Chapter 10
Aria, Edward, and Eric. A heavy silence hung between the three of them.
Edward stood silently for a while, his face somewhat in shock.
Until soon, a subtle, mocking tone flowed from Eric’s cold face.
“If there’s nothing more to say, could you please leave? I need this maid right now too. When I start to get hungry, I can’t see anything.
At those words, Edward’s hesitant expression turned towards Eric.
But as if not wanting to cause any more commotion, he let out a short sigh and then fixed his gaze on Aria.
“I’ll be going now, Aria. That would be best.
Putting aside his disappointed expression, Edward handed over the box he was holding and the book that was on the table.
“If it’s uncomfortable to receive, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s a gift for Aria anyway. Put it on when you feel comfortable someday And this is the book that Aria wanted to read last time. Since it’s a foreign novel, it wasn’t easy to find. Anyway, it was quite a hassle.
Edward, with a gentle smile once again, lightly tapped Aria’s forehead.
It was nothing more and nothing less than an unconscious action, but with just one of his trivial gestures, Aria’s gaze was once again wavering.
He handed the box to Aria and then left the room.
The bewildered look in Aria’s eyes followed Edward’s back for a long time before finally settling on the ring box in her hand.
The empty eyes turned towards the box for a moment, and then a voice, filled with tension, began to ring in the ears.
“Are you going to waver again because of that jerk? Or did you hope he would help you find yourself again? Or did he want to be caught again?”
Even if Eric didn’t pierce her heart with a sharp object, Aria knew. That she must not waver.
No, I don’t want to waver. More delusions only make this version of myself even more miserable.
Even though I knew very well that it couldn’t be true, I bit my lip tightly, feeling my pride hurt by those words.
By the way, how did that person know about my confused feelings?
Without a moment to collect his thoughts, Eric strode up to Aria, snatched the ring box from her hand, and threw it away in one swift motion.
Crash.
The box thrown in the middle of the gleaming marble floor shattered instantly, and the ring inside rolled away into a corner.
As Aria’s body instinctively moved towards the ring, a thick hand with calloused palms firmly grasped her.
The startled brown pupils of Aria’s eyes stared directly at Eric for the first time.
A chilling gaze that wouldn’t be out of place if he were to break something right now. In the sticky gaze filled with rage, Aria’s breath was instantly choked.
I was scared, as if my heart, which I had never shown to anyone, had been discovered. I was scared. No, I hated it.
On Aria’s face, where a myriad of emotions were in play, the fear towards Eric was clearly evident.
As Eric faced that pale face, the anger in his hand vanished all too easily.
A shabby and emaciated body. A fearful gaze towards the owner. Resentment filled with indignation.
Because it was the appearance of my mother during her lifetime that I didn’t want to face when I was young.
The moment he saw those round, clear eyes, he almost set aside his firm resolution not to waver and not to give his heart to anyone anymore.
No, I might have desperately unbound my entire body, which I had almost desperately hidden, and clung tenaciously to those red lips to quench this suffocating thirst.
While Eric’s gaze persistently lingered on Aria, his hand instinctively clenched into a fist, as if to suppress his instincts.
It had to be. At least I won’t be like my father. I don’t want to live like that.
Soon, Eric looked at Aria with a self-deprecating smile.
“Consistent as ever, both then and now. Having sacrificed so much of myself, is there still more left to give? Or is it an unfulfilled regret?
To dismiss my unwavering love for Edward, both in the past and present, as a sacrifice.
No, more importantly, how did you…
At that despondent mutter, Aria’s pupils trembled slightly. Eric eventually averted his gaze, turned around, and walked out.
“Could it be that the young master knows about that day’s events…? It can’t be
Aria kept recalling Eric’s words that kept circling in her mind, and she became anxious.
The day that has already been buried in the distant past. The act of sacrificing my voice to save Edward. Not only the people of the Bailey family, but even Edward himself did not know about it.
The way they spoke as if they knew the tightly kept secret inside out was unsettling. It can’t be. It won’t be.
Aria’s brow slightly furrowed as she blankly stared at Eric’s back. At that moment, when the intricately tangled and complex gazes were lost and wandering aimlessly, the ring thrown on the ground came into view.
Aria picked up the ring with a complicated expression.
The relationship between a master and a maid. It was something that should not develop any further.
‘The moment I put this on, my heart might go out of control.’
