I Regret The Kindness I Gave You - Chapter 72

Like vividly red lips curling up, blatant goodwill was clearly visible. Gazes gathered from here and there.

A member of the royal family, and a woman of great power who had been veiled.

Moreover, she was even the key figure who led this competition to victory.

Naturally, attention was focused on her every small move, and sharp vigilance poured out on which family’s people she formed friendships with.

“Lord Merche. You were here!”

“…Oh my. I see all of you, Werner? It’s nice to see you.”

“Ah, Lena. Were you in the middle of a conversation? I’m sorry, but let me interrupt. I also have something to discuss with Lord Merche.”

Werner Fondo smoothly interjected between Merche and Lena, who were stuck together like lovers.

He smiled brightly, making wrinkles form around his eyes, and stroked his beard with one hand.

“I heard that you are the same age as my son. I also heard that you’ve met once before.”

“Yes. I am acquainted with Duke Diego.”

“Diego, that child is truly upright and gentle. I’m not saying this because he’s my son, really. I guarantee you, Lord Merche, there’s no young man of his age better than Diego.”

…With such a proud father’s face.

The gloomy and depressed Diego from the past days came to mind, making her feel uneasy.

Merche quietly let Werner’s contradictory words pass without further comment.

“My, how funny your words are, Werner. Except for Lord Lupinus, who has already succeeded as the head of the family, all the other heir children are the same age.”

Are you busy selling your son? Lena slightly covered her mouth with her fan and laughed.

“Moreover, this sudden praise of your son. Someone might think you’re trying to arrange a marriage. Our Lady Merche already has a fiancé, you know.”

“…Ahem! An engagement is just an engagement, it’s not marriage after all! If there’s someone else you have in mind, an engagement can be broken at any time.”

He cleared his throat, revealing his discomfort.

Then he finally raised his hand and called his son, Diego, who was on one side of the hall, to where he was.

Diego’s complexion was still gloomy.

Moreover, judging by his lack of surprise, it seemed this was a planned event that had already been arranged.

He greeted politely and kissed the back of Merche’s hand.

“Lord Merche. Have you been well?”

His tired-sounding voice was damp and sunken. However, rather than worrying about him, she was focused on something else.

The moment she turned her head, anxiously groping the air, her eyes met with the man she was looking for.

They were piercing eyes. With a fierce energy as if he might rush over at any moment, Merche mouthed the words.

Stay still. Wait there.

There was no way the man who could grasp everything about her with just a glance wouldn’t understand.

Sure enough, one leg that had been about to step forward slowly came to a stop. Rude looked at her without taking his eyes off for a moment.

When no further words came from Merche for quite some time, Diego carefully asked.

“Lord Merche. Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“…No. I’m fine.”

“But your complexion looks darker than usual.”

Merche slowly closed and opened her eyes, which were dry from lack of sleep.

The dizziness had worsened since entering the hall. It seemed her sleep-deprived body couldn’t endure.

“I tossed and turned a bit last night.”

“……Do you have something troubling you?”

There is, but I can’t answer.

Suddenly, this meaningless exchange of questions and answers became burdensome.

No, in fact, all the situations surrounding her were burdensome. It’s becoming too much to handle.

Unconsciously, out of habit, she turned her gaze again to Rude, who was still watching her.

Merche realized. She was looking for something to lean on.

When she was staying at the Lupinus mansion. Even more, until she reunited with Rude in Benenum.

Until then, she hadn’t been this dependent. She had never sought support from others, unless someone leaned on her.

But now it was different. Since when? Why had she become so weak?

She simply longed for a broad embrace. The desire to forget all the troublesome things and go far away grew uncontrollably like a fire fueled by oil.

“…Lord Merche?”

She was just about to decide to apologize and retreat to a corner. That’s when it happened.

The hall began to stir. The ripple grew in size, spreading from the entrance.

They say it’s the prince. They say the prince has come here. The whispers of a few were passed from person to person, reaching the inner part where Merche was.

“My, if it isn’t His Highness Prince San…!”

Whether it was indeed an unplanned appearance, Werner Fondo’s steps were hurried as he approached the entrance.

San Iker. It was the name of the prince who looked somewhat frail.

He remained at the entrance without budging, despite Werner’s belated welcome. As if he couldn’t move without someone’s orders.

