In the Place where the Golden Rose Was Broken - Chapter 14

“What, what did you do? Why on earth…”

“Let’s say you helped me as much as I helped you.”

“What help are you talking about?”

“Did you see the article yesterday?”

“That…”

Karen couldn’t continue. It meant she knew the content of the article.

“But there was an explanation article today.”

“As long as the identity of the woman I was with isn’t revealed, my grandfather will still be anxious. Worried that his grandson might be a scoundrel coveting his half-brother’s woman.”

“Aren’t you family?”

From Arcturus’s perspective, Karen’s words seemed quite naive.

“He’ll trust you because you’re family.”

“It’s because we’re family that we can’t trust each other. Because we know each other to the core.”

The man, who had momentarily seemed lost in past memories, poured tea with neat movements. He seemed quite accustomed to doing things himself rather than being served by others.

“If he hears that I have a woman I care about enough to bring home, he might feel a bit relieved.”

It meant that even that physical contact earlier was an act hoping it would reach his grandfather’s ears.

“So you ended up using me.”

“Let’s say we helped each other.”

Arcturus thought that Karen, not being entirely docile, would show an irritated reaction.

But contrary to his expectations, she held the teacup he handed her like a hand warmer and remained silent for a while.

Then, as if she had made a decision, she took a sip of tea and stared at Arcturus.

“Will you be alright?”

“About what?”

“Who is that woman, can you introduce her, and furthermore, when will you get married.”

“……”

“Such questions will soon pour in.”

Karen’s words were right.

However, if it could reassure his grandfather who desired a ‘perfect family’, he thought a bit of troublesome family play would be fine.

“I have a good suggestion for Your Grace.”

He had no intention of causing any harm to this powerless dancer because of his own affairs.

“Do tell, Miss Karen.”

She was a woman he wouldn’t have met if not for this interesting coincidence.

She was also a powerless and irrelevant stranger.

“Would you like to date me?”

However, Karen suggested a way for Arcturus to meet her even without coincidence.

***

The office was excessively plain despite being a spacious area, with no luxuries or decorations.

Arcturus Cloen was, as always, busily reading through the reports and documents piled on his desk.

This daily routine was no different from usual.

Except that today, he was having unusual difficulty concentrating.

“Thank you for letting me stay at your mansion, Your Grace. I hope you’ll consider my proposal positively.”

Still, as she was a guest staying at his home, he went to her room to have breakfast together. But Karen had already disappeared, leaving only a short note.

Making last night feel just like a dream.

Arcturus tried to focus on work, struggling to erase the image of a certain person from his mind.

“Would you like to date me?”

The pen that was neatly underlining unsatisfactory content in the report suddenly stopped.

“…Damn it.”

This is maddening.

Why did that woman have to say such unnecessary things.

“It’s not real dating. I’m proposing a contract relationship.”
“Please sponsor me. In return, I’ll pretend to be Your Grace’s lover.”
“We’ll pretend to be fake lovers out of mutual necessity.”

A contract relationship.

It was a method he hadn’t even considered. He was worried it might unnecessarily provoke Sierra Miller more.

But if he accepted Karen’s proposal, they would have many opportunities to meet even without coincidence.

Of course, he didn’t need an excuse to meet Karen. She was a woman of no consequence to him.

Still, it was fun being with her…

He tried to focus on work, but it seemed impossible to continue with his duties today.

It was the first time this had happened.

Being unable to do his work because of someone else.

As if reading Arcturus’s mind that was filled with thoughts of Karen Chaner…

The door opened, and Roches appeared with more documents.

“Here you go.”

Although Arcturus had been unable to concentrate on work, the documents Roches brought now seemed worthy of his full attention.

“As you ordered, I gathered information about Karen Chaner.”

“Good work.”

Arcturus, giving a perfunctory compliment, carefully read through the information Roches had brought.

“Real name Karen Chaner. Her appearance could pass for a noble lady, but she’s from a rural village. Oh, and she was held as a prisoner of war by the enemy for a long time during the war.”

“……”

“She returned during the prisoner exchange when the ceasefire was declared.”

She was a woman with quite a turbulent life.

All her family except her younger brother died during the war, she was captured by the enemy country for quite a long time, and after returning to her homeland, she settled in the capital instead of going back to her hometown…

“The ballet.”

“Huh?”

