Chapter 34

It felt like the tea she had sipped was filling her heart instead. She couldn’t tell whether the words were meant for Eos or for herself.

How utterly weak.

Bleria swallowed the tea forcefully and waited for the right moment before speaking.

“I believe Lady Eos has received sufficient advice from everyone.”

It wouldn’t do for Eos Liche to garner sympathy. Bleria suggested sharing any new developments with Eos and swiftly changed the subject.

What followed was probably another conversation, but none stuck in her memory.

The tea party ended.

Bleria and Eos headed toward the carriage together. The words spoken at the tea party kept circling in Bleria’s mind, leaving her unsettled.

She realized once more that just because Eos wasn’t the real one didn’t make her the real one either. At this moment, it was simply two impostors walking side by side.

“U-um, Lady Bleria…”

Eos tugged at Bleria’s sleeve. Despite the impropriety, her flushed cheeks were filled with nothing but innocence.

“Thank you for helping me.”

Bleria was momentarily at a loss for words. She hadn’t helped Eos. All she had done was unleash the hounds and then rein them in to spread rumors of Eos being a fraud.

Could a fraud be so naive? Or was she merely pretending to be?

“To be honest, even while accompanying Count Dice, I’ve often faced trouble, but this is the first time I’ve received help from someone else.”

“I see.“

“And I think I’d feel terribly sad if you misunderstood me, Lady Bleria.”

Eos leaned in and lowered her voice.

“Between us, the reason I think my real parents are nobles isn’t because of the clothes. They were torn and filthy when my adoptive parents found me.”

“Then…“

“I was wearing a locket. It looked valuable, so my adoptive parents took it to a jeweler. They said it was the work of a deceased artisan known for taking commissions exclusively from nobles.“

Ha.

Any lingering doubts melted away.

She had always wondered how Eos Liche managed to lose that pendant, and now she understood.

She wanted to test me.

The real Bleria’s pendant. The silver-haired Eos Liche has a similar backstory.

By presenting such clues, she must have wanted to see how Bleria would respond. Otherwise, why bring up the pendant to her alone?

And Bleria had played her part as the impostor perfectly. Visiting a nanny, she hadn’t seen in years, seeking the cliff she supposedly fell from in her childhood, wandering around like a fool…

Using the pendant, which was inconveniently challenging to verify due to the lack of evidence, in this manner.

Bleria gritted her teeth. Her hostility would have been plain if not for the mask she had carefully crafted over five years.

She looked at Eos with dark, sinking eyes.

“Had you shown that locket to others, the situation might have been different.“

“I lost it.“

Eos’s expression turned bitter, her brows furrowed.

“It was old, and the clasp was loose. I always wore it, but one day, I returned to the estate and felt my neck was bare. I’ve been searching everywhere I can think of, but so far…“

“I hope you find it. You must.“

Bleria’s voice was cold. As they spoke, the two reached the carriage they had arrived in.

Just as Eos was about to enter the carriage after bidding farewell, someone emerged from the Allnight carriage.

A large man, clad in a shirt so tight it revealed every contour of his body, sauntered over—Mixel Luke Dice.

“So this is where you’ve been sneaking off to. Did you enjoy the tea party, darling?”

Bleria was momentarily taken aback. But it wasn’t strange; Mixel had publicly introduced Eos as his lover.

Strange was the tension in the air between them. Mixel didn’t even glance at Bleria, his gaze erratic like a madman’s.

“Why are you here, my lord?“

“It seems we have unfinished business to discuss.”

Bleria recalled something she had heard before.

“She said she had something to tell me about Mixel, so I indulged her. But it was nonsense—obsessive, wanting to break up.”

Could that have been Gopher spinning a convenient lie?

Even if it was, something felt off. If Eos aimed to take her place, there was no need to orchestrate such a melodramatic quarrel.

Confused and uneasy, Bleria felt an inexplicable discomfort. It seemed like something she shouldn’t uncover.

Wanting to avoid entanglement, she stepped back, intending to return ahead of them.

If only the sharp, resounding slap of flesh against flesh hadn’t stopped her in her tracks…

Bleria, hand on her chest, whipped her head around to see Eos’s back as she climbed into the carriage. And Mixel Luke, his head turned aside.

“Damn it, how many times am I getting slapped this year?”