“Please come inside….”

“There is someone I want to introduce.”

Amidst all eyes focused on him, Prince San opened his mouth.

Somehow, his face looked pale and bloodless.

He continued speaking in an extremely stiff tone, as if reading a script from some play that had been instilled in him.

“My brother, who is also of royal blood and rightfully deserves to be invited to this place.”

“Your Highness. Just who are you referring to…?”

Prince San silently stepped aside. At the other face filling the place where he had stood, Werner froze like a statue, unable even to step back.

You, how could you be here.

“It’s been a long time, Duke Fondo.”

The man walking in with a leisurely smile was as beautiful as a flower.

The royal family, being quite numerous, even nobles don’t know all of them.

However, even considering that point, the prince now casually looking around the hall was unfamiliar to most of the nobles gathered here.

Ah! Pretending to be surprised, he sighed and gave Werner a sly look.

“Or should I say uncle… Hmm, but since I’ve been expelled from the Fondo family, I’ll call you Duke Fondo.”

“…What is this, such an outrageous act! How dare a lowly bastard like you set foot in a place like this?”

“A lowly bastard?”

Magnus looked at San with amusement, his eyes curving.

“San. Duke Fondo is calling me a lowly bastard. My brother, it seems that the words of a mere prince don’t carry weight in front of the Fondo name. What shall we do about this pitiful situation?”

The sorrowful eyes were only so in appearance, actually containing a completely different meaning.

Come out. Come out and spill words that will crush Werner Fondo’s reason.

The stiff San followed Magnus’s metaphorical instruction and stepped forward again.

Pretending to be forcibly angry, he vented his rage at Werner.

“Brother Magnus is royalty. Insulting him is the same as insulting the royal family. Do you truly intend to disgrace the royal family?”

“Royalty, you say, Prince San. You speak words that are impossible to accept. That lowly thing you keep by your side is a bastard expelled even from the Fondo family…”

“Mind your words!”

Werner, his face flushed red all over, glared at San.

Not only was he not intimidated by the prince’s anger, but he rather seemed to find San objectionable.

A worn-out illusion, nothing more.

He deliberately walked threateningly towards San.

Naturally, Werner ended up looking down on San, as he had a robust build compared to San who looked frail at a glance.

“Prince San. I find it difficult to comprehend.”

The days when royalty subdued the six families with their dominance are all in the past now.

The royal family has already become nominal, and that insignificant blood cannot possibly suppress the Fondo family.

In fact, if they wanted to, the Fondo family could subdue the entire royal family with their power alone right now.

So why would he, the head of such a Fondo family, fear that milk-breathed young prince?

“Magnus is a child born of a bastard, not only is the Fondo blood weak in him, but he also stole another family’s treasures and was expelled as a criminal. Therefore, that lowly thing cannot be royalty, Prince San.”

As if to correct the impudent prince’s manners, Werner pressed down on San’s claim without showing any consideration. At those words, San’s lips trembled.

Werner thought it was a trembling from anger and humiliation, but it was entirely different.

It was a trembling that came from pure terror.

Too scared to even look back at Magnus standing behind him, San bit his lip and endured with all his might.

“San.”

Hiccup, an uncontrollable suppressed groan escaped.

San turned his head like a wooden puppet with jerky movements to respond to Magnus’s call.

Smiling kindly towards his brother, Magnus asked.

“Who is my father? Say it so everyone gathered here can hear.”

“……Your father is Duke Schultz.”

Duke Schultz?

The hall was turned upside down once again at the sudden appearance of this person’s identity. This time, even Werner’s eyes were rolled back.

Eren Schultz Iker. The youngest son of the previous king, and a well-known royal famous for his womanizing and colorful affairs with women.

That person could certainly do such a thing. The ‘that’ Duke Schultz who couldn’t cure his almost pathological womanizing even after marriage and kept dozens of mistresses.

With Eren’s name alone, Magnus’s claim to royalty gained credibility.

“…How can we believe a claim made only in words? Do you have evidence to prove it?”

Perhaps it was because he enjoyed such a vigorous sex life. Eren contracted an unknown strange disease and passed away a few years ago.

With Eren, whom Magnus claimed as his biological father, buried in the ground as a corpse, realistically there was no way to prove he was his biological son.