Chapter 67
The Circumstances of Johannes Beliar (1)
“I don’t think it would have any meaning unless it’s for you, Lady…”
Johannes’ voice was soft, but the surroundings were quiet enough that his words could be heard. However, Riena deliberately pretended not to hear him.
Fortunately, Johannes changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, I was very surprised when I first saw you at the party.”
“Me? Why?”
“You resemble someone I know very closely.”
He rubbed his neck, then took out a locket necklace hidden beneath his clothes. Opening the locket, he showed it to Riena.
Inside was a portrait of a woman.
She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and except for the difference in eye color, her appearance was astonishingly similar to Riena’s. At first glance, one could almost believe it was a portrait of Riena herself.
Even considering that small portraits might differ from reality, the resemblance was striking.
Noticing Riena’s shock, Johannes asked subtly,
“She resembles you, doesn’t she?”
“Uh… yes. Surprisingly so.”
“She was my mother.”
“Madame Beliar…?”
“Yes.”
Johannes looked down at the portrait with a peculiar expression.
“As some people might know, my mother was not my biological mother. I am from a collateral branch of the Beliar family. I was adopted by the Marquis when I was young.”
This was news to Riena. No one had ever told her, and Raul, the only peer she could have asked about such matters, was too inexperienced to know either.
Yet, Johannes’ story felt less like an intriguing revelation and more like a burden.
Riena was not the type to care about other people’s gossip, and now her mind was already preoccupied with matters concerning herself and Cassel.
There were so many pressing matters in front of her that she didn’t want to shoulder someone else’s worries as well.
To be honest, she didn’t want to get close enough to Johannes to exchange personal stories like this.
Yet, she could not bring herself to tell him outright that she did not want to hear his story.
As Riena reluctantly kept silent, Johannes continued.
“Although she wasn’t my biological mother, I cherished her greatly. I didn’t even know the face of my real mother, so she was effectively my only mother.”
“….”
“When I was fifteen, she suddenly passed away. Honestly, it was very hard. I tried to endure it and to smile in front of people as if nothing had happened, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.”
Johannes’ story strangely overlapped with Cassel’s.
Cassel had lost his beloved older brother overnight, and Johannes had similarly lost a cherished stepmother suddenly.
Both situations were undoubtedly tragic. Yet Riena felt a peculiar sense of dissonance while listening to Johannes’ story.
“Is he really grieving?”
When Cassel spoke of Asher, he tried to act composed, but his eyes betrayed a sadness he could not hide.
But Johannes seemed different from Cassel in some way.
Though he spoke of sorrow, there was an odd hint of joy—or perhaps anger—in his expression…
Don’t think unnecessary thoughts.
Even if she had dreamed of Johannes as a frightening figure, she shouldn’t judge his heart in front of her.
Riena pressed her lips together and muttered, feeling apologetic to herself.
“That must have been very difficult. I, too, recently lost my father suddenly, so I understand how awful it must have felt. It’s sad and terrible.”
She didn’t intend to form a bond through empathy; she simply felt the need to apologize for her impure thoughts about him.
Johannes looked down at her bowed head and smiled—but his eyes did not smile.
“Yes. It was truly terrible.”
When Riena lifted her head again, his expression had returned to normal.
He continued his explanation.
“That was when I saw you at a party.”
“….”
“At first, I thought my mother had come back to life. I was truly startled. You resemble my late mother so much. Of course, you are younger, and your eye color is different, so I quickly realized you were not her, yet I felt a strange attraction.”
“So that’s why you requested a conversation with me.”
Riena recalled the situation.
It was her first party in the capital. Having only lived in the South, she knew few people there.
At first, people approached out of curiosity about her appearance. Some seemed to hold illusions about the South. And there were men who openly flirted with her.
When Riena responded bluntly, the crowd around her lessened. They murmured that she couldn’t speak like a proper noble because she was from the South.
Still, she found a small group of like-minded people to talk with, but exhausted from the interactions, she eventually stepped out alone onto the terrace. That was when Johannes approached her first.
He had captivated everyone’s attention when he first appeared in the hall, and all eyes followed his every move.
Yet there was nothing extraordinary about him. People had expected something more remarkable, but the conversation Riena shared with him was ordinary.
He asked about life in Dyke in the South, her impressions of coming to the capital, and so on.
At the time, I thought he must have approached me out of courtesy because I didn’t fit in well.
Johannes was kind to everyone, so she assumed he couldn’t ignore someone struggling to socialize.
Johannes nodded willingly.
“Yes. I was curious about the young lady who resembles my mother.”
“And how was that?”
“To be honest, you resemble my mother greatly, but your personality isn’t particularly similar. Oh, I don’t mean that negatively.”
“Really?”
“At first, I approached because of the resemblance, but gradually, I became curious about you, Lady. Then… well, you know what happened after that.”
Johannes shrugged and gave a bittersweet smile.
“I wish for your happiness.”
“…Thank you.”
“But if something were ever to happen, and your heart were to change, think of me then. I will always be here, waiting for you.”
Johannes pressed a kiss to the back of her hand once more.
Riena, feeling she could no longer stay, excused herself and left. Only later did she realize she had fled in the opposite direction because Johannes was blocking her path toward the hall.
Johannes Beliar watched Riena as she walked deeper into the garden. Though he wanted to follow her and fulfill his desires, he barely restrained his instincts.
Not yet. He couldn’t reveal his true self until he had completely possessed Riena. If she sensed danger, she might run far away.
He recalled Riena avoiding him earlier with a wary smile. Though she seemed innocent, she was surprisingly vigilant.
Paradoxically, that made him even more aroused.
The thought of a woman who had sharpened her claws at him collapsing beneath him and begging would bring him far more pleasure than taming an obedient woman.
Sadism—that was the true nature Johannes hid behind his mask.
It was a preference cultivated over time rather than innate.
Unknown to anyone, Johannes was the illegitimate son of the Marquis Beliar. Born to a maid, he was destined to struggle at the lowest level.
Indeed, he had lived in filth until he was seven. His birth mother died shortly after giving birth, and her husband despised Johannes, believing he wasn’t his child.
Young Johannes, unaware of his true parentage, couldn’t understand his father, though in reality, his father’s instincts were terrifyingly accurate.
Johannes lived as a blacksmith’s son.
One day, a noble—or more accurately, an official working for the Marquis—came to him. Dressed in clean, fine clothes, he appeared to Johannes as a noble.
The man asked questions about Johannes’ birth mother and then abruptly ordered a knight to kidnap him. Johannes was helplessly stuffed into a carriage.
Despite it being broad daylight, no one helped him.
People didn’t want trouble with a noble, and they were too exhausted to intervene for anyone. Such scenes were common in the backstreets anyway.
For some reason, Johannes thought he would be taken somewhere unknown and killed. He pounded the carriage window with his fists until they bled, screaming for his life.
But the place he was taken to was a mansion so grand it made his eyes widen.
The man grabbed Johannes by the scruff of his neck and brought him inside. The room he was led to was equally lavish, gilded in places, with vivid paintings on the ceiling.
And waiting for him in that room was a woman.
