CH 82

Charlotte looked at Ryan’s disappearing back with a stunned face.

‘Even Ryan… I didn’t know you’d abandon me.’

Everyone left to find their own way.

Before she knew it, Charlotte was left alone.

‘Without Ryan, there’s really nothing left for me.’

Her dream of marriage with a well-known family was also her ambition to become a lady who controlled society.

Everything disappeared like a bubble.

In a rush of shame, Charlotte bit her lip hard enough to bleed.

And she was wondering if she could meet Ryan at least once to convince him.

Knowing that she couldn’t marry anyone if she didn’t hold on to Ryan.

She looked around the mansion helplessly.

“It’s okay.”

It was time to embrace reality.

Charlotte turned and began to walk in the dark streets with a limp.

Now that she didn’t even have the money to ride in a carriage, she had to walk by foot to get back to her house.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was wearing fancy shoes.

Shoes that weren’t very suitable for long walks, only worn at parties.

“……It hurts.”

Charlotte gasped quietly.

The shoes she wore were the last pride she could not put down as an aristocratic lady.

Commoners usually wear soft shoes to move comfortably, but Charlotte, who went to all kinds of parties, had never taken off her fancy shoes.

“Ugh.”

Charlotte looked down at her feet with tearful eyes.

It was because the shoes were sorely tightened.

The heels were covered with blood.

Nevertheless, Charlotte stubbornly didn’t take off her shoes.

The place she arrived after a long walk after dragging her feet was..ll

<View Cannon House>

Under the dim light of the gaslight, a shabby place creaked faintly.

An old, shabby mansion came into view.

A mansion that was not even comparable to the antique Brierton townhouse, or the townhouse of the Gott.

Cheap boarding houses where poor country aristocrats stay for a while during the social season.

That was where Charlotte lived.

The rising sense of inferiority squeezed her throat, so Charlotte took a short deep breath.

‘………I didn’t even put my foot in a place like this at one time.’

After her affair with Ryan was discovered.

Ines cut off all the expenses she had provided to Charlotte in the name of a close friend.

Therefore, it was this boarding house that she moved to urgently.

But Charlotte had always mingled with Ryan and slept in the most luxurious rooms, had been sweetened and drunk, and had enjoyed all sorts of pleasures.

Of course, it was hard to see such a shabby mansion, even renting a one-bedroom.

“I hate it.”

Charlotte closed her eyes tightly.

As she hobbled up the stairs, she saw a pile of mail in front of the old door.

Among them, there was an exceptionally noticeable envelope.

“Is this…?”

Charlotte picked it up with a frown.

When she tore the envelope with a dry gesture, she noticed a familiar handwriting.

Charlotte’s mother was Baroness Jason.

<To my daughter, Charlotte.>

She was so embarrassed reading the letter, and the letters filling the paper were like an earthworm crawling.

There were even ink stains left on the letters, as the pen was leaking.

<I was contacted by the Countess of Brierton this time.

God, it’s such a horrible and scandalous story that my hands are still shaking.

What the hell have you done?

With Lady Ines’s husband…… I heard you had an affair with him.

Are you serious? Please tell me no, huh?>

Lady Ines.

Charlotte clenched the letter paper with a force in her hand at the word.

The corners of the letter paper crumpled badly.

It’s always been the case.

Charlotte was Charlotte, but Ines was Lady Ines.

Ever since they first met and became friends.

<You were able to go up to Langdon in the first place thanks to the favor of the Countess of Brierton, weren’t you?

If it wasn’t for Lady Ines, would you have made your Langdon debut?

You have no grace, I’ve never taught you that.

I don’t know where something like you came from.

If I knew this would happen, I’d marry you off quickly!

I don’t know what wealth and glory I sent you up to Langdon.

Your father collapsed from shock.

I’m too ashamed to look at anyone.

Please wake up and apologize to Lady Ines somehow.

And come back home now!>

After a long lamentation and rebuke, the letter ended.

“…….”

