67. Why should I abandon mere monsters?

2023.12.06.

And more than that.

Truly, more than that.

Louise frequently ran errands outside and often left the estate, so she must have known far more than Yuan about the rumors surrounding the exiled prince.

She must have known whose power her uncle Gerret Pelliese had sworn loyalty to.

She must have known just how obsessive, abnormal, and utterly deranged the people gathered in this palace were.

Even if her information was limited, she still knew far more than Yuan ever did.

“That foolish girl probably couldn’t think any other way—acting as if she were your real mother. Understandable, really. Ever since you were little, that girl was destined to be sacrificed for you, someone born with the power of Pelliese.”

Yuan abruptly threw off the blanket she had been hiding under and opened her eyes.

Her uncle now looked at her directly, as if finally realizing she could understand him.

“You can blame only me and feel better, but even if your parents were here, nothing would change.”

“Sacrificed for me? Ever since I was little?”

Yuan’s voice rose, her brow furrowed in confusion. Gerret Pelliese snorted disdainfully, as if surprised she didn’t already know.

“If you think your parents protected this family with some noble and pure mission, you’re gravely mistaken, Yuan Pelliese. When your sister ultimately failed to awaken the Pelliese power, your parents pinned their hopes on you. The moment your beloved father’s favor led to idle talk of engagement in the imperial court, they secretly raised your useless sister to be ready to replace you.”

The sister Yuan had never met until she was ten years old.

The sister who immediately shared in her misfortune, who silently endured Yuan’s resentment as she wandered in despair.

The sister who always said she loved her and would protect her—Louise Pelliese.

One year ago.

Louise left home knowing she might die.

She left with the promise to come back for Yuan.

Without revealing a single detail of this truth.

Without sending even one letter, she returned only as a corpse.

Yuan turned her gaze away from her uncle, whose eyes flickered wildly as if he were taking on the guilt meant for Louise.

Her long eyelashes trembled faintly downward.

‘What did I ever say to make you go that far, Louise?’

For the past ten years, Yuan had relied on Louise to survive within the Pelliese mansion, yet resentment toward this unfamiliar sister who returned with her parents’ corpses had always lingered deep in her heart.

‘Yuan. I love you.’

‘Even if you don’t love me. I love you.’

This was a sister who had never once heard Yuan say “I love you” back.

They lived together, ate together, slept together.

Yuan always found peace leaning into Louise’s warmth, and felt uneasy when she was absent.

She knew Louise had nowhere else to go and relied solely on her.

And so, she had assumed Louise would always stay by her side, even without saying “I love you.”

‘She was going to die without ever hearing those words—’

“Well? Do you understand your uncle’s heart a little now? Do you finally see that I’m not as bad as you thought? One life was sacrificed to save yours. Will you ignore that and stay beside that monster of an exiled prince, pretending to be happy, deluding yourself?”

She would never think her uncle wasn’t so bad.

Only regret remained—regret that she had been so foolish and ignorant.

Not just for what had happened, but for the time she had wasted, trapped in petty resentment that if only she had loved Louise more and not hesitated to bring her back, her parents might still be alive.

That time now felt miserable, utterly miserable.

And now, unable to ever meet again, the fact that she had never spoken those words aloud felt unbearable, agonizing.

“You are a precious life. If lives had value, yours would be beyond price. Wasting more time in some place like Roxenhardt is foolish and shameless. For you, and for your sister!”

“Hah. Foolish. Shameless.”

“Exactly! Don’t betray your sister’s sacrifice. From now on, stand with me—your true blood relative, your uncle—and together we’ll protect and advance the Pelliese name. Isn’t there even a single line in that vast Pelliese library about your illness? We’ll find it, study it, rebuild the business, improve your health further. And when that time comes, I’ll pass the Pelliese legacy to you without hesitation.”

Seeming pleased with his own logic, her uncle urged her on with an excited voice.

“There’s no need to waste your remaining time clinging to that monster’s mansion, Yuan Pelliese.”

Meeting his gaze directly at the word “monster,” Gerret Pelliese enunciated each syllable with deliberate precision.

He was certain—his words were clear enough that no fool or idiot could possibly refuse him.

