Chapter 41
“Olivia is like family to me, nothing more, nothing less.”
Kyle truly cared for Olivia, who had been kind to him since the first time he was adopted by the Spencer family. However, he had only thought of her as siblings, and that it was his duty to send her off to marry a good man.
The reason he was particularly affectionate to her rather than simply supporting her was at the request of his stepfather. Because his stepfather, who loved Olivia more than anyone else, wanted him to take care of her even after he died.
There was always a debt in Kyle’s mind.
In his heart, he owes his stepfather, who raised him up. He nourished him as he grew into a more mature and skillful adult than his peers. For him, his adoptive father’s request that he wanted Olivia to be treated like a real sibling couldn’t be easily rejected.
“I am an adopted child, and my adoptive father is a difficult person to refuse. It’s just that at the father’s request, I took care of Olivia. And, the night out…”
He frowned as if recalling a memory.
“It’s true that I went into the inn with Olivia. But, nothing happened. Olivia said she injured her leg at the time and wanted to rest for a while, though I only took her. She said it was a famous place frequented by nobles, and she wanted to see it.”
At that time, as he was passing the inn, Olivia was suddenly limping and said she had hurt her leg.
Although Kyle asked her to go home, he was forced to go to the inn when she said she felt like she had to move after the pain had subsided. As he turned to call a doctor from the front door, her pitiful voice caught him.
“Brother… can’t we go in together? I want to stay with you. I’ve been liking you for a very long time. I love you.”
Brother was the title Olivia used to call him when she was young. She was only a younger sister to him so the word ‘love’ was overshadowed. Kyle denied it at once, and he yelled at Olivia that he had never thought of her as a woman.
“Why? Why?”
AD
Even at her mournful clinging voice, he turned around ferociously.
Olivia kept crying, telling him to not lie. She said she didn’t understand, but he was sincere without a single bit of embellishment. No matter how much she pleaded with him, he never saw her as a woman.
“That day, then, Olivia asked me to stay with her… I refused. I didn’t go into the room, I came back to the front door and went to the Imperial Palace.”
“…How can I believe that?”
“I keep a journal when I enter the Imperial Palace, so you can check it. If necessary, I will check it for you.”
He spoke in an urgent voice. Still, Rosalind was still apathetic.
“No. I don’t want to do that to trust you.”
Suddenly, silence passed between the two. After a brief silence, Kyle burst into laughter.
“In the meantime, You… you must have thought I was trash. Would I have done such a thing with my relatives and sisters?”
A low-pitched voice echoed through the room.
“…Leave you, wife?”
He was staring at the woman in front of him so clearly that those gazes felt tenacious.
AD
“I’ve never held any woman except you in my marriage.”
Rosaline was the only woman he had slept with during their marriage.
Just because they were married didn’t mean all the couples were like that, though oddly enough, he lost control when he stood in front of Rosalind.
His body, which was not swayed by Olivia’s blatant seduction, was so quickly heated when he saw his wife’s snowy face. Even when he was tired after returning from work in the Imperial Palace, gazing at her, his lower body immediately began to ache.
Rosalind wasn’t a terribly seductive figure. Even though she was just lying neatly as she always does, he wanted to get drunk on that body. He wanted her to spit moans out of her mouth, and shove himself into her.
Like a thirst that did not go away no matter how much he drank, it was not enough to hold her again and again…
She released all his restraints too easily, who had always tried to live a mature and rational life. He felt that she was making fun of him, and he didn’t like it, so Kyle tried to stay away from her.
“Rosalind, it’s always been like that when I see you.”
He wanted to hold her.
“It still is.”
…He was crazy.
Kyle hated that himself, and Rosaline that made him this way. It was only after that that he found out that people called this disgusting feeling love.
“I heard from Isis that you had a fight with Olivia. She returned to the home again. It’s the first time Olivia had been there since that day four years ago. Even for me, I was uncomfortable with her, and in order not to run into her, I deliberately went to the Imperial Palace so I told you not to come today. And… I called the doctor, so Leo will be checked soon.”
“You don’t need to explain further.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology. It was just a fight, and it doesn’t matter to me anymore…”
“It’s all my fault…”
Rosaline paused at his deep voice.
“…Sorry. I hurt you all the time.”
“I don’t want any apologies…”
When she began to speak again, the cry had reached the end of her throat. She had to swallow her breath again to hold back the crying. A large hand was placed over Rosaline’s face, who was unable to speak the words.
Kyle’s hand gently stroked her hair.
