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Chapter 70
Leandro’s Regret
The Marchioness of Pelsis trembled, her hand clutching her fan quivering as if she were insulted. To irritate her further, I deliberately threw more fuel onto the fire.
“Come to think of it, since Lord Pelsis is an adult, he might be upset if I say I’m mocking the Marchioness. So, I’ll change it. Instead of mocking you, I’ll mock your son. That way you won’t be upset anymore, will you?”
“Duchess Blanchet! Are you making fun of me right now?”
“Huh? Making fun? Oh, that’s disappointing to hear.”
Honestly, if there was one thing I could be confident about, it was this: I didn’t have to do anything for people to hate me.
The times I was hated most were the times I tried to be loved.
Now, the effort I once made to be loved had turned into a skill I used to make myself hated.
“I was being sincere with you. Are you saying all the friendship we shared was fake, Marchioness?”
The more people hated someone, the easier it was for them to lose composure.
“If you continue mocking me like this, I’ll take it as you mocking the House of Pelsis itself.”
The surrounding nobles began whispering at the Marchioness’s increasingly agitated display. But she had no energy left to pay attention to them.
“Oh? Which part offended you? If you tell me, I’ll apologize.”
I tilted my head innocently as I met the Marchioness’s hate-filled gaze.
“Was it because your son is an aspiring adulterer, or because you raised such a son? Which part made you sad? Please, tell me—”
“Shut that mouth of yours!”
Sparks practically flew from the Marchioness’s blue eyes. She clutched her fan so tightly it looked like she might strike me with it.
“A filthy commoner who got lucky enough to crawl into nobility dares—!”
“…Mother.”
At that moment, a low, heavy voice cut between us.
“What are you doing?”
The Marchioness froze at the sound, even without looking toward it.
“L-Leandro… this is…”
Leandro stood there in a black suit, arms full with a large bouquet of roses. Anyone could tell he had come prepared.
Oh, she even called her son over already?
I folded my arms, watching the mother and son both stiffen. It wasn’t hard to guess the kind of situation the Marchioness had been aiming for.
Leandro had been at odds with his father for some time now. He had even refused to attend the marriage meetings the Marchioness had carefully arranged.
It’s all because of that woman.
But the Marchioness of Pelsis wasn’t one to despair so easily.
Leandro had always been a perfect son who never strayed. Like any noble, he was bound to have woman-related troubles at least once.
As his mother, I just need to guide him properly.
She knew Leandro better than anyone. Ever since childhood, her son had detested anything vulgar.
Even if Duchess Blanchet seems to have changed recently…
In the end, she was just a foolish commoner. A fickle whim was hardly solid.
If needed, I can handle this myself.
The Marchioness had long reigned supreme in high society. Putting a stupid commoner duchess in her place would be child’s play.
Shake her a little, and her vulgar nature will reveal itself.
Hadn’t she behaved scandalously back in Libertan? This would be the perfect chance not only to wake her son up, but also to remind that foolish duchess of her place.
So, the Marchioness targeted the charity event Duchess Blanchet had decided to attend.
The host was a close friend, and most of the other ladies attending were in the Marchioness’s circle as well.
[Leandro, my dear son. I am so grieved that our relationship has soured. If you, too, wish to return to how we once were, then please attend the charity event I will be at today, and make your mother happy.]
Even if their relationship had worsened, her dutiful son would surely come to please her.
Perfect.
Everything was proceeding according to the Marchioness’s plan.
Except for one thing: Estelle was not the woman she had believed her to be.
Leandro looked at his mother with a coldness she had never seen before.
Why did he have to show up now…!
He caught the Marchioness’s arm just as she was about to swing it.
“Mother, I am deeply disappointed.”
“No, Leandro, listen to me.”
Her face turned pale at the thought of disgracing herself before her proud son. She clung to him desperately.
“You must have misunderstood. Would your mother ever behave that way?”
She hadn’t truly intended to hit the duchess in public. It had only been a reflex, born of agitation at the mention of her son.
Leandro bit his lip hard.
“Then what was it that I just saw?”
“Duchess Blanchet mocked you and the House of Pelsis right to my face. It was unbearable. As a senior in society, I offered her a light warning, but she sought to sully your honor further. How could a mother’s heart not ache?”
Relief flickered through the Marchioness’s mind.
Leandro will believe me. He always has.
Even if they had been at odds lately, her son had always obeyed her words. Besides, she was speaking the truth.
“I couldn’t just stand by and watch, so I got carried away. Nothing like what you imagined happened.”
She glanced at Estelle.
See? She isn’t saying a word.
