Chapter 58: The Past — After She Was Gone ⑩

Who Is Truly Pitiful

Tonight was the party celebrating the Crown Princess’s nineteenth birthday.
Cain had no choice but to attend.
Having inherited the ducal title from his father, absence was not an option.
Moreover, the Crown Princess was his younger sister.
If Cain, her elder brother, failed to appear, it could spark unnecessary rumors.

He greeted the king and queen, the crown prince and crown princess, and the second prince.
After that, he made the rounds with the other guests, and in keeping with etiquette, danced with young ladies who invited him.
Cain still had no fiancée.
Students and unmarried noble ladies were desperate to claim the position of lawful wife to the promising young duke.
For ladies without fiancés, their first dance was usually with their father or brothers.
Having fulfilled the necessary roles, Cain continued responding politely and without commitment to the ladies who asked him to dance.

After finishing his third dance, he offered a courteous smile and declined the others who had been waiting for their turn.
He accepted a chilled cocktail from a server and headed for the terrace.

Unlike the hall, where most people were dancing, only a few guests seeking distance from the bustle occupied the terrace.
Cain went farther toward the sparsely populated area and sat down on a bench prepared for people like him.

The cocktail was a Stinger, refreshing enough to clear the mind.
After taking one sip, then another, he looked up at the night sky.
The deep indigo canvas was scattered with countless sparkling lights, not a cloud in sight.

Today was Elvira’s birthday.
Last month had been Cain’s birthday.
And the month before that had been Faustina’s birthday.

Two months ago, Cain had felt a chill run through him.
From the morning onward, gifts addressed to him had arrived.
They were from his parents, whom he had sent away to the territory almost as soon as he inherited the ducal title.

Neither Citrin nor Lyudmila knew where Faustina was.
Only Cain, who had sent Faustina fleeing to a certain place, knew her whereabouts.
A letter addressed to Cain had been included with the gift.

It was from his mother.
She asked him to give the present to Faustina.
She wrote that it had originally been meant for Faustina’s eighteenth birthday.

Despite her being his own mother, Cain let out a deep sigh, wondering what she thought she was doing.
Inside the box was a hair ornament crafted in the shape of a flower from pink diamond.
Pink was Elvira’s favorite color, not Faustina’s.
Faustina preferred deep shades of blue.
Cain sighed a second time.

The letter claimed that Cain was the only one who could deliver it, since he must know where Faustina was.
It also said she had written a letter addressed to Faustina.
Cain, having no intention of delivering it, read the letter and sighed for the third time.
He crumpled it up and threw it away.

He decided to give the pink diamond to Elvira as her birthday present the following month.
Calling Rhyun, he handed over the ornament and asked him to change the wrapping to something Elvira would like.

The pink diamond had been arranged to arrive at the royal palace this morning.
At the venue, Elvira excitedly told Cain what she thought of the gift.
Standing beside Cain and listening to Elvira’s chatter, Lyudmila stared at him in a daze and nearly collapsed, only to be caught by Citrin in time.

Throughout the evening, Bernhard kept glancing at Cain.
While dancing the first dance with Elvira, Bernhard had been searching for someone, yet still directed his gaze toward Cain.
Cain deliberately pretended not to notice and carried out his required interactions.

As for gifts, all the jewelry Cain had been unable to burn had been given to Elvira under the pretense of celebrating her becoming Crown Princess.
Mistaking them for gifts chosen because they matched