NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66: Lillian
That was because the one who had been standing in my room with their hands over their mouth was none other than Tuule.
“Tuule? Why are you…?”
As I trailed off, Tuule lowered his hands from his mouth and answered me.
“…I-I’m sorry, Miss Aren. I didn’t see nor hear anything.”
Tuule was avoiding my gaze, his voice shaking severely. When I took a step forward, he flinched in surprise and started to tremble.
It was then that I became certain. Tuule had overheard the entire conversation that I had with Cassadin.
“You heard everything.”
Tuule dropped his gaze to the floor. He must have been quite flustered because Tuule’s hand was trembling faintly as he nervously massaged his forearm.
“…I apologize for lying. Truthfully speaking, I was very worried after hearing that Miss Aren went to the Founding Day festival today. And I was so relieved to see that Miss Aren returned safely that I went to greet you, but….”
Tuule started to apologize profusely. As I watched him do so, I smiled bitterly.
What could I do now that he had heard everything? Nothing was going to change no matter what I said to explain it, and more than anything, I didn’t plan on explaining myself, either.
“Raise your head.”
To my command, Tuule raised his head. His tanned skin was currently a reddish hue as if he had a fever. With a reddened face, Tuule repeatedly blinked his grey-blue eyes.
“Keep this a secret from Father and everyone else as well, of course.”
“O-Of course I will!”
Still with a red face, Tuule enthusiastically nodded his head up and down. Staring into Tuule’s clear eyes, I asked him.
“Are you hurt anywhere or feeling ill?”
“N-No, I’m not. Everyone is treating me kindly as well…”
Tuule trailed off for a moment, seeming to hesitate, then asked me,
“Is there anything I can be of help with?”
“No. You being here. That in itself helps me.”
I smiled kindly at him.
“But I feel like I’m only being given to…”
“It’s alright.”
To my reassurance, Tuule seemed like he was about to say something more, but then he stopped and closed his mouth shut. Seeing me tilt my head in confusion, Tuule mustered up a smile.
“A-Alright then. I’ll be heading back to my room now.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t worry, Miss. I won’t tell a single soul about what happened today.”
“Thanks.”
“No, it’s my duty to do so.”
After bowing to me, Tuule almost ran out of my room. When I took a last glance at Tuule as he raced past me to the door, I saw that his ears were so red to the point they could have been on the verge of exploding.
Since I was the one who healed his tongue and let him stay at this mansion, Tuule would be unable to rashly tell anyone about me and Cassadin’s relationship.
If he had been someone to blabber about this matter in the first place, I would have sent him to the Crown Prince long ago.
‘But it looked like he had something else to say to me aside from that.’
Tuule had bobbed open his mouth several times before deciding to close it up completely. He would have told me if it had been something important. Gazing at the door that Tuule had just gone through, I let out a small sigh.
‘At least it was Tuule who heard this. If it had been Father…’
Just thinking about it gave me the shivers. Father already had enough to be upset about with Cassadin. Mentioning our relationship to him right now was completely out of the question.
Thinking about it from Father’s perspective, I would’ve felt the same way. He remembered us as something similar to close siblings.
Although we weren’t family or siblings anymore.
‘I’m sorry, Father. I didn’t know that I would fall in love with Cassadin either.’
It just couldn’t be helped.
A slum in the northern region.
Every time the ginger locks of a woman who did not fit in the dirty alleyways fluttered in the breeze, the throats of the men who were standing nearby also fluttered with it.
Even as the men rambled on with their explanation of the Fighting Competition’s star, they couldn’t take their eyes off of the woman standing in front of them. When her large eyes curled into crescents, their cheeks flushed red.
“Cassadin, you say.”
Once the men finished explaining, the woman smiled calmly and spoke the star’s name.
“Do you happen to know where that man lives?”
Hearing the woman’s clear, high voice, the men exchanged gazes among themselves before one spoke up bravely.
“I heard that he used to be part of Earl Serkia’s family.”
When one of the men spoke to her in an informal way, the woman’s pink eyes turned dull. Feeling intimidated by those eyes, the man unconsciously added on a formality.
“Miss.”
“…Earl Serkia’s family.”
“But I had heard that he was no longer with them now. So I am not sure where he lives now, Miss.”
Judging that there was no longer anything to gain from these men, the woman turned away without hesitation. Seeing that, the men rushed to grab onto the woman’s wrist and stop her.
“It mustn’t be a coincidence for us to meet like this. Why don’t we go for a cup of…”
Even before the man finished speaking, the woman suddenly let out a loud scream.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”
When the woman abruptly started to scream after the man had only grabbed the woman’s wrist, the men stared at the woman with a startled expression.
