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Even though my memory wasn’t completely clear, one thing I was sure of was:
‘I know exactly why I thought that.’
Leonard never thought of his one and only daughter as a disgrace to the family.
That day, inside the carriage on the way back.
Even after beating up the altar master, Leonard couldn’t shake off his anger and occasionally gritted his teeth, breathing heavily.
Every time his eyes landed on Rubet, who was sitting quietly beside him, holding back tears, his already troubled heart would flare up again.
“Damn it…”
Yeah, it was a situation that would surprise anyone, especially the person directly involved. He must’ve been overwhelmed with a mix of thoughts torturing his daughter.
Maybe… did she think he was angry at her?
“Couldn’t you have just told me it was okay?”
Sadly, no matter how much Leonard tried to search his memory, he couldn’t remember ever telling his daughter that everything would be fine.
“Yeah, I should’ve done that.”
Lowering his arm that had been covering his eyes, Leonard looked into the air with self-mockery.
“…I’m really the worst father.”
Afterward…
I wasn’t fully satisfied even after expressing everything to my father.
It was understandable. The identity I had absorbed from Rubet didn’t really express feelings openly like this. She would bottle up her emotions and suffer quietly instead of being this direct.
‘But Juliet Carenina, she’s the type to speak her mind.’
Because of the conflicting identities inside me, I felt uneasy. Just as I was heading back to my room, I froze when I saw a shadow blocking my way.
“…?”
I looked up, and to my surprise, there was a familiar face I remembered very well.
‘Cedric Ryzer?’
My eyes went wide with shock.
‘What’s he doing here? Since when has he been here today?’
Cedric Ryzer, the jerk Rubet had a lifelong crush on.
He was fairly handsome, but he was more Rubet’s type, not mine. Still, here he was, standing in front of me with his sixteen-year-old face.
“Rubetria.”
“Oh, Cedric. Hi.”
With his neatly combed brown hair and striking blue eyes, he looked like a pretty boy.
And with that face, he’d been playing with the sweet, innocent Rubet for years.
‘This jerk… just looking at him makes me angry.’
I couldn’t help but feel frustrated when I thought about how much Rubet had suffered, being the hopeless romantic she was.
Six months ago, on Rubet’s 16th birthday.
It was a party at the Diolus family residence, organized by the twins.
“Are you not going to eat? I invited a chef all the way here for you.”
The demons pretending to be kind wouldn’t actually celebrate her birthday…
“Don’t seem like you’re in the mood to eat?”
“What’s up, Cedric? Heh, didn’t you say you’d eat anything for my sake?”
Rubet, being the fool she was, was just happy that Cedric came to celebrate her birthday. She was such an idiot.
“Are you not eating?”
“Uh, uh… Cedric. I… I can really eat this?”
Rubet awkwardly smiled while looking at the food on the table.
Uncooked, whole mashed fish, a half-eaten soup, tough chunks of meat…
From what I remembered, it was probably leftover food from the past few days at the Dukes’ house. Normally, this kind of stuff would be sent to the stables.
“So what do you think this is?”
“There are so many other delicious things. Let’s eat those…”
Cedric seemed surprised by Rubet’s rejection, his face turning red.
There were the twins and a group of Cedric’s friends at the party. All of them were children of noble families, rich heirs who would soon be at the center of high society.
“Hey, wasn’t it supposed to be fun? What’s wrong with you? I thought you ate everything, but now you won’t eat?”
The instigators, Marquis Alon and Countess Pelkan, snickered as they watched Rubet, who had a pale expression on her face.
“…”
There was no one close to her among the faces gathered to celebrate her birthday.
As she watched the demons laughing and chatting around the table, Rubet had to bite her lip to keep from crying.
“You’re not eating, and I went through all the trouble to set up this table.”
Cedric, sitting next to her, whispered in a tense voice, clearly upset.
It was the most despairing thing that Cedric, the one she trusted, was leading this situation.
Rubet, not a fool but still timid, knew that Cedric treated her like a toy.
But still…
“I’m not hungry… I’ll eat later.”
“Hey!”
“Hahaha!”
“Cedric, you were so confident, huh?”
“You said you wouldn’t eat, right? I got it right, so the bet’s all mine!”
