Would it have been better if I could have ignored the person hurting Aaron?

Numerous hypotheticals crossed her mind, but they were all meaningless. Eileen knew Aaron’s wounds better than anyone, and her heart bore the exact same wounds.

“Aren’t worth listening to.”

Eileen followed her final words with a cold glare, then carefully took Aaron’s cold hand.

“Let’s go, Duke Aaron.”

“You scoundrel! Stop right there!”

When Eileen tried to leave with Aaron, Duke Andrew shouted in an angry voice.

“Filthy words, you say. Who are you to spout such nonsense to me! I was merely giving advice as an adult to someone who lost his parents!”

Eileen tried to ignore whatever Duke Andrew was saying and return to Cordelia and Luke.

However, his next words stopped her in her tracks.

—Mom, Dad, why aren’t they coming yet?

—Suyeon! Thankfully, you’re still at school……

—Teacher?

—Let’s go to the hospital with teacher. Your parents have been in an accident on their way here……

Her breath caught in her throat, making it difficult to speak. The memories, hacked and excavated in various ways, made her feel nauseous.

“Ah. Advice.”

Eileen let go of Aaron’s hand and approached Duke Andrew, suppressing the urge to vomit that threatened to escape.

—You promised. You said you were sorry for being too busy to take care of me properly, so we were going to the cinema together!

—Suyeon. It’s time to let them go……

—No, no. Teacher…… Mom, Dad. Don’t leave me alone…… I still have so many things I want to do with you. Please. Okay?

Fragments of the past that she had tried so hard to forget rose in disorderly fashion.

Though it was already from her previous life, and decades had passed since then.

Those events still vividly remained, constricting her heart.

Eileen grabbed Duke Andrew’s collar with both hands and said,

“I find it amazing that what you said can be replaced with the word ‘advice’.”

“Ugh…… L-let go of me……”

What kind of strength does this woman have……

Duke Andrew struggled to breathe, but it was futile.

Eileen continued to press Duke Andrew with a strength that seemed impossible for someone so much smaller than him.

“Do you know what it’s like to lose your parents in an accident?”

Though her voice sounded calm, anger hung at its end.

Fragrant flower scents scattered in the wind and warm sunlight spread, but the place where Eileen stood contained only bleakness.

“Tell me! Do you know or not!”

By now, moisture had thoroughly soaked her previously calm voice. Her eyes, filled with emptiness, looked even miserable.

“Apologize to Duke Aaron right now! Apologize for all the filthy words you spewed!”

Eileen’s sharp scream echoed, threatening to tear Duke Andrew’s eardrums.

“Ugh…… I…… haven’t done anything wrong…… Why should I apologize?”

“What?”

“Think…… about it.”

However, unlike Eileen’s heart, which was torn to shreds, Duke Andrew remained clean without a single wound. Apart from his collar gripped by her, he seemed completely unaffected, making Eileen’s outburst seem almost wasteful.

“Rather……”

His crooked lips and nonchalant voice seemed devoid of even a hint of guilt.

“Shouldn’t Duke Aaron be the one apologizing…… for causing the deaths of the Duke and Duchess of Monston? He provided the cause.”

When Duke Andrew finished speaking, dust rose with a thud in the sharp atmosphere. Even the birds that had been chirping cheerfully suddenly disappeared.

After a brief moment, as the dust settled, the figure that had been obscured gradually revealed itself.

“Ugh……”

There sat Eileen, thrown down by Duke Andrew, landing on her bottom and groaning in pain.

In contrast to her, Duke Andrew casually straightened his wrinkled collar with a leisurely hand and gestured with his chin.

“See that? Duke Aaron remains silent because he knows his fault.”

His giggling laughter was crueler than a demon’s laugh.

Duke Andrew sent a mocking glance at Aaron before shifting his gaze back to Eileen.

“Stop meddling in others’ affairs and worry about your own life.”

“……”

“I don’t know which family you’re from, but you’ll pay the price for daring to challenge the Partz ducal family.”

Sharp eyes pierced down at Eileen, who was rolling in the dust.

“But well. As a high noble, I’ll be generous just this once. There won’t be a second time.”

Perhaps confident in his victory, Duke Andrew raised his chin proudly and spoke in an elated voice.

“And Duke Aaron.”

Step, step.

Duke Andrew passed by Eileen and approached Aaron, who stood frozen.

Then, placing his hand on Aaron’s shoulder as an adult might encourage a child, he said,

“Pull yourself together. If you don’t want to repeat your mistakes.”