She had expected the duchess to protest wildly, but Estelle simply watched silently, her composure oddly dignified. It stung her pride.
“Look, even Duchess Blanchet is silent, with nothing to say.”
“Is that true, Mother?”
Leandro’s voice sounded unusually sharp, more than his usual self.
“I’m asking if what my mother and these other ladies say is all true.”
The surrounding noblewomen quickly chimed in, siding with the Marchioness.
“Yes, Lord Leandro. We saw everything.”
“Duchess Blanchet truly went too far. The Marchioness showed great restraint.”
Buoyed by the support, the Marchioness cupped her son’s cheek, whispering earnestly.
“Do you hear them? It was just a misunderstanding. Look into your mother’s eyes, my son.”
But Leandro tore himself away, turning to Estelle instead.
“My question was for the Duchess of Blanchet. Is what they said true?”
“They already told you, didn’t they?”
A breeze rustled Estelle’s platinum hair, the faint pink sheen glimmering as it swayed with the ribbon adorned with blue roses.
She answered in a detached tone.
“Do you really need another answer?”
“Yes. For me, it is very important.”
His fists clenched, his voice grew heavier.
“Tell me. What is the truth?”
His low voice trembled with emotions that clearly went beyond this one incident.
Estelle tilted her head slightly.
“I don’t really know what you’re asking.”
“You know. You know exactly what I want to ask. I just… want the truth.”
The Marchioness grabbed her son’s arm again.
“Leandro, why are you acting like this?”
“You know better than anyone.”
He looked at her with anguish.
“You’ve slandered her with lies again and again. You accused her of things that never happened, even of incidents where she was the victim, simply because of her birth.”
“…”
“Even when I later learned the truth, I still tried to believe you. I didn’t want to think badly of you. I trusted you wouldn’t be that kind of person.”
His voice was sharp with accusation. The Marchioness turned pale as if cut open.
“H-how dare you say such things to your mother…”
“And now this? Surrounding her with your followers and even raising your hand in violence…”
Leandro clenched his jaw and glared at the Marchioness’s allies one by one.
“Do you expect me to believe you?”
The noblewomen flinched and averted their eyes. The sight only deepened his pain.
He grabbed his mother’s shoulders.
“Why did you do this to her? How many cruel lies have you told? What has she done to deserve this?”
“N-no, it’s not like that. I would never…”
The Marchioness nearly collapsed, clinging to him, but Leandro no longer looked her way.
His gaze fixed solely on Estelle.
“Estelle.”
Ignoring his pleading mother, he slowly sank to his knees. His eyes were red at the corners.
“I am sorry for never listening to you, for ignoring you. I didn’t realize how wrong my mother, and everyone around me, had been. I regret the words I spoke carelessly to you.”
The bouquet of roses slipped from his arms, scattering across the floor. A teardrop fell onto the crimson petals.
“I was reckless and foolish.”
“And so?”
“I wish to atone. I want to know the truth I so foolishly missed.”
Estelle gazed down at him with an indifferent expression. His clear blue eyes trembled with desperate sincerity.
“Tell me—what was a lie, and what was the truth?”
“Why are you suddenly so curious now?”
She chuckled softly.
“It never mattered to you before, did it?”
“It matters now. It’s important now.”
Leandro looked up at her, heart laid bare. Finally, he understood his own turmoil.
Because I couldn’t give her up.
He hadn’t wanted to admit that he was falling for Estelle, the so-called villainess, a woman he had once mistaken for someone else.
But Estelle wasn’t a villainess at all.
He had only seen part of her. There was much more truth he had overlooked.
Now I finally see who she really is.
With regret choking him, he said:
“I know now that I was wrong. I know why I’ve always regretted not holding your hand when I had the chance.”
“And only now?”
“Yes. I know it’s late. I know it’s my fault. But we were doomed from the start. I can’t change the past. Even so, I want to hold on to you.”
Her beauty, once infuriating, now looked pitiful, fragile. Her fluttering pale lashes pierced his heart. He clutched his chest, pained by the intensity of his feelings.
“So if you tell me about your true self, we could—”
“My true self?”
In that instant, Estelle seemed strangely far away, like traces of a spring already gone.
She bent, picking up one of the roses that had fallen. She gazed at it as though admiring it, then let out a soft, bitter laugh.
“I’m exactly the woman you always thought I was.”
“Then you mean—”
Hope flickered in Leandro’s blue eyes.
At that moment, Estelle let the rose fall, then crushed it under her heel with graceful finality.
“I’m a villainess.”
Leandro’s eyes went hollow as he stared at the ruined petals. His voice broke into a whisper.
“Why…?”
