“As a senior in high society, I simply offered advice lightly. But you couldn’t endure it and tried to sully your own honor. How much do you think it hurt my heart? I know you better than anyone, no matter what kind of lover you are.”

“…….”
“So I got excited because I couldn’t just stand by. Nothing like what you misunderstood had happened.”

Lady Felcis, who had only been looking at Riandro, glanced at Estelle.

‘Why isn’t she saying anything?’

Estelle, who had thought she might throw out any words to defend herself, just silently watched the two.

Somehow, her reserved attitude seemed nobler and more dignified, hurting her pride.

“Look at them now. Lady Blancchet has nothing to say and is just standing there quietly.”

“Is what my mother said true?”

Riandro was unusually more agitated than usual.

“I really just asked if my mother’s words were all true.”

The noblewomen around took Lady Felcis’s side, speaking one by one.

“That’s right, Lady Felcis. We all witnessed it.”

“Lady Blancchet’s actions were beyond what Lady Felcis could endure.”

Encouraged by the pouring support, Lady Felcis regained her strength. She whispered affectionately, wrapping her arms around her son.

“Everyone heard what they were saying, right? You misunderstood for a moment. Look at your mother’s eyes, my son.”

However, moved Riandro turned away from his mother. Riandro approached Estelle after letting go of his mother.

“I asked Lady Blancchet for an explanation. Is what my mother and the other noblewomen said true?”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

The cool breeze tousled Estelle’s platinum hair. The unusually pink platinum hair swayed with the blue roses decorating the ribbon.

With a contemplative tone, Estelle responded.

“Do you need a different answer here?”

“Yes. I need one. It’s crucial to me.”

Riandro’s voice, tightening around his clenched fist, became heavier.

“Please tell me. What is the truth?”

In his low-toned voice, many emotions surged. It didn’t seem like he was talking only about the recent events.

Tilting her head slightly, Estelle asked Riandro.

“Well, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. I just… want to know the truth.”

“Why do you persist, Riandro?”

“Mother, you know better than anyone, don’t you?”

Turning to his mother, Riandro replied with a despondent voice.

“Haven’t you been tearing her down with lies until now? You slandered her with unfounded accusations, blamed her origin even in an incident where she was the victim.”

“…”

“Even when I found out the truth later, I tried to believe my mother. I didn’t want to think badly of my mother. I believed you were not that kind of person.”

Riandro’s voice was filled with sharp reproach. Lady Felcis turned pale as if her heart had been slashed with a knife.

“How could you, how could you to this mother.”
“But what’s all this? Calling Mother’s people as if tormenting them, even trying to resort to violence….”

Riandro, with a stern expression, glared at Lady Felcis’s friends one by one.

“Am I supposed to believe everything you say?”

Whenever Riandro’s gaze met with noblewomen’s eyes, they flinched and avoided eye contact. The sight hurt Riandro even more.

Letting out a deep sigh, Riandro firmly grabbed his mother’s shoulders and questioned as if pressing her.

“Why did you do this to her? How many malicious lies have you told? What made you hate someone so much that you wanted to bury them like this?”

“Oh, no. Riandro, your mother never did that.”

Lady Felcis pleaded, clinging to her son as if she might collapse. But Riandro no longer looked back at Lady Felcis.

Riandro only looked at Estelle.

“Estelle.”

Ignoring the clinging Lady Felcis, he slowly kneeled. Riandro’s firm eyes had turned red without him realizing.

“I apologize for not listening to your story and ignoring you until now. I didn’t know, and I regret the false things that my mother, my surroundings, everyone said about you. I’m sorry.”

The bouquet of red roses in Riandro’s arms fell to the ground. A single tear fell from Riandro’s eyes onto the scattered red roses.

“I was too impulsive and foolish.”

“So what?”

“I want to apologize to you. I want to know the truth that I foolishly missed until now.”

Estelle looked at Riandro with an indifferent expression. The straightforward blue eyes, meeting Estelle’s gaze, shimmered pitifully.

“Where and how much of it was a lie?”

“Why are you suddenly curious about that?”

Estelle lightly laughed.

“It wasn’t important anyway, was it?”

“Now, it is. It’s important now.”

Riandro desperately looked at Estelle’s beautiful face. Only now did Riandro understand the confusion he had been through.

‘I couldn’t give up my feelings for her.’

He didn’t want to admit that he, who fell for the villain Estelle, loved the woman he had disguised as his first love, Yesstella.

Because it was not right.

‘But Estelle wasn’t a villain.’

Even though he had only seen a small part, he was convinced. Perhaps there was more truth that Riandro had missed.

‘Now I’ve finally got to know the real her.’

With a heartfelt regret, Riandro appealed to Estelle.

“I now realize that I was wrong. I understand the reason why I kept regretting not being able to hold your hand. I know it’s too late.”

“Now?”

“Yes, I know it’s a bit late. I admit it’s my fault, but we started off on the wrong foot. It’s regrettable, but we can’t change the past. Still, I want to hold onto you.”
Her beauty, which had seemed repulsive, now appeared pitiful and wretched. The long, white eyelashes, trailing down, pricked at Riandro’s heart.

Riandro gripped the area around his heart, throbbing painfully beyond his control.

“So, if you tell the truth about yourself, we could be more than anyone else…”

“What kind of person do you think I am?”

At that moment, strangely, Estelle, who was so close, seemed terribly distant to Riandro. Like the traces of a already-passed spring, it felt unreachable.

Estelle picked up the scattered roses belonging to Riandro from the floor. Then, looking at the roses as if savoring them, she let out a mocking chuckle.

“I am the woman you thought I was.”

“Indeed, if that’s the case, then you are…”

Hope and anticipation shone in Riandro’s blue eyes.

At that moment, Estelle dropped the roses, like discarding them. Her high-heeled shoe elegantly crushed the red roses.

“A villain.”

Riandro’s gaze at the dirty rose petals became hollow. He murmured with a hopeless voice.

“Why…?”