Chapter 23 (2/2)

“I’ve been busy researching in the Lord’s Castle all these time, and Sean······ it’s my fault that I trusted him too much. I shouldn’t have forgotten that everyone has darkness in their hearts.”

“What are you talking about? What’s wrong with Sean?”

Alice’s gaze, which was directed down at her hands all these while turned to me. She stared at me with infinitely apologetic eyes. Then Alice’s lips, which were trembling as if she were hesitating, opened gently.

“Sean, he makes tea for you every morning.”

“Yes······. Is there something wrong?”

“The tea was poisoned.”

“······What?”

I could only blink for some time because Alice’s words wouldn’t register to my mind.

Then my frozen body soon began to turn slowly. Sean······ was poisoning my tea? Every morning?

“T-That’s impossible. Why would he? Sean wouldn’t do anything like that······!”

My heart was stricken and my eyelids trembled. It’s inconceivable that Sean would do something like that to me. I could never believe it. He was like an uncle or a father figure to me. He was a kind and warm-hearted guardian. Why would that kind of person······.

“Think about it, Laure.”

“······.”

“No matter how generous Sean is, Will is more precious to him than you. He is his only son.”

Alice spoke calmly, touching my shoulder.

“Sean wanted to get ahold of you. Knowing your real identity, he probably thought you might also leave one day. That’s why he fed you this poison······ ‘Torum’ little by little to make you addicted.”

Alice pulled out a small crystal bottle from her pocket and shook it. It contained a light green liquid.

“This poison is not fatal, but long-term consumption makes the person addicted to it infertile.”

“Gasp······.”

I swallowed my breath. I couldn’t believe it at all. Infertility, I can’t believe Sean······ tried to make me infertile.

‘Why, why would he do such a thing?’

I squeezed my trembling hands tightly. I leaned my head down and just looked at the floor. I could feel my vision darkening. Then Alice’s voice continued to be heard.

“······Having a successor is a very important matter in aristocratic society. If you’re declared infertile, the idea of going back to your former fiance would be highly impossible. That must be what Sean had thought.”

“······I can’t believe it.”

I muttered.

“How could, Sean, to me······.”

My teeth trembled at the sense of betrayal. It was really true that you could trust no one in this world. Feeling like my tears would come out, I clenched my teeth.

“He treated me so well, and he cared for me like a real family·····.”

“······.”

Alice patted me quietly on my back. After a few minutes, I heard her say in a cluttered voice.

“I haven’t told you so far, but Sean was like that kind of person from the beginning.”

Alice’s eyes deepened as if staring into the distant past.

“He’s a virtuous person but······ his blood and flesh are more important to him than the others. An old man who can do anything for his only son. That’s why I also left this city. I didn’t want to be tied to Will’s side for the rest of my life. Though that’s what Sean wanted.”

“······.”

“Why would Sean approve of you and Will’s fake marriage in the first place? It’s because he knows there’s a possibility that Will might be left alone someday. He felt so bad for his only son, it’s driving him crazy, he was trying to take advantage of you.”

I nodded silently. Because that’s what I thought too. Sean wouldn’t have accepted me with the best intentions.

“But I didn’t expect that he would try to poison you. ······I don’t think he has any intention to cause you harm. But trying to make a healthy person infertile, that is by no means, unforgivable.”

“······.”

I stayed quiet for a while, and then implicitly brought up the question I kept having in my mind.

“······Is that why you sent a letter to Calix?”

Alice replied, honesty could be seen in her eyes.

“Yes. I was hoping Grand Duke Rochester would come looking for you. It’s also partly because of Sean, but…”

She halted for a moment and stammered. As if hesitating to bring the topic up. But soon she said with a determined expression.

“I work in the Lord’s castle and I sometimes receive news from the capital. I haven’t told you, but rumors are rampant among the nobles that Grand Duke Rochester has gone completely insane and is traveling all over the continent.”

“······.”

“Why would he go crazy roaming around the world? It’s all to find you, Laure.”

I didn’t have a hard time figuring out why Alice hesitated.

She was worried I’d feel guilty about leaving Calix behind.

I wavered and opened my mouth.

“Calix·····.”

But the moment I was about to pour my heart out,

Thud!

We heard something fall outside the door.

Then Alice and I hurriedly rushed towards it to see what made the sound.

When we looked down on the floor, Will sitting in the hallway came into view.

Will, with a pale complexion, bit his lips and asked.

“What, what are you talking about? Did my father really poisoned Laure?”

Alice and I exchanged glances. A silent signal went back and forth between the two of us.

After a while, Alice replied on my behalf.

“It’s just as you heard. Your father, Sean poisoned Laure. ······Probably for about 15 days.”

“That’s imposs······.”

Will seemed terribly shocked. He lowered his head and swept his face with both hands. The gray eyes that were seen through the fingers were filled with guilt. And when he lifted his head again and looked back at me, he said in a quivering voice.

“Sorry, I’m very sorry, Laure·····.”

“Why should you be sorry, Will.”

I shook my head. It was Sean who poisoned me, not Will.

Nevertheless, Will seemed to feel responsible. He staggered to his feet and apologized again.

“I’m really sorry. Laure······. No, I beg your forgiveness. My Lady, Marquis of Ecree. What my father did······ can’t be forgiven by any apology.”

“Don’t be like that, Will.”

I held his hand and dried it which was damp with his tears. Will lowered his gaze and didn’t dare look straight into my eyes.

“Suddenly treating me like a noble······ Please don’t. For the last seven years, I’ve already considered you as my real family. Please don’t be like this, hmm?”

Will bit his lips in anguish, but after a while, he finally opened his mouth.

“······I understand. I mean, okay······.”

Finally, the eyes that eventually looked up at me were expressing thank you and sorry at the same time. Then I smiled at Will with sorrow in my eyes.