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Chapter 79
“You Can’t Abandon Me”:
I felt an intense sense of crisis as I looked at the flowers that had suddenly bloomed around me.
‘Am I going to be discovered as a fairy at this rate?’
I swallowed nervously, but fortunately, Johan let it slide. So I opened my eyes calmly and spoke to him.
“What was that? I was the only one startled! Are you going to keep playing tricks like this?”
“Sorry. Your reaction was just too cute—I couldn’t help teasing you.”
Johan smiled mischievously and raised both hands.
The atmosphere was warm and friendly.
But the moment I looked into Johan’s crimson eyes, I noticed something off—they were shrouded in an unusually deep darkness.
‘Is something wrong?’
While I tilted my head in confusion, Johan took my hand and guided me somewhere again. It was the staircase leading down to the lower deck of the passenger ship.
“Be careful. The stairs are steep.”
“They’re not slippery enough to fall, you know?”
“But you fall in empty hallways by yourself?”
“That was a mistake!”
To be precise, I had tripped while distracted, talking to a tree as I walked.
As expected from a luxury passenger ship, the interior was also neat and beautiful.
‘There has to be something…’
I was naturally sensitive to others’ emotions, especially to Johan, whom I cared about the most.
Something had changed in Johan’s feelings just moments ago.
Thinking that way, an inexplicable fear washed over me. Even descending into the ship’s lower deck felt unsettling.
‘…What is he planning this time?’
I asked Johan, who was walking hand in hand with me.
“Johan, you’re not going to scare me this time, are you?”
“When have I ever lied?”
Johan shook our joined hands slightly, speaking softly, but I questioned him with eyes full of distrust.
“You lied just now,” I said.
“That wasn’t a lie. It was more like preparing a little surprise.”
“No matter the reason, a lie is still a lie, you know?”
Johan chuckled at my expression.
“I didn’t know you had so little trust in me.”
“Then just do better. Stop making me anxious all the time.”
The atmosphere was so natural that my true feelings slipped out without me realizing.
“If you keep deceiving me, it becomes hard to tell what’s real.”
“……”
At the end of the hallway, a door came into view. Johan looked at me silently, the same smile on his lips, but his crimson eyes carried an indescribable emotion.
I quickly added a word.
“Of course, whatever you do, I trust you.”
“Good. That’s enough.”
Johan nodded slowly.
“There’s nothing to be confused about. Everything is real. Everything you see, feel, and experience is real. There’s no need to be anxious, doubting unnecessarily.”
Johan whispered gently, taking a handful of my disheveled hair and tucking it behind my ear.
“But it’s my fault for confusing you. I’m sorry for not giving you trust.”
“No, there’s nothing for you to apologize for. I was just speaking lightly,” I said, waving my hand to make sure my sincere feelings didn’t sound too heavy.
Then Johan pressed his lips to my forehead and slowly opened the door.
“I’ll make sure you’re not anxious from now on.”
He whispered into my ear.
“So, open this door. Doing so will ease your worries.”
Another gift?!
‘There won’t be anyone in here this time, right?’
I hoped the mastermind wouldn’t prepare another extravagant surprise like before. Still, I cautiously stepped inside without relaxing.
Near the gray pillars, a pile of newspapers was stacked.
Glancing at Johan, he nodded as if approving my cautiousness.
‘These are my newspapers?’
Unlike the ones the reporters had carried around their necks earlier, these were full issues. Even a brief glance showed my name in bold.
‘All of this is about me…’
There were dozens of newspaper bundles, each from a different date.
“Johan, why all these newspapers…?”
“I collected them while investigating rumors about you,” Johan said, his gaze fixed strangely on the newspapers in my hands.
“That’s when I realized there was someone behind the absurdly spreading articles.”
I swallowed hard.
‘I planned to get the truth from Miryu in prison.’
“So, who’s behind it?”
“The Libertan Ducal Family.”
Johan kicked a pile of newspapers while keeping his hands in his pockets. For a moment, the usually gentlemanly Johan looked mischievous, almost rebellious.
“Of course, it wasn’t just the Libertans. Many other nobles were involved. But the first to start this was the Libertan Ducal Family.”
In the backlight, his crimson eyes gleamed. Even while scattering newspapers like trash, Johan’s gaze was fixed solely on me.