“No! This bet is invalid!”
“Heh, heh, heh…”
While her friends mocked her, Cedric, frustrated, trembled in anger.
“Bad girl…”
“Sorry…”
“If you’re sorry, then eat! It’s not like you can’t eat!”
“B-but…”
“It’s not gonna kill you to eat!”
Afraid of Cedric’s yelling, Rubet instinctively grabbed a spoon.
“Miss!”
Just then, Rebecca, the maid, courageously stepped in.
“Rebecca?”
Rebecca snatched the spoon from Rubet’s hand, causing the room to fall silent.
Among the arrogant noble kids, Rebecca, trembling but brave, said firmly,
“I’ll go to the kitchen and bring you something tastier. There’s plenty of food prepared.”
“…”
“…”
The eerie silence was broken by Lilia, who sighed from the end of the table.
Sigh…
She gestured to the other maids, and they immediately grabbed Rebecca’s arm roughly.
“Let go of her!”
“Drag her out. How dare she act so boldly?”
“Rebecca!”
“Miss!”
Rubet, surprised, tried to stand up to follow Rebecca, but—
“Sit down.”
Cedric’s angry voice stopped her.
“Can’t you see you’re ruining the mood? Everyone’s here to celebrate your birthday, and you’re acting like this?”
“…”
Rubet, watching Rebecca’s retreating figure, finally felt tears welling up in her eyes.
Her mind was full of confusing thoughts.
‘Why is Cedric doing this to me? Why does he hate me so much? Is it because he likes Lilia? Is he trying to impress her?’
The charming prince-like Cedric, who made Rubet fall for him when she was eight, was nowhere to be found now.
Yet, the feelings she had carefully built up were terrifying, and Rubet felt incredibly weak around Cedric.
“Really boring. I’m going to my room to sleep.”
When Lilia, with a haughty expression, started to get up, Cedric approached and personally sat Rubet down, handing her the spoon.
“Hey, idiot. Our princess is upset. Eat, quickly.”
“I-I don’t want to. Stop.”
“Don’t want to?”
She should have just gotten up and left.
“Rubet, are you going to go to the debutante ball alone this time?”
Cedric’s voice, now much softer, grabbed Rubet’s attention.
“Huh?”
“I thought you found another partner since you didn’t ask me to go with you, but you haven’t found one yet, right?”
“Uh…?”
Now with a kind expression, Cedric rested his chin on his hand and smiled.
“I’ll go with you.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. Who else would you go with if not me?”
“…”
“Rubet, this is just for fun. Celebrating and being celebrated by others is boring, right? Can’t you see everyone enjoying themselves?”
Cedric pointed to the kids laughing around the table.
Finally, after hesitating for a moment, Rubet picked up the spoon with trembling hands.
“Heh. Are you really eating?”
“Wait! I bet a million marks on this!”
“Heh, quiet down!”
She didn’t pick up the spoon because she was desperate for a debutante ball partner.
The bullying she’d learned had already become her daily life, and back then, Rubet had lost most of her will to escape it.
She just wanted the nightmare of that time to end quickly.
“Hahaha!”
“Oh my god! You really ate it!”
“Ah, this is too funny!”
In the end, the rotten fish guts and pig fat in her mouth tasted as disgusting as she had imagined.
Later…
“Ugh.”
I felt the taste of garbage in my mouth and couldn’t help but gag.
Cedric, standing in front of me, looked puzzled.
‘This bastard. He can go to hell.’
I really wanted to run to the kitchen and shove the leftover trash into his mouth, but…
‘It’s a shame it hasn’t happened yet. If I get mad now, I’ll just look like a crazy person.’
I barely held back and gritted my teeth, turning away from Cedric’s gaze.
Just as I was about to climb the stairs, I froze again.
‘What now?’
Cedric was blocking my way.
Avoiding him seemed like common sense, but when I tried to step aside, my steps collided with his again.
Confused and frustrated, I looked up, and to my surprise, Cedric had a look of annoyance on his face.
“Annoying.”
“What?”
“I said, Annoying. What’s this now? If you have something to say, say it quickly and get lost.”
“…?”
Is this guy crazy?
It seemed like he thought I was intentionally blocking his path.
