CL Chapter 29

“You might as well have given me a different punishment.”

 

Mona murmured under her breath as she turned away after bidding farewell to Leo.

 

Though her lament was quieter than the sound of the doorknob turning, Leo did not let it slip by. He responded gently to her retreating back.

 

“There could be no punishment worse for you than this, Mona.”

 

With those words, Mona was ushered out of the office. She bit down hard on her lip. He was right. It was as if she’d swallowed poison, her insides scorched with agony.

 

As she walked down the corridor in a daze, the wildfire blazing in her chest finally overwhelmed her, and she staggered.

 

Though she avoided the indignity of collapsing into a pathetic heap, she couldn’t lift her head, bowed like trampled grass.

 

It was heavy. It was terrifying. To think that the path Leo believed so firmly in was nothing but a single thread suspended in air.

 

Where had it all gone wrong? What had been the first mistake? As questions rose like smoke from her burning heart, only one face came to mind.

 

A pale face bathed in moonlight, hair like silver silk fluttering around it. When brushed aside with a fingertip, it revealed eyes poised on the edge between sky and lake.

 

A nose finely drawn between those clear eyes, and beneath it, lips of a vividly distinct hue.

 

It was the face of the princess who shone more brilliantly than ice sculptures in the snow-laden palace of Ignator.

 

And it was also the face of the wretched woman who, with her pretty eyes and gentle smile, deceived Mona, deceived her precious lord, and fell from grace without so much as a flutter.

 

Ah, Charlotte.

 

Mona should’ve stopped her from ever setting foot in Rosa. She should never have let her face Leo again.

 

If only Leo hadn’t been blind. If only the king had known decency, upheld his word. If only Princess Mia had become Leo’s betrothed as planned, how wonderful that would have been.

 

But futile hopes only broke Mona further. She hadn’t even removed her hand from the window sill before her knees buckled again.

 

She barely managed to remain standing, clinging to composure like a lifeline, when she heard hesitant footsteps pause nearby.

 

Not knowing whom she had inconvenienced, Mona composed her expression and raised her head.

 

“……”

 

“……”

 

It was the very last person she wished to see.

 

Charlotte.

 

Charlotte cast a fleeting glance at Mona’s hand, pale and drained from clutching the window frame too tightly.

 

Offended by that momentary look, Mona, out of sheer obstinance, withdrew her hand and stood firm, staring directly at her.

 

“Could you spare a moment?”

 

The sudden invitation came not long after their tense silence began.

 

“…Of course.”

 

It was easy to guess the reason, no doubt, Charlotte had come to reprimand her for yesterday’s events. Mona nodded without resistance.

 

Charlotte had a reputation for wielding a switch against maids in the side palace at her whim, so a beating was likely.

 

Far from fearing it, Mona welcomed it. She wanted to be struck, brutally, so that Charlotte might finally lose her place in Leo’s heart.

 

“Come in.”

 

To her disappointment, there wasn’t even a branch in sight in Charlotte’s room.

 

“Please, sit.”

 

Charlotte even offered Mona a seat on the sofa, as any polite hostess would.

 

But sincerity was hard to find in any of her gestures.

 

Even this fine sofa had been replaced after Charlotte’s tantrum on her first day in Rosa, when she smashed wine bottles in a frenzy.

 

“If it won’t be a long conversation, I’d rather stand.”

 

Feeling slightly nauseated, Mona refused, standing stiffly before the armrest.

 

Charlotte, already seated, gave her a curious look, the corners of her reddish eyes twitching slightly in an inscrutable expression.

 

Likely displeasure, Mona guessed, as she, the future Duchess of the Carthenon household, found her subordinate defiant.

 

Still, Charlotte didn’t lash out. Instead, she seemed to decide on another method of punishment: silence.

 

Charlotte sat quietly. Mona stood without end. It was a scene much like her earlier encounter with Leo, but worse, because now, the unsettling face was right in front of her.

 

This wouldn’t end on its own. Mona, impatient, was the first to speak. She had her own words to say.

 

“I won’t apologize for yesterday. After all, you got exactly what you wanted, didn’t you?”

 

Charlotte, startled by the unexpected voice, snapped her head up. Her soft hair spilled back as her neck arched, revealing eyes so clear they seemed almost innocent.

 

Ah…

 

Mona found herself marveling again. What a flawless shell. Even knowing what lay beneath, she could be fooled all over again…

 

“So what?”

 

The sharp voice from her past jolted Mona from her trance.

 

The face now staring at her overlapped with the one that once asked, deadpan, what Leo’s death had to do with her.

 

That was the real Charlotte.

 

The poison that had nearly killed Leo was her.

 

Resolute once more, Mona took a step forward, confronting those wide, unknowing eyes.

 

“The Lord is planning to pass off his own private wealth as your dowry to deceive all of Rosa.”

 

“What…?”

 

“You must’ve made quite the impression yesterday. He spent a long time here, didn’t he? Frankly, I think that price is far too generous for such a used body, but if that’s his choice…”

 

“You think I asked for that?”

 

Charlotte sprang from the sofa, voice raised for the first time as she stormed toward Mona.

 

“Why should Leo, why should Leo have to pay for it?”

 

Mona stared, stunned, as Charlotte shouted.

 

Now that she thought about it… this was a first. No matter what vile things Mona had thrown her way, Charlotte had always remained quietly detached.

 

“Why should his money…?”

 

And now her anger, her volume, was all for Leo.

 

It didn’t make sense. But it was undeniable.

 

“Do you even know what kind of money that is…?”

 

Charlotte didn’t even acknowledge Mona’s insults. As if it didn’t matter what she’d been called.

 

Mona’s resolve began to crumble. Her mind clouded with darkness.

 

She’d long since glimpsed the depths of Charlotte’s soul. But perhaps there were deeper abysses still, ones she had foolishly overlooked.

 

She prayed it was only a suspicion.

 

While Mona drowned in confusion, Charlotte walked out.

 

And Mona knew exactly where those hurried steps were taking her.

 

But she couldn’t watch her go. She feared the shadow might be wet with tears.

 

And if it was… then this chaos would end in the worst way imaginable.

 

 

⚜︎ ⚜︎ ⚜︎

 

 

Impulsively blurting out her heart in response to an absurd provocation, Charlotte walked down the corridor, not yet realizing the mistake she’d just made.

 

She was on her way to see Leo, the fool who had done something unthinkable.

 

“He’s lost it. Completely.”

 

She knew well enough where Leo’s personal wealth came from. It was the price he paid for dancing with death, day in and day out on the battlefield.

 

To squander it all, for someone like her? It was unthinkable.

 

“…”

 

But her furious strides gradually slowed. The wide, determined steps shrank with each pace.

 

Even so, she kept walking, step by step, until she found herself completely still in the middle of the hallway, just short of Leo’s office.

 

She couldn’t go any farther. She had remembered that she had nothing to say to him.

 

What could she possibly say? Telling him not to waste his money on her would only make her a stranger to the Charlotte he thought he knew.

 

She had no right, not even to begrudge the cost of Leo’s life.

 

Beggar.

 

Shameless wretch.

 

Mona’s voice, venomous and full of rage, echoed in her head, pounding from all sides. It was a new brand, freshly seared beside the word slave.