My Insolent Shadow - Chapter 53

“Without my son, this mother’s life might as well not exist. Even if treatment is difficult, you must endure, son.”

Cassian responded with a faint smile.

A mother who had been abandoned by her father and had lived only for her son since then.

It had always been like that and would never change.

Unless he shed the armor of being Blanchet’s heir.

“Oh, and Lord Alton seemed very worried, so he arranged an engagement with the second daughter of the Western Margrave this time.”

Her voice was so casual that it was hard to believe she was talking about her son’s marriage.

The same was true for Cassian, the person concerned.

He replied with an expression of utter disbelief that it was his own affair.

“I see.”

Engagement…

It’s a word that doesn’t suit someone facing imminent death.

However, the background of how the engagement talk came about was clear to see.

‘The House of Perriot, Western Margrave.’

They were currently the only ones capable of forming a symbiotic relationship with the Blanchet Ducal family.

The Blanchets with their overwhelming power, worthy of being called the return of a divine being, and the Western Perriot family with their military might protecting national defense as Margraves.

What a perfect combination.

Although the heir might die at any moment, with a treatment developed, it was quite a profitable deal for the Margrave with many daughters.

If he unfortunately dies, they could just discard him.

From the second daughter’s perspective, remarriage would be difficult, but there would likely be at least one noble family to pity her situation. For the Margrave with the power to sell her off at a suitable price, it was an engagement with nothing to lose.

For the mother who needed to show the heir’s well-being, and for him as well, there was no reason to refuse.

It was a balanced scale, not an alliance tilting to either side.

“The rumors that the Blanchet heir is terminally ill will disappear, I suppose.”

Soon, a fabricated love story will spread through society.

There’s no way a dying young lord would be preparing for marriage, so nothing could be better to announce the Blanchet heir’s well-being.

The story that the Blanchet heir is healthy and the divine being will return will spread widely.

Along with a romance story that will stir up society.

How far will that beautiful and romantic story dye everything pink?

Perhaps it will reach even beyond that ashen Alphonse stuck in the corner.

Then will it reach her ears too?

It’s bound to.

Even if she covers her ears, everyone in Alphonse will be talking about it.

Will it be pink for that girl too? Or ash-colored?

What will you think, Yuriel?

‘That we suit each other well?’

Ah, or perhaps you’ll have no thoughts at all.

But those teary eyes I last saw didn’t seem to have no thoughts.

Of course, I know.

All those tears were crocodile tears to get the medicine for her birth mother.

If I had been standing in front of her at that moment…

That girl who dared to spout lies about liking me to my face, would have asked for that medicine again with that maliciously innocent face.

While spouting nonsense about regretting the young master’s departure.

But I’ve decided to think as I please.

The day I’ll know the truth is far off anyway.

As far as the distance from the capital to Alphonse.

A lily blooming among the wild grass beyond the window caught Cassian’s gaze.

That flower looked just like that girl.

To say that girl, who should rightfully be called a weed, is like a lily.

If anyone knew my thoughts, they’d laugh.

But anyone who saw that girl would think the same.

After that, Elise’s gentle voice continued to resound inside the carriage.

About the things she had done for him over the past time, and therefore why he should live.

No, more precisely, why he must live on.

Meanwhile, in Cassian’s mind, Yuriel hazily bloomed and withered repeatedly several times.

Outside the carriage window, the cityscape where advanced new technologies had taken root was in view.

Unlike the lush green background of Alphonse, the space filled with tall buildings was overflowing with people.

Unlike before, numerous shops lining the main streets boasted their splendid appearances.

Instead of the squawking of seagulls, the murmur of the crowd, which he hadn’t heard in a long time, filled Cassian’s ears.

Before he knew it, the scenery changed from uniform high-rise buildings to the grand mansion of the Blanchets.

The servants, lined up in long rows on both sides, greeted their master in perfect formation.

Looking at the familiar scene he had been certain he would never see again, Cassian slowly rose from his seat.

The body escorting Elise out had grown taller than before.

Yuriel’s time passed only slowly.

Since that day, she couldn’t eat or sleep.

