My Insolent Shadow (22 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 11

One day in the past, Hael’s mother held an Alphonse party at the mansion, excluding only my mother.

At that party, fully aware of the aunts’ gossip, Hael’s mother hired my mother as a day laborer.

When she finally offered my mother a position as her personal maid after my mother came pleading to send me to elementary school….

I’d wanted to run away from it all—it was utterly unbearable.

The words those aunts whispered behind my mother’s back as she worked in that house still ring vividly in my ears.

[“She wags her tail at every man she sees—yet the mistress is so indulgent toward her.”] [“Exactly. She even went so far as to hire such a woman.”] [“Didn’t she also help her settle here permanently?”]

With each passing day, Hael’s mother became the good person, and my mother the bad one.

Truth mattered little to them.

For their dignity’s sake, it had to be the foreign princess—who had stolen even a fleeting glance from someone other than their husbands—who was at fault.

They insisted the princess, who had sown discord into their households, deserved to fall.

Hael’s mother couldn’t possibly have been unaware of all this.

Occasionally, a faint smile would play at the corners of her lips as she watched the scene unfold.

Even afterward, she kept my mother close by as her maid for quite some time.

She deliberately twisted public opinion against my mother, cutting away her livelihoods one by one until she had no choice but to enter their household—then pretended it was an act of kindness.

Yet my mother still wished for me to get along well with Hael.

She always said he was the only one who’d ever looked out for her.

She’d ask, “Without him, how could we possibly keep our footing in Alphonse?”

For a while, I even doubted whether I myself was twisted.

Perhaps I was just buried under a stubborn, black pride that served no purpose.

Hael treated me so kindly, and no other household paid my mother as generously.

Maybe it was me who was warped after all.

Because living with so little made me envy those who had more—so I’d become all knotted up.

I even fabricated reasons to justify liking Hael, punishing myself in the process.

It must have been when Madam Catherine finally tore off even her mask—upon finding Hael gently feeding hay to his horse while chatting warmly with me.

What was that look on her face again? One I never wish to recall.

“Why? I heard the capital is full of beautiful young ladies.”

Of course, since Hael’s family held no title, meeting high-born noblewomen would likely be out of reach.

But in this era of the Empire, where the class system had somewhat crumbled, those who owned wealthy lands still carried commensurate worth.

Hael, being quite handsome, probably had many women who fancied him.

Just like the village girls here who adored him.

Now that he’d grown refined in the capital, the women drawn to him must have become equally more sophisticated.

“Girls like that aren’t my type.”

Well, at least that confirmed they existed—those pretty, clingy noblewomen.

Likely women whose status roughly matched Hael’s own.

Pursuing the conversation further would only give me a headache.

I already knew Hael’s answer from the many letters stacked in our storage shed.

He’d probably circle around saying he liked me many times over, and I still wouldn’t be able to give him a reply.

Fear still occupied far more space in me than courage ever could.

Hael, the only son tasked with protecting the horse ranch, would eventually follow his parents’ wishes.

Everyone did.

The moment he chose me, the things he’d have to give up would be unbearably numerous.

A dutiful son who always listened keenly to his mother and father.

All the support he’d received because of that.

His beloved horses… countless of them.

So I skipped the pointless question about his type.

“Right. You figure out your type well. I’m busy.”

Waving my hand, I quickly left the spot—before he could grab hold of me.

It truly was time I moved faster.

I’d already wasted too much time, caught up in the joy of seeing him again.

Each time I glanced back, I saw his shrinking face twisting in disbelief.

Above that distant manor, shadows stirred.

One, two… as I counted, it was the floor where Cassian Di Blanchet stayed.

‘Had he been watching Hael and me talk this whole time?’

The tightly shut window snagged my gaze.

Well, not that it mattered to me.

[This is the timeline separator]

As expected, the villagers were abuzz with stories of Hael and Cassian’s return.

Roughly speaking, Hael accounted for one-tenth, Cassian for nine-tenths.

In the old days, adults would’ve spoken nonstop only about Hael—so this shift was astonishing.

It showed just how deeply Cassian had imprinted himself on their minds.

True to expectation, they lavished praise on Cassian.

“The Blanchets truly possess a dignity unlike any other.”

“How could he pay so generously and still treat a worker with such gentleness?”

“Sending a butler for something a simple order could’ve settled—how dashing!”

Even Fishmonger of Liordeen, who’d abruptly lost his worker, grinned ear to ear.

