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Chapter 50
I Want to Apologize for My Rudenes
Stella widened her eyes and stammered in defense.
“I… I couldn’t just watch your pain…”
“Then who asked you to care about it?”
Erich ignored his own wounds and extended his bloody hand toward the saint.
“What right does the saint have to meddle in my scars? They’re my scars!”
A strange intensity radiated from Erich. His usually sharp and prickly demeanor seemed even more striking today.
“Go on, do more.”
Honestly, it was satisfying because he didn’t like the saint.
“I’ve suffered enough to know.”
Of course, Erich’s harsh words didn’t really hurt me. If anything, his constant talking was more bothersome. But for Saint Stella, who had always only received kind words her whole life, it must have been different—especially after she had just healed his wound.
“I- I’m sorry.”
Stella, shocked, trembled and spoke through her tears.
At that moment, the priests, frozen in shock at Erich’s intensity, stepped forward to protect her.
“Baron Blonay! How dare you act so rudely toward the saint!”
“Rude?”
Erich turned his head toward the priest and retorted.
“Is it rude that I drew a little blood on my own hand?”
The priests blinked, taken aback by Erich’s sharp reply.
Erich sneered at them and Stella.
“It seems the rules of the temple have changed these days. Imagine if the newspapers reported that I, a brute, messed with the saint’s carefully treated wound. That’d be perfect.”
Wow, he’s really infuriating.
“He wasn’t great when fighting me… but seeing him like this in front of the temple staff is reassuring.”
The priests shouted, their faces flushed red.
“You raised your voice at our saint!”
Erich lowered his head nonchalantly.
“Ah, yes. That’s right. I committed the rudeness of raising my voice at a delicate saint. Though, of course, all this happened because the saint acted on her own.”
“-Baron Blonay!”
“Then why are you committing the rudeness of yelling at me?”
Adjusting his glasses, Erich asked them.
“Let me tell you something you might not know: the Blanchet family is not a place to be trifled with.”
Krrr—
Erich pointed to the leash of the black panther beast he had released from his hand.
“We won’t guarantee the safety of guests who ignore us and leave.”
The black panther beast snapped its leash with its claws. The priests’ faces turned pale.
“Even so, we are official guests of the Blanchet family…”
“Is it really our responsibility if a guest blunders? Especially one who slanders the master at the ducal estate.”
As the black panther beast took step after step forward, the priests grew even more pale.
They hesitated, retreating slowly, but when the beast moved, they pleaded with Erich.
“Ah, alright. It’s our fault…”
“Do you have time to say that? You should survive on your own before all of you are devoured.”
The black panther beast let out a loud roar. At the sound, the priests grabbed Stella and ran off in a hurry.
Of course, the beast did not chase them. Though it glared with golden eyes as if it might, it only licked its lips in anticipation.
“Disgusting creatures.”
Erich frowned, loosening his hair with his bloodied hands. Long gray hair cascaded down.
“Milady, now that the guests are gone, why don’t you come out?”
I awkwardly stepped out from the bushes.
“Kyawng!”
“Yes. It’s good to see you again too.”
The black panther beast ran toward me excitedly. I patted its tail and head while asking Erich:
“You knew I was here?”
“I knew from the beginning. Anyone except those idiots would have known.”
A strange guilt flickered across Erich’s teal eyes.
“More importantly, milady, are you okay?”
Okay? Really?
“Your hand looks the worst to me.”
The wound was still bleeding.
Following Johan’s orders, Erich had taken charge of the black panther beast.
Even though it sometimes ignored Johan himself, it was unusually calm this time.
As it tried to cross the garden, it lowered its body and growled, showing its displeasure.
Erich, sensitive to presence, also heard the voice from the garden.
“Truly, your demeanor is entirely different from that fake.”
“Duke Blanchet is one thing, but that fake… how dare they treat the saint with such disrespect?”
“What did the saint even do wrong? She personally came to treat a minor wound that would’ve healed with a few days’ rest.”
Fake.
A derogatory term for Estelle, an orphan adopted by the Blanchet family, not a noble.
“I said the same thing myself…”
Strangely, hearing Erich call her “that fake” pierced my chest like a thorn.
The priests, not only distorting the situation but also belittling Estelle, continued their arrogance unchecked.
“Not only did they order the saint around, but the fake who manipulated the duke is the real problem! Deserve God’s punishment—”
Krrrawng!
The black panther beast howled uncontrollably. Erich had a control device for the beast but chose not to use it.
“How dare they.”
Estelle would disappear someday. But that didn’t mean they could be allowed to spout nonsense.
Yet Erich sensed an unexpected presence as he arrived.
“…Why are you beyond the bushes?”
The black panther beast also pricked up its ears at Estelle’s presence.
“Did they hear everything?”
Erich’s anger surged to the brim. How could they speak so openly in front of Estelle?
“Milady…”
A person who bleeds silently so no one worries. A person who hides tears even when insulted.
Erich deliberately let the beast loose to trouble them. Though no agreement was made, the beast adequately dealt with them.
“Calm down, everyone.”
At that moment, the saint stepped forward.
The temple’s noble princess, pure as sunlight made human.
“But as a saint, I cannot just receive help and leave. Do you perhaps need my assistance?”
The saint grabbed Erich’s hand and healed it, refusing his own resistance.
“All the burn scars… all gone.”
The scars on both hands from when Erich had been expelled from Libertan as a child had completely disappeared.
“My hands… so clean.”
Erich felt an overwhelming sense of loss. He had endured everything to overcome those scars, months of training and practicing to grip objects.
Looking at his hands reminded him of his desire for revenge against Libertan.
“Did my repayment help?”
“…The saint truly has a generous heart.”