Still silent, her suffocating stillness found her as if submerged in water.
“We’ll talk again later. Next time again… I want to be alone.”
AD
It was a long time since Rosaline opened her mouth again.
* * *
“According to the journal, he must have been in the Imperial Palace at the time. At that time, he was alone with His Majesty.”
The gentle voice kept ringing in her ears.
The day after Kyle returned, at the end of the day, Rosaline stopped by the Imperial Palace. Even though she shouted that she didn’t want to do it to trust him, she couldn’t stop her walking.
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She initially thought she would never want to know. But, as time went on, her mind went in an unexpected direction. She wanted to, at least, check with her own two eyes whether he was right or not.
In the end, she went to the Imperial Palace without even a servant and looked at the entry log. Although the journal was not open to anyone, she could look at it more easily as she was still Mrs. Spencer on paper.
“How stupid…”
Rosalind giggled a little.
She knew it was a misunderstanding, but she was not happy. It was in vain.
The wounds that had been painfully tied for a long time did not heal easily. Strangely, her resentment towards him was even more intense. Her breath was choking at the time that he was with Olivia, even though she knew for some reason she had misunderstood.
“…Rosalind.”
AD
Helen slowly approached her, who was sitting blankly in her room. There was a warm concern in her eyes as she looked at her daughter.
“Mom, why is it so difficult?”
“Originally, life was difficult. Life is still difficult for me as I grow older.”
“…It’s all my fault. I’m sorry.”
Rosalind smiled bitterly as she recalled Kyle’s words.
What was the use of all this now…?
“Rosalind, a dessert with thin slices of fruit. Eat a little, don’t you like this?” Saying so, Helen, who was staring at her daughter quietly, offered the plate she was carrying.
“I have no appetite. I will eat later.”
“If you do this, Leo will be worried, too.”
“I won’t show anything in front of Leo…”
“And, I’m worried. Aren’t you like Leo to me? So, cheer up.”
Helen stroked her emaciated daughter’s cheek. Her skin had become rough all of a sudden. Since she was a daughter who suffered from illness very often when she was young, she was even more concerned when Rosalind skipped meals or had a hard time like this.
Helen gazed with an affectionate face as she watched her daughter pick up the fruit.
“I made you worry. I’m sorry.”
“No. Isn’t it a mother’s job to worry? Even if you don’t like it, you have to eat it all in small portions.”
Nodding her head, Rosalind put the fruit in her mouth little by little.
It was sweet.
While she was eating dessert, her head was tangled with threads, and it was all complicated. Neither the fresh scent nor the taste of sweet fruit on her tongue touched her.
About halfway through, she could hear the butler’s voice from outside the door.
“…Someone has come to visit the little Madam.”
“Who?”
“Baron Albert wanted to see you for a while…”
“He was not the one who will come without saying anything.”
It would be difficult to see her because she was not in good shape, though she wanted to see if that had something to do with her.
“Looks like a guest has arrived. Then, I will go out.”
“Yes. Thank you, mother.”
“Okay, see you later.”
Rosalind watched as Helen left with a blank expression on her face, and she belatedly arranged her hair and dressing. Although she wasn’t motivated and her hands were strained, she quickly cleared her breath and headed for the parlor.
Albert was already waiting for her in the parlor.
“Rosalind, did I come to you too suddenly?”
“I was a little surprised.”
“It was too sudden so I was afraid of you rejecting it, but I am glad that you accepted it.”
“Of course. Though what did you come here for?”
Albert smiled awkwardly at her questioning voice and held out a bouquet. She was already distracted, and he was hiding it behind his back, so she didn’t notice at all.
“Oh, dear… it’s flowers.”
“They were selling iris flowers on the roadside, and I thought of you, so I bought it without realizing it.”
“Me…?”
“As I looked at the purple iris, Creta, no Rosalind’s eyes, passed by. You said your original name was Rosalind, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Iris looks like your eyes, Rosalind.”
The purple flowers and her eyes, who had received the flowers, had a similar color. Iris was a little more vivid and colorful, and the only difference was that her eyes were soft and light. Rosalind glanced at the flower and pulled it closer.
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When she lightly buried her face among the flowers, a green, fragrant smell was quickly transmitted.
“The flower language is ‘Please tell me the good news.’ I chose it because I wanted good news to always be delivered.”
“Thank you so much. How long has it been since I received flowers…? In fact, I think it was the first time except when I was very young.”
“However, it looks like you have a bad expression on your face. Is there anything wrong?”
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