Chapter 10

Is it because you don’t want to see her face? To the point where you don’t even want to make eye contact?

If that’s the case, then you wouldn’t have held hands either.

“……”

And above all, taking advantage of the moment when they were eating, she could feel him glancing at her. If he really hated her, he wouldn’t even glance sideways. He would want to look her way, but when she tried to meet his eyes, he would avoid her gaze. It was a situation that could be misunderstood by others.

“Leonel.”

“Yes… Mother.”

He’s even slightly delayed in answering her question. Amelia’s brow twitched slightly as their gazes crossed each other in the air. It seemed like there was something on her face.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“What?”

“You weren’t making eye contact at all.”

Sure enough, it was true. She had received a bath from the maids, so she must have gotten something on her face when she accidentally bumped into Edward.

“No, it’s not like that.”

If it’s not that, then why?

“…….”

“If it’s hard to say, it’s okay. Let’s finish our meal.”

Until the meal was finished, Leonel didn’t explain why he couldn’t look at Amelia. After the meal was over, he lowered his head and hurriedly went up to his room as though he were running away.

“It’s difficult.”

She thought it would be easy for Leonel because he was still young. It was unavoidable to feel disappointed, even though it wasn’t something that could be resolved all at once.

“It’s a pretty chocolate color…”

It was hard to look into Leonel’s eyes because we couldn’t make eye contact. His chocolate-colored eyes, so full of emotion because he was still so young, made me feel good just by looking at them. She couldn’t believe that those eyes, full of life, would change to resemble Raphael’s in a year’s time.

It was worse than Raphael’s. If his eyes were emotionless, Leonel’s were dead. His eye pupils were empty, devoid of any emotions.

Amelia and Raphael played a big role in turning Leonel’s eyes into that. Leonel’s transformation begins with Amelia’s death.

“No way…”

At that moment, there was one hypothesis that briefly crossed my mind. What if there was something she had commanded before her possession? It wasn’t unlikely. The maids, and even eating meals alone, were all what the original Amelia wanted.

‘Is there a reason he can’t make eye contact with me……?

When I first suggested having a meal together, how did Leonel react? He looked extremely surprised. It wasn’t just Leonel. Raphael and the maids couldn’t believe it either. If Amelia had told Leonel not to meet her eyes before?

“No, it couldn’t be to that extent…”

Telling Leonel not to meet her eyes as though it would be a crime. That’s absurd. But if it was Amelia… it seemed plausible. Amelia originally disliked Leonel’s brown eyes, saying that he would have been a proper Siegfried if it weren’t for those eyes.

“But still, did she really tell him not to look into her eyes?”

For her, it has already become a fact that Amelia told Leonel not to look at her. She wondered if Siegfried’s power truly emanated from their golden eyes. In reality, Leonel’s eye color changed after awakening.

Even though Leonel came to despise his changed eye color later on.

“There’s nothing easy about this….”

Even if she tried to start with one thing at a time, there were too many tangled knots, like intertwined threads. If she forced herself to untangle them, they would only become more twisted. She absolutely couldn’t leave them like that.

She knows Leonel’s last moments. Leonel thought of Amelia until his last breath. Wishing not to have any trace of Siegfried, hoping to become a person with silver hair and purple eyes.

“Your Highness.”

The one who called her, who couldn’t leave the dining hall, was May. Looking at her eyes filled with frustration, Amelia remembered the fact she had forgotten. The reason why she remembered May, even though she wasn’t an important character.

“I think it’s time you went back to your room.”

“Are you ordering me now?”

“No, I… I couldn’t possibly do that.”

May was one of the people in the Siegfried family who survived for a long time. Even after Raphael died, she continued to serve in the Siegfried family. She stayed by Leonel’s side during all those events and made him out to be a sinner. As if Leonel was incapable and had done nothing.

“Or is His Grace coming?”

“……”

May was the person she needed to deal with first and foremost. Although she had now issued a restraining order for Leonel, she didn’t know when it would be lifted. May was the one who followed Raphael’s orders, not Amelia’s.

“It would be nice for the two of us to have a quiet conversation as a couple once in a while.”

“Your Highness.”

“Why?”

May, who skillfully handled everything, had one thing she couldn’t bear. Whenever there’s something that concerns Raphael, May loses her composure. That’s why every time she saw her, she was unusually emotional. And that’s probably the same with Leonel.

“Someone from the boutique will come today. In the afternoon, someone from the jewelry store will come.”

Amelia frowned when she mentioned someone coming from the boutique without her specific instructions.

“I don’t need them, so send them back.”

“Yes?”

Amelia’s personal budget was excessive. Such extravagance was nothing, and she actually enjoyed spending money. So, it wasn’t strange to have visitors from the boutique. But in her current state of possession, she didn’t want to live that way.

“In the future, nobody should enter the castle without my permission.”

Not only was Amelia a spendthrift, but she was also a heavy drinker. Of course, she didn’t always indulge in luxury and pleasure from the beginning. She was once a girl who dreamed of having a happy home and being loved by her husband.

“And in the future, I want you to keep the aperitifs light. It would be better if I didn’t drink at all.”

Amelia was surprised to see alcohol being served since morning. She wondered how close Amelia had been to alcohol during this time.

“Then what about the room…”

“I will go.”

It was better than staying here and running into Raphael. Although she said it strongly, she also wanted to avoid meeting him.

“Also, bring paper and a pen. A light reading book would be fine.”

The most important thing for her now was to summarize the content of the story. She had to write down what she knew as quickly as possible, to prepare for any upcoming situation.

***

Amelia left the dining hall without even listening to May’s response. There was intentionally more to it. As May noticed that Amelia wasn’t moving according to her wishes, she felt May’s patience reaching its limit.

“What should I do now?”

As expected, May didn’t come up to the room. It was clear that she was extremely angry, judging by the way the maids gave her a stack of papers and a few books before leaving. May seemed to think that the more Amelia received resentment, the better her chances were. Otherwise, it could be purely driven by jealousy.

“How foolish. Raphael wouldn’t know.”

Anyone else would, but not Raphael Lloyd Siegfried. He knew May’s heart, but he let it go because he could use it. She was easy and convenient to use.

By the way, Raphael might be beautiful, but he didn’t know two women would love him this much. May and Amelia. They could be considered similar, in the way their love is unrequited. It was unclear whether there were other people in the mansion who also harbored feelings for him.

Perhaps no one could obtain Raphael’s heart. He had someone he had liked from the beginning. And besides, that person was already dead, that was even worse.

“Um….”

How did Raphael’s first love turn out…? No matter how much she wracked her brain, she couldn’t think why. She only remembered that he met her when he was young. And she died right in front of him.

He lost his first love as soon as it began. Generally, childhood crushes don’t last this long, but it was understandable for Raphael because it was more intense for him than anyone else.

“What bad luck.”

Why did she have to fall in love with someone who’s already in love with someone else. It would have been better if the other person was alive. But when they’re dead, it’s a different story. The living can never win over the dead. Memories are always glorified, and unfulfilled regrets continue to grow unresolved.

That’s why Amelia, who realized this, also went insane.

“Why do you need the position of Grand Duchess when it’s just an empty title…….”

Knowing why was necessary to safely escape from him. It wouldn’t necessarily mean leaving the party. If it were the original Amelia, she would have chosen to stay by his side until the end and die, but she was not that person.

She had plans to leave the Siegfried family.