Chapter 46 - 15. The Protagonist (4)

It didn’t take long to hear my answer. I blinked a couple of times as the tea poured over my head, then got up and stood facing Rose. And wouldn’t it be right of me to raise my right hand?

‘Should I just slap him on the cheek?’

My action obviously looked like I was about to slap his cheek. But I changed my posture with a calm face. My hands quickly changed into fists.

‘I promised Carl that I wouldn’t beat anyone until I learned it properly.’

“Um?”

What follows was obvious.

Pow!

A heavy sound couldn’t be compared to the slap Rose had imagined, echoed in the parlor room.

“Urgh!”

A stroke below the collarbone. As my fist pierced the center of his chest, Rose was breathless for a moment. In addition, the throbbing pain made him bend down.

“Keheug, Urgh!”

‘Now he’s being a little respectful…’

I relaxed my posture in front of him, who bent his back. My gaze was reversed as he straightened his back and raised his hands slightly over his stomach. With his head bowed, Rose knew that my eyes now became colder than the ones he made before.

‘What the hell happened! A young lady punched me!’

Shortly afterward, Rose raised his head with an angry look. I talked as if I hadn’t done it without thinking and waited for this to happen.

“Rose-nim, I have a question.”

“What in this situation!”

“What are you talking about this?”

“If you have such great power, why didn’t you just visit Aloken secretly today?”

“!”

Come to think of it, it was strange. If Rose is a noble who lacks courtesy like Aloken or Carl, I may not notice it. Usually, to visit someone, you need to send a letter in advance. If you sent a letter and didn’t get a reply, you could have forced yourself to come then.

So, how come Rose ignored such a procedure and came to see me?

Based on this situation, I thought he couldn’t send a letter because he worried Aloken might find out about it.

‘He’s not mature yet and can’t control his expression.’

And the result of my speculation was proved by the change in color of Rose’s face. As he was agitated by my remarks, I dug deeper.

“I don’t think you would have come to threaten me like this if Aloken was really powerless. Even if you do something to me, it’s not like I will face the death penalty.”

“Even so, don’t think your family will be fine…”

“Aha, are you going to take my family as a hostage?”

Besides, there is something seriously wrong with the cards that Rose holds.

“If you want to, do it.”

“What…?”

“Do as you please.”

I told him calmly because neither my parents nor my brother was worth anything to me. But from Rose’s point of view, it felt as if there was something he didn’t notice. He can’t believe it. Even if there is no family love, the children of nobles are usually afraid they will lose their family name.

‘This little Lady. I thought he would wag her tail if I threatened her a little bit.’

He doesn’t know why things don’t go as planned. It made him frown.

‘Is he scared? But to come here…’

However, from my point of view, this conversation was not entirely irrelevant. Because Rose realized that my engagement was an unsympathetic deal.

‘If he knew I asked Aloken for the deal first, things would get bigger. Let’s just pretend.’

I spoke after a moment of deliberation. I pretended to be naive, so I wouldn’t be involved in these lame sibling fights.

“And Rose-nim. I dare not know the situation of the Jalier family, but there was a misunderstanding, so let me be clear.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“I accepted the engagement because I really love Aloken.”

What do you mean by love now?

“So whatever you say, it’s hard for me to break up with him…”

Of course, Rose didn’t seem to believe it, but when I spoke again with moist eyes, he seemed to be shaken.

“…”

Send a warning failure. And threatening me also fails.

Even if I claim to love Aloken like that, he won’t be able to buy me even if he gives me better pay than Aloken. Nevertheless, Rose thought hard to change my stubborn mind. As such, the issue of succession to the title was a serious issue for Rose.

“Celcius.”

“Do you still have something to say? The Countess will be back soon.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry that my methods were violent.”

Snap.

As I tried to leave the room without listening to him, Rose grabbed my arm.

‘What he wants to do?’

He knew I won’t stand still as he got beaten up here before. I eventually stopped walking. The situation made me wonder what he would say next.

“But it’s something you should know. I told you from the beginning. I’m stopping the marriage for your sake.”

“…”

“I hesitated because it was a matter of family prestige, but I’ll tell you now. The reason why he shouldn’t be the successor.”

The reason why Aloken couldn’t be the successor. Although I regressed from the future, it was still unknown to me. So, what is the reason?

“Aloken was born sick.”

“…”

“He looks fine on the surface, but in reality, he’s very different from us.”

Aloken was born sick?

It was strange to hear the unexpected reason, but I responded calmly.

“Aren’t you just lying?”

To this, Rose described the incident in detail.

“A normal person wouldn’t want to drown your sibling just because your sibling touched your toy. But I almost died because of him when I was five.”

“!”

“How surprised father must be? The elder brother drowned his younger brother in the lake. Besides, when he heard the reason…”

“…”

“Because his younger brother took away his belongings. He thought it would be resolved if his younger brother was gone.”