The season in Alphonse, left alone after both Hael and the young master had departed, brought with it a deep solitude, but she had no energy to consider such things.

It was natural that she couldn’t think of such things when she knew what would happen if she couldn’t get her mother’s medicine right away.

If there was any silver lining to this misfortune, it was that no order of expulsion had been issued from this mansion.

The lord, who she thought would tell them to leave immediately after the young master’s departure, for some reason didn’t give any orders.

Even the butler, whom she occasionally encountered, merely maintained an indifferent attitude with a tired expression.

Even Lady Ressler, who glared at Yuriel and Jane like kindling, didn’t say anything particular.

It was a succession of strange days, unbelievably peaceful.

The maid’s visits to attend to her mother, the meals brought by her hands, the room neatly tidied by the servants who always entered on time…

Even such trivial things remained the same as before the young master left Alphonse.

As if he still existed in this Alphonse, controlling this world.

The servants still maintained an attitude of fearing her and her mother as if serving their superiors.

Outsiders who suddenly entered from the outside one day.

What thoughts must they have as they bow their heads to her and her mother, who were nothing more nor less than that?

It was obvious without even looking how it must appear for people of unclear origin to enter and receive better treatment than themselves.

Especially since the lord was eyeing her mother with some intent, and Lady Ressler, who knew all of this…

‘Yet they can’t drive us out…’

Why?

Could the young master be behind all of this?

That person who would be in some fairy tale capital too far from this Alphonse to even reach, exerting effort for her sake.

Isn’t that too ridiculous an assumption?

Yuriel let out a small, derisive laugh.

In her mind flashed the cold face of his she had last seen.

The young master had told her to withdraw with an expressionless face.

That was his answer to her confession of liking him.

So… the answer is simple.

There’s no way he would do such things for her sake.

Otherwise, when she trembled and said she liked him, he wouldn’t have left laughing like that, without giving her the medicine in the end.

Of course, it’s also ridiculous to ask for it as if it had been left in her care.

She had no right to resent him.

He, who had given her this much better room in exchange for destroying the house, had done his share.

No, he had done more than that.

In a word, he had remained noble as a Blanchet to the end, while she had merely clung to him shamelessly and failed at that.

A cold wind swept through her heart.

After the young master disappeared, she tried her best to leave the mansion and somehow earn money, but such a large sum was beyond her ability to obtain.

No matter how much she struggled, hell wouldn’t turn into heaven.

In fact, she had never even expected it to turn into heaven.

She had only hoped to live together even in hell, but even that seems to have been too great a wish.

The image of her mother with a bright face on the other side of the door flickered in Yuriel’s vision.

The color that had finally returned to her mother’s face would once again turn ashen.

Already, a month had almost passed since the medicine’s effects had worn off completely.

Yuriel couldn’t bring herself to face her mother, who always smiled pretending to be fine.

In the end, Yuriel turned her steps to her room and picked up a pen.

Yuriel took several deep breaths while writing these few sentences.

Under the pen she had pressed too hard, several indentations formed.

Fortunately, she removed her hand before it could spread terribly, avoiding the misfortune of having to discard the paper.

However, feeling suffocated, Yuriel tightly closed her eyes.

Only after regulating her breathing several times did she open her eyes again and barely manage to continue.

The words asking if he could give her mother’s medicine rumbled in her mouth but couldn’t make it onto the letter.

Sighing deeply, Yuriel stared blankly at the letter for a long time.

The letter with so much blank space somehow felt insincere.

Should she add that she would do anything if only he would do that for her?

But would he need anything from her now?

He was someone who never needed such things from the start.

At most, she might have been a source of amusement while in Alphonse, but now…

She would probably be nothing more than a fleeting memory of the young master whom she would never see again.

If she’s remembered as a memory at all, it would be fortunate – that’s how insignificant and trivial, like dust, she would be.

But right now, she had to grasp at anything she could, whatever it might be.

What right did she have to be picky in her situation?

Picking up the pen again, Yuriel quickly wrote down the words.

Looking at the end of the clumsy letter, Yuriel sighed and added one last thing.