Hidden Faces And Desserts (4)

But tragedy came upon her once again.

The happy times were truly fleeting.

It all began with Count Dedran’s visit.

“It’s already been four years since you got married, and you still have no heir!”

Meeting alone with his daughter, Count Dedran raged. Berna inwardly despised herself for trembling like she did in her childhood, but despite her feelings, she still couldn’t look her Father in the eye.

The fear of her Father that was imprinted since childhood.

The fear that she couldn’t escape from this man was already deeply ingrained in her body, making her unable to speak. All she could do was bow her head and tremble.

Count Dedran issued a stern warning to her.

“My patience will soon run out. I’ll give you one more year. Somehow, have an heir by then!”

After that order, Berna found herself unable to do anything.

Because of her fear of her Father, if she confessed to Count of Greek, she felt it would dilute her feelings of admiration for him.

And so, another three years passed. Greek’s son turned 11, and she became 27.

Although Count Dedran had given her one more year, two more years had passed beyond the deadline.

But it was so quiet.

Berna was extremely anxious about that.

The more this happened, the less she could tell the Count of Greek that she wanted a child. So, there was no way an heir would be born between the Count and Berna, who had no marital relationship.

In the meantime, a major accident happened to the Count.

The once healthy Count of Greek suddenly lost his mind for no reason.

The Count of Greek took to his bed, unable to recognize anyone, and fell into a daze.

He would eat when fed, and just stay blank when bathed.

Berna considered all of this to be her fault.

But that was only the beginning of another despair. From then on, Count Dedran started to meddle in Greek City from behind the scenes.

At that time, the boy was only 11 years old, too young to stop or even know about this.

This was when the embezzlement of taxes began.

Count Dedran, luring in the Count of Greek’s retainers one by one with promises of huge profits and beginning to steal the taxes of Greek City, said this to his trembling daughter a few years later.

“Soon, the Count’s son will reach the age to become lord. So, make the household people coerce, push, and ignore him. Make him a weak-willed puppet who can’t decide anything on his own.”

Though she was commanded to do so, Berna couldn’t possibly carry out such a task. Naturally, it was Count Dedran who orchestrated the puppet strategy for Greek’s son from behind the scenes.

From that time on, Berna couldn’t meet Greek’s son, whom she had considered as her own child. She began to realize one by one the things her Father was doing.

Guilt completely dominated Berna.

That was when the boy turned 13.

Since then, their encounters were limited to mealtime or occasionally within the house, and she couldn’t bring herself to seek out Greek’s son, even rejecting him when he came to see her.

Because she couldn’t face him.

The Count of Greek’s family was deteriorating because of her.

It wasn’t just once or twice that she thought about dying. But because of Count of Greek, whom she admired for the first time since she was born, she had to abandon that thought.

The thought of at least taking care of him. She believed that was the only way to repay the Count of Greek, who had brought her happiness.

The boy thought the servants were taking care of the bedridden Count of Greek, but in reality, it was Berna who did all the hard work.

Of course, no one, including Berna herself, could reveal this fact to the boy.

Anyway, she was a weak person who couldn’t do anything by herself.

Ignoring the boy she loved like a son, crying in front of the bedridden Count.

She found meaning in life by continuing the tea time she had enjoyed with the Count, even without him.

So, for her, tea and desserts were like memories of the Count of Greek.

But there came a twist. Though Berna had lost her smile again, Greek’s son overturned Count Dedran’s plan and began to take the lead as the acting Lord confidently.

Watching this from behind, Berna was overjoyed. As her expectation grew that her Father wouldn’t be able to do anything if the boy grew up like this, her heart gradually healed.

That’s why she was as happy as a child whenever she found good tea and desserts. Even though she was in a daze, eating the best desserts with the Count made her feel like she was regaining the past.

She could see the boy, whom she considered a son, slowly reclaiming the Greek family.

But that was Berna.

Another calamity struck.

The beginning of the calamity was Count Dedran, who had just arrived.

That led to the present. Berna clenched the vial in her palm and gripped the carpet tightly.

Of course, she had no intention of giving the boy this drug.

She would rather die herself.

The seven years that had brought her happiness in life. The time given by the Count of Greek and Greek’s son.

So Berna thought.

If only she didn’t exist, her Father wouldn’t have been able to cling to Greek City like this. The connection would be gone.

The link between Greek City and Dedran City.

She should have chosen this long ago.

If the thought of not being able to leave the Count of Greek was ruining the Greek family, it shouldn’t continue. That’s what she thought.

She believed that her death would end her Father’s ambition.

“Heuk, heuk… I’m sorry… my dear… and Dylan.”

