Love Doesn’t Matter - Chapter 92 – Unfulfilled Desire

Consumed by anxiety, the man headed to the Zelkova Forest once again. When he opened the door and Emilia appeared, Hadius was relieved that the small body was standing in front of him, and once again he felt anxious when he saw her pale face.

“Do you feel sick?”

He couldn’t help but ask her. The fact that the woman who had always been energetic and lively was now sick made it unbearable.

“No, I’m fine.”

A number of people had already asked that question lately, so Emilia was able to answer his question right away as if she prepared it in advance.

Silence descended with the glimmer of the night light.

Hadius looked her up and down again. What made her slender body paler even more must be that f***ing ‘Lha Trang.’ It was only natural that her body wouldn’t be able to stand it, as she said she was doing all sorts of work there, from washing the dishes, preparing the ingredients and cleaning. He thought that her body appeared as if it was drained of all vitality and was now on the verge of collapsing.

He felt the tiredness in his body. Looking at Emilia made his whole body collapse as if her body was his own. He so much wanted to go to Lha Trang now and have her stop working. But the memory where she took out the small piece of meat as a reward of some sort faintly held him back.

“Have you ever thought of quitting your job?”

He deliberately asked her as calmly as he could, trying to not show his emotions. Emilia stared at him.

‘No, it never crossed my mind.’

She was obviously looking at him like that, but strangely enough, the words that came from her mouth were the exact opposite.

“Yes, I plan to quit soon.”

Why did I lie? Emilia walked inside the forest where the darkness could hide the confusion in her eyes. The trees started to whisper to her in the silence. You are exhausted. You won’t be able to bear it if you run away from that man again. Don’t put up a fight. Don’t tire each other by creating unnecessary disputes.

Emilia didn’t want to go through that extreme strenuous time of her last few months again. Her mind and heart only wanted peace now.

“For now, I am going to focus on looking into schools for Mitch and Charlotte,” she muttered and added quickly, “But I can’t just quit my job right away. I intend to work there to fulfill the period of time agreed upon.”

Hadius stared at Emilia who answered helplessly. I used to love those pairs of eyes with despair and resignation and even ran a long way to see them, but why am I not satisfied at all? Where on earth did that woman who was sharpening her blade go? Why are you not smiling? Your blue eyes used to be filled with life, blazing like fire when you were angry, and you laughed really well.

While he was thinking blankly, Hadius felt bitter. It was Charlotte who woke him from his reverie.

“Young Master!”

The little girl immediately came down from the attic like a person who could see well and stood in front of him.

“I got a letter from Pip yesterday. Can I really go to see Moria on the weekend?”

“Yes.”

The moment he answered, Hadius felt another childlike impulse rising in his chest.

“Did you know that it is also St. Michael’s Day?”

“Yes, that’s why Mother and Mitch couldn’t go. Because I have to go to church.”

“There is a festival at Sitmer on that day. Would you like to go?”

“Festival?”

Charlotte gasped as she softly asked him.

“Yes. There will be a public ball in the plaza from what Pip heard. There will be fireworks at night and above all, a wandering theater troupe will be coming. You can also watch plays.”

“Really?!”

Charlotte’s face brightened in anticipation then suddenly darkened. Watching her, Emilia felt her heart ache. She knew very well why Charlotte was like that.

There was also an annual festival here in Erndorf, and she had gone to see it with Charlotte once. The merry music, the dancing people, mouth-watering smells of the food and the boisterous laughter of the people were enough to excite even the blind child. More than anything, she loved the plays of the wandering theater troupe, which was something she never missed at any festival.

Emilia could remember clearly how her younger sister couldn’t take her eyes from the stage as if she could really see it. But a few days later, something terrible happened.

Charlotte’s existence became known to the other villages in Erndorf, so some vicious children from the neighboring children came and threw stones at Charlotte then hung her upside down from a tree. Since then, the festival evoked both joy and terror for Charlotte. Even though Charlotte made efforts to go out to the world, she was still far from celebrating with them.

If you don’t want to go, then we won’t force you to go there against your will.

Emilia approached Charlotte to say that. But Hadius was one step faster than her. He suddenly leaned over and whispered something in the child’s ear.

After a while,

“Really?”

Charlotte asked him in disbelief. Hadius faintly smiled and nodded his head. Emilia could see the child’s wrinkled eyebrow straighten, and the fog of fear on her face slowly disappeared. The little girl smiled broadly as usual and turned her head toward her older sister.

“Let’s go, Sister. I want to go! I want to go there.”

What on earth did that man say for her to suddenly change her mind? Emilia looked at Hadius. His mysterious silvery gray eyes looked at her calmly.

* * * 

Reinen Mansion, inside the Tobaro smoking room.

