CH 146

I asked with a wary face.

“Secret, you say?”

“Yes.”

Madam Verdi was said to be an important axis of the social world.

I had been told by Laura that she was pretty friendly to me, and that I had been involved in her salon.

After holding back the desire to ask directly for a moment, I opened my mouth.

“Bring me tea and dessert, Laura.”

I thought it would be a pretty deep conversation, so I decided to prepare the environment first.

After a while, fragrant black tea and sweet chocolate cake were placed in the middle of the table.

Next to the cake topped with berries were colorful flowers.

“Then I hope you have a good time.”

When Laura noticed that our conversation might deepen, she quickly and quietly closed the door and left.

Thanks to this, only Madam Verdi and I were left in the room.

“Listen.”

I offered tea to Madam Verdi, and looking at her slowly, I took a sip of my tea too.

‘Before I lost my memory, the last person I met…’

I was not sure, but hearing what she has to say might give me some clues.

She even told me I had heard a ‘secret’ that night.

Could it have something to do with my memory loss?

“Tell me about what happened that day, Madam Verdi.”

With much composure, Madam Verdi began to explain the situation.

—I won first place in a contest hosted by the salon. And she handed over ‘Verdi’s Ears’ to me as a prize.

“The original prize was the finest jewelry, but I gave Your Majesty ‘Verdi’s Ear’.”

She also told me that she had prepared a new world due to her unique ‘Verdi’ intuition which helped their family survive a long period of time.

It meant betting on me. I hoped her bet was right.

If I regained my memory, I would decide whether her judgment was right or wrong.

Madam Verdi quietly continued her explanation.

—The night I lost my memory. I took ‘Verdi’s Ears’ and went looking for her.

“In the middle of the night, Your Majesty came to see me. So I think I might be the last nobleman you met.”

No noblemen had ever said they met me in the deep night.

Even Johann, who said he had dinner with me that day, was not late at night.

“Your Majesty came to see me in a very angry state.”

“You said I was angry?”

“Yes, you must have been shocked by something.”

“…….”

After hearing the description of ‘Verdi’s Ear’, I realized it was a very useful item.

I was probably holding on to it to use at an appropriate time, and then came up with something I really wanted to know, so I went looking for her.

‘Anger.’

‘Being shocked by something.’

“Can you tell me the question I asked then and your answer?”

Madam Verdi spoke with a very sad face.

“Verdi’s Ear’ was destroyed at that time. According to the rules of the family, I cannot tell you the secret I told you back then.”

Without fuss, I slowly cut a bite of sweet chocolate cake with a fork.

Then I put it between my lips, and after sensing the sweet taste, I asked quietly.

“Do you expect a new world from me?”

“…….”

“Then send me ‘special support’… to show Verdi’s flexibility and ingenuity, which has held the center for so many years.”

The corners of my lips rose softly.

“I promise that Verdi will be alive and well in the new world.”

“….…”

I could see Madam Verdi’s eyes shaking.

She was conflicted.

Even if the new dynasty changes, the monarch’s promise not to forget Verdi would be just as great.

‘Please, tell me.’

Contrary to my relaxed attitude, my stomach was burning.

At this moment, when nothing was accurate…

Today, swayed by Johann’s words and shocked by Deborah’s words,

Above all, it was a time when I desperately wanted one accurate ‘truth’.

‘Tell me. What did I ask that day?’

I couldn’t even wait until the next day to know, and I went to visit her late at night.

What was it that I was so desperately curious about?

Soon, Madam Verdi calmly closed her eyes and opened them.

“I can’t break the rules of my family.”

A silent sigh flowed from my chest. I couldn’t hide my disappointment.

But the next moment, Madam Verdi smiled and said,

“However.”

My eyelashes lifted slightly.

“The degree of flexibility is something that Verdi’s predecessors will understand.”

Tension crept into my chest.

The flexibility she would show was highly anticipated.

“I can’t tell you the ‘answer’ I gave you that day… but I’ll tell you about the question.”

“!”

“The question Your Majesty asked me that day was…”

Slowly, Madam Verdi raised her body and leaned towards me.

She then covered her mouth, and whispered.

As if all my nerves were focused on my ears, I could feel my hearing become more sensitive.

Soon after, Madam Verdi revealed the decisive and shocking secret.

“Someone’s ‘weakness’.”

“……”

“The ‘weak point of Johann Marquis’.”

“!”

In an instant, goosebumps rose from my spine.

It felt like Johann, who was standing in the mist, took off his mask and suddenly revealed himself clearly in front of me.

I now know.

The emotion that I felt when Johann touched me, the heart that wanted to look back at him who was standing behind me.

The identity of that body temperature that made my pulse throb intensely.

It wasn’t the heart of passionate indulgence, not even the size of a fingernail.

Those emotions that confused me… It was hostility!

The shocking fact shattered my terrible confusion, retrieved the clear truth and engraved it into my mind.

Johann… He wasn’t anything like my secret lover.

Before I lost my memory, he was clearly my ‘enemy’. An ‘enemy’ who I wanted to destroy even by digging up his weaknesses.

“……Ha!”

A cold cynicism came out of my mouth when I finally realized the truth.

* * *

“Damn it, there’s no place where I can’t feel pain!”

Deborah returned home with difficulty, with a face stained with tears and dust.

She safely carried out Johann’s instructions and saved her life, but instead her pride was torn to shreds, leaving only a filthy, throbbing body.

In fact, Deborah’s chores were more suited to her constitution than Berylia had expected.

When she was making money on behalf of her parents, she did all this dirty work.

“…It reminds me of that time. It makes me feel worse.”

It was much more painful to recall the past than it was for her body to ache.

But it was at that time when she led her tired body into a small mansion.