“How strange,” I whispered.
“……”
“When I investigated you before, nothing like this came up. Until recently, these reporters had no connection to the Libertans.”
“…And suddenly there’s evidence linking them?”
I barely managed to part my lips.
“How can that be?”
Johan raised one eyebrow slightly.
“I’m curious too. How could it happen? Despite such meticulous investigation, the witness who remembered that the reporter actually frequented the Libertans has only just come forward. Even if human memory isn’t perfect, how can it be so consistent and strange?”
His crimson eyes were fierce, like a predator about to devour its prey. I could sense a strange anger in his voice.
‘Scary.’
I lowered my head, afraid to meet his gaze. My shoulders trembled involuntarily. Scattered newspapers covered the floor.
Estelle Libertan.
Even in small print, my name stood out.
‘The Libertan Ducal Family did all this?’
I had never heard of such a thing.
‘I thought people just hated me…’
Even the reporters Johan brought earlier had testified that they disparaged me due to circumstances, not personal malice. I thought I became a villain because people love to envy—and thus hate—someone fortunate.
‘Will Johan believe me?’
I was a victim of this, yet knew nothing. I had lived in the Libertan Ducal House for so long without noticing anything. I was completely helpless.
‘And this doubt too.’
Now that I knew what the Libertans had done, how could I understand the strange phenomena behind it?
I heard Johan stepping on the newspapers, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up. I only saw his shoes.
After quietly observing me for a while, Johan asked,
“Do you know anything about this?”
“…No.”
Johan’s elegant, long fingers gently lifted my chin. He didn’t seem angry.
“I didn’t know my parents manipulated even my infamy. Now that I think about it, I guess they had no choice.”
I had assumed the Libertans tolerated Miryu spreading odd rumors in the social world out of hatred for me.
But that wasn’t it.
Since they wanted to make me a villain anyway, Miryu was just a useful tool. My quiet, hollow smile made Johan’s lips stiffen.
“Other than that, do you have anything to say?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
I said carefully, looking at the picture-perfect Johan.
“I never expected anything like this. I was always in the mansion because of my weak health, so I was out of touch—”
“But why that expression?”
He held my fidgeting hands and touched my cheek.
‘What expression am I making?’
Johan clenched his teeth and spoke slowly.
“Right now, your expression isn’t sad at all. As if you expected this.”
“……”
“Really, nothing to say?”
My mind went completely blank.
‘Johan suspects me.’
My heart pounded. My neck felt cold, and a cold sweat broke out. I couldn’t think clearly out of fear.
‘I was already suspicious enough…’
Learning that the Libertans had wanted to make me a villain was shocking, but I had long let go of any attachment to them.
So I wasn’t that sad. And I had shown that face openly in front of Johan.
‘I should have kept pretending.’
Until now, I hadn’t just been “Estelle” in front of Johan. I was supposed to be the “adopted daughter loved in Libertan” before him.
‘Since when did it become like this?’
Somehow, I forgot I had to act in front of Johan. I had let my guard down too much. And I had fallen into the trap too easily.
‘By now, with all this investigation, Johan must have known I wasn’t loved.’
A primal fear ran down my spine.
‘But meanwhile, I looked like I knew something too.’
Had I pretended from the start that I wasn’t loved, maybe it would have been different. I had no idea how obnoxious I looked to Johan.
“I, I… I mean…”
I had been acting like the loved daughter.
‘What should I do now?’
In a crisis like this, I had to calm my mind. But I couldn’t. I thought I had been following the correct path, only to realize I was plunging into an abyss.
“I didn’t mean to deceive you, Johan.”
Tears welled up in my voice.
‘Why am I crying again?’
Having been caught while acting as the loved daughter, even this appearance would look bad. I had to appear more composed. I had to somehow salvage the situation.
“So I…”
My body wouldn’t obey me. Johan’s crimson eyes seemed even more terrifying. Trembling, I grabbed his sleeve.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
My true feelings slipped out again, without explanation.
“I’m scared for this moment to end.”
“……”
“I was wrong. Ask me anything, and I’ll answer. I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time.”
Johan… why don’t you say anything?
“So…”
As the unloved daughter, I was no longer worthy of being a target of revenge. And I knew it clearly.
‘Are you thinking of abandoning me, someone worthless?’
