Interest Compounds on Revenge - Chapter 41

‘A liar?’

Terran’s breath caught at Grace’s outcry.

It was because he hadn’t expected those words at all. He had never lied to her, he swore.

“What lie are you saying I told?”

“Your Majesty, no, you didn’t fail to catch Vivian, you chose not to catch her, right? Because of me. Because you had to take responsibility for a woman you don’t even love?”

If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t still have such lingering feelings for the Empress.

“That’s not it!”

Terran felt frustrated. Grace must have seriously misunderstood something.

“Do you know everything about my relationship with Vivian?”

“I think I do. You keep calling the Empress of Rubeck ‘Vivian’. You called out to the Empress with such a sorrowful and wistful face.”

Terran’s head was slightly muddled.

Was she angry because he called the Empress by name? If so, was Grace jealous right now?

Moreover, a sorrowful and wistful face? No matter how much he tried to recall, he hadn’t made such an expression.

“Things were getting better! You!”

“What?”

“You told me to try to love you, Terran. So I worked hard… I tried, but you wanted to match up with your first love who’s incomparable to me?”

Lea burst into tears, her emotions running high. It was difficult to say such things to the man she liked while sober.

‘Match up with my first love?’

He couldn’t understand what all this meant. Who was matching up with whom? Where did things go wrong?

Grace was going beyond misunderstanding to making her own assumptions.

“I won’t try anymore. Someone like me can’t even follow in the footsteps of the perfect Empress. So Terran, just abandon me at this point. Choose a woman you can boast about to your first love.”

Lea poured out her words towards Terran like a sudden shower and ran towards the ducal residence.

She had tried to preserve her self-esteem that had fallen to rock bottom, but he had finally scratched her insides raw.

Lea’s tears were gushing out so much that she didn’t notice someone walking towards her from the opposite direction.

“Miss.”

Luke couldn’t bring himself to stop Grace as she ran by, crying bitterly. If his plan had succeeded, Terran and Grace should have been returning to the ducal residence arm in arm by now.

‘Ha! You failed to control your strength again, didn’t you?’

Luke sighed deeply and went to find Terran, who would likely be left alone on some street.

“Your Grace!”

As he expected, his prediction was accurate. Terran was standing in the middle of the walkway, half out of his mind.

“The young lady was crying a lot, wasn’t she?”

“Crying? Damn it all!”

Terran, furious beyond measure, kicked a nearby stone. Then he glared at Luke as if to kill him and shouted.

“This is all your fault! You ××!”

His only crime was doing his best to provoke jealousy as he was told to. Luke’s advice had instead created a deep rift between the two.

“But you succeeded, didn’t you?”

Unlike Terran, whose face had turned red with anger, Luke remained calm.

“Does this look like success to you?”

“If the young lady had no feelings for you, why would she get angry and run away crying?”

At Luke’s words, Terran swallowed the curse he was about to utter.

It was a reasonable point. If there were no emotions, there would be no need to get angry at the other person. Not only that, Grace had even put herself down while comparing herself to the Empress.

“Now, now! Calm down and explain the situation from start to finish.”

“Uh, well…”

Terran told Luke everything exactly as it had happened.

As he listened, Luke’s complexion gradually turned pale, and he put his hands on his hips and paced back and forth.

“Who’s Vivian? And saying her head is small, her arms and legs are thin, so take care of it yourself? Ha! Your Grace, love is not a war. I told you to provoke jealousy, why did you trample on the young lady’s self-esteem?”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s irreparable at this point. When you say your first love is the Empress, what woman wouldn’t compare herself? Moreover, they say the Empress is the idol of noble young ladies.”

“But Grace is more beautiful and lovable.”

“Are you trying to cure after causing the illness?”

‘This is what happens when you’ve never been in love before.’

Luke shook his head and clicked his tongue. Despite having a handsome appearance, wealth, honor, and even power, he was utterly hopeless in love.

He should have given moderate compliments while boosting the woman’s self-esteem.

Calling her Vivian, talking about engagement, and even speaking as if he still had lingering feelings for her had the opposite effect.

“I thought I had to work hard to succeed.”

“Miss Grace is physically weak, isn’t she? People who are physically weak tend to have bigger inferiority complexes. Because the things they can do are limited.”

“Grace is smart and capable.”

The problem was that while that was Terran’s opinion, the person in question didn’t agree.

“If you had finished with such compliments earlier, this disaster wouldn’t have happened.”

It was natural that things couldn’t be resolved after provoking jealousy to such an extent.

Despite causing this mess, Terran was curious about the conclusion.

“So what exactly is the state of Grace’s feelings?”

Terran waited for Luke’s answer with a tense expression.