With a giggling laugh, he applied pressure to the hand on Aaron’s shoulder.

These are the losers, I am the winner.

Duke Andrew’s highly raised shoulders showed no sign of lowering.

“I’ll see you next time.”

It would be even better if you continue to show such weakness.

Duke Andrew left only his vile voice behind as he gradually moved away from the two.

When Duke Andrew, who had brought a storm, departed, silence returned to the forest.

The birds that had left returned, and the sunshine that had briefly retreated found its place again.

However, the air flowing between the two was not just quiet but frigid.

“……”

Aaron was the first to break the frigid air. He approached Eileen, who was still sitting on the ground, trembling.

“Eileen.”

Aaron bent his knees to lower his gaze, then slowly took in every detail.

The dress that would have originally been a light pink had lost its color due to the dust, and the pin that had been securing her hair had forgotten its original purpose and was merely hanging.

All of this had happened because of him.

“……Why.”

Aaron took out a snow-white handkerchief from his pocket and carefully dusted her off.

Her hair, face, sleeves.

The hand that had been dusting each part in turn stopped at Eileen’s hand. The handkerchief, turning bright red from the blood flowing from the scratches on her palm, looked even more miserable.

“Why…… Why would you do something so reckless when it has nothing to do with you?”

Unlike his gentle hands dusting her off, his words were filled with anger, each syllable spat out one by one.

“Why would you do something so reckless, getting hurt like this for me? If Duke Andrew had used violence and caused an even greater injury……!”

He couldn’t understand.

Neither his parents who made that choice, nor Eileen now before him.

The taste of blood seemed to come from his tightly bitten lips.

“So, is this another way to use my weakness for your petty revenge?”

He was angry.

Fury rose within him.

Whether it was fury at Duke Andrew for hurting Eileen, at Eileen for recklessly confronting Duke Andrew and getting hurt, or at himself for failing to protect her, he couldn’t tell.

This anger, without even a common reason, gradually consumed his self and made him utter unwanted words. Sadly, once the harsh words escaped, they knew no end.

“Or do you want to hear me say thank you? Is ‘thank you’ such a precious phrase that you’d get hurt to hear it? Answer me, Eileen Lia de Ceres.”

Aaron’s voice, which had been getting lower and lower, became rough like a wail by the final word. Though the warm spring breeze blew, the wind between them was a chilling one that cut the skin.

“……Is that important right now?”

A voice filled with moisture flowed into the space filled only with coldness. Though her voice was so deeply sunk that it sounded like mumbling, strangely, it reached his ears with perfect clarity.

“It is important to me.”

“I care more about why you just stood there silently listening to such nonsense!”

Eileen’s eyes, looking straight at him, rippled continuously with anger and distress. Despite her body that seemed about to collapse at any moment, her clear green eyes gazing at him looked more firm and solid than anything else.

“Do you really think, as you said, that I got angry at Duke Andrew for some petty revenge or to hear a thank you?”

“……”

“It doesn’t matter how much I hate you, nor that I was fighting with you until Duke Andrew appeared.”

Eileen’s eyes and tear-soaked voice strangely tickled Aaron’s heart.

What exactly is this feeling?

He couldn’t find the answer in his confused mind.

“It may be foolish, but I…… I can’t just stand by when someone says such things. Even if I don’t know why you remain silent…… I just can’t.”

Tears falling drop by drop gradually seeped into Aaron’s heart.

Perhaps that’s why.

The anger that had been burning fiercely seemed to be losing its intensity.

“Tell me why you did that.”

Eileen asked, gasping between sobs.

Ah, is persistence part of her character?

Aaron found himself smiling at Eileen’s attitude, demanding truth even in this moment. He let out a deep sigh and calmly began to speak.

“As you probably already know, my parents, the previous Duke and Duchess of Monston, passed away when I was young.”

Despite his calm voice, Aaron’s eyes were filled with emotions of hurt.

“Duke Andrew isn’t saying something untrue. If I hadn’t insisted on going out that day, if we hadn’t taken the carriage out in the rain……”

—If only I hadn’t said I wanted to go to the cinema for my birthday wish……

His eyes, full of unhealed wounds, looked strikingly similar.

10 years old.

The image of her past self in her previous life, who lost her parents in an accident at a young age and despaired and blamed herself every night, buried in guilt……

“Why is the carriage accident your fault?”

Duke Aaron seemed so foolish, so infuriating, that she simply couldn’t bear it.

Rough breathing filled with anger escaped through Eileen’s teeth and spread through the forest.