Chapter 14.8

“Why, what are you two talking about without me again…”

“Miss Bailey.”

Brienne approached her, sighing with a slightly bitter face.

“That knife, please give it to me.”

Melosi, who had so boldly pointed the knife, now hesitated and retreated as if she didn’t even have the courage to stab.

“No!”

Brienne slowly reached out to her, facing the stiff, shouting Melosi.

It wasn’t hard to take the dagger from Melosi, who couldn’t even grip the handle properly.

Seeing Melosi squeeze her eyes shut in fear, Brienne spoke coldly.

“Miss Bailey, I gave you this knife so you could protect yourself in danger.”

Brienne glanced at the sharp tip of the knife, then looked back at Melosi.

“Not so you could recklessly use it to hurt others.”

“……”

Melosi, at a loss for words, stared at the knife and bit her lips. Her small, thin shoulders shook like a leaf.

So, no matter how much Melosi brandished the knife, Brienne wasn’t scared of her at all.

Rather… she felt a bit sorry for her.

When she’d first met Melosi at sixteen, she’d never imagined she would change so much.

“You asked if you couldn’t belong anywhere, Miss Bailey?”

“……”

Melosi’s eyes wavered at Brienne’s unexpected words.

“You know you’re standing right here, don’t you? You exist in front of me. You’re alive and breathing. That’s an unchanging fact.”

“What does that…”

“So what’s the problem?”

With those words, the dagger slipped. Her gaze as she looked down at Melosi was cold.

In truth, Brienne hadn’t guessed how Melosi had lived until she heard her story.

All she knew about Melosi Bailey was that she’d grown up in the countryside because of poor health.

But Melosi didn’t know about Brienne Ford’s life either.

All the stories she’d told were just what she saw on the surface.

A beloved daughter.

The Marquis Ford’s young lady.

Kaiden Bannon’s only friend.

Even Brienne, known by those names, had difficult times.

Times when she couldn’t protect even one person she wanted to protect, weak and powerless.

Times when she felt left alone in this wide world.

And the same was true for Herace Belif and Kaiden Bannon.

Maybe the degree of hardship varied, but no one lived happily all the time.

Everyone carries at least one sad memory buried in their heart.

That’s what it means to be human.

“You say you lived with dead rats. That your life was pitiful and hellish?”

“……”

“Melosi Bailey.”

Brienne spoke firmly, placing her hand on Melosi’s shoulder.

“No matter how hard your life was, that doesn’t excuse your wrongdoings. Not everyone in similar circumstances acts as rudely as you.”

At that moment, focus returned to Melosi’s trembling eyes. She jerked her head up, her bloodshot eyes blazing.

“No, I’m really different from everyone else…!”

However, Brienne had no intention of waiting for Melosi to finish speaking.

“Miss Bailey. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to know anything more about your life.”

“…….”

“I may have felt sorry for you back then, but that doesn’t mean I have to forgive the wrongs you’ve done to me.”

Brienne gave a smile devoid of warmth as she looked at Melosi’s wavering eyes.

“And… If you still don’t know what you’ve done wrong, I’ll kindly list them out for you.”

“…….”

“You twisted my words and went around mocking me. On the day of your engagement, you lied and made me wear a white dress just to humiliate me in front of everyone.”

Melosi’s shoulder flinched under Brienne’s palm.

“You instigated Derrick Harrington to kidnap me, locked me in a basement prison, and then pretended not to know.”

“Miss Ford, that’s…!”

“And when I went to Bailey Manor to ask about it, you dragged Kaiden into the conversation and made unreasonable excuses.”

Melosi’s face began to pale as she stared at Brienne, who continued speaking despite her protests.

“Even when you had a chance to admit your wrongdoing in Roeta, you didn’t tell the truth and deceived me with tears.”

“…….”

“And finally, even today, you blamed my life, accused me, and in the end pointed a knife at me.”

“…….”

“Melosi Bailey. You’ve done countless wrongs to me.”

Brienne withdrew her hand from Melosi’s shoulder as if she were granting her a favor, her smile cold.

“So, I will never forgive you.”

Melosi flinched and bit her lip hard.

But she only lowered her head and did not lunge at Brienne as she had before.

She merely muttered in confusion.

“No, that’s not it, I….”