When Bianca appeared through the smoke, William Richards was the most welcoming person inside. Rubbing the finest cigar from Sevia, he jumped up from his seat and raised his arms widely toward the Grand Princess. He then bowed his head 90 degrees and greeted her politely.

Seeing this, Bianca burst out laughing.

“You’re still the same, Assemblyman.”

“I really missed you, Bicki.”

William shook hands with Bianca, wrinkles forming around his eyes.

This was an act that was completely against the order and law, but Reinen and Richards were strong allies for three generations, so the two of them were like uncle and niece. This level of unconventional act was acceptable in an informal setting.

After the two shook hands, they sat facing each other diagonally. Hannes, who had been proudly watching them since earlier, approached them.

“Is it really alright to invite Bianca while we smoke?”

“Of course.”

William smiled broadly then took out a new cigarette and lit it.

“You are not just any narrow-minded b*tch, but our Grand Princess Reinen, so it should be very welcome, right?”

Sitting in front of the big display cupboard, Bianca looked very natural while maintaining her confidence even inside the smoking room, which was an exclusive domain for men.

“But I wonder why our beautiful lady would ever think of stepping into the dark world of us men.”

Bianca didn’t hesitate to answer, “I want to help, Assemblyman.”

“What? Me?”

“To be exact, I want to help sir and Madam Meyer to reconcile.”

William flinched at her straightforward words. His trembling green eyes quickly returned to their original state.

“I greatly appreciate your kindness but,” William put one of his arms on his back and continued with a stiff face, “I don’t know why I should reconcile. Like a narrow-minded b*tch, that Caitlyn Meyer sulked by herself without a word, and that greatly disappointed me. Why should I even try?”

Bianca didn’t lose her smile even with William Richards stroking his beard with an uncomfortable expression.

“I don’t agree with you when you said she was a b*tch, but I agree with your other statement. That there is absolutely no need for you to make an effort.”

William raised his eyebrows when he realized she meant something.

“I will make that effort.”

William’s blinking eyes turned to Hannes. The latter smiled at his daughter as if what she said was quite impressive and shrugged his shoulders in front of William as if he couldn’t do anything about it.

“All you have to do is to tell me a little bit – about what happened between the two of you. In order to unravel the twisted and tangled thread, it is better to do it slowly starting with the outermost one. I want to know what exactly made the two of you fall out.”

“I think so, too,” Hannes intervened. “Bianca will be a great mediator.”

A shaken alliance would bring nothing good. It was a well-known fact that more than half of the capital of the Reinen & Meyer Mining, which will be established in the future, would come through their connections with the sly as a cunning fox Assemblyman Richards.

“Please say it while looking at my daughter’s face. Just what on earth happened between the two of you.”

Blinking, William brushed off the ash with his fingers. There was a puff of smoke and the incessant sound of the clock ringing. William’s mouth seemed like it would never open, finally opened when Hannes had just taken out a new cigarette and handed it to him.

“Again, nothing really happened. I was just perplexed why Caitlyn Meyer suddenly acted like this. Well… if I had to look for a reason, wouldn’t it be because she was just trying to create a scandal against that country girl?”

“A scandal?”

Bianca asked him what he was talking about, and Hannes was a little taken aback. He had no intention of confessing how he concocted such an evil and dishonorable plot in front of his daughter.

Hannes cleared his throat while looking uncomfortable, but William didn’t care.

The shocking story behind the strange rumors surrounding the fiancée of the Meyer family and the eldest son of the Malvin family, which they intended to use to create a scandal and cancel the engagement followed right after.

“I just wanted to help Duke Meyer. He was struggling too much, breaking his engagement. At that time, the public opinion regarding his engagement was very bad. The Congress was frantic to pass the Rochester Act. They were being stubbornly persistent about the engagement between Duke Meyer and that country girl. Duke Meyer pretended to please his fiancée and keep the engagement in front of people to prevent the public opinion from worsening more.”

“So… there was such a thing.” Bianca said calmly, pretending that it was nothing. But she couldn’t stop the smoke of confusion rising in her head.

“At first, Caitlyn seemed very happy with my plan. So I even personally went to Duke Meyer and discussed the matter.”

Bianca suddenly became curious. How did Hadius react? The answer came immediately.

“Duke Meyer seemed very unwilling. He didn’t take issue with the method itself, but it was just too unrealistic. You know, that country girl was flawless but there was something quite… stuffy about her. She would have been easy to deal with if she was a cunning and greedy girl, but she was the exact opposite. She faithfully kept the royal order for five years and showed an impeccable attitude during the dinner party. So it seems like he decided that she wouldn’t easily become entangled with any other men.”

This was the first time they heard an evaluation of that ‘commoner girl.’ William used negative expressions like ‘b*tch’ and ‘stuffy,’ but they sounded completely different to Bianca.

A very pretty girl who has an upright and great personality….

Like a fiery sword, jealousy stabbed Bianca deep in her heart.