Berna began to sob, calling out the names of the Count of Greek and his son.

The one whose eyes were about to turn was the boy, and the one without any thoughts was the dragon.

Rurin approached me with a face asking why that guy was acting like that and offered her head, meaning she wanted to be petted for working hard.

“I’ll meet Count Dedran right away!”

I had to stop the boy from bursting into anger. It wasn’t something to act on without thinking.

“Please hold on. Running there now won’t solve anything. The more this happens, the more we need to handle things calmly. First, we need to meet with the young wife once more.”

“Stepmother refused Count Dedran’s proposal. So… Stepmother is indeed…”

“I have an appointment to meet the young wife with some desserts today. Could you wait a bit? There’s more I want to find out.”

The drug that causes someone to lose their mind.

Isn’t that exactly like the Count of Greek’s condition?

From the conversation, it seemed that the young wife knew nothing about it. All of this seemed to have undoubtedly started from Count Dedran’s hand.

Human trash.

Of course, there’s no need to seek peace for trash.

The one who should truly taste despair is Count Dedran. That, too, with all his sins revealed in detail.

What does he think of a person’s life?

This matter was too immense for the still young Greek boy to handle all by himself.

“You? What’s so serious!”

Right then, the dragon, who always noticed the changes in me first, grabbed my arm and came closer, perhaps reading my uncomfortable expression.

Today, the Lord’s castle feels very gloomy, as if dark clouds are covering it. Despite the clear sky and cloudless autumn weather, the Lord’s castle seems to be in the middle of a long tunnel shrouded in darkness.

Greek’s son was filled with rage, knowing the fiend who was as good as having killed his Father.

As such Greek’s son had to keep Count Dedran from leaving his territory for the time being.

And he immediately took action to meet the young wife.

The dragon followed behind.

“Why are you angry? You?”

The dragon has no need to be aware of others in the human world. Rurin is usually far from being considerate when dealing with me.

But she, who notices my changes faster than anyone, is now being considerate.

Usually, the atmosphere of this world has nothing to do with her.

No matter what happens, the human world is just a trivial human world to her.

But she was extremely sensitive to my changes.

I stopped for a moment.

The dragon kept holding onto my arm and didn’t let go. Rurin’s eyes were full of the feeling that something was wrong with me.

“I didn’t do anything. I worked hard even after waking up from sleep. Why are you acting like this…?”

“Do I look that strange?”

It’s probably because I met such trash after a long time that my emotions were a bit stirred. For Rurin to react like this.

Honestly, the Duke of Taemuran, who is solely focused on power, seems cute in comparison. At least he doesn’t treat his children as tools like this.

Even monsters cherish their own children.

You can do anything, but you can’t feel good when you see someone who is inhuman like this. There’s no cure for trash that’s a step beyond child abuse.

“That’s right… I don’t like you like this. I don’t like you angry. You’re scary when you’re angry…! Back then, you ignored me. As if I didn’t exist! I was clearly by your side!”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t angry at you then, and I’m not now.”

“You?”

I hugged Rurin directly. Her body fit perfectly into my arms. The corridor of the Lord’s castle was very quiet, and with only the autumn breeze blowing in from outside the window, I felt my heart soften as I felt Rurin’s warmth.

“But you ignored me, even though you weren’t angry!”

“Back then, we hadn’t known each other for long, and there were circumstances. But it’s different now. Don’t worry.”

“If you ignore me, I don’t know what to do. I really hate that!”

During the Dragon War, there was a time when I was engulfed in anger. It was anger towards the dragons, but of course, Rurin was an exception. However, I couldn’t control my emotions well and ended up hurting Rurin too.

The memory of that time seems to make Rurin uneasy, but it’s completely different now.

She doesn’t care about anything.

But the fact that being ignored by me is terrifying to her.

Because she is that kind of Rurin –

I don’t want to give her back to the Elder also.

“I won’t ignore you. I was immature back then. Look, it’s fine, right? This is the hug you like.”

When I gently stroked the back of her head, Rurin quieted down without a sound.

“Is that so? It’s definitely different from back then. You didn’t give me a hug back then.”

“Yes, it’s fine now.”

“But then, who made you like this! Was it that guy earlier?”

Rurin looked up at me. Her expression turned fierce. To the point where the dragon’s anger seemed to ignite like a flame. She asked as if she was really about to unleash her breath.

“No, don’t worry. I’ll handle it calmly, unlike back then. Calmly.”

I smiled at Rurin.

“You just need to stay by my side. Don’t interfere, and if I need help, I’ll tell you. Until then, just stay beside me. Okay?”

“Got it. I’ll listen to you.”

“Funny.”

“Not funny.”

“Sigh.”