“This woman, where did she learn ballet?”

There’s no way she could have learned dance as a child in that small rural village. Not to mention during the war period. She joined the ballet company just a year after returning to her country after being held captive for 5 years.

Even for a junior dancer, they wouldn’t admit someone without basic skills in ballet.

“There you go again. Your suspicion of prisoners.”

Roches clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“It’s a sickness to suspect even the woman you’re interested in.”

Arcturus had always argued for verifying the ideology of those who returned after being held captive and was wary of them.

Even though they were citizens of the same country and victims of war.

He found it suspicious that the enemy country didn’t immediately kill civilians but took them away as if kidnapping them, and that they were the first to propose a prisoner exchange. He considered the possibility that those who had been prisoners for a long time might have betrayed their country.

Of course, Roches thought this was excessive suspicion.

“She originally entered the ballet company as an errand girl and learned the movements by watching. It seems the director of the ballet company discovered her. Are you doubting even the content clearly written in the documents?”

“Is ballet a dance that can be learned and imitated just by watching…”

“That’s why there was a lot of talk about a genius emerging.”

Arcturus somewhat agreed with Roches’s statement that he had a suspicion disorder.

He had once been in charge of rescuing prisoners during the war. At that time, he met a girl about his age, and she…

She struck me from behind with an innocent face and then died.

Therefore, suspicion towards returned prisoners might not be rational or justified. It might be a harsh view towards war victims, buried in memories of the past.

Above all, Karen wasn’t the type to deceive or scheme. How could she spy with that face that so innocently revealed her emotions?

“Um, by the way…”

Roches, who had been watching Arcturus’s serious face with deep furrows between his brows as he examined the documents, cautiously spoke up.

“When are you going to take your grandfather’s call? He’s curious about Miss Karen…”

Upon hearing the news, Jude Cullen had been calling incessantly to the point of annoyance. It was solely Roches’s job to intercept these calls from the grandfather to his grandson. He was starting to get a headache.

Perhaps Arcturus’s persistence was inherited from his maternal side.

“Who told on me?”

“You think I’m the only one who told? The butler reported to your grandfather first. Grandfather contacted me to confirm after hearing from the butler… How could I lie to the grandfather who practically raised me when I was young?”

“Right, my executive secretary and the butler, you’re all grandfather’s people.”

Leaning back in his chair, Arcturus narrowed his eyes, appraising Roches as if evaluating an object.

“Try to block grandfather’s calls well. I’m considering whether to cut off his people this time or not.”

“…That’s too much.”

“Ah, one more thing.”

Arcturus turned to Roches, who was looking dejected, as he put on his jacket.

“I’m busy today, so don’t look for me.”

“Where are you going? To meet that woman?”

Arcturus let out a small laugh at Roches’s question.

“I’m thinking about confessing.”

Urgent questions from Roches about when, where, and how he would confess poured out, but Arcturus coldly closed the office door.

***

Karen looked down at her rough feet, then silently put on her ballet shoes and tied the laces.

‘Will that man accept my proposal?’

She thought her proposal wasn’t bad for Arcturus Cloen, who was under marriage pressure from his grandfather and suffering from Sierra Miller’s one-sided courtship.

But part of Karen hoped that Arcturus wouldn’t accept her proposal.

It was true that she needed his sponsorship. His support for the ballet company would allow her to dance safely for a long time.

However…

“Karen, get ready now.”

“Okay.”

Karen cut off her ongoing thoughts at Mark’s urging knock on the door.

Karen Chaner, the principal dancer and étoile of the Swan Ballet Company.

It was her favorite identity.

Trying hard to erase thoughts of Arcturus, Karen stepped onto the stage enveloped by bright lights.

The now familiar music flowed, and her body moved in the prescribed sequence to match it.

After the war ended, the economy hit rock bottom, but some people took this as an opportunity to accumulate wealth. Those who accumulated wealth in this way most enjoyed high-class cultural activities.

As the wealth gap widened and the upper class enjoyed cultural activities, the types of art diversified and developed.

Following this trend, the Swan Ballet Company created a new play for those who were tired of classics.

Fitting for the war period, it was a love story between a spy and a soldier based on real people.

Karen surrendered her body to the melody that grew more sorrowful as time passed.

As it wasn’t the first performance, she knew well when people would become quiet and focus, and when they would express admiration.