Oblivious to his feelings, she smiled kindly.
“I was the one receiving help.”
Erich couldn’t bear his own clean hands. Impulsively, he drew his sword and cut his hand.
The saint turned pale and asked:
“Why… why your hand?”
“Of course, it’s because of you.”
Erich was annoyed by the saint’s wavering face. She intervened in others’ affairs as if she were a victim herself.
“Your meddling should be for your clingy worshippers, not someone like me.”
As the saint froze in fear, the priests rushed over. Erich mocked and threatened them, but all the while, he couldn’t stop noticing Estelle quietly sitting in the bushes.
“She’s not crying, is she?”
Once the saint and priests were gone, Erich loosened his hair and called to Estelle.
“You knew I was here?”
Fortunately, there were no signs of tears on Estelle.
“More importantly, milady, are you okay?”
Blunt criticism. Full of fabricated blame that would anger anyone but came from Erich.
“What is?”
“You heard everything those priests said, didn’t you?”
“Why would I?”
Estelle tilted her head in confusion.
“There was nothing important, really.”
“Nothing important…?”
“Surely you don’t expect me to go out and apologize?”
When Erich widened his eyes, Estelle faintly smiled.
“I’m sorry you were disappointed in the Blanchet family because of me.”
Even then, Estelle had the same calm expression.
“All I can do is apologize.”
A serene, strangely sad smile.
“Of course… that’s not necessary.”
“Then it’s fine.”
“Why don’t you get angry when people insult you?”
Erich asked abruptly.
He had investigated the Ravianne Orphanage following Johan’s orders.
The orphanage was a miserable place.
For young Estelle, there was no choice but to be adopted by the Libertan ducal family.
“Another strange thing.”
The orphanage was not in a place frequented by nobles. Yet the Libertans happened to pass by and adopted Estelle. They had not visited any other orphanages.
“Was it incredible luck?”
Erich suddenly questioned everything about Estelle. Without her, he wouldn’t have investigated the orphanage’s corruption this thoroughly.
“Baron Blonay, that sounds strange coming from you.”
Estelle fiddled with her light pink platinum hair and snickered.
“You said I don’t have the right to be angry at you. Why are you curious?”
“That is…”
“You’re not worried about me, right? Are you concerned the Blanchet family’s reputation might be tarnished because of me?”
Erich was speechless. He wasn’t any different from the priests; he had also poured emotional blame on Estelle.
“Don’t worry. There’s already so much bad gossip, it won’t damage the Blanchet family this much.”
“That’s… not true.”
Her calm words pierced Erich’s chest. Looking into Estelle’s clear navy eyes made him unbearably sad.
“Alright. I won’t think that far. Baron Blonay, you should focus on your own hand wound.”
Erich instinctively hid his hand behind him.
“This… it’s nothing.”
“It’s still bleeding.”
“Exactly. A wound needs to mean something to matter.”
He spoke without expecting a reply. She wouldn’t understand his feelings anyway; even he didn’t fully understand them.
“That’s wrong.”
A cool summer breeze blew through the garden. Estelle’s platinum hair shimmered faintly.
“A wound doesn’t give meaning. Even if it disappears, its meaning doesn’t vanish either.”
“…Milady, what do you know?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to tell Baron Blonay.”
In the silence, her navy eyes gleamed dreamily.
“Even if the wound disappears, you know it yourself. As long as you don’t forget, its meaning remains, even if invisible.”
Her pure, white face filled Erich’s teal eyes.
Like a blooming flower, Estelle blossomed inside Erich, filling the void left by the burn scars with inexplicable life.
“….”
Erich’s eyes reddened.
This was it.
“The words I wanted to hear.”
He realized he had given too much significance to his burn scars, as if they were his life.
“Why are you saying this? Of all people, you.”
From Estelle, whom he had so harshly criticized, he was unexpectedly moved.
“…I’m sorry.”
A tear of repentance ran down Erich’s cheek.
“For all my rudeness toward you.”
Perhaps, as Erich suspected, Estelle was the kind of woman he had imagined: a seemingly indifferent, shameless villain.
“I want to apologize for everything I assumed and pressured you about.”
Estelle opened her eyes wide. Blue roses suddenly bloomed over the bushes behind her.
“Eden Rose?”
The symbol of the Blanchet family, extinct along with their noble line.
“Ah…”
Erich kneeled, tears streaming, before Estelle. Among the blue roses, she looked more noble than anyone. It felt strange that he had ever doubted her worth. Estelle was truly the rightful lady of the Blanchet family. No one else belonged there.
Johan stood before the altar beneath the basement.
“Come out.”
Kicking the altar, a black hand burst forth, tearing through space. A black demon in human form emerged.
The demon was the one he had contracted with after devouring the shadow dragon. Its violet eyes gleamed.
“How did you lose all protective magic? Can’t even properly use dark magic…”
“Enough. Tell me what sacrifice you need.”
Having lost the ring of protection, Johan faced limitations in using dark magic; misuse could consume him with his own power.
“Fine. I’ll demand a price according to your wish.”
Recovery wasn’t impossible. With the right offering, Johan could regain power through a deal with the demon.
“The problem is not knowing what the offering might be.”
Sometimes, demons demanded impossible sacrifices.
“Your cookie.”
“…Cookie?”
“Yes, your teddy bear cookie.”
The cookie Estelle had given Johan. The demon’s mouth twisted into a smile.
“Quite a fine offering, isn’t it?”
“No.”
Johan frowned.
“That cookie is off-limits.”
The demon was silent for a moment.
“…You can’t do that?”
“Yes, I can’t.”
“Then I’ll take just one of them.”
“No.”
Johan was firm.
“That’s mine.”
