Love Doesn’t Matter - Chapter 65 – Completely Crumbled

“…I am there… I’m one of the executives…”

Emilia’s eyes closed tightly. Mitch continued as if making excuses.

“But don’t worry. We made a blood pact. I will never betray you…”

“Stop!” Emilia was shocked to see her younger brother casually using the phrase ‘blood pact.’ “Listen, I think you still haven’t come to your senses, so there is only one way. You have to drop out of school first. Stepmother also agreed, so let’s write a resignation letter first.”

Mitch nodded with his head down. Emilia felt anger and despair as she looked at him with no lingering attachment to school. Just dropping out of school didn’t relieve her heart. He said that he was an executive of the group, so it may be that he was irretrievably deeply connected. At the same time, a gloomy thought began to wander like a snake. Could this be Hadius Meyer’s work? No, it can’t be. No matter how good the man is at scheming, he couldn’t cleverly manipulate people’s minds. But he may already know. He was the one who had used her stepmother’s factory…

“There are countless ways to break you.” Just remembering those words was enough. Something she was holding onto suddenly broke. Emilia began to fall. Mercilessly, she slid off an endless cliff.

* * * 

‘Young Master must be cold… ’

Pip looked pitifully at the blanket that had fallen randomly on the floor. Whenever it rained, the villa was so cool that one must light a fireplace even in midsummer. But he had been sitting on the terrace for hours wearing just a thin shirt.

‘What do I do if you catch a cold?’ Pip wanted to take a blanket and wrap it around his shoulder right away. However, something overwhelming flowed from his Master’s body and made him speechless. He was truly incomprehensible.

‘Doesn’t the Young Master have the whole world?’ A person like him was standing on top of a completely different world that couldn’t even be dreamed of.

‘But why do you look like the most unhappy person in the world?’

“Haaa.” Pip sighed and started cleaning out the closet. Regardless of his Master’s misfortune, life continued, and Pip had to keep doing his job.

The hunting season will start soon, so he should prepare a hunting jacket and riding clothes.

‘Uh? But why is this here?’ Pip picked up the jacket that the Young Master wore most recently. And he found that the front of the chest pocket was convex. Pip’s little hand slipped into the pocket. He touched a round piece of metal. Realizing that it was a ring, Pip froze for a moment. One of the things that servants should never do is touch the owner’s things, especially jewelry, but he couldn’t leave it inside the clothes. Pip carefully took out the ring and headed to the terrace.

“Excuse me, Young Master.”

Hadius turned his head slightly.

“I found it while organizing your clothes. This.”

The Master’s cool eyes went straight to the ring in his small hand. Pip placed the ring on the table and bowed his head. When he looked up again, something shocking happened.

‘Master silently picked up the ring and suddenly threw it away?’

The ring soared far away from the terrace, shimmering in a beautiful parabola, then it disappeared completely into darkness. Pip followed the ring’s trajectory but couldn’t keep his mouth shut and turned to his master. He had his back turned and was staring into the empty space where the ring had disappeared. Something overwhelming swarmed from his body once again.

“Th- then… I’ll take my leave.”

The moment Pip was about to step back and leave the terrace, in the distance, there was a faint light running through the darkness beyond the vineyard. He sensed it in a second. It was that woman.

Pip’s dazed eyes once again found his Master’s face. Young Master had also noticed the carriage and was staring at it. It wasn’t as remarkable as when the ring was tossed, but everything was completely different. The man’s face, detached from anything, was shattered. It was boiling fiercely like lava.

When the door opened, and a small figure was fully revealed with a cool breeze, Hadius was engulfed in turbulence. All kinds of emotions began to run wild with the anger that clouded his eyes.

The short hair he had gotten used to now, the chill that swirled through his body, and the blue eyes that burned his heart every time.

It was really Emilia.

‘Why did you come? To pay off debt? No, it might be the other way around. She may have run angrily when she realized that there was no more debt.’ At that moment, Hadius was annoyed with himself. When he created the absurd misunderstanding that he made her mother into debt, the day he encouraged it, he should have just taken it. Rather than pretending to be a ridiculous gentleman and handing over a pistol, he should have made her give up, discouraged her, and made her spread her legs by herself.

