Chapter 10 (1/2)

‘She will hate me, despise me.’

Edwin thought.

‘She will come to her father and ask him to give me a severe punishment.’

But who can blame her for that? Even when he thought about it, Edwin knew he deserved to be treated that way, and she had the right to do so.

But the words that came out of Herietta’s mouth were not what he expected at all.

“I’m sorry.”

Herietta said gloomily.

“I never knew your life would change so much. I never knew your life would be so hard. I just thought that you were living happily in a distant place like before. I believed so, and I hoped so. Of course, if I had known, I wouldn’t have been of any help either.”

“…”

“I was arrogant, and I imagined it one-sidedly. Without knowing your inner thoughts, who must have lived a hard life, I assumed that you would just be living happily somewhere… So I thought it was just me, haa, that was the only thing that was difficult for me. I don’t know anything, I was so carefree…”

“…”

“I sincerely apologize.”

Herietta looked down. Edwin looked at her without saying anything.

He couldn’t understand why she was apologizing instead of him. The woman who had done nothing wrong, the woman who deserved an apology, yet she was the first to apologize to him for her sin.

‘What the hell? You have no reason to apologize to me now. Besides, you’re in a position where you don’t have to apologize to me anymore.’

She felt like someone holding a key that didn’t fit in the keyhole. She longed for an answer, but she couldn’t get it out of his mouth.

Herietta stood up. He raised his head and looked at her face. A face that seems to be holding back on something. Suddenly, tears fell from her eyes.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.”

Embarrassed, Herietta quickly wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. At first, she tried to wipe it down with her sleeve, but soon she covered her face with her hands and the tears flowed uncontrollably.

“But it’s too harsh. How can this nonsense be? For such a terrible thing to happen to you…”

She couldn’t speak anymore. Her skin was stained red as she cried and cried. Edwin couldn’t take his eyes off her.

‘Everyone says it’s my fault. I’m not even sure it isn’t. Why, why are you being like this to me?’

He doesn’t remember crying since he grew up. Because he learned that the future head of the family should not easily shed tears in front of others. Yet now, when he looked at her so sadly sobbing in front of him, he, too, seemed to want to cry.

After becoming a slave, something in his heart that he had built up little by little fell apart. Neither Herietta nor Edwin himself noticed the change at the time.

* * *

‘Stupid idiot!’

Herietta, who was lying on the bed, rolling over, ripped off her hair and blamed herself.

‘Suddenly crying over there! How embarrassed must he have been?’

Since she received the letter from Lilian, Herietta had always felt sorry for Edwin’s situation. But the moment she saw him behaving like a wounded beast, she realized that his life was harder than she had imagined.

A tired face with no will to live. Eyes dull and lifeless like those of the dead. The emotions she had kept deep in her heart exploded at the sight of him, who had changed so much from her memories. She didn’t even know how to stop it.

But that was the way it is. She never thought at that moment that so many tears would flow from her eyes. The flowing tears soon fell like a waterfall, and in the end, she wept and wailed.

And while she cried madly, Edwin watched her in silence without saying a word. His face was obscured by her vision that was blurred by her tears, but he must have had a puzzled look on his face.

Come to think of it, all she did to him was get angry, give lectures, and then cry blindly. Thinking about it herself, it was just absurd.

‘If he sees me in the future, he might avoid me.’

Herietta nervously bit her nails.

‘Are you okay? I wish I had asked calmly and casually. If I had, I might have looked more mature. No, at least it wouldn’t leave a bad impression.’

She once had a greedy desire to impress Edwin as she acted like a noble lady being mature and polite. But now that greed seems to be water under the bridge. To be honest, the fact that he didn’t treat her like a crazy person was something she had to be proud of.

Herietta, who was lying on the bed, kicked into the empty space.

She drowned in embarrassment the whole night long.

* * *

“Sister, is it just me?”

Hugo tilted his head and entered the stable. Herietta, who had been combing the horse’s hair with a brush, lifted her head and met his eyes.