Chapter 26
“I’ll see you to the carriage.”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll go on my own.”
Even though I refused once, Rixion Luhanes pretended not to hear and insisted on getting into the carriage with me.
We didn’t talk or even look at each other the whole ride.
When the carriage stopped in front of the Christener viscount’s manor, I deliberately stepped past him and got out first. Rixion Luhanes watched me impassively, then got out of the carriage after me.
He didn’t have to get out. Now even a man who insisted on keeping up appearances bothered me.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
After a customary “Let’s meet again” sort of farewell, the carriage carrying Rixion Luhanes departed.
I had already turned and walked into the viscount’s house before the carriage was out of sight.
I handed my cloak to the butler, who looked like he’d been waiting for me to come back, then went up to my room.
As I climbed the stairs, an odd mix of unease and relief settled over me.
‘He must have really been angry today.’
I snorted and thought of the man who’d kept that fake smile on until the very end.
Part of me was glad — unexpectedly glad — that I’d managed to shake off the original story’s male lead, but there was a faint sting from feeling like he’d just shoved me away.
Still, things had turned out the way I wanted, and the thought that I no longer had to worry for no reason made me feel peaceful.
Although I was still uneasy about the problem that had interrupted the main episode that Jieunha should have handled, just being able to distance myself from the original male lead felt like enough harvest for the day.
I flopped down on the bed, feeling much calmer.
My stomach rumbled.
It sounded like it was complaining about being hungry, but somehow I didn’t feel like eating anything.
Too many things had happened all at once over the last couple of days; the fatigue had piled up. I was tired.
Lying on the soft bed, weariness rushed over me like a wave.
These past few days had been far too hard for a weak grasshopper like me.
Fortunately, I could expect to return to the peaceful everyday life I used to enjoy starting tomorrow.
‘Yes, from now on… Rixion Luhanes is out of my life.’
And Elizabeth Christener, happy golden-spoon grasshopper!
Unconsciously smiling, I surrendered to that sweet drowsiness.
As I’d hoped, I spent a peaceful stretch of time.
First of all, after that day there were no message cards from Rixion Luhanes, and he didn’t come to our manor.
Other than getting scolded briefly by my brother Mihael for leaving the house without his permission to visit the Luhanes duchy, time passed without incident.
Because of the Rixion Luhanes thing and the talk about the epidemic settling down, I was forbidden from going out — not even on a blind date — until the rumors died down.
I actually liked that. I could practically do nothing but laze about in my room like an idler and roll around on the bed.
Delicious meals would come on time, sweet snacks would appear, and if I got bored I could take a nap — it would have been perfect… but in reality it wasn’t like that at all.
The gossip sheets that circulated in society kept publishing articles about me one after another.
“Viscountess Christener’s daughter shelters plague-stricken outsiders.”
“Viscountess Christener’s daughter criticized for reckless behavior.”
“Viscountess Christener’s daughter infected with the Red Rat? No further action observed.”
“Will the Christener family’s trading company Dion be safe from the Red Rat?”
Publicly, it had been Rixion Luhanes who took in the infected children. But gossip rags were too afraid to say anything direct about him, so they plastered my name in huge letters and chewed me to pieces.
They even dragged our family and the trading company into it, so Dani couldn’t help but be bothered.
There were rebuttals, too.
“Rumors that the Christener daughter is infected with the Red Rat are groundless. Eyewitnesses say she’s always been a recluse.”
Seeing that “eyewitness” phrasing, I reasonably suspected that Mihael had commissioned that article.
“Unless you actually are infected, the rumors will cool down over time, so don’t worry too much. Our family and the trading company aren’t so flimsy that something like this would make them reel.”
When I seemed gloomier than expected at the possibility our family and the trading company had taken real damage, Mihael comforted me.
Still, I felt terribly guilty — as if I’d poured ash over all the things he’d been preserving by sparing time for meals or sleep. I couldn’t return the favor and instead caused him trouble.
If people mentioned my name and only yelled at and pointed fingers at me, what could I do? I could just go out and cut myself off from them all.
The problem was that although I was the one who’d done wrong, innocent Mihael and the family were the ones who seemed to be taking the blame, and that weighed on me. The more articles with my name ran in the gossip papers, the worse I felt.
At times like that I thought I’d rather have Mihael lash out and show his anger — that would make me feel better. But he just quietly comforted me, which only made me feel worse.
I lost my energy, skipped meals, and locked myself in my room.
It wasn’t just whether I’d stay as the original male lead’s ex — what crushed me was the thought that my name might be recorded as a disgrace to the Christener family.
I didn’t regret saving Rowin and Rin, the two children. That feeling hadn’t changed.
What I regretted was that I might have saved them in a way that drew attention — that those nobles who happened to be there might not have noticed, that gossip wouldn’t have dragged my family’s name into it.
I should have acted more carefully.
‘If there were a place to prove, like Mihael said, that I wasn’t infected at all, that’d be good.’
When infected with the Red Rat, the first symptom is fever, the second is red spots on the skin.
If I showed up with no fever and no red spots, I could silence that nonsense.
But even if I looked fine to the eye, people might be uncomfortable with a woman who might have been infected attending a social gathering, so I hesitated.
Moreover, no one in this situation would likely invite me to a banquet.
Should I just go eat alone at Zremian Restaurant where many nobles go? Maybe draw attention by doing a food fight there? I thought that, and then stopped.
I didn’t want to make other customers uncomfortable or cause trouble for the restaurant.
Sigh…
Hugging the quilt and staring at the ceiling, I sighed long and hard.
Thanks to Mihael I’d been living well off this estate, and instead of repaying him I was only causing problems.
I felt so unsettled I didn’t even want to eat. I even hated the rumbling in my stomach.
‘But thinking about it makes me mad.’
Suddenly enraged, I kicked off the quilt and got up.
Those bastards, who do they think they are?
Yeah, they can be worried I’ll bring infected kids and spread disease. They can criticize me for being reckless. Fine.
But why drag our innocent brother and the family into it and talk trash? Mihael didn’t tell me to save those kids.
And what if I really had infected them and spread it to them — what the hell would I have done?
I was locked up at home reflecting on my mistake, and yet every day they wrote articles slandering me, my brother, our family and the trading company together.
Puffing, I paced my room in circles and walked to the window. I flung it wide open and felt the cool wind rush in.
For a moment I held myself in check and breathed deeply to calm down. The cold wind felt good, but it wasn’t enough to cool my anger.
I took a deep breath, put one leg on the sill, and shouted with all my might toward the front.
“You damn bastards! If you have something to say, come say it to me directly! You miserable— ——! If you prattle on about me and my family, I’ll—! You idiots—!”
“Miss, it’s noisy in the neighborhood.”
A calm voice suddenly cut off my shouting from behind.
I froze as I’d been shouting every vicious curse I knew at the scumbags who peddled fabricated crap in the gossip sheets.
“If you don’t want those scandal sheets to claim that the Christener daughter has gone mad after catching the plague, please come down now.”
