Chapter 132

In the countryside village, city people rarely visited, and news of nobles from the capital Redamas was almost never discussed. Because of that, I didn’t know exactly what had happened to Linus. Honestly, as long as he didn’t come chasing after me, that was enough.

The Baldwin mansion was gone. After the uproar, it had been rebuilt from scratch. Since it was originally the residence awarded to the commander of “Blue Dawn,” the new owner had it rebuilt plainly, without the previous decorations.

The new commander was a man named Gerard. According to Laila, he was one of the few sane people in “Blue Dawn.” He didn’t just drive out all the knights who had been bewitched by Linus—he forced them to take responsibility and clean up the mess themselves. He shattered the delusion that had made them see Linus as some kind of mythical beast.

Honestly, I thought Linus would live well enough even if he lost an arm and a leg. At least, I never imagined he would be desperate for money. He had his own inherited wealth, and after years as commander of the royal knights, he must have had plenty saved.

But apparently, both Linus and Jang Hyunji had spent money as fast as they earned it.

They said Linus was thrown out of the Baldwin mansion with nothing but the clothes on his back—by none other than a young knight who had once been his follower. With one arm and one leg gone, there wasn’t even anyone to support him. Only later did people sent by the Lindquist family pick him up.

After that, no one knew where Linus went.

Not a single one of the knights who had once worshiped him, not even the maid who had left her mistress to follow him, stayed when he lost everything. They all abandoned him without hesitation.

Now, four years later, hardly anyone remembered his name. Once a celebrity everyone in the Kingdom of Yulia knew, he had been forgotten in just four years. I felt oddly empty at that thought.

Should I stop here, without bothering to dig deeper?

If I asked Laila, she could introduce someone who would track his every move day by day. But I didn’t want to see him that badly. At most, I had wanted to ask him one question:

Did you ever realize, even a little, that you were wrong?

That one regret stayed with me—that he had fainted too soon for me to ask it.

I gave up on finding Linus and turned to the next person.

The Seymour mansion.

I hesitated even about visiting. My strange crush was long gone. All I wanted was for them to pay for their sins. Because of Grace’s greed, Keith’s father had died. They had to bear that cost, nothing more. I wasn’t curious about how they lived—I only thought of glancing at people I once knew.

But this mansion, too, was no longer theirs. The house that had been the Seymours’ for thirty years had a new owner now.

I stood at the gate for a moment. Back in Redamas after four years, and yet… there was no one I truly came to see.

Still, I had dinner to think of.

Laila would return with sausages and strong spices, but those were for cooking back at home. Since I was already in the city, I wanted to eat food made by someone else—at a proper restaurant. Thanks to teleportation, I had plenty of time to spare.

Where should I go? Preferably somewhere with seafood. Freshwater fish was always too fishy to cook well.

Since no one would recognize me, I pulled off the hood I had been wearing deep over my face. Evening was falling, but in summer, wearing a hood outdoors was unbearable. If not for Bii controlling my body temperature, I couldn’t have endured it even a moment.

As the air cooled my skin, I finally breathed freely.

“Florence?!”

A hand suddenly grabbed my hood from behind. Startled, I turned—and froze.

It was Blake.

“I’m shocked. Who would’ve thought I’d run into you here?”

That was my line.

I tried to shake him off and leave immediately, but he all but begged on his knees for me to share just a cup of tea with him.

In only a few years, the once fresh-faced youth had aged terribly. He was still in his twenties, but looked closer to forty. He must have suffered a lot. Against my will, I was dragged into a teahouse.

“I never thought… even if I recognized you, I never thought I’d have the courage to talk to you.”

So typical of the Seymour family. At my sharp words, Blake flinched like a scolded puppy.

“Sorry. I was just so shocked… my body moved before I could think.”

I studied his nervous face. It was strange, almost unbelievable.

Blake had always been big. Of course, older and male, he was bound to be bigger than me. But my memory of him was of a boy who seemed too big—because he always tried to intimidate me. He never hit me, but his eyes were full of hate, and his words were cruel.

Compared to Grace, his methods were direct, but there was no mistaking his hatred for me. And now? To see him flip like this was absurd.

Unlike Grace, Blake had never done anything but hate me for being his sister. That wasn’t a crime, exactly—though it had been cruel.

I had even sent Nelson to silence him once, but he stayed hidden far longer than I expected. Maybe out of guilt—though I’d never know.

“I thought I’d never see you again…”

To him, this meeting was a miracle.

“There was something I had to say if we ever met again, Florence…”
“What is it?”

Dinner time was drawing near.

“I wanted to apologize…”
“There’s no need.”
“…”
“Everyone has people they dislike instinctively. In the Seymour family, that just happened to be me.”
“No!”
“You don’t have to feel guilty. I truly don’t care anymore. You can fight, curse, hate, whatever—it doesn’t matter.”
“I never hated you!”

What was he saying? I frowned at him.

“No, I mean—I was wrong. I really was…”
“…”
“I hurt you, and I was a fool. I’m sorry.”
“…”
“I honestly thought you had lost your memory. I never realized… that it was someone else. You probably won’t believe me, but I swear I didn’t know.”

Not knowing wasn’t an excuse. It didn’t erase what had been done. But I could believe at least this much: Blake had never thought Florence and Jang Hyunji were two different people. Otherwise, why would he bow his head to me now? He had nothing to gain from it.

In fact, he was the only one who had ever apologized to me at all.

My father and Grace would never think they had done me wrong. Linus and Jang Hyunji didn’t even understand the concept of apology. But Blake, at least, did.

“Because of you, I woke up. Four years ago, I left the Seymour family completely. I even gave up my inheritance and title.”

Throwing away his father and sister to save himself wasn’t exactly noble. Still, Blake, who had once believed himself good, seemed to realize now how cowardly he’d been.

Seeing my indifferent face, he looked downcast, then forced a smile.
“You don’t have to believe me. Just… know that I really wanted to apologize.”
“Well… we’ll see.”

Inside, I sighed.

When I had once feared Blake might actually hit me, his size terrified me. Yet despite being twice his size, Grace had been the one I truly feared. Because even Blake shrank like a mouse before a cat in her presence.

Maybe Blake’s only sin had been being weak.

But this apology felt less like remorse and more like an attempt to separate himself from the rest of the Seymours.

Otherwise…

“You never get tired of this, do you?”

I jumped. That sharp, rough voice was one I had heard in my ears for years.

Blake leapt up in surprise.
“If you can’t lend it, just say so—why lie to trick me? Enough already, you bastard. Just because Enoch won’t deal with you, you think you can cling to me? Well, I’m not that easy either.”

“Keith. This time I’m telling the truth.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Last time you tried pawning Florence’s necklace, or her old shoes, anything worthless to get money. And now? You want me to meet her? Who the hell do you think you are…”

Of course.

Blake grabbed Keith’s hand as he tried to storm away, forcing him to face me.

I lifted my hand and waved.