If he had done that, at least he wouldn’t have seen her kneeling in front of him, begging to let her go.

“Why are you here?”

Emilia made eye contact with him. It was as if he was looking at another woman. It was the same girl, obviously, but it wasn’t that girl anymore.

“I will only ask you one thing.”

It was a very cold voice, and Hadius unconsciously checked her hand. She was obviously empty-handed, but it looked like she was pointing a gun at him.

“Speak.”

Hadius deliberately leaned on the desk casually.

“Among all the things the Young Master has done to me so far, is there anything related to my younger brother, Mitch?”

‘Ah, she discovered the link between Mitch Bern and Hockney’s grandson.’

Hadius calmly crossed his arms in front of his chest.

‘Still, I thought it would have broken more.’ Sadly, Meyer was lacking in humanity. His mind was filled with only vile thoughts.

“Right. I used Hockney’s grandson to provoke your brother. I intervened until Mitch Bern poured out exaggerated, bitter accusations against me and my family.”

[tl/n: Really. What the heck is his problem? He has the heart of a tsundere, Jack the ripper, the Joker, and Alpha all mixed but the mind of a five-year-old spoiled brat]

The moment he answered, Hadius saw. Two deep blue eyes lost their faint vitality and sank completely.

Now, he thought she’d ask about ‘Meyer’s abandoned fiancée.’ However, Emilia asked something Hadius had never expected.

“What about that group? How far did the Young Master intervene? Until a 12-year-old boy joined a rebel group?”

‘You found out after all.’ Hadius thought calmly. To connect Hockney’s grandson with Mitch Bern, Hadius dug into the lively little revolutionary’s school life, and that group was accidentally discovered in the process.

“I didn’t intervene. I just knew.”

“…Even though you knew… You didn’t say… Why?”

The trembling voice penetrated deep into his chest. For a brief moment, Hadius hesitated. Keeping the truth in his heart without revealing it could be a good or a bad thing. Both of these issues were true. It was bound to cause trouble, and he was going to help Emilia pretending she couldn’t win and making her cry. Because as always, what he wanted was a woman who trusted and relied on him. But Hadius lightly tapped and pressed down on such a shallow heart. Emilia Bern never considered him a prince. Even if he came forward and helped, she would think of how to get away, hurting his pride rather than being grateful for his help.

‘She might even kneel and beg again… Sick and tired…’ For a moment, Hadius felt like choking.

‘Sh*tty Prince. It’s useless.’

A drop of black ink into the darkened water won’t change anything. Above all else, that woman was alone now. She left Beppy Dilson outside. The moment he realized what that meant, Meyer’s mean blood gushed out. His heart pumped and filled every branch of blood vessels.

“Didn’t you know that?”

After confirming that the faint warmth on her face had completely crashed and vanished, Hadius relaxed his arms and straightened himself.

“You can either get them caught, or you can just leave them alone. I’m not tied to one thing. Again, there are countless ways to break you.”

Hadius calmly watched as the woman went beyond resignation and despair.

“No matter the method, there is just one conclusion. I will never do you any harm. Whether the funny group your brother was involved in is exposed to the public or not.”

Hadius slowly approached her.

‘What will happen if you find out more of the truth? Would you say thank you for protecting me secretly all this time?’ No, that wouldn’t happen. Hadius knew Emilia well. She will hate the man who had never revealed the truth in five long years. Even if she died, she wouldn’t forgive the man who has put her family’s life in danger as well as herself and had not been able to solve it completely until now. And then she will leave, or run away.

So it didn’t matter. For Emilia standing in front of him like this, Hadius could pay any price.

“In the end, Mitch Bern will be fine, and you know that. That’s why you came running like this. Without Beppy Dilson. Isn’t that right?”

Emilia completely crumbled.

“…Right. I lost. Do whatever you want.”

Heavily, small feet moved. Emilia closed the door with her own hands and approached the man. Her pale face was like a bloodless ghost, and her slack and helpless body was endlessly desperate and completely defeated.

“Want me to tell you something funny?” Hadius pulled her chin up. “I thought you would grow weaker if you stood like a martyr. I really did, Emilia.”

Helpless, like a rabbit with its ears caught, Emilia faced the man.

“But I was wrong.”

——