Each time the sum he’d received leaked out, the villagers gasped in awe, and Cassian’s reputation soared even higher.

Lord Alphonse, who’d suffered an inexplicable defeat due to Cassian’s actions, was roundly criticized by the townsfolk.

Eventually, they’d all turn toward me in unison and ask:

“Is the Duke Blanchet’s young master truly as handsome as they say?”

“Isn’t he just as gentle with you?”

“What sort of tasks does he assign you…?”

Since they didn’t yet know about the young duke’s terminal condition, their questions stayed at that level.

I understood well why their curiosity had intensified.

They’d always thought of Blanchet as belonging to an entirely different world—now that he’d stooped from the heavens to touch their common lives, they found it wonderfully appealing.

Those with sparkling eyes would probably seek some connection to that young master.

My answer to their repeated questions was already set in my mind.

I’d say he was handsome, yes—but equally unlucky, and that he gave me harder tasks than anyone else.

That to him, a commoner like me wasn’t even treated like a human.

So they should stop this prince fantasy—such people simply didn’t exist in this world.

I wanted to reveal the young master’s true face to them.

But when it came time to actually say those words, my voice stuck in my throat like a thorn.

Because through talking with Hael, I’d learned the young master was actually a good person during the times I hadn’t known.

Then again, it’s laughable that I’m even sitting here agonizing over this.

No matter what I told them, these people wouldn’t believe me anyway.

People always believe and see only what they wish to.

As long as Cassian caused no harm to the village, he’d remain a good person in their eyes forever.

I had no real reason to crush the hopes of these people.

Even if it was just false hope, to those repeating the same dull life every day, even that offered a decent bit of entertainment.

“Well… just as you’ve seen.”

That was the most positively spun answer I could muster.

Considering all the thought behind it, my reply sounded awfully half-hearted.

What little rebelliousness remained in me had blocked any inclination to speak kindly.

Disappointed by my dull answer, the adults deflated visibly, muttering “How boring,” yet kept spinning endless fantasies.

“If even a blockhead like you says ‘just as you’ve seen,’ then just how good must he really be?”

Some even expressed envy that the young master had taken me with him.

Shaking my head repeatedly, I hurried along until it was time to move to my next workplace.

In the brief window I had, I managed to locate my mother’s new workplace.

Finding the place was as easy as flipping my palm.

After all, searching a village no bigger than a palm was no difficult task.

Upon discovering my mother’s secret workplace on the third try, I decided to put it on hold for now instead of confronting her outright.

After all, they’d granted her a few days’ rest to recover, showing her some leniency.

I returned home after finishing my daily tasks.

Even my mother, who usually slept poorly, was deeply asleep tonight, breathing softly—exhausted.

Since she hadn’t gone to work today, she likely hadn’t heard a thing.

She might be the only person in the village who knew nothing of Hael’s return or the stories about Cassian.

That fact felt oddly fortunate.

Yet it also made me uneasy.

Soon she’d hear about all of it… and then, would she put on that hopeful expression again?

The same look she used to wear when gazing at Hael.

At the end of a night tangled in thoughts, morning came once more, and I set off as usual, clutching the scarf my mother had wrapped around my neck.

As I passed the manor’s main gate and reached the fountain, I spotted Cassian’s shadow flickering by the window.

Would he be glaring at me with that same piercing gaze?

‘Surely he’s not holding a grudge about yesterday’s talk with Hael?’

No. That couldn’t be.

Why would he even bother keeping such a thing in memory?

By now, Cassian had likely already forgotten my very existence.

To the lofty Blanchet, I was probably no more than a bothersome ant.

Yet as I approached Cassian’s door, my pulse surged to its peak.

Forcing down my anxiety, I opened the door—and there he was, leaning against the headboard just as when I’d first seen him.

But something felt wrong.

His legs were stiff, as if in discomfort; his lips pressed tightly together, stifling a groan; his hair disheveled, his fists clenched….

The closer I got, the clearer the cold beads of sweat dotting his face became.

His already pale face now looked almost translucent.

His arm, gripping the side of the bed with forced strength, showed every tendon straining.

The moment his crimson eyes spotted me, a flicker of shame lit within them—

as if caught in some humiliating act.

And then, what he said was:

“Get out.”

Ignoring him, I hurried closer—only for him to glare at me with murderous intent.

His gaze brimmed with such lethal fury that, if looks could kill, I’d be dead many times over.