And with that, the Allnight carriage took off, leaving behind a cloud of dust, a stunned Mixel Luke, and murmuring guests.

“Ah.”

Bleria covered her mouth with the back of her hand, but the sound had already escaped. Mixel Luke, hearing it, looked up. The moment their eyes met, the humor drained from her face.

Still, he had noticed. He quirked his brows dramatically and extended a hand toward her.

“Uh…!”

Acknowledging someone in such a situation? How thick-skinned.

Just as Bleria feigned ignorance and stepped back, it happened.

A horse’s frantic neigh, the cries of startled people, and Mixel Luke rushing toward her. Then everything went dark.

“Bleria!”

Her body was pushed back and rolled across the ground. Her face throbbed from hitting something solid, and she spun so many times that her vision swirled. Her ears rang, and her labored breaths struggled to fill her lungs.

So heavy.

She had no idea what had happened. Even though her vision was pitch-black, Bleria blinked repeatedly to regain her senses. Suddenly, the weight pressing down on her disappeared, and light returned to her world.

“Are you all right?”

A red-haired man extended his hand. Reflexively, Bleria grasped it and stood up. As she surveyed her surroundings, the muted sounds roared back to life.

The coachman from Heaven’s estate and Violet House’s servants were calming the horse while alarmed onlookers checked Bleria’s well-being.

“Oh.“

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt,“ she said. “I appreciate your concern, but this much is enough.”

Not wanting the incident to escalate, she dismissed the gathering crowd calmly. Thanks to her composed attitude, the commotion quickly subsided, and carriages began departing one by one.

Bleria stepped aside to calm her own nerves. Once the atmosphere had quieted, she turned to Mixel Luke and asked,

“Did the horse charge at me?“

“Yes. Probably because of this ridiculous hat.”

Mixel Luke picked up the fallen bonnet and flipped it over. Small pearls decorating the hat glinted in the sunlight, and the horse must have been startled by their shine.

She had worn it because Daisy recommended it, as she was conscious of her hair. She didn’t want to be compared to Eos, but it seemed to have backfired. Bleria sighed long, though she couldn’t stop fretting about her now-disheveled hair.

It must look even worse now.

Why is it always this man who sees me like this? At least it wasn’t Gopher, she thought as she nervously fiddled with her hair to conceal her unease.

“Thank you for helping me. Please return the hat.“

“I don’t want to.”

Mixel Luke spoke insolently, then faltered under her cold gaze.

“I’m not planning to keep it. It’s not my style. I’ll remove and return the pearls, so don’t write to my grandmother.”

So, the complaint worked.

It amused her to think that even Mixel Luke couldn’t stand up to the tigress of the Allnight family. Then again, who in this empire dared challenge the Allnight Duchess?

As she mused, Bleria suddenly noticed something odd. Mixel Luke’s left shoulder seemed to move awkwardly.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Planning to wear it again?“

“Did you injure your arm?“

“Huh? H-how did you know? I’m usually great at hiding these things.“

“...”

“Why are you just standing there thinking? I got hurt helping you, so it’s only fair you help me now.“

“I’ll ask Violet House for first aid.“

“No thanks. You expect me to say I followed my lover, got dumped, and broke my arm helping another woman?“

“Were you dumped?“

“Is that important right now?“ Mixel Luke clicked his tongue in exasperation.

“You’re such an odd person. Just let me ride in your carriage. Take me to the All-night estate.“

“What about the carriage you came in?“

“I sent it to ride with Eos, but she left without me.”

He has no foresight.

Though Bleria wanted to avoid being involved with Mixel Luke, he saved her and even broke his arm. Too many witnesses had seen him protect her.

“Fine.”

Ultimately, the two climbed into the carriage together, bound for the Allnight mansion.

The roads in the capital were well-paved, but the carriage wasn’t entirely free of bumps.

Each jolt made Mixel Luke break into a cold sweat, suppressing groans. He seemed determined to maintain his pride, so Bleria turned her head away and pretended not to notice. Apparently, that wasn’t what he wanted.

“You’re really not going to say a word? Aren’t you curious why I got dumped?”

Not at all.

If Eos Liche was a fraud, there was no way the man who brought her here was innocent. She had no interest in fabricated tales. Bleria had never been fond of fiction.