Chapter 83
“May I really?”
Despite the situation, Dell was happy.
Arpina hadn’t told him what had happened to her in the past. It meant the walls around her heart hadn’t completely crumbled yet.
‘But she’s asking me to read this letter…’
Asking him to read a letter from her family first was proof that she trusted him.
It felt like he had received confirmation once more that he was allowed to stay by Arpina’s side.
“Won’t you tell Senior Sonia?”
“I was going to, but if I show her this letter, she’ll probably run straight to Duke Boreoti.”
“Ah.”
She definitely would.
Dell unsealed the letter.
‘Perfume…?’
As he unfolded the twice-folded letter, an unfamiliar floral scent, along with a small, dried blue flower, assailed his senses.
Suppressing a slight, dizzying headache, Dell began to read.
“‘Unni’…” (TL: Unni = older sister, used by a female sibling/same-age friend)
He had barely read a single word, let alone a full line.
Dell felt like throwing the letter away.
[Unni, do you know how much trouble the family is in right now?]
Just this one sentence.
With this single sentence alone, Dell could guess what kind of life Arpina had lived until now.
‘…Is this written by someone in their right mind?’
Is there no sane person in the Tonide family?
Could it be that Unni lived with these people all along?
Dell couldn’t bring himself to read the rest of the letter. And he couldn’t bring himself to look at Arpina.
Only then did he seriously consider what state of mind she must have been in when she handed him this letter.
‘She was showing me her shameful past…’
Of course, Dell didn’t consider Arpina’s past shameful. To him, it felt more like a medal proving she had endured until the end.
But she herself might not see it that way.
Especially recalling her previous words about getting revenge on her family, her past entangled with them must undoubtedly be a horrific wound.
‘…You stupid bastard.’
Dell felt pathetic. He wanted to hit his stupid self, who had been happy just moments ago that she trusted him.
“Del.”
Arpina spoke.
“Keep reading.”
“…….”
“It’s okay. I already have a rough idea what it says.”
Her attitude was utterly composed.
That made Dell even sadder. How much had she endured and been hurt to be able to react so familiarly to this trash?
But Unni had asked him to read it.
“Yes.”
Dell had no choice but to grant Arpina’s request. He could never refuse his sister’s wishes.
“Unni…”
[Unni. Do you know how much trouble the family is in right now?
I heard from Father. He said you’re colluding with Duke Boreoti to attack the family? Why on earth are you doing that?
What I wanted was a harmonious family like other families. But you always ruin that. You always only hurt me, and never consider me!
Father and Mother are always worried about you. How can a mere commoner who can’t even use magic live without the family’s help?
That stupid skill of assembling hunks of metal only ruins your health. It’s not even a proper way to earn money. A noble shouldn’t labor!]
“…Stop.”
Arpina finally called a halt.
“That’s enough, you don’t have to read anymore…”
“…….”
“Hoo…”
Arpina let out a labored sigh, overcome with frustration.
‘Right.’
This is what was so difficult about you.
The reason Arpina found her younger sister uncomfortable was precisely because those words, no different from weapons, were all sincere worries.
It was all sincere.
Argenta had dreamed of a ‘harmonious family’ since she was young.
Her parents had always loved Argenta, and the family’s employees and elders were kind and affectionate.
It was the picture of a harmonious family straight out of a fairy tale.
Except for the failure of an older sister tucked away in a corner.
“…….”
But Arpina had no time to wallow in sentimentality.
“Father must have put her up to this.”
The word ‘Father’ appeared in the first line of the letter. It seemed Count Tonide, who had visited the academy during the semester, had noticed something.
“Father suspects me and the Duke.”
“Shall I summarize the latter part of the letter for you?”
“Was there anything noteworthy?”
“No.”
Dell glared at the letter with a cold gaze.
“She says she wants you to come back home. And that Father has found a good match for you.”
“It seems he wants to trade me in marriage.”
“I can’t believe Unni was born in such a lowly place.”
“I can’t believe it either.”
Arpina, having received the letter back, threw it straight into the trash can.
Then she took a small medicine bottle from her bag and handed it to Dell.
“Just in case, drink this.”
“What is it?”
“An antidote. It should counteract most common poisons.”
“…….”
“That dried flower earlier is a medicinal herb used as a hypnotic.”
“Crazy…”
Dell downed the potion in the bottle in one gulp. No wonder his head hurt as soon as he smelled the scent.
Arpina also drank her share of the potion.
The bitter taste spreading in her mouth didn’t seem like it would go away easily.
As she put away the empty bottle, Arpina said,
“It seems they’re trying to use me as leverage to pressure Duke Boreoti.”
“That’s the most pathetic plan I’ve ever heard in my life. I heard Count Tonide was smart; did he hit his head in an accident or something?”
“That person…”
Arpina thought for a moment before answering.