Suddenly, she heard a voice that made her question her ears.

“Hey Deborah!”

“!”

A shabby man with dry hands and rough skin.

However, it was a man with olive-colored eyes that looked just like Deborah’s.

It was Deborah’s biological father, Baron Travino Jun.

Deborah paused for a moment, staggered, and took a step back. Just like seeing a ghost.

Then she screamed.

“Why are you here? I told you not to come to me!”

“Deborah…”

Trevino walked over to Deborah and grabbed his daughter’s hand.

“You cut off the money that you had been sending, and the family is starving to death! That’s why I came to see you.”

“……”

When Deborah married the Duke of Douglas.

She officially announced that she was severing her ties with the Barony of Jun.

—Don’t come to see me, don’t talk to me again.

But the price was high.

Deborah had to send them a share of the allowance given to maintain her dignity.

Her parents rejoiced and promised not to visit her if she sent them money.

By the way, this time, it was past the usual time she would send money, but this time she couldn’t. 

Because she scrapped all her fortune to the ‘Nobility Society’.

“What did you do with all the money I’ve given you, and why are you here?”

“Did you spend all the money you were given as your living expenses? While you’re being favored as the Duke’s wife, we were abandoned by our daughter and had to live on our own.”

Baron Travino smiled servilely, but strangely used a tone of criticism against her.

His clothes were made of the finest fabrics that did not fit his circumstances and status, but…

He bought it a long time ago, so it was quite dirty and outdated.

Anyone could see that he couldn’t even afford to indulge in luxury.

“You don’t know I’ve spent all my money on horse racing and gambling?”

“You have a bad way of talking to your father, Deborah.”

“……I!”

After cutting off Deborah’s voice as she was about to say something, Baron Travino uttered, revealing a wide, yellowish smile.

“So, if you hadn’t ruined yourself by rolling around like a dirty bitch, would I have ever come here?”

“….…”

“I can’t keep my face up because I’m ashamed, Deborah!”

It was a moment when the thread-like compassion that Deborah had for the skinny old man she had not seen in a long time flew away. She was really fed up. This was her father.

But at the same time she could not say anything as if she had been caught in a trap.

The deep pit dug by her parents since she was a child never got filled with age.

With a few words at any time, Deborah was pushed effortlessly into the pit.

Her father yelled.

“Give me a few pennies for living expenses! You made me come to see you!”

“……”

“You have to pay the price for raising you! How did I raise you!”

“……”

Deborah took the jewels and money she had received from Johann and threw it into the arms of Baron Travino.

“Please take this and get away from my sight, right now…”

Baron Travino’s eyes gleamed. He quickly checked the money.

He quickly smiled with satisfaction, exposing his yellow teeth.

“Thank you. But it’s a little less than usual? I’ll come back soon.”

Laughing in front of his terrified daughter, Baron Travino happily disappeared with his pockets full of money.

Stunned, Deborah realized this later.

Even when she divorced and was left alone, even in the courtroom where she was sentenced to death.

Her parents had never come to console her.

* * *

“His Highness the Crown Prince is waiting, Your Majesty.”

“Tell him I’ll be there soon.”

Before I went and met Rixus, I simply organized my clothes and hair.

In the last few days, the confusion was settled and cleared.

Instead, a calming rage and heat continued to build up in my chest.

It was probably Johann who instructed Deborah to speak nonsense.

There was no need to look far to find out why his one and only amnesty was written for her.

And yet he made such mean excuses to me…

The gentle heat rose like flames, warming my throat.

‘Today… Even if it’s a very small thing, I hope that at least one thing comes to mind.’

One more reason to eagerly search for memories.

—I was very curious about Johann’s ‘weakness’ that I had heard and forgot.

If Johann’s weakness was very, very precious.

And if it had been hidden very deeply.

Then when I found this weakness and destroyed him… It would be so much more painful and tragic for him.

I stood up with a cold expression like one with frostbite.

“Let’s go.”

Accompanied by my maids, I went to the carriage that was parked in the Imperial Garden.

In the distance, I saw Rixus waiting for me.

For a while, I felt happy.

“Your Majesty the Queen.”

An uninvited voice suddenly pierced my ears.

It was the voice of the man who I had been thinking about all night.

* * *

Berylia paused for a moment, then she slowly turned to him.

A bright smile appeared on her face. But she seemed somewhere cold.

“… Archduke Marquis.”

“I was just on my way to see you. By the way, you seem to have a prior engagement?”

Johann’s gaze turned to Rixus, who was standing in the distance.

Rixus probably hadn’t noticed him yet.

‘Again, the situation repeats itself.’

Johann felt his heart twist.

Because the next move was obvious.

She would go to Rixus. She would turn away neatly.

Cause there was never a time she chose him over Rixus.

But, it was then.

“Would you mind giving me some time?”

After Berylia had sent away all the maids by her side, she faced Johann alone.

Johann looked at her with a sense of unfamiliarity and some wonder.

But the very next second…

Passionate excitement and thrill filled Johann’s heart.

When Rixus looked their way, Berylia barely avoided his gaze and dragged Johann around the corner and pushed him to the wall.

“!”

The two bodies were close enough to touch.

Berylia’s hand rested softly on his chest.

Her body temperature felt so soft that she could never escape it if he embraced her with his body.

“….…”

Johann’s black eyes darkened with desire. She licked her pretty lips and said,

“I need to speak to you in private, Archduke.”

Johann, having been chosen for the first time, faced her, feeling a strange mix of euphoria and excitement.

Berylia also did not avoid that gaze.

‘…Johann.’

How much fun was it for you to lie to me, confuse me, and deceive me?

‘I’ll pay you back, Johann Marquis.’

‘Now it’s you who’s being played in my grasp.’