Chapter : 09
Why does he keep… just staring?
It was difficult for Ines to endure that inexplicable gaze. Before she realized it, her face had begun to flush red. And once she noticed it, her cheeks only grew hotter, beyond her control.
“……”
She took a small breath.
Just as she was about to say something because she could no longer hold it in, Calian turned his body and casually tossed the necklace to Amy.
“I’ll go down first. Come down when you’re done.”
“Huh? Yes, Your Grace.”
Amy bowed toward him, looking somewhat bewildered.
Just as when he had entered the room, Calian strode out with long, confident steps. Once he was completely gone, Ines finally let out the breath she had been holding.
“Haah…”
“My lady, that necklace really suits your dress! I’ll help you with it today.”
“Thank you, Amy.”
Ines spoke in a small voice.
They hadn’t even made it near the imperial palace yet, but she already felt completely drained.
“Duke Elmenhardt, you’ve arrived! And Duchess as well, welcome.”
Guided by a servant, they entered a lavish reception hall where nobles who only vaguely recognized their faces greeted Calian and Ines.
While Calian shook hands and exchanged greetings with the nobles, Ines stood beside him with a gentle smile.
Some nobles sent her openly hostile looks among their fake smiles, but Ines was already used to it. Ever since she had married into the Elmenhardt Duchy with nothing to her name, she had endured countless such gazes.
‘I don’t even feel intimidated by it anymore.’
Ines turned her head away from them with a listless expression. Reacting to those looks only ever made things worse.
“Ah, Ines!”
At that moment, a high-pitched voice called out to her from behind. Ines, who recognized the owner of that familiar voice very well, stiffened without realizing it.
She wanted to pretend not to hear and stay right next to Calian, but he was already far away, speaking with high-ranking officials.
“Ines, can’t you hear me?”
While she hesitated, the owner of the voice came closer.
The woman placed a hand on Ines’s slender shoulder and forcibly turned her around.
“……Mother.”
Turning her body, Ines lowered her gaze and bowed her head toward the woman.
A middle-aged woman dressed in overly extravagant clothing looked down at her, curling up one side of her mouth. The young woman standing beside her also scanned Ines from head to toe and gave an overt sneer.
Ines gathered her patience and greeted them as well.
“Judith, it’s been a while for you too.”
“I thought you’d finally gone deaf since you didn’t answer. I figured your communication skills must have deteriorated from being ignored so much by your husband.”
Judith sneered.
Ines faced her half-sister and stepmother without any expression.
After confirming once again that Calian was far away from them, Ines’s stepmother, Gloria, turned fully toward her and spoke.
“Did your husband not even give you paper and a pen? I sent letters, but I didn’t receive a reply for days.”
“If it was a letter requesting an absurd allowance, I believe I already responded.”
“Absurd allowance?”
At Ines’s words, Gloria’s expression instantly hardened. She let out a dry laugh and snapped open her fan.
“You really have gone mad, haven’t you? Well, I suppose it’s not easy to stay sane in that mansion where no one welcomes you.”
Ines simply looked at Gloria without responding.
‘Was she always this old?’
Something in Ines had changed after her regression. The way she looked at Gloria was slightly different now.
Before her regression, just facing Gloria had filled her with fear and dread.
Because of the brutal abuse she suffered as a child while avoiding her father’s notice, merely standing in the same space as her would make her entire body tremble and painful memories resurface.
So before her regression, even after marrying and leaving the Jenkins estate, she had continued to be manipulated by her, enduring all sorts of humiliation…
‘…I don’t feel anything anymore.’
Having died once and come back, Gloria was no longer someone frightening.
“Why didn’t you come when you were summoned? Because of you, I became the laughingstock among the noble ladies. How will you take responsibility?”
At Gloria’s continued words, Ines let out a small sigh and spoke.
“Mother, I am no longer a member of the Jenkins family.”
“What did you just say?”
“I have no reason to continue sending you an allowance, nor any obligation to drop everything and come running whenever you call.”
“What?!”
Gloria let out a loud, disbelieving laugh.
“So you really are an uneducated girl. I took you in out of pity after you lost your mother so young and raised you properly so you could grow up right, and this is how you repay that kindness?”
“Mother, she really doesn’t understand anything. Come with me.”
Judith grabbed Ines’s wrist.
At the commotion, the surrounding nobles turned their attention toward them. Interested, they looked over, then quickly averted their eyes as if pretending not to see anything, ignoring Ines altogether.
Yet their ears were still perked up—how ridiculous and contemptible.
“Let go, Judith.”
“I won’t. Because of you not sending money on time, I had to alter and wear an old dress!”
Ines frowned and struggled to free herself from Judith’s grip. But Judith, who had been well-fed and well-raised since childhood, was not easy to break away from.
Ines found herself being dragged slightly despite her resistance.
“What is going on here?”
At that moment, a low voice came from the side. When she turned her head, she saw an unfamiliar man approaching.
The man, with softly waved golden hair and violet eyes, looked between Ines and Judith as if assessing the situation.
When Judith saw his face, she blushed and abruptly let go of Ines’s arm. Because of that, Ines—who had been pulling in the opposite direction—lost her balance.
“……!”
“Are you alright?”
Just as she thought she would fall to the floor in an embarrassing manner, the man reacted quickly. He caught her around the waist, preventing her from falling.
“T-thank you.”
Ines bowed her head in gratitude. The man smiled smoothly and shook his head.
“I’m glad you’re not seriously hurt. But what exactly was going on…?”
When he turned his head, Gloria and Judith flinched and trembled. They awkwardly averted their eyes, coughing and fanning themselves.
After a moment, Gloria spoke.
“It’s a family matter. Sir Clayton, you need not concern yourself.”
At her words, the man’s gaze returned to Ines.
Ines, feeling a sense of shame at how her situation was not so different from Gloria and Judith’s expectations of her, parted her lips.
“I apologize for the disturbance. However, it was only a minor disagreement, nothing serious, so please do not worry further.”
“If that’s the case, I’m glad.”
After speaking, he removed his hand from Ines’s waist. Then he addressed Gloria and Judith.
“Since this is an important occasion celebrating the Princess’s marriage, I hope there will be no raised voices over personal matters.”
Hearing his words, embarrassment washed over her.
She should have ignored them entirely, but instead she had given them another excuse to tear into her. She felt a sting of self-reproach.
Ines bowed once more to Sir Clayton and turned away. Gloria and Judith, seemingly ashamed, did not follow her further.
“……”
As Ines hurried away, Sir Clayton’s gaze followed her back.
But unaware of anything, Ines looked around the reception hall, searching for Calian.
‘Where is he?’
Was she late?
According to her fragmented memory from before her regression, he had met secretly with unfamiliar people somewhere in the imperial palace during the ball. But where exactly was it?
‘Where did I see him again?’
No matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn’t be sure.
Ines slowly circled the grand reception hall once, then pushed open the door leading to the balcony.
“…Ah.”
A cool night breeze brushed past her hair.
And there, she let out a small breath upon meeting someone.
Calian was sitting on the low balcony railing, looking at her.
