MHLM 18

Chapter : 18

Calvin stayed quiet for a moment, then crossed his arms as he spoke.

“I was wondering why you haven’t asked me. I just heard that you were asking this and that to the castle’s chamberlain and servants.”

“…I wanted to hear your opinion last. And then after you, I was going to ask my aunt.”

“…If I were to be honest.”

Calvin stopped talking for now, then he closed his eyes and sighed. Again, there were conflicting emotions in the eyes that faced Theodore.

“Theodore, the way you treated her was extremely understandable. Considering that you’re a Valentino.”

“……”

Calvin’s tone of voice changed to a comfortable one. Rather than speaking as an aide towards a duke, he was speaking now as one childhood friend to another. The two of them often talked in this way, like when they were just still friends.

“However, considering that Lily Everett as an individual, you were entirely unreasonable. But I guess it wasn’t that bad. She’s still a woman from House Everett. You had no choice but to keep your distance from her.”

“…Her name is Lily Valentino. Because she’s now married to me.”

When Theodore said this, Calvin looked back at him with an incredulous expression. Before continuing to speak, he shook his head and laughed.

“I don’t know everything about your relationship either. But I know you struggled a lot, internally, because of her.”

“…Internally?”

“That’s right. Everything you told me was vague, so it was hard for me to figure out what the hell was this and that.”

Calvin shook his head once more, taking out a piece of candy from his pocket and popping it into his mouth.

Folding the candy wrapper finely and returning it into his pocket, he took out another piece and handed it over to Theodore, who inadvertently received the candy but did not eat it immediately. He placed it on the desk.

“So, well… I think it would be better to wait until your memories come back. Lily Ever—no, I mean the Duchess. Don’t rashly get close to her. You might regret it later.”

“First of all, I want to hear what you know. I’ll make my own judgment afterwards.”

“……”

Calvin sighed deeply before he began talking shortly after. It all seemed complicated in many ways.

“The first time you met her was at the Everett Duchy’s estate two years ago. At that time…”

* * *

Even though he’s been listening to Calvin tell this story for more than an hour, nothing much came out of it.

The thing he was most curious about was why he had pushed Lily away that much, but he couldn’t find out the reason.

Calvin didn’t seem to know the depth of it or any such details. However, Theodore managed to roughly get an idea of what he had thought of Lily. It might not be one hundred percent accurate because these were all second and third-hand accounts from other people.

Apart from that, he also learned how he had treated her. In addition to how she had been doing in Valentino Castle.

“……”

Theodore walked down the hallway and looked out the window to see the setting sun. The red orb brought color to the western sky. The marble pillars made long shadows on the floor, and the light of the sunset streamed through the windows filled the wide hallway.

He stopped for a moment and fiddled with the coin in his pocket like a habit. He recalled the stories told by the chamberlain and servants one by one.

…They didn’t really tell him much. Everyone rejected Lily more than he had expected, but they refrained from expressing their dislike of her in front of him. He realized this thanks to talking to Calvin.

A steady and subtle harassment. Lily endured it and didn’t say anything to him. The servants isolated and tormented the duchess, and while they were speaking, some of them went as far as shushing the others.

‘I don’t know the details either. As you know, I’m always busy with my duties as an aid, so I had no time to pay attention to the castle’s internal affairs. But about a month ago… Oh, this is something that I knew I had to do something about, but I was needed somewhere else. Of all things, I found out that some of the servants often put dead birds or mice in front of the Duchess’ room or door. I called in a servant and asked her, and she said it’s already been more than six months since it’s being done… When I heard it, it had already gotten this bad. I was thinking about telling you or not, but I just took care of it on my own. I don’t think they’re doing that anymore because I’ve scolded them well…’

Theodore was left in disbelief.

Most of the servants of Valentino Castle were the same servants who had been here since he was young. They were born in Veronis and had served Valentino for a long time, even throughout generations of their family. They were very loyal to Valentino and knew how to be good and reasonable.

…As far as he knew.

However, there were always two sides to a person. Theodore himself overlooked the abuse.

No matter how morally upright someone was, he or she could also commit evil. And if one would think that the opponent clearly deserved it, then it would be even easier to commit those acts of evil.

“…….”

Theodore leaned on the windowsill and let out a long sigh. It’s not just the servants’ fault. The person who was the greatest aggressor to Lily was…

“…Why did I……”

Suddenly, he remembered the way she looked at him.

She was so wary, with her shoulders crouched as though she was terrified. Her entire countenance seemed to shout at him not to come close.

…One year and six months. No, two years. It was both a long yet short period of time.

If one person hurt someone else over these years, would it be more difficult or easier than he thought to heal those wounds?

‘…It can’t be easy.’

He was strangely convinced that the darkness in her heart would be far deeper than he thought. It was similar to a hunch that he had.

Theodore started walking again. His mentor, who taught him many things, including swordsmanship, said that misfortune was caused by humans themselves.

Even though one can be happy with a single piece of bread, they could grow to be greedy for more. After hating others, envying others, misfortune would soon fester in one’s heart.

He didn’t fully agree with this, but it seemed true that humans themselves caused misfortune. Whatever happened in the past, any person shouldn’t do anything that could cause regret later.

Theodore wanted to ask himself—the version of him before he lost his memories. Why were you so harsh towards her?

Why was it like that when, from the moment he laid his eyes upon her, he was instantly attracted to her.

‘You talked about her after visiting Everett Castle that day, and I got a feeling. Wow, Theodore Valentino fell in love with a woman at first sight.’

‘You kept talking about her, but you kept saying all these details that you didn’t usually care about. That she tended to cut her nails too short and it looked painful, that there’s a small mole between my index finger and thumb, and… Hey. Are you actually a pervert? Who even notices and remembers something like that in such detail. I thought you’ve gone off the rocker.’

