CH 17

At that moment, a great shock hit Evelia as if she had been hit on the head. She asked in a bewildered voice, not even thinking about accepting a four-leaf clover.

“Did you find it for me?”

Ruth smiled brightly with his eyes closed, probably unable to open his eyes now.

“Yes, so make a wish.”

I choked up. Naturally, she thought he had found a four-leaf clover in the rain to make a wish.

But he was giving it to myself.

‘What should I do?’

I’ve never been so unconditionally loved in my previous life and this one.

Even her parents, who should have loved her for no reason, didn’t love her.

The only time they showed affection was when it was worth it.

So Evelia, no, Han So-yoon had to work hard to become a loved child.

Take good care of the little brother you see occasionally, study hard and get good grades, and listen well without complaining…

The love given to her was always conditional.

But why did Ruth, who had only seen her three times, follow her like this?

Even Evelia wasn’t particularly nice to Ruth. Anything she gave Ruth was kindness she could do to anyone.

The kind of kindness that a normal child should have had.

But what was I? I’m not that good. I’m not that sweet, and I’m not worthy of being loved.

“Lady Evelia, come on.”

When Evelia just looked at him and didn’t think about taking the four-leaf clover, Ruth waved his hand and urged her.

Evelia received the four-leaf clover with a blank face. Every time she blinked, tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

I thought it was a good thing Ruth had his eyes closed. If it wasn’t for that, she would have been caught crying.

“Why did you give me this instead of making a wish, young master?”

“I want Lady Evelia’s wish to come true rather than mine.”

I knew what my wish was. Evelia recalled an old and now faded wish.

―I wish to have my family back.

I wanted to have the happy family I had a long time ago again. A life of living in the same house with my father, stepmother, and cute half-brother.

But the family she wanted so much was no longer here.

But…

‘Did I really want to have a family?’

Maybe her real wish was not ‘to have a family’ but ‘to be loved’.

A way to make her wish come true and Ruth’s wish come true.

While she was deep in thought, Ruth fell back into a faint sleep.

Evelia, who brushed Ruth’s wet hair with a cold sweat, saw the nanny who had returned just in time and got up from her seat.

“Are you going?”

“Yes. I’m going to go see the Duke for a while. Do you know where he is?”

“Probably in the Oval Office.”

“Thank you.”

Evelia got out of Ruth’s room and went to Cassis’s office. She didn’t know the location, but it was not difficult for her to find his office.

It was because there was another lighted room besides Ruth’s in the hallway on the third floor that Adelhard only used.

Evelia tried to organize the words she wanted to say in her head before knocking. But no matter how much she tried to organize it, it just didn’t work out.

It was only natural that what she wanted to say was nonsensical in the first place.

She immediately gave up organizing her thoughts and raised her hand to knock. Hearing Cassis’s low voice telling her to come in, she went inside.

“What happened… Lady Venion? What are you doing?”

Cassis was slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t thought that the person who came at this time would be Evelia.

Evelia stared blankly at Cassis, who was sitting down and processing paperwork.

‘On the outside, he seems indifferent to Ruth.’

He couldn’t be at Ruth’s side when the whole mansion was turned upside down, and he was filing papers.

However, Evelia discovered that none of the paperwork he had processed.

That was proof that Cassis couldn’t express his feelings honestly.

Cassis put down the quill and stood up, offering a seat.

“Please sit down. The tea…”

“It’s okay. It will be over soon.”

Evelia waited until Cassis sat across from her and spoke.

“I’m here to talk about the offer you mentioned earlier.”

“Offer?”

“I mean marriage.”

“…….”

“Yes, the marriage. However, the deal is with me, not with my father.”

“If it’s a deal, are you referring to what you said before?”

The thing I told you about before, meaning the information about Ruth’s biological father.

“Yes. Originally, I knew that my father agreed to give the Duke the information you wanted on the condition of marrying me. I will give you that information.”

Evelia saw no reason for Cassis to reject this offer. From his point of view, only the contract trader has changed, but the terms of the contract remain the same.

He also obtains information about Ruth’s father, and marries Evelia and holds her as a hostage until he can verify the truth.

It’s all he wants.

But Cassis, who I had expected to be quick to accept, paused, studying Evelia’s expression as if weighing something up, then opened his mouth.

“I want to ask why you changed your mind.”

“As you know, my situation is a bit ambiguous. I have nowhere else to go.”

“But wasn’t that the same as before? Even so, Lady…”

“That’s right. Earlier, I rejected the Duke’s offer. But because of the young master, I changed my mind.”

“Ruth?”

“Yes. But I won’t tell you what it was. That’s a secret between me and the young master.”

At the word ‘secret’, Cassis slightly hardened his face. It was as if he wanted to ask if they were already close enough to make a secret of it, but he didn’t ask.

Evelia took a deep breath with a nervous expression on her face. This was the real beginning.

“And if the Duke verifies the authenticity of the information, I want a divorce.”

This time, Cassis’ face was slightly cracked.

“Divorce… You mean?”

“As you know, I still have no intention of marrying the duke. However, I decided to get married only because of the conditions requested by the young master and the Duke.”

“……”

“As soon as you no longer need to hold me captive, I want to leave.”

‘No longer needing to hold you captive.’ It was a vague condition.

Evelia thought that was the point at which Ruth’s curse was resolved.

If Cassis finds Ruth’s real father and learns more about the curse, and Evelia brings Aria to heal Ruth without realizing it, then Ruth’s curse could be lifted in about three years.

‘With that time, I can prepare for my independence.’

3 years will be enough to adapt to this world. In the meantime, with Samuel’s help, I can raise funds and find a place to live in a secluded and safe place, so I can stand alone.

‘Cassis could provide a generous amount of alimony.’

However, Cassis said something completely unrelated to Evelia’s suggestion.

“… Do you hate me that much?”

Evelia instantly thought her ears were wrong.

“Yes?”

“I asked if you hated me that much.”

Seeing that the answer came back the same, it seemed that my ears were not wrong.

Even so, Evelia couldn’t believe what she heard.

‘Do you hate me that much?’

That was the question she had to ask him. If he despised her, could he really go through with this marriage, could he not still hate her?

It wasn’t Cassis’s question to ask her, and he had no reason to ask it.

But first, Evelia answered his question instead of asking why he asked that question.

“It’s not that I hate the Duke.”

“Then why divorce…”

“Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you like it. And this marriage is also a marriage that was pushed forward regardless of our will. I want to at least marry the person I want to marry.”

“……”

“Even the duke should marry someone he wants to marry.”

“I am…”

Cassis, who moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, asked a question that had nothing to do with the subject of her earlier remarks.

“Where do you plan to go when you get divorced? Do you think you’ll go back to Venion?”

Evelia was dumbfounded and answered immediately.

“I will never go there.”

“Then what are you going to do?”