the investigation is still ongoing."

"Yeah. Fortunately, my husband's name won't come up anywhere, but we haven't raised enough money yet to use for our plan."

Ideline was unaware of this slush fund incident.

From the beginning, the only role assigned to her was raising the child and managing the household.

In the Grand Duke's household, the very act of offering advice or attempting to find out more about it was considered taboo.

But it's different here, where she can hide her identity.

Ideline looked up at him and asked alluringly, as if she were a seductress.

"Can't you help us? We need the slush fund to get the work we were planning done on time."

At those words, Raphael merely tilted his head back loosely.

That emotionless expression, bathed in moonlight, seemed to have no interest in her.

"Hmm..." 

It was not a silence that carried a positive meaning.

Ideline flared up when the reaction of the lover she trusted was lukewarm.

"What! Do you dislike it?"

"Isn't this something that has nothing to do with personal preference? My role is just that of a middleman."

What was the reason they actively promoted Raphael in high society in the first place?

Raphael intended to use his appearance to easily befriend numerous people to obtain necessary information or to travel freely anywhere.

It was never built on trust.

"So, now that I'm in this situation, are you saying you're just going to sit back and watch? Stepping back as a messenger?" 

"Ha," she said, letting out a hollow laugh.

"Don't you even care that I'm having such a hard time?"

As if angered by his lukewarm reaction, Ideline pulled her body away from his embrace.

In contrast, there was no change in Raphael's expression.

He asked back calmly.

"Then what else can I do for you?" 

"You have plenty of profits from investments and businesses besides your estate income, too. For business people, filling their pockets isn't that difficult."

"Evade taxes? And to create a slush fund for treason?"

He spoke in a low voice laced with subtle cynicism.

Ideline paused for a moment on that day, which was cooler than usual.

Soon, Raphael's fingertips touched Ideline's cheek.

He cupped her cheek.

Then, Raphael tilted his head toward her and leaned in as if to kiss her.

At the atmosphere that was boiling up in an instant, Ideline lowered her eyelids and parted her lips.

'Still, we’ve been together for two years already, so we’ve grown attached. Besides, I’ve turned a blind eye to him seeing other women just for fun all this time, so surely I’ll speak nicely to him.'

Honestly, Ideline was fine even if he didn't actively help.

She was satisfied just with him saying he would do so, even if it was only a promise, during a difficult time like this.

Because what Ideline truly wants is a lover who will give her the assurance that they will stand by her through any trial.

She spat out a faint plea through her lips.

"You're mine. You should help me when I'm having a hard time. You shouldn't be making things difficult for me too."

Suddenly, Raphael's thumb pressed firmly against her lips.

Ideline also wrapped her palm around the back of his hand.

That moment when it felt like they were about to kiss right then and there.

He whispered with a low laugh.

"It looks like you want to play some passionate lovers' game that even death cannot separate you from me."

"... What?" 

"Ideline, you have to keep your distance when playing lovers."

Raphael's cynical tone was not sharp at all.

Instead, he continued his venomous remarks in the sweetest and gentlest voice in the world.

"If we lose track of each other, the game is over. You know that, right?"

Ideline thrashed up from Raphael's arms like someone waking from a deep dream.

Ideline looked down at him, sat up in an instant, and asked.

"... Game?"

"Then what did you think our relationship was? Well... something like love?"

Naturally, Ideline thought that she was special to him.

Even if it’s not childish words like love, they’re connected in some way.

"So you're saying we really are nothing, and all of this was just role-playing? You were just playing along with me, so are you saying I was mistaken?"

"Ideline, think back to when our relationship started. Was it a beginning where feelings could develop?"

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