If it was him, he would have noticed right away that he was attracted to her. But since she was the daughter of Duke Everett, he would have tried to stay away from her and denied it all. Even so, he thought that it shouldn’t have been long until he gave up.

In the end, he should have acknowledged his feelings for her and thought about completely wrenching her away from the Everett family.

But unexpectedly, what he did was to be cruel to her and reject her completely.

Something must have happened. Someone intercepted between them. Or, because of a misunderstanding, or something else…

“……”

Theodore stopped in his tracks. Before he knew it, he was already in front of Lily’s room. As he was lost in thought, he came all the way here without realizing it.

He hovered outside the door for a long time, but eventually, he turned around without knocking on the door. There were many things he wanted to ask. He wanted to talk more with her and learn more about her.

However, it wouldn’t be easy to approach her. He was suddenly afraid of how she would look at him.

In the end, he left without going in to see Lily. But at the other side of the hallway, he caught sight of a familiar silhouette. Theodore soon recognized who it was—his aunt, Missus Seymour.

‘Why is she here…’

After contemplating for a moment, he soon schooled his features and approached Missus Seymour. He greeted her with a smile, and Missus Seymour looked at him with a pleasant expression just as usual. Theodore observed her for a moment and asked.

“Aunt, what brings you here?”

“I came to check Lily’s condition because I heard she collapsed. Isn’t it natural to do this as the elder of the family?”

She wasn’t wrong, but… Theodore strangely felt anxious. Wasn’t it through Calvin that he heard Missus Seymour didn’t see Lily in a favorable light?

…Somehow, he had a hunch that he shouldn’t let Missus Seymour meet Lily right now.

After hesitating for a moment, Theodore smiled at Missus Seymour and opened his lips to speak.

“I went to visit her earlier, but Lily must have fallen asleep early. I believe it’s better for you to visit her next time.”

“Is that so? Then… I’ve come here for nothing. Just as you said, it would be better for me to come visit her at a later time.”

“Yes. I also need to return to my office and do my work.”

Theodore and Missus Seymour left the hallway and descended the staircase. By the time they reached the second floor where the duke’s office was situated, Missus Seymour spoke up.

“Theo, is your memory still…?”

“…Yes, but I’m alright. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“That’s right… Those memories aren’t even important. Don’t push yourself.”

At that, without realizing it, Theodore’s expression almost hardened. Unimportant memories?

“But… It worries me, still. Just pass time as you did before you lost your memories of Lily. She won’t be here for long either way, since she’s someone who’ll soon leave the household.”

“…Thank you for your advice, Aunt.”

Theodore replied reflexively, and at this, Missus Seymour smiled at him kindly. She soon lightly curtsied towards him before walking away.

Theodore remained in that spot, still lost in thought.

‘Unimportant memories. Someone who’ll soon leave the household…’

He found those words unpleasant. And the more he ruminated, the more he had a bad feeling about it. It’s true that Missus Seymour had been taking care of him for a long time now, but… He knew that it was only because of the protectiveness she felt over him.

Though the previous duchess asked her to take care of him, it wasn’t only because of this that she wanted to think of herself as someone like his ‘mother’.

‘Perhaps…’

Seeds of doubt that had been planted slowly budded. He wasn’t certain of it exactly just yet, but he had a strong hunch that there was something wrong here.

* * *

If one cog in the framework were to get misaligned, then everything would start to break down. The first time he felt that something was amiss was just one day after Lily Everett got married and left.

Hessen sat on the sofa, a sour look on his face. Pulling out a cigarette, Owen was sitting at the sofa in front of Hessen and soon opened his lips.

“Do you want a smoke?”

“I’m good.”

When Hessen refused, Owen nodded lightly. He raised the cigarette to his own mouth and lit the end of it. He inhaled once and soon exhaled, the pungent stench of its smoke permeating the air.

“I heard you crossed paths with Lily and Theodore Valentino.”

“F*ck, does everything reach your ears?”

“Be respectful and call me Brother.”

“Brother, over my dead, frozen…”

While Hessen grumbled under his breath, Owen took in another puff of the cigarette. Sitting with his legs crossed, he leaned back against the sofa and exhaled smoke for a long time. Looking like this, he was like the very portrait of boredom and relaxation.

Tak, tak.

He shook off the tip of the cigarette on the ashtray then leaned back once again. Then, Owen asked.

“Tell me what happened.”

“What else. They’re the same as before…”

No. It wasn’t the same. In the time that he hadn’t seen Theodore Valentino, it seemed like he was strange, somehow. However Lily Everett on the other hand—she was still the same.

‘Though she has some strange hobby of walking around while pretending to be a maid.’

After contemplating for a moment, Hessen snatched Owen’s cigarette case on the table and spoke.

“He’s a little weird, that guy.”

At those words, Owen’s eyes glinted. Hessen didn’t notice because he was lighting his cigarette. He inhaled deeply just as Owen did, but immediately after a cough burst out.

Cough…! Cough, cough!

“What kind of crazy— Are you smoking this because you think it tastes great?!”

In any case, Hessen threw the cigarette after spewing out colorful swear words. Blurry smoke rose exactly from the crystal ashtray.

“Didn’t he seem like a completely different person?”

“What are you talking about?”

When Owen asked like this, Hessen frowned and answered with another question. He wondered what kind of nonsense his older brother was spitting out.

Instead, Hessen looked for some water to rinse his palate, but Owen just curved his eyes into crescent moons. Then, with a subtle tone of voice, he spoke as though whispering a secret.

“So it seems he lost his memories…”