From what I heard, it certainly wasn’t a common sibling fight.

I furrowed my eyebrows at his remarks.

“Aside from that, there are not one or two terrifying accidents. It must have been the decisive reason why father thought he couldn’t hand over the family to him.”

‘What the hell is it?’

“When I was 10, the first thing he said at mother’s funeral when he didn’t shed even a single tear…”

Are those words from Rose just a lie to shake me? Or is it real?

I thought that I couldn’t judge it with my eyes. But his lowered eyes looked truly heartbroken.

“How can he say that to our mother who died?”

“…”

“He said that he was annoyed because our mother was meddling with him every day, and he said that it’s good not to hear her nagging anymore…”

“…”

“At that time, father realized the seriousness of his sickness and tried everything to fix Aloken. In the end, the doctor only gave the answer.”

He’s born with a different mind.

Rose, who said so, frowned as if he were horrified just to recall the past events.

“I can’t believe such a man was born into the famous Jalier family. How can I entrust him with the family?”

“It’s hard for me to believe.”

“Celcius, I don’t know what Aloken you’ve seen, but it’s okay to assume all of it was a lie. It’s his habit to deceive others.”

“…”

“And he changed his ways cleverly since father scolded him a lot. He began to imitate others.”

While saying that, Rose grabbed my two hands and spoke as if pleading.

“But my father is already old, so he may have felt compassion for him. That’s why he is being deceived by older brother’s acting.”

“…”

“His temperament will never be improved by education. Father thinks older brother has been cured since he starts pretending to be a normal person.”

“…”

“Maybe if he inherits the title, you too will be killed without mercy. Because he is a person like that.”

“Aloken… to me?”

“That’s because once he has achieved his goal, he will try to form a relationship with a stronger force than the Celcius family. That’s why this is a matter of life for both you and me.”

“Rose-nim…”

“If you expose my brother’s lies and help me, I will give a big reward to the Celcius family when I inherit the dukedom.”

It’s a matter of life for both you and me.

I pondered the sentence he had brought out and opened my mouth with a cautious attitude.

“Does that mean… if Aloken becomes the duke, he will kill you too?”

It will happen in the future a few months from now on. Based on the will after the death of Duke Louis Jalier, the next Duke will be Rose Jalier. But before he could even enjoy the glory, Rose got into an accident and died. Because of this, rumors about the eldest son who murdered him spread around the capital.

‘I didn’t want to listen carefully because the words came from a man who has been picking a fight with me since we first met.’

I realized that the future I knew and what happened in the past didn’t go much differently, so I focused on Rose’s words.

“I’ve been a hindrance to Aloken since I was a child.”

“Then the other way around. What will you do to your brother if you become the successor?”

“Once I officially succeed in the title, the scope of what I can do will change, so I plan to make sure that Aloken doesn’t harm others anymore. I will ensure he gets treatment in the Holy Kingdom for his mental sickness.”

“You mean he will get therapy, not being shackled there, right?”

“He was born as my brother, so I don’t want to kill him. We will prepare a place where he can receive good treatment.”

When Rose noticed that I was interested in the story, he sighed heavily as if he had finally relieved himself.

“So, Lady Celcius. Get your hands off that cruel man who can betray anyone anytime.”

“…”

“I will find you another good marriage candidate too!”

Rose Jalier, holding my hand so tightly that it hurts, pleading. I, who was carefully examining the figure of such a man, slowly pulled out my hand. Then Rose’s expression hardened.

“Rose-nim, I have already sworn an engagement with Aloken to the Mother Goddess. Even if I get betrayed by him, I will accept it as a price for my love. I’m sorry, I will forget everything I heard this time.”

With cold eyes and dry lips, is it really fair to use love as the reason?

In the end, Rose left without saying goodbye to me after my gentle rejection. As he burst out of the locked door, the servant passing through the hallway was startled.

“G-Goodbye, young…”

“…”

“…Master.”

The servant in the hallway greeted him, but Rose ignored it and walked away.

‘It would be nice if this could delay some time, but somehow, I’m not looking forward to it. Useless bitch.’

He walked just like usual, but everyone knew that he was offended just by the look on his face.

“Lady, what’s going on? The guest just left in a state of great anger…”

“Don’t worry. It’s a problem that will be resolved soon.”

“Yes… Huh? But how did Lady’s clothes end up in that state?”

I stopped by the bathroom to clean up the tea before godmother came back. After letting all the servants out, I thought quietly in the bathtub.

“Aloken is a cruel person…”

We’re engaged by contract, so if you think about it normally, it’s okay for us to break up. But if everything Rose said was true about him that he didn’t shed a single tear at his mother’s funeral, I didn’t know what strange things he would do. So, I decided to check it out right now.

“Cruel enough to kill me?”

Should I keep holding hands with him or throw out that presumptuous helper?