Her voice, once sharp with anger, suddenly lost all strength. A childlike sob mixed in with her small whisper.

“I… I really… I’m not a bad person….”

Melosi’s eyes wandered the floor in confusion as she mumbled weakly.

She couldn’t continue speaking.

At first, it seemed all she wanted was to follow her mother’s last words.

She had only been desperate to find a loving husband and become the lady of the house of a good family, just as her mother had wished.

But the words never to live like “her” had ended up choking her.

Had her mother’s dying wish, given with those bony hands that gripped her, ended up embracing evil and rotting away?

And really….

Was that the only reason?

Perhaps, she had been jealous and hated Brienne Ford all along.

As soon as that thought occurred, it felt like a thorn had lodged in her throat and she couldn’t breathe. Melosi opened and closed her mouth several times, but swallowed her voice instead.

The more she tried to look back, the less she understood anything.

‘Why am I here, doing this? What did I want all this time? Was I always a bad person?’

‘Or did I want to be bad?’

Maybe… that’s why she hated apologizing so much.

She knew she’d gone too far, but couldn’t undo it. She didn’t want to take responsibility for the consequences of her choices. She was afraid.

Not knowing what to do, she acted disgracefully and disgustingly, just as Young Master Belif had said.

That was the only truth.

No, it had to be the truth.

She hoped no one would ever know that, within the ugly and terrible truth she’d always ignored, there was a layer of misfortune neatly packaged for her own sake.

In the face of her last pride, Melosi gave up on being honest even with herself.

Unable to say anything, Melosi swallowed her sobs.

It was then that a pale hand reached out to her.

“In truth, I still don’t want to help you, Miss Bailey.”

At that reluctant voice, Melosi slowly lifted her head to look at Brienne.

Why….

As her blurred vision cleared, Brienne’s ambiguous expression came into view.

“But I’m not decisive enough to just leave you behind like this. It frustrates me to death, but I don’t know any other way.”

“…….”

“So, make sure you escape safely and properly pay for the wrongs you’ve committed.”

A strange emotion rose in Melosi’s eyes as she stared at the pale, neat hand before her. After a long while, she wiped her eyes with her calloused hand.

“…Yes.”

Barely managing that awkward reply, Melosi nodded as she grasped the fingertips of Brienne Ford, who perhaps could have been a good friend in their youth.

Then Herace Belif, who had been leaning under the window, approached them.

“Brienne, there are footsteps approaching the carriage just ahead. It’s time to go.”

“Alright.”

Brienne nodded and turned her gaze to the carriage door.

It was time to go back.

Brienne’s plan to escape safely from here was simple.

She would hide along the forest path and return the way the carriage had come.

Brienne quietly got off the carriage and held her breath as she approached Herace.

Herace, who had already grabbed a rifle from the luggage carriage, was surveying the area ahead.

“How does it look?”

“It’s not safe, since they’re not moving all at once. It’s best to go one by one.”

“Ah, then….”

Brienne and Herace’s eyes turned to Melosi at the same time.

Perhaps surprised by the unexpected response, Melosi blinked her swollen, red eyes.

“…You want me to go first?”

“It’ll be safest at first. Even if you’re caught, we can protect you from behind.”

Herace gave a casual nod toward the rifle slung over his shoulder. Melosi shifted her eyes nervously, then nodded.

The plan began with Herace’s hand signal.

“Now.”

As soon as he spoke, Melosi didn’t hesitate and dashed into the forest.

Brienne watched Melosi tumble through the undergrowth before getting up, and swallowed hard, knowing she was next.

Herace wrapped his arm around her waist.

“You weren’t thinking of going alone, were you?”

“What? But you said one at a time….”

“It seems you’ve forgotten that you and I are one.”

With those words, Herace suddenly leapt into the forest.

Brienne, held tightly in his arms as they rolled, found herself sitting upright on the ground, perfectly fine.

She was dumbfounded.

He’d escaped the sack alone, and now this.

Seeing Herace handle everything so smoothly, Brienne felt she’d worried over nothing.

“Are you hurt?”

But Herace, unaware of her thoughts, looked at her with concern. As he brushed leaves from her hair, Brienne shook her head.

“No, I just think I really chose the right man.”

Herace tilted his head at her odd answer, but Brienne only smiled and stood up briskly.

She wanted to find Melosi.