“There’s no reason to be confused or hesitate. Why can’t you abandon mere monsters like that? Unless, of course, you actually love that creature.”

Clutching her teeth tightly, Yuan turned his words over in her mind, but ultimately couldn’t suppress the surge of blood rising in her throat.

“Ugh—!!”

Even as his niece vomited blood before his eyes, the uncle didn’t offer a single handkerchief. He only laughed.

“See? You can’t run from death any longer.”

***

After churning Yuan’s insides and declaring he’d send someone soon, her uncle proudly left the room without bothering to clean up the blood she had spat.

Exhausted and gasping, buried under the weight of these truths that shook her entire body, Yuan quickly flipped the blanket and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief when she heard a knock on the door.

Just as she finished cleaning up, Marquis Rev and Eddie Rev entered the room one after the other, stopping at a respectful distance.

Leaning against the head of the bed, Yuan greeted them with a pale face, her body still tense.

“We rushed here as soon as we heard you collapsed from shock. How fortunate we followed you to the capital just in time. Prince Clade’s breathing has stabilized considerably.”

The marquis stammered, his face lined with worry, unsure of what to say first.

At the news that Clade’s breathing had calmed, Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief.

Hire peeked quietly from behind Eddie, having come with them after tending to Clade.

His face was even paler and sterner than the marquis’s—understandable, since he had seen Yuan vomit blood with his own eyes.

Yuan quietly nodded, thinking Hire wouldn’t have told others about that shocking scene.

“That’s good.”

“As soon as the prince regained consciousness, he insisted on leaving immediately for Roxenhardt. Will you be alright?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“You must be distressed your debutante ball was ruined.”

As the marquis continued, sounding troubled in many ways, Eddie’s expression grew darker and darker.

He had become extremely sensitive ever since hearing Clade had nearly been poisoned.

He had already disliked the idea of Clade coming to this palace just for a trivial debutante ball, and upon hearing he had nearly been murdered, he was on the verge of losing control.

“Is the debutante ball really important right now, Father?”

“Eddie.”

The marquis warned quietly, chilled by Eddie’s cold tone.

Eddie scrutinized Yuan, who stood silently observing the two of them. The pale woman was carefully watching their expressions.

Try as he might to suppress it,

the thought wouldn’t leave him—Clade kept getting hurt ever since Yuan arrived.

“You’re right, Young Marquis. We’ve already paid respects to the Emperor and danced. We’ve enjoyed the atmosphere enough.”

“Thank you for understanding. We’ll arrange a more comfortable carriage to escort both of you.”

Though not as openly suspicious as Eddie, the marquis was indeed on edge about Clade’s incident, so he hurried his words.

Forcibly pulling his son, who stood there with so much left unsaid, the marquis bowed deeply to Yuan and quickly opened the door.

“Oh. A guest was already inside.”

At the doorway stood First Prince Bollonico, holding an ornate bouquet of flowers.

***

Bollonico entered without hesitation, as if it were his own bedroom, and even dismissed the servant who had carried his gift.

The moment Yuan saw him at the door, she recalled how Eddie Rev had clenched his teeth, glancing back and forth between Bollonico and herself.

Eddie’s suspicion was natural.

The one requesting a private meeting was Bollonico, someone who appeared to have no connection to Yuan whatsoever, and even her own uncle suspected Bollonico of hiring the poisoning—so of course Eddie would think the same.

Since only Clade nearly died from the poison despite sharing champagne, if the Emperor hadn’t immediately cleared Yuan as a suspect and instead arrested random innocents, she would have been squarely under suspicion.

Yuan clenched her fists beneath the blanket, watching as Bollonico approached her.

The man who might have poisoned her husband.

The man who might have used her sister to shorten her life—stood right before her.

Straining every ounce of strength to hide her contorted expression, Yuan felt her trembling jaw slowly steady as she began to move her body slightly to face him.

“May endless glory be upon the noble Euphris—”

“Such gracious courtesy will make Prince Bollonico, who came to visit the ill, feel quite guilty, sister-in-law.”

His voice was endlessly gentle, sickly sweet.

‘Did you approach my sister this way too?’

Telling her to flee from the monster exiled prince?

Or perhaps, to drink poison?

“You look unwell. The poison wasn’t meant for you, sister-in-law.”