<Chapter 5> Not Heaven, But Hell (Part 1)

When Elizabeth barged into Stella’s room unannounced, she screamed.

“Oh my, you scared me. Ellie! What is this rudeness?”

It seemed she was in the middle of putting on makeup. She frowned and began to fix her smudged makeup. Elizabeth moved close to her and said,

“We need to talk.”

“Mom has to go out. If you have something to say, just say it. I’m used to listening while doing my makeup.”

Stella replied nonchalantly and began applying lipstick. Elizabeth took the brush from her and said,

“It’s serious. Look at me when we talk.”

“What’s going on that you’re looking at me with such eyes? It’s scary, you know.”

Stella pouted and crossed her arms as if to say, “Go ahead, tell me.” Elizabeth hesitated to ask her directly once the conversation started.

Reflecting on Kiern’s words to ask what Stella was doing the day the Duchess collapsed, there was only one thing she needed to ask.

The relationship between Stella and the Duke.

Elizabeth, having steeled herself, grabbed her shoulders and said,

“Mom, what is your relationship with the Duke?”

“What kind of relationship? A maid and her master. Why do you ask such things?”

Stella chuckled as if she had heard something trivial. Elizabeth, with a hardened face, repeated,

“Don’t joke.”

Then the smile disappeared from Stella’s face. She asked coldly,

“Why? Did someone say something about me and the Duke?”

“…….”

“That’s all nonsense. You know it too. There are many men who misunderstand that I’m interested just because I glance at them because I’m so pretty.”

Stella sighed deeply, as if tired, and continued.

“Recently, there have been quite a few people making advances. When I rejected them, they seemed to hold a grudge and spread strange rumors. Really, why do people live like that?”

“Mom.”

“Anyway, men are a problem below the waist. Why are they so eager to knock over anything pretty? It’s ridiculous when they have nothing to offer.”

“Mom.”

“Ellie, be careful too. There’s no decent man who talks about love. Love, my foot. All that remains is money.”

“Mom!”

Unable to listen any longer, Elizabeth shouted as if screaming, and Stella stopped talking, looking at her with wide eyes like a startled rabbit.

Elizabeth was sickened by Stella’s excuses that didn’t sound like excuses. Stella tended to speak at length when she lied. Although she might not realize it, Elizabeth, who had watched her all her life, knew this all too well.

So she could tell that Stella was lying right now. Her heart ached. Kiern’s misunderstanding was not a misunderstanding. That fact dragged Elizabeth into hell.

“Mom, why did you do it?”

“What are you talking about? I said no, didn’t I?”

“You shouldn’t have done that to Madam.”

“Elizabeth! Are you doubting your mom now? I said no, it’s not true!”

Stella jumped up from her seat with a fierce expression. She looked as if she was about to die of injustice, stomping her feet.

“How can you do this to me? How can you not believe your mom?”

“Then tell me. Where were you the day Madam collapsed?”

“What?”

“The day it rained heavily. You said you had an appointment and left early. Who did you meet?”

Caught off guard by Elizabeth’s unexpected question, Stella stammered as if she were at a loss for words.

Elizabeth could hear the sound of her heart breaking once more. Beneath it must be a deep mire.

Elizabeth knew little because she had been stranded at the villa due to the heavy rain and returned to Agaphel Castle days later.

It seemed like a hurricane had swept through Agaphel Castle during the five days she was absent. The sudden death of the Duchess had left the atmosphere in the castle a mess.

So even when the Duke, who was supposed to be away on a long business trip, was present in the castle, she didn’t feel any discord. She merely thought he had returned quickly upon hearing the news of the Duchess.

In truth, Elizabeth couldn’t ask anyone about that day’s events. Everyone was mourning, and because it was such a sudden death, she had no choice but to bury her curiosity.

She thought that staying by Kiern’s side with a smile, pretending nothing had happened, was a consideration for him.

It was a consideration that wasn’t a consideration. The real consideration for him would have been to leave Agaphel Castle with her mother forever.

I shouldn’t have covered it up.

Elizabeth lamented her foolishness in burying her curiosity about that day and boiled with frustration.

She didn’t realize until mold and a foul smell developed in the place she thought would be okay if covered up.

Without knowing this, she laughed and comforted Kiern by his side. Wasn’t it truly a terrible thing?

In front of the ugly truth, Elizabeth’s legs gave way, and she collapsed on the spot. Stella’s dazed expression grew larger and smaller through the tears pooling in her eyes.

That day, Stella had been with the Duke. And the Duchess must have seen it and collapsed from the shock.

As Elizabeth collapsed in a daze, Stella spoke.

“Ellie, I had no choice. The Duke suddenly… I…”

Stella held her hand tightly with trembling hands. Elizabeth looked at the hand that held hers powerlessly.

The tears Stella shed were dripping onto the back of her hand. While Elizabth was trying hard to hold back her tears, Stella was shedding them without restraint.

“It was all for you. If I stayed by the Duke’s side, he promised to arrange a good marriage for you and raise you with the best things all your life.”

Elizabeth should have known. She should have dug up all the details of that day, taken her mother out of this castle, and left immediately.

“You know too. I can’t manage even a month if I leave this castle because I have no means of living. I just didn’t want you to live like me.”

If Elizabeth had, she wouldn’t have been so shameless in front of Kiern.

“It’s true. Believe me, Ellie.”

Knowing the whole truth, she had no right to cry. She already knew that crying wouldn’t solve anything, something that only happened in fairy tales.

Having made up her mind, Elizabeth wiped away the tears pooling in her eyes and held Stella’s hand tightly as she cried.

“Let’s leave.”

“What?”

“Let’s leave this castle. When did I ever ask you to take responsibility for my life?”

At Elizabeth’s sharp tone, Stella flinched and trembled. Despite her previous resolve that she had no right to cry, tears welled up in Elizabeth’s eyes again. She was frustrated with herself for not being able to control even a single tear.

Elizabeth knew well about her mother’s vanity. And it was all thanks to the salary from working at the Duke’s estate that she could afford such luxury.

If she hadn’t worked at the Duke’s castle, she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy such luxury, so she thought there was no better workplace for her.

But thinking that her mother’s body was mixed into that money made her feel nauseated. She hadn’t properly understood the meaning behind her mother’s growing spending. No, she hadn’t tried to understand.

Like a daughter with a frivolous mother, she just turned a blind eye and left her alone. Honestly, she didn’t want to take responsibility for her mother’s life when it was hard enough to think about her own life.

This was the result. Her mother had led the family of the Duchess, who had been a lifesaver, to ruin.

In the end, the man who lost his mother forever was broken, and the person who loved that broken man was Elizabeth herself. Shamelessly.