Chapter 56

Until Gopher abandons me? Or until he tenderly soothes me with a few words?

I don’t want to think about it.

Bleria staggered back to her spot. Instead of sitting on the sofa again, she left the study. Gopher had told her to wait, but she didn’t want to.

She wasn’t a dog, after all.

***

Bleria holed up in her bedroom again. Perhaps as punishment for wandering around despite her cold, her fever worsened.

After receiving medicine prescribed by Amelia, she buried herself under the blankets and refused to meet anyone. She ate, took her medicine, and slept alone.

Like a hibernating beast, she spent more time asleep than awake. Occasionally, she heard that Gopher had sent her letters or visited Heaven, but she used her poor health as an excuse to refuse. It wasn’t entirely a lie.

After several days, the cold had almost gone. Her body felt lighter, but she didn’t find that entirely welcome. The fever that had dulled her thoughts disappeared, and intrusive thoughts came rushing back.

Maybe I should take a walk for a change. As Bleria got up from her bed, her eyes caught the calendar.

Less than three weeks until the wedding.

Time flowed slowly, yet steadily. Naturally, thoughts of her fiancé began to surface, and she shook her head. She would have to contact him eventually, but not now. Throwing on a thick shawl, she left her bedroom.

She was walking down the corridor to the main hall when she heard a low female voice.

“Why would it be the young duke of all people, even if they’ve broken up?”

Why does this always happen at the worst times?

The speaker tried to control her voice, but her agitation made it louder. Bleria glanced toward the slightly ajar door.

“Is that so strange?”

“It’s weird! Why would she ask her ex-fiancé’s cousin—a man with a fiancée—to be her partner? And why would he agree? Could the rumors actually be true?”

One of the gossiping maids was a familiar face. It seemed the saying about people never changing was true.

Bleria lacked the energy to reprimand them and turned away without a word. However, one of them must have spotted her in that fleeting moment. There was a clatter inside, and soon, the door flew open as Daisy rushed out.

“A-ah, my lady!”

When Bleria stared silently, Daisy turned pale and couldn’t even stammer an excuse. Bleria stepped closer and raised a hand. Thinking she was about to be slapped, Daisy clenched her eyes shut. Instead, Bleria brushed off the dust from her hair.

“You’re always getting caught.”

That was all. As Bleria turned to leave, the maid hastily spoke up.

“I was just trying to learn about the rumor involving Lord Allnight. I wanted to report it to you… Please believe me; I wasn’t badmouthing you.”

Her voice quivered as if she were genuinely aggrieved. Bleria glanced at her face. It didn’t seem like a desperate attempt to avoid punishment.

“What rumor?“

“There’s a year-end party at Allnight today. The young duke is escorting the lady from the Liche family. I wanted to confirm it.”

Even if she had been ordered to investigate rumors, she usually wouldn’t have gone to such lengths. Was it curiosity or a sense of duty? Bleria wondered briefly, but the content of the rumor was more pressing.

The last time they’d spoken, he said he would handle Eos. Was that a lie? Or was he still observing the situation?

Even though her life was at stake, Bleria considered the possibilities as if it were someone else’s problem. She was about to ask more when she caught sight of someone approaching from the opposite end of the corridor. She dismissed Daisy with a brief command.

“I understand. You may go.”

“…Yes, my lady.”

Daisy bowed and retreated. The approaching figure was only a few steps away now. A man in his sixties, looking increasingly gaunt with each passing day. But Bleria no longer felt entitled to worry about the duke.

She lowered her head in greeting and tried to pass him, but her pendant chain snapped at that moment.

Ah.

The pendant dropped to the floor and rolled, stopping at the duke’s feet. Though unintentional, it now looked like a deliberate attempt to attract his attention.

As Bleria hesitated, the duke unexpectedly bent down. His wrinkled hand picked up the pendant and handed it to her.

“Don’t let it leave your side.”

Startled by his unexpected words, Bleria blinked several times before taking the pendant.

“…Yes.”