Aria, having given up on her own, put the ring in her apron without wearing it. Because she knew very well that it wasn’t hers.
With a dejected expression, Aria sat down weakly at the table. And then she touched the book that Edward had left behind. The warm trace of his touch remains.
The person who meant everything to me. Now it’s a relationship where I have to be careful even with these small gestures.
Aria gave a faint smile.
The man she loved, now buried in her heart for a lifetime. I gently closed my eyes, deeply hiding the most brilliant memory of my life in my heart. Sending Edward away like this was easier than I thought. So I thought it was a relief. In the end, after thinking about Edward for a long time, tears started to flow from my eyes.
Late at night, dark clouds enveloped the faintly rising moon. Even the remaining moonlight faded, and the stars that had once been bright in the sky were gradually losing their light.
As a result, Eric’s bedroom, which had been illuminated by the moonlight, was now shrouded in darkness. Unaware that the room was gradually getting darker, Eric sat at the table, lost in deep thought.
In the flickering light of the candle, his blue eyes reflected a complex mix of emotions.
Eric recalled Count Dennis, who had secretly summoned him early in the morning without anyone knowing. With a cold and cruel face, he was someone who didn’t even spare a glance at me. He was a father who cruelly abandoned my mother and left.
Wherever he had gone, now only a father with a kind face stood there. The image of himself, hiding all his resentment, seemed so out of place.
“Even your gaze and tone of voice…You’ve changed so much.
“I came because you said you had something to discuss.”
In Eric’s unyielding tone, Dennis let out a sigh of regret.
“Yeah…I know very well that you still harbor a lot of resentment towards me. He’s not that oblivious. I heard it through the house manager. I heard that you want to stay here longer. Why did you make that decision? Here, there isn’t a single person who treats you warmly.
“I just want to take a break from the difficult war.”
“So you’re telling me to believe that this is the place you chose?”
“The Emperor also had his instructions. He ordered me to diligently attend to the family business that I had neglected until now.
“Your Majesty…?”
“Your Majesty intends to fully entrust the sales rights of the mineral resources produced in our northern Bailey estate to my father.”
It was a completely unexpected story that I never even thought of. At those words, a strange light flickered in Dennis’s eyes.
He was awarded the title of count for his merit in defending the border during the reign of the late emperor, but since he had only engaged in fierce battles, his business acumen was lacking.
Eventually, not long after, Dennis surrendered all rights to the mineral resources produced in his territory to the empire, following the command of the late emperor. But he neither begged nor felt regret.
Dennis prided himself on it being loyalty to the emperor. Before he realized that the profits from the mineral resources were far greater than he had thought.
“Is, is that true……! The former emperor has already returned the sales rights to the state. Could it be that you requested it like that?
“If we successfully accomplish this, we will gradually gain trade negotiation rights for the five subordinate kingdoms under the Empire of Bailey. I will bridge the gap with the royal family to ensure it can be carried out stably.”
Hearing these words, Dennis was so excited that his hands were sweating with joy, but he soon shook his head to calm himself down.
“It’s something that no one has ever accomplished so far. If that happens, I wouldn’t ask for anything more, but…You might end up falling out of favor with His Majesty the Emperor. You could lose the trust you’ve built up all this time in an instant.”
“It’s something I’ve prepared for.”
“You are a pathetic father who drove me to the brink of death…Why are you going this far to help him?
The reason Eric is willing to go to such lengths and risk everything to help the hellish Bailey family. No, the reason he helps the father who abandoned him.
That was also the support that helped him endure the rough and difficult war on his own.
Eric quietly smiled at the words he had been waiting for.
As if savoring a delicious meal right in front of them.
“Instead, there are conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“During my stay here, please entrust me with all the rights I am entitled to as a guest.”
Dennis’s face crumpled at the outrageous conditions.
“It’s the right of the eldest son. That is the right and duty of the eldest son. No matter how great your contribution is…….”
“It was a war fought in place of my brother, and the sales rights were reclaimed in place of my father. Compared to such merit, it is a small thing.
“Anyway, all the property will belong to you, brother. This is an issue limited to the time we are here. You should at least show me this level of sincerity, shouldn’t you?
It was as if he had been preparing all the plans solidly from long ago, with a resolute attitude.
With that smile spreading across his lips, Dennis finally understood why Eric had returned to the Bailey family.
Trap. All of this was part of the perfect plan he had meticulously crafted.