Charlotte, who had been staring at the letter for a long time, grabbed the envelope and strode into the room.

She tore the letter apart and threw it in the trash.

“Don’t make me laugh. Do you think I’ll be dragged to the Jason house?”

Her eyes were filled with venom.

‘How did I get here……!’

Although it was thanks to Ines that Charlotte was able to enter Langdon society.

The reason why the countryside noble girl became the favorite of society was all because Charlotte put in hard work.

‘I can’t go back to being a country girl. Never!’

A long memory once again weighed on Charlotte.

Baroness Jason was simply a typical country aristocrat.

A small aristocrat who had no possession of even the land and had to bow to the wealthy commoners.

Still, Charlotte was the prettiest girl in the neighborhood, and there was a subtle pride in the fact.

However, the pride was shattered the moment she met Ines.

<Hello?>

A wide-brimmed hat decorated with flowers made of expensive silk.

The hem of a dress that fluttered abundantly over the ankles with a generous cut of cloth. 

Round-nosed shiny enamel shoes.

Even glossy, dark brown hair that had been trimmed neatly.

Charlotte had never seen someone dressed so dazzlingly before.

A girl who looked like a princess in a fairy tale greeted Charlotte kindly.

<Nice to meet you, my name is Ines Brierton.>

Dark green eyes resembling the fresh green of summer were gently bent.

<Let’s be friends from now on.>

Charlotte, staring blankly at Ines, reflexively looked down at her shabby clothes.

She tried to take care of it as well as she could, but she wore an old dress that came up to her ankles.

Shoes with worn-out soles.

The bonnet inherited from her mother fluttered in the wind.

Standing next to Ines, who was as pretty as a fine porcelain doll, Charlotte was just a hillbilly girl.

The contrasting figure was clearly stuck in her mind.

It was that moment.

The first time Charlotte learned the feeling of inferiority.

The Brierton had come down to the countryside to spend their summer holidays with family.

Ines, who had no friends of her age, quickly became close to Charlotte.

After that, even after Ines went back to Langdon.

Charlotte and Ines continued to write letters, and in the meantime, Ines’ parents died.

And Charlotte.

‘I’ve finally got a chance.’

Charlotte comforted Ines, who was left alone, with a secret sense of inferiority deep in her heart.

Ines was deeply grateful to such a friend, and gradually became dependent.

After winning Ines’s heart, Charlotte secretly whispered to Ines what she wanted.

‘I want to be educated by a good teacher like other ladies.’

As soon as she sent the letter, Ines recruited famous teachers in Langdon to teach Charlotte.

‘It’s my dream to debut in Langdon society. I have always wanted to have a harmonious family with a good husband.’

It was easier to control Ines than to wring a child’s wrist.

So when she finally went up to Langdon.

“Ryan.”

Charlotte realized the moment she ran into him.

If she was to win a complete victory over Ines, she must take away Ines’s beloved Ryan.

So Charlotte did so.

Clank!

Just in time, she heard a thick bundle of paper falling over the door.

The morning paper was delivered.

Charlotte looked back at the door with a white face.

“Today.. will it have Ines’ news?’

Recently, Charlotte was obsessively collecting Ines’ news from newspapers and magazines.

Every time she saw Ines’s story on a roll, she would envy her and her pride hurt and she felt like she had gone crazy.

However, she couldn’t stop paying attention to the news at all.

It was as if it were continuously stimulating the wound that had not healed.

Even though she knew that she had to not touch it at all to heal the wound,  she kept going.

Charlotte, who walked in front of the door, bent down and picked up a thick bundle of newspapers.

Elton G.

When she turned the page with a dry touch, the cultural section came into view.

And,

“Ha…”

Charlotte twisted up the tip of her lips.

It was only natural now that all media outlets had articles about Ines.

The first page was already talking about Ines….

‘That’s too much for me.’

The whole world seemed to be mocking Charlotte.

Charlotte clenched her teeth and fixed her eyes on the newspaper.