Just as the woman started to shriek, several buff men started to appear from the worn buildings in the alleyway.
Seeing a mass of men who clearly shouldn’t be messed with suddenly rush out, the men switched their stunned gaze between the ginger-haired woman and the buff men.
Even before they could fully understand what was happening, one of the buff men punched the man who had grabbed the woman’s wrist in the face.
Looking at the man, who had just gotten hit for an unknown reason, the woman started to tremble. Seeing that, one of the buff men who had a large scar on his forehead took off their jacket and gently spoke to the woman.
“Lillian, did those bastards bother you?”
When the woman, who was called Lillian, timidly nodded her head, the man with the scar snarled and kicked the man in the stomach.
“Cough!”
Regardless of whether blood was pooling out of the men’s mouths, the scarred man and his gang continued to stampede on the men. They tried to plead their innocence, but it was no use.
“We didn’t do anything!”
“That woman just started screaming…!”
One of the men who was being beaten up pointed at Lillian with a shaky finger, which led to that finger being broken by the man with the scar.
“Aaargh!”
Cradling his broken finger, the man rolled pathetically on the ground. But the man with the scar ordered his gang to continue beating the men up to the point that they were half-dead.
Looking at the men who collapsed on the ground, unconscious, Lillian brought a hand to her mouth in shock. Thinking that Lillian had been shocked by the scene, the scarred man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and apologized to Lillian.
“I’m sorry you had to see this. I couldn’t hold back after I heard these bastards try to put their hands on you.”
Lillian then placed the hand she had brought to her mouth on the man’s arm. With a faint smile, she shook her head to the side as she looked at the man.
“It’s alright. You did it for me.”
“…Lily.”
She hadn’t allowed him to use a nickname like Lily. Lillian’s eyebrows squirmed disapprovingly, but the man with the scar was so happy over the fact that Lillian had placed her hand on his arm that he did not realize this fact.
Worried that other men might perch their eyes on the beautiful Lillian, the scarred man hurriedly led her into a building.
The building was run down and almost on the verge of collapsing, but it had almost everything needed for sustenance, such as chairs and tables, through a long life of robbery and underhanded means.
The scarred man sat Lillian down on a chair and smiled brightly.
“I remember the first time we met. When I first saw you, I thought you were some sort of Goddess. I didn’t know it was possible for someone to be that beautiful.”
He smiled as if reminiscing about the past. The man waved his hand to his lackey, and then the lackey brought a bottle of wine and poured it into the man’s empty glass. With the sound of liquid trickling into the glass, crimson liquid filled up the man’s goblet.
“Do you want a sip?”
When the woman shook her head to decline, the man’s extended hand seemed to have lost its path and caused the man to down the entire glass of wine in one swallow.
“…That tastes strange.”
At the same time the man had made that comment, he felt his stomach churn. Crimson liquid that was similar but different from the wine that the man had drunk spewed out of his mouth.
Eyes widening, Lillian brought up both of her hands to her mouth and exclaimed,
“Oh my goodness! Who did such a thing?”
When she turned her head towards the lackey that had poured the wine, the other lackeys started to beat up that man.
“I-I didn’t do anything!”
Yes, you didn’t. Because I was the one who poisoned that wine.
Mocking the man internally, Lillian started to act concerned for the man who had just been poisoned.
“Lily…”
The man didn’t seem to suspect that Lillian could have done this, even for a second. As he was still coughing up blood, the man continued to call for Lillian.
“Yes. I’m here.”
When she clasped her hands over the man’s hand with teary eyes, the man smiled weakly at her.
“T-the money I have gathered is in that box. Take that and go live a better life.”
With those final words, the man passed away.
Then the vagabonds, who had just lost their leader, unleashed all of their directionless anger on the man who had poured their leader the wine.
Taking advantage of that moment of chaos, Lilian took every last bit of money that had been in the box and slipped out of the building.
As soon as she left the building, Lillian’s tears stopped as if they had never been there. Yawning as if this had all been very boring, she hastened her footsteps.
‘Pathetic bastards. They weren’t even worth using anymore.’
Lillian had been born with this cruel nature. If it was to reach her goals, she had no hesitation in utilizing the emotions of others.
Her pink eyes glittered greedily. She didn’t want to live this filthy, miserable life anymore, which meant she needed someone who could pull her up to somewhere higher.
‘Cassadin, was it? From the Earl Serkia family.’
Having found her new target, Lillian’s lips curled upward. Her ginger hair danced along with her elated footsteps.