“The feelings she had for you are breaking and returning to how they were before.”

At that moment, Terran recalled what Grace had said.

[I won’t try anymore……]

He didn’t even want to remember the words that followed.

Then again, how would he feel if Grace called out the name of her first love and showered him with praise?

Moreover, if her first love was the Emperor. Indeed, one can only judge a situation properly when put in the same position.

Terran suddenly felt dizzy.

From now on, he wouldn’t be able to hold her hand affectionately or taste her sweet lips. Even just sleeping while holding her in his arms was good… It was all over now.

“Luke, come up with a plan.”

“Why don’t we just stop? You can’t control your strength, Your Grace.”

“Do you want to die before you come to your senses?”

Terran shouted menacingly as he grabbed Luke’s collar. Only then did Luke politely clasp his hands together.

“There is one option. You need to act as if this is your last chance.”

“What is it?”

* * *

Allen was shocked when he saw the newspaper. How persistent, he thought Hamilton’s General Store would go bankrupt soon, but there was an article saying it was thriving again.

‘That gypsy is a baroness?’

Surely it wasn’t the bribed employee at the ducal residence who revealed the truth. Of course, they would have been fired by now. But they don’t know that there’s more than one person bribed at the ducal residence.

Anyway, they even launched new products and orders are piling up?

‘Things are not going well at all.’

Well, it doesn’t matter. Hamilton’s General Store isn’t causing significant damage to his business yet. At times like this, it was wise to hide one’s schemes behind a solid mask.

“Sir, a telegram arrived from Rubeck early this morning.”

The secretary handed Allen the telegram.

‘Grace and the Duke are not getting along well?’

Allen’s face lit up as he crumpled the telegram.

“Send flowers to Miss Grace Bizac.”

“Understood.”

Allen instructed his secretary standing beside him.

Given what happened last time, and even for ordering a dress for Rivette, he needed to visit Rubeck. So he had to make preparations in advance.

His younger sister Rivette has been coming every day to throw tantrums.

She even threatened that if she couldn’t wear a Chainer lace dress to the Crown Prince’s bride selection banquet, she wouldn’t attend at all.

‘This is perfect, I just need to completely seduce Grace Bizac this time.’

There had never been a woman he set his mind on that he couldn’t bring down. The mistake last time could probably be resolved with material things like with other women.

Just as Allen was about to fold the newspaper with a satisfied expression, a woman’s hand caressed his shoulder.

“Sara, I told you not to enter my office without saying anything!”

“What should I do when Allen keeps avoiding me?”

He regretted not dealing with Sara earlier.

“Allen, are you going to Rubeck again?”

“How did you know that?”

“Sending flowers means you’re going to meet that woman soon, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t follow me this time.”

“Don’t worry. I never do anything Allen doesn’t want.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course.”

‘I won’t follow, I’ll just go separately.’

Sara knew Allen’s intentions too well.

Not only was he captivated at first sight by this woman named Grace Bizac, but he had also planted people in Rubeck and received daily reports on her situation.

Even while in Gardencia, he knew exactly what Grace was doing.

‘I know you’re a bastard, but I can’t give up either. Because of you, I sent Miss Lea and the Master to hell.’

So there was no way back. She had no choice but to keep moving forward with Allen.

‘Before you abandon me, I just need to get rid of Grace, that bitch, first.’

Sara smiled brightly with sad eyes.

* * *

Lea worked hard on making riding outfits with Pauline.

First, they finished designing what form to make them in. Now all that was left was to meet with the ducal residence’s dedicated tailor and consult.

However, Lea wasn’t happy at all even though things were going smoothly.

“Miss, make up with the Duke.”

“What make up? He doesn’t even look for me or talk to me.”

“That’s because you were very angry, so he’s being cautious.”

Who? Duke Terran Courtois? Say something that makes sense.

He wasn’t the type of person to ever show weakness to others. That day, even if he had come right away to apologize, it might not have been forgiven, but instead, he ignored her.

“We’re over.”

“It’s not over. Sis really really likes the Duke.”

Chainer, who was crocheting lace in the rocking chair, mumbled to herself. Today, even she didn’t seem cute. Hitting right at the core like that.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she tried to find the reason herself. Why she was writhing in jealousy like this.

‘What’s the use of really really liking him? He’s a man who can’t even apologize.’

Lea could only sigh. Just then, there was a knock and James came in.

‘Now you come looking for me?’

It was obvious. Terran must have sent James to relay a message asking to have a meal together. But James’s expression didn’t look very good.

“Miss, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The Duke is very ill. He hasn’t been able to eat for days and has a high fever.”

“Terran is sick?”

Lea jumped up from her seat and asked. This was completely unexpected.