Without another word, the duke turned and walked away.

What brought him to the third floor?

Bleria turned her gaze to see where he had come from. At the end of the hallway was the real Bleria’s room. He hadn’t come to see her.

Not wanting to appear like she was following him, she returned to her bedroom. Initially, she felt disappointed, but a different emotion slowly surfaced—something resembling longing or hope.

At least he picked up the pendant for me.

Of all things, the pendant—a personal item made specifically for her—was the one he had returned himself. Clutching it tightly, Bleria walked on.

Maybe things can go back to the way they were. He hasn’t even called for Eos yet.

Perhaps the duke wasn’t entirely convinced about who his daughter was. Maybe he was tormented by the guilt of his past coming to light.

The two in Heaven might return if the duke’s stance became clear.

If Eos disappeared, and Gopher would just kill that woman, then everything…!

“…Ah.”

What was I thinking just now?

A small lightning bolt pierced through the crown of my head and trickled down my spine. Bleria looked down at her suddenly lively and buoyant steps, touching her lips. The corners of her lips weren’t raised.

But the fact that she had to check proved she was happy.

Afraid someone might have seen her, she hurried into her bedroom and shut the door.

“I have no choice.”

If Eos is real or fake, I will if that woman doesn’t die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to lose everything—my name, status, family, and Gopher Allnight.

Yes, even Gopher said it.

That there’s no room to care about others. And what else did he say? She tried to erase her guilt by recalling his words, but it didn’t work.

She needed to focus on something else. Bleria looked around. A few letters were stacked on the table beside the bed. All of them were from Gopher, left unread and postponed.

She picked up the one on top and tore it open hastily. It was the most recent one.

Whether it was worry, reproach, comforting words, or even threats, she hoped for something mundane to pull her out of her guilt. But the words inside read as follows:

「Do you remember what I told you before, Bleria?

Everything will end at the year-end banquet.

It would be nice if you could show your precious face then.

Wishing you good health,

Gopher.」

What he had said before, and the mention of everything ending—it was clear what that meant.

Today, Eos…

Her entire body weakened. The pendant she was gripping tightly slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Bleria stared at the object that had fallen from her grasp.

She remembered the duke who had picked it up for her and the expression he had worn when he handed it to her.

“Father was just so terrified. I was horrified at the thought of losing you again.“

“If something happens to you, I’ll die.”

The duke’s hair turned pitch-black. The wrinkles on his face disappeared, morphing into Damian’s face.

“Even if he doesn’t show it, Damian loves you. He still visits the room you used as a child. Whenever I follow him, he’s just staring at your portrait as if he still can’t believe you’ve returned.”

That face transformed again, becoming the affectionate Harriet’s.

“It’s as if everything got better like magic. So, Bleria, I’m always thankful to you.“

Bleria’s face twisted involuntarily.

She tried to compose her expression, but rubbing her face wildly did nothing to help.

Amidst it all, a sound—whether an auditory hallucination or ringing—spun around and around in her head. She clutched both ears and crouched, but the noise didn’t subside.

Bleria groped at the floor, grabbed the fallen pendant, and tightly shut her eyes.

Stop, stop thinking.

So, what now? If Eos doesn’t die, I will. I’ve enjoyed someone else’s place all this time, so what am I trying to do now?

Don’t pretend to be good.

Don’t act righteous.

“Don’t think.”

Nothing good had ever come from thinking or acting on her own. The best she could do was obediently follow orders, as she always had. That had been enough of a life, hadn’t it?

“Is Eos Liche the real one?”

But as long as one has a heart, it’s impossible not to think.

“At this point, does that even matter?”

If she wasn’t a fraud, if she had merely been wandering after losing her family, if she was indeed Bleria Heaven—

“I’ll take care of Eos Liche.”

Bleria couldn’t bear anything—not the sin of killing the real one, not the guilt of living in her place, and most of all, not the reality that Heaven would lose their real one because of her.

Perhaps the tragedy had unfolded because, in the end, she had come to love Heaven.