“…Probably believes he can still make me move as he wishes.”
Even now.
Arpina herself found it absurd, and Dell listening felt it was so ridiculous that expletives rose to his throat.
But it was a rational inference based on experience.
“Have you heard, perhaps? Why Father is banned from visiting the academy.”
“…Yes.”
Dell had tried to pretend he didn’t know, but this time he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“That, Unni, was hit…”
Dell trembled as he answered with difficulty. The moment from his childhood when he saw Arpina being beaten until she collapsed surfaced like a nightmare.
Arpina sat the distressed Dell down on the bed. Then she sat down next to him.
Without anyone speaking first, they held hands.
“Should we stop?”
Seeing Dell like this made Arpina feel like she was committing a great sin. Her intention was to be honest about her past, not to torment him.
But Dell shook his head vehemently.
“It’s okay. I want to hear it, and you’re mustering the courage to tell me for my sake, right?”
“…….”
“Really, it’s okay. Haah, to be honest, I’m really upset.”
What distressed Dell was the fact that Arpina had endured such terrible pain.
“But I think you’re amazing. Not many people can endure that kind of thing. You are a truly brave person, Unni.”
“…….”
Arpina almost cried right then.
Once again, Dell wasn’t pitying her.
“No wonder you looked so magnificent before, swinging a chair and beating up the student council president. That spirit was truly innate, after all.”
Feeling that if she cried now, she wouldn’t be able to do anything, Arpina hurriedly continued the story she had paused.
“Actually, that was an accident.”
It really was an accident.
She had gone to see Duke Boreoti because she urgently needed to ask him something, and running into him there was entirely coincidental.
At the unexpected encounter, Arpina’s body froze.
The father she was seeing for the first time in years was still terrifying, and as always, it seemed he would raise his hand to strike her the moment he got angry.
Just as she was about to be consumed by the pain of that day and the ingrained fear.
Feeling utterly pathetic and ashamed of herself for freezing, Arpina steadied her mind with a heart-wrenching effort. And she thought quickly.
Perhaps this place, this situation right now…
Wasn’t it the best opportunity to escape from her father?
Simultaneously, couldn’t she tarnish that ridiculous honor her father cherished like his life?
“…In the end, I got scolded by the Duke.”
An unexpected gain was that the Emperor was present at that place.
And an unexpected casualty was that she got scolded by Duke Boreoti so severely, enough to squeeze tears out of her, for the first time.
“I would have scolded you too.”
“Why?”
“Because you were worried and upset, so you got angry!”
Dell thumped his chest as if frustrated.
“The Duke scolded you because you sought revenge while sacrificing yourself. What kind of revenge is that? It’s self-harm!”
“…….”
“You’re not making that face because you really don’t understand, are you?”
“…No, I understand.”
“You don’t understand.”
“But in the end, it produced a good result…”
“Aish, Unni…!”
Dell let out a deep sigh as if the ground would cave in.
Then he turned his body to face Arpina.
“What is revenge to you, Unni?”
“Crushing the family?”
“That’s the goal. What do you think is the premise of revenge?”
“Premise…”
To Arpina, revenge was like cleaning.
Duke Boreoti had taught her.
You have to clean out the resentment in your heart to feel lighter. It’s like incinerating trash to move towards a happy future.
“Cleaning. Removing obstacles for my future.”
“Then why do you hurt yourself in the process?”
“…….”
“No one harms themselves while cleaning.”
Dell paused to catch his breath.
“That’s putting the cart before the horse. You finish your revenge, only to have no time to enjoy happiness because your body is in pain. Isn’t that too sad?”
The saying that revenge is empty comes from using the wrong method of revenge.
“The beginning of revenge is maintaining a life where I am healthy, living well, and have saved up enough assets to live a life envied by no one.”
Only then was healthy revenge possible.
“You remember when we went to the back alley before, right? When we screwed over Vesper Tillio and subdued Professor Vinache.”
“Yeah.”
“It felt good, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Why did it feel good?”
“Be, because we screwed them over?”
“Because we screwed them over without getting hurt, without leaving a trace of suspicion, and while gaining plenty of benefits.”
Only after this explanation did Arpina realize.
“…Was Duke Boreoti angry because he was worried about me?”
“Thank goodness you realized it, even if it’s now…”
“So he was worried about me as a person, not just because of our contract relationship?”
“…The Duke likes you more than just as a contract partner.”
Dell’s heart ached.
‘Unni has never experienced a proper relationship with another person.’
The family she had lived with since birth was like that, and the bastards who approached her claiming to like her were all the same.
‘That’s why the contract…’
She clung to it because she couldn’t trust people.
“Unni.”
Dell made a resolution.
“Let’s get revenge together.”
He might not be able to completely erase Arpina’s insecurities.
“A married couple is of one heart and one body, right!”
He was determined to make her believe that much, at least.
