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Chapter 55
Jane saw Cern and tried to act as if she didn’t, intending to pass by.
“Have you met Lord Roze?”
There was no need to respond to Cern. Jane ignored his words and continued walking.
However, Cern suddenly blocked her path, forcing her to stop in her tracks.
“…Did you speak?”
Jane flinched at Cern’s words but, pretending to be unfazed, she spoke boldly.
“Step aside.”
“Answer me. Did you speak?”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Sir Cern. I’m tired—could you please move aside?”
Jane tried to sidestep him, but Cern blocked her again.
“You didn’t speak, right?”
The slow tone of Cern’s voice sent an inexplicable chill down her spine.
Jane turned to meet Cern’s gaze. His eyes, cold and emotionless, were piercing.
“I told you not to speak. You… must not value your life, huh?”
There was a heavy restraint in Cern’s low voice.
“So, you’ve been tailing me and Lord Roze again.”
“……”
“Why? Are you going to run to your superior and spill everything right away?”
“Jane.”
At Jane’s sharp tone, Cern slowly called her to a stop.
“Didn’t I… warn you? I told you to forget about this matter, I think I said that.”
Cern approached with a blank expression. Perhaps it was the dim evening, but even knowing his true identity, he still felt unfamiliar and frightening.
A cold breeze brushed across Jane’s face. The early autumn wind was chilling to the bone.
Rustle.
Jane took a step back. For some reason, the sound of the fallen leaves seemed unusually loud today. Her body was tense enough that even a small sound made her heart shrink.
“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”
She stammered from her nervousness. All she wanted was to escape from Cern, who was silently watching her.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Jane said this to Cern with trembling eyes.
“Really, you didn’t say anything?”
Was he not believing her? Cern still walked toward her with an expressionless face.
Each step Cern took forward made Jane take three—no, four—steps back.
Thud!
“Ah.”
“Careful.”
Jane’s back bumped against a tree. She nearly hit her head, but Cern caught her just in time.
In that moment, Jane met Cern’s eyes. Her heart pounded at the thought that he had helped her, though she was clueless about her own reaction.
Cern did not look away from Jane’s gaze.
“Jane, Sir Cedric is truly a terrifying man. More than you can imagine.”
Cern’s whisper brushed past Jane’s ears.
“If things go wrong, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill my own son.”
Kill his son? Jane couldn’t relate to Cern’s words. No one in the Wens household doubted that Cedric cared deeply for Eric, even if he treated him strictly.
If anything, the opposite scenario would have made more sense: a warning that Eric might kill his father if provoked. Jane knew Eric was capable of such a thing.
Everyone tried to hush it, but anyone who knew Tersia’s hand had realized that Eric’s attack on Cedric during the incident was accidental. The gossip had spread because a maid serving Tersia had carelessly shared the story with the wedding staff.
Cern read Jane’s gaze. He knew she didn’t believe Cedric would do such a thing.
Cern drew his sword and fixed his gaze on Jane. A chilling whistle of metal cut through the air toward her.
Cern’s chest tensed painfully. His task was not to protect Jane… but to scare her.
Whoosh!
The sound of slicing air near her ear sent shivers down Jane’s spine.
“Ahhh!!”
Jane shut her eyes and hugged her head in fear at the sudden attack.
Cern’s blade struck the tree directly behind her.
“If you want to live, remember what I say,” Cern added, staring at the trembling Jane.
“This won’t end this easily next time.”
With his warning delivered, Cern left. He only wished for the woman he loved not to get involved with Cedric. Everything he did was for Jane’s sake.
‘…I’ve made it clear enough; she should understand now.’
It was a harsh approach, but he couldn’t think of any other way.
If he instilled fear… she wouldn’t speak again.
Cern turned away bitterly. Yet Jane had no intention of letting him go so easily.
“You frustrating fool!”
Jane’s loud voice made Cern flinch.
Why the sudden shout? Was his threat insufficient? He froze, unsure whether to look back.
Behind him, he heard Jane running.
Thwack!
“Ah….”
Jane struck the back of Cern’s head. Though he could have dodged, he didn’t. Instead, he turned, awkwardly rubbing the spot she had hit.
Jane glared at him, puffing her cheeks, and began to scold him rapidly:
“Why do you act so frustratingly?”
“…Huh?”
Even after scaring her, Cern was baffled at her aggressive reaction.
“Stop looking at me so forlornly. You just watch from behind, and when we meet eyes, you run!”
“Well… you told me never to appear before you again. I was just following Jane’s instructions.”
Cern hesitated, fingers fidgeting, looking innocent and far from the ferocious threat he had been before.
Jane sighed, watching him.
‘Which is the real him? The deadly, poisonous one… or this clueless version?’
One thing was certain: he would not kill his child.
Jane, calmer now, asked Cern:
“Why are you letting me go?”
“Huh…?”
“Sir Cern, you heard everything. What I said to Lord Roze.”
“…!”
Cern’s eyes widened at her unexpected words.
“Then why are you letting me go?”
Seeing Cern unable to answer, Jane spoke more confidently:
“Now I understand clearly. You had no intention of harming me. You threatened me, but you didn’t kill me.”
Jane admitted he was still scary, but she pouted about it.
“I was so confused before. I couldn’t believe you deceived me and Lord Roze.”
“….”
“Which part was sincere, which was a lie… what kind of person are you? If you told me everything, could I forgive you…?”
At the word “forgive,” Cern’s pupils visibly dilated. He looked at Jane with a hint of hope.
“I don’t know everything, but I do know this: you won’t kill me, right?”
“How could I… kill you…”
Cern muttered weakly. Jane opened her eyes wide and stared.
“Who’s holding a weapon and threatening whom?”
“Th-That… was all for you, Jane…! I just wanted to scare you a little, in case the Master heard you revealing the secret, and you’d be in danger.”
Why would such a pure, innocent person protect Cedric? Jane wondered about his reasoning.
“Will you tell me? Your story. Why did you deceive us?”
Cern hesitated. To reveal everything, he would have to talk about his dark past, which he did not want to bring up.
But seeing Jane’s warm, patient gaze softened his heart. Somehow, he felt he could reveal everything to her.
After a long pause, Cern slowly moved his lips. Jane did not rush him, waiting quietly for him to open up.
“…I’ll tell you.”
The moonlight rippled across the lake, carried by the wind, making it shimmer quietly. The chilly lakeside night was calm and beautiful.
“I lived with only my mother until I was twelve. We had nothing… but we were happy.”
Cern’s calm voice was like the still waters of the lake.
“My mother was very weak. So from a young age, I worked to earn medicine for her. I learned hard work under harsh treatment… but it was okay. As long as I could earn her medicine, that was enough.”
Cern recalled his harsh childhood. Earning money from adults without any skills was not easy. He was often cheated, and beaten for no reason. But he endured it all, thinking only of his sick mother.
“When my mother was near death, it was terrifying. Being left alone as a child was so scary. She would always call the name of a father I had never met… I hated him. That man left us like this.”
Outwardly, Cern appeared calm, but inside, he was deeply scarred.
“One day, my mother quietly called me.”
‘Cern.’
He remembered her thin, frail arm gesturing to him.
‘This… your father left it for you.’
She handed him a necklace carefully.
“Your father left this…”
Cern put his hand inside his shirt and gently took the necklace hanging around his neck.
“She gave this to me.”
“…This…!”
Seeing the necklace, Jane covered her mouth in shock. She immediately recognized the familiar emblem: the Wens family crest.
