CH 125

Returning to the Duchess Debussy’s residence, Philina paused as she entered the foyer.

Unlike usual, the atmosphere in the house was quiet.

Laura and Enoch had left for the white grove to find Leone, and Amy didn’t seem to be leaving the room.

As Philina walked across the large concourse, she saw Bruno coming out of Ariel’s room by the stairs.

Ariel’s faint cries echoed through the crack in the door that had not yet been closed.

“…… Sister.”

Bruno, who had come close to Filina, called out to her in a low voice.

His expression was not very good.

Apparently, he was quite confused about Ariel’s problem.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand him.

The reason why Bruno took care of Ariel more was because she was from the same orphanage as him.

If Ariel was ignored by anyone at all, she would react more sensitively.

Just like when young puppies are frightened, they bark more.

He’s afraid she’ll be ignored like she was.

“What does Ariel say?”

At Philina’s question, Bruno let out a small sigh and brushed his hand over his eyes.

“She just cry. She hasn’t taken a grain of rice since mom told her to leave, and she has been crying.”

Philina smirked, her face cold.

“…… If she has to get out tomorrow, go get a house first. Where’s the spirit to cry now…”

“Sister!”

Interrupting her, Bruno called out to Philina with a sullen face.

She turned her head and made silent eye contact with Bruno.

His face looked distressed, as if he were a man who had been cast out of his family.

“No matter what, we’ve been together for years… Aren’t you too cold?”

“…… Cold?”

She looked at Bruno with dry eyes. Even in the face of Philina’s gaze, he spoke with a grief-stricken face, as if he were a man who could not see anything.

“I know you haven’t given us anything. So it wouldn’t matter if Ariel was cast out overnight!”

“…….”

“But if you’re human, there’s still a minimum of affection. Ariel has tried so hard to be in the family!”

He continued, staring at Philina with red, bloodshot eyes.

“So, at least at this moment, you can’t even fathom Ariel’s feelings at all?”

Now Bruno was projecting Ariel onto me.

Ariel’s appearance was turning to Philina, as if it were something I might go through in the future.

She knows all too well that if she were to be kicked out of this house, she wouldn’t look back with no regrets.

That was the sad shape.

“Bruno.”

Filina called to him with an insensitive expression. Bruno, who had been looking at her sadly, closed his lips and stared at Filina.

“Now you’re the wrong person to compare yourself to.”

At Philina’s words, he furrowed his eyebrows as if to ask what he meant.

Then she tilted her head at an angle and pressed her lips away again.

“I mean, you shouldn’t compare Ariel to you. They’re two different people from birth.”

At Philina’s words, Bruno’s expression hardened at once.

Seeing him, Filina smiled slightly.

“I’m not trying to pick up on your origins. Well, I’m talking about Ariel’s origins.”

Only then did Bruno look at her with a slight expression on his face.

“…… Where is Ariel from?”

Philina, who had been looking at him, blurted out:

“Yes, she’s the illegitimate daughter of my father.”

If we look at these facts, Ariel was a clear victim.

It’s purely their parents’ fault that they are carrying the pain unjustly.

And if I had to name the person who made the biggest mistake, it would be Gabriel.

How could a maid refuse the Duke’s words?

However, in the letters she and Gabriel exchanged, it seemed unreasonable to place the blame purely on Gabriel.

If there was even the slightest feeling for the two of them, it couldn’t be said that it was the fault of one of them.

I guess they just enjoyed it.

It has only created a lot of victims.

Their forbidden love may have been a drama for each other, but it only caused terrible mental pain to the rest of them.

However, to see Ariel as just a pitiful being who is being victimized by her parents’ faults, there was a past that Philina had gone through so far.

The bad circumstances did not allow me to turn a blind eye to all of his actions.

As such, Philina had no intention of wrapping her arms around Ariel because she felt sorry for him.

Philina looked at him and said in a gentle voice:

“Bruno, it’s not Ariel that you should have pity on.”

“…….”

“My mother, who didn’t know anything until now, raised the child that my father secretly gave birth to with another woman as if it were her own daughter.”

Ariel was greedy.

Amy says she’ll give her enough money to feed her, but that’s not enough, so she dares to want the fame of being a rich family’s daughter.

If she had considered Amy her mother even for a moment, she shouldn’t have held out like that.

I’m glad I don’t have a father at this moment.

I don’t want to watch my family fight in a complicated life.

Of course, Amy won’t blindly ask Gabrielle for a divorce.

