Chapter 9.6

“I couldn’t tell you all this time because I was afraid you’d be hurt, but letting you continue to misunderstand would be disrespectful to you, so I wanted to take this chance to explain.”

With that, Rexion carefully continued. It was the first time he had ever spoken so cautiously, watching her expression.

“Hurt…? Even if I don’t believe you, how could….”

Claire, who was about to argue, stopped.

The m*ans of women and the thumping, chaotic noises coming through the walls kept bothering her ears, making it almost impossible to speak.

A gentle smile, a kind voice, and well-mannered behavior—these were what Claire thought of when she thought of Helion. But to think all those things were nothing but lies….

Who was the man she liked? Where was the man she had admired all this time? What had she been looking at to fall for him?

Unable to believe what she was hearing, Claire’s eyes lost focus. Then, her gaze turned to Rexion.

Rexion, rumored to be promiscuous, and Helion, who wasn’t rumored but was just as promiscuous. Were the brothers the same kind of person?

It didn’t seem like he had shown her that side of Helion just to prove he was such a man. Come to think of it, Lady Obelir had also said Rexion was much better.

“Still, was it really necessary to show me such a scandalous scene?”

Claire’s mind went blank; she couldn’t think of anything. She just felt as if someone had struck her hard from behind.

“No matter how much I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, so I wanted to show you the cruel truth with your own eyes. Do you resent me?”

His voice sounded self-reproachful, and his eyes looked somehow sad.

Even though his brother was the one at fault, Rexion looked like he was in more pain. It was an incomprehensible situation, but strangely, Claire felt sorry for Rexion.

No, she hadn’t learned everything yet.

She quickly pushed away her sympathy for him. For now, she needed to focus on Helion rather than Rexion.

“No. I don’t resent you. I’m just a little shocked that Secretary Radner spends his nights with two women. It’s just so different from the image I had of him….”

Claire’s voice trembled every time she remembered the earlier scene.

Because she had a certain image of him, even seeing it with her own eyes was hard to believe, but the explicit sounds from next door kept reminding her that everything she’d heard was true.

“You said Secretary Radner proposed to me just to toy with me, right? Did he actually intend to marry me?”

At that moment, the thought that Helion had truly tried to marry her sent chills all over her body. Even though she had refused, it was one thing to reject him, and another for him to go so far as to try to marry her with false intentions.

If he was always going to have women by his side, why would he want to marry, just to cause her pain? Was she an easy target? Or did he look down on the Mansfield family? The more she thought about it, the more unpleasant it became.

“He probably did intend to marry you. My brother just needed a woman to bear an heir, but he intended to keep his private life as it was.”

Claire felt a sudden urge to barge into the next room and punch Helion in the face, but she held herself back by biting her lower lip.

“Did Lady Obelir also find out about all this and call off the engagement?”

She had already heard it from Lady Obelir, but Claire wanted to confirm it once more through Rexion’s words.

“Yes. She wanted to break it off first, on the condition that she wouldn’t reveal my brother’s secrets.”

“….”

The moment she heard Rexion’s words, Claire felt everything was meaningless.

She didn’t even know why she’d made her wish in the first place.

Wishing for things to not work out between Helion and Lady Obelir, hoping she would end up with him without even knowing who he truly was, made her feel ridiculous. No matter how she thought about it, she realized she’d done something foolish.

On top of that, she’d been toyed with by both brothers—there couldn’t be a bigger fool in the world. It was so absurd that she almost laughed.

“Thank you for telling me the truth.”

Now that she knew everything, Claire didn’t want to see either Rexion’s or Helion’s face. She never wanted to see them again, but since she couldn’t, her first priority was to leave the villa.

After bowing her head to Rexion, she tried to leave, but he grabbed her wrist.

“I’m not finished yet.”

“There’s still more to say here?”

Her unfocused eyes looked at Rexion. She didn’t care anymore. Whatever he said, nothing could surprise her now, so she felt she could hear anything without feeling a thing.

“There’s something I need to apologize to you for.”

“You mean lying about the spell being undone? I think I’ve already heard your apology, so you don’t need to say any more.”

She had no intention of forgiving him, so there was no need for more apologies. So Claire tried to shake off Rexion’s hand and leave the room, but he didn’t let her go.

“It’s about the wish you made to the mage.”

And then, Rexion said something completely unexpected.

She had only ever said she’d made the wrong wish, never told him exactly what she’d wished for. How could he possibly know?

“What do you mean?”

Claire’s eyes trembled as she looked at Rexion.

“It’s difficult to continue this conversation here. Let’s move to another place.”

Noisy sounds echoed from the next room. The m*ans of the two women hadn’t stopped, so as Rexion said, it was impossible to continue their conversation here.

They left the room and moved to a quiet space. When he opened the door to the most secluded room, a neat and tidy guest room appeared.

“Please, have a seat.”

After asking her to sit on the sofa, he sat across from her and began to speak.

“I had a rough idea of what kind of wish you made.”

He had a rough idea of what wish I made?

Claire felt embarrassed. It was as if her tightly hidden secret had been exposed.

While she was too ashamed to answer, Rexion continued, and what he said was rather surprising.

“I’m the one who gave you a reason to make that wish. Even though I knew you’d be hurt.”

“What do you mean? What reason, and what do you mean I’d be hurt?”

Claire looked at Rexion with narrowed eyes.

“To tell you the truth, I deliberately arranged for my brother to get engaged to Lady Obelir.”

“Ah….”

A small sigh escaped Claire’s lips.

She had thought it strange that Helion, who had never been engaged to anyone, suddenly got engaged to Lady Obelir—so there had been a reason after all.

“Is there a connection between those two’s engagement and your apology to me?”

No matter how much she thought about it, it didn’t seem related to her, but Claire decided to listen to him before asking questions.

When she nodded, he continued.

“In fact, I wanted my brother to settle down with someone quickly.”

“Was there a reason for that?”

“It was because of you. I knew you liked my brother, so I thought if he got engaged, you would give up on him. I wanted to make sure you could never be together.”

“….”

It sounded like a passionate confession, and Claire’s mouth fell open in surprise.