Maybe she’ll just let it flow as if nothing had happened.

People tend to ignore reality when they are faced with things that are too much for them to handle.

Philina turned her head and glanced at Ariel’s room, then turned to Bruno and said:

“I don’t think I can do anything as it stands now, so I want you to go out with Ariel tomorrow and find her a suitable house. You can send her baggage through someone.”

With that, Filina began to climb the stairs she had not yet climbed.

Bruno, who had been staring at her silently, sighed heavily with a pained face.

When the next morning came, Filina delivered the letter she had written to Cecilia through her maid.

I had just met Cecilia yesterday and wondered what it was necessary to send her a letter, but I couldn’t wait any longer to reply to her face.

On the contrary, when I handed over the letter through the maid, I felt as if I had lifted a burden from my heart.

I don’t know when the hell I started spending so much energy every time I think of Cecilia.

Enoch and Laura should have arrived at the white grove by now.

It would probably not be easy to find Leone at once.

It was an untraveled road, and above all, the forest was so large that it could be difficult in one day.

That’s why I deliberately split my vacation in two. I knew it was going to take a while.

Of course, they wouldn’t stay there until Enoch and Laura found them, and there was a village a short distance down, so they could have taken a carriage to Duchess Debussy’s residence in no time.

I had no intention of urging.

Carmen, who wanted to catch him the most, had now been kicked out of the swordsmanship academy.

Philina opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

The mansion, which I thought would be quiet, was cluttered. I could vaguely hear Ariel’s cries.

When Philina came downstairs, she saw Ariel slumped down in front of Amy’s bedroom, crying.

Bruno, who was drying her behind her, and the maids who surrounded her.

“Mother……, please forgive me just once! I was wrong. I don’t want to leave this house. I’ll live like I’m dead. Please, Mother……”

I watched from afar as Ariel was pouring down tears of sorrow in front of the tightly closed door.

She cried so much that my eyes were bloodshot from bursting veins.

Her white skin was covered with tears, and her beautiful cream-colored hair was matted and rough.

It was the first time I’d ever seen Ariel so broken.

I thought Si-won Lee would be hurt if one day I would see something like this, but I didn’t feel any different.

Philina, who had been staring dryly at Ariel, was about to turn away.

“…… Sister, Philina sister!”

Ariel, who had spotted her, hurriedly approached Pilina and grabbed her hand.

“Sister, please convince my mother……! Yes? Let me ask you this. When it comes to my sister, my mom listens to everything. Please, please……!”

Ariel, who had grabbed Philina, collapsed helplessly as it was. She buried her face in Philina’s shoulder and let out a faint cry.

“What did I do so wrong? I just wanted to be a family! I just wanted to be a real family, just like my mom and sister Philina!”

Philina’s shoulders were getting wetter and wetter with Ariel’s tears. Her hair was ruffled.

“I knew my mom always cared more about Sister Philina! Even if I pretended not to be, when I turned around, my mother’s eyes were always on my sister, not on me! I was nervous every time! I’m part of this family, and I’m my father’s daughter! I’m angry about why all the eyes of the family are always on Philina and my sister!”

Philina, who had been listening quietly to Ariel, couldn’t help but distort her impressions.

The line she utters now is the one Ariel spouts in the original story to pick on Philina.

So, she didn’t mean it. Tears were shed, but they were not spitting out with such a sad face.

So when Filina heard what she was saying, she knew it was a play.

Ariel was deceitful.

She poked like a villain to me, but she quickly burst into tears in front of her family, earning everyone’s sympathy.

At this moment, her family had to rush over and give her a warm hug and soothe Arielle by saying, “You are indeed Duke Debussy’s family.”

And she smiled devilishly, in the arms of her family, making eye contact with Filina.

Seeing that, I would have had to deal with resentment again.

But now no one has soothed Ariel.

Even Bruno, who was standing in front of Amy’s bedroom.

Filina leaned over me and stared silently at Ariel, who was bursting into tears, then carefully pushed her shoulders away.

“…….”

Ariel looked up at Philina with tears in her eyes. Philina, who had been staring at her silently, shifted her gaze and called out to Bruno.

“Bruno.”

“…… Yes, sister.”

He stepped in front of Philina and stood beside Ariel.

Filina blurted out to Bruno.

“Hurry up and get Ariel out before she comes out.”

At her words, Ariel shook his head and looked at Filina wistfully.

But she coldly dropped Ariel and handed it to Bruno.

He let out a deep sigh and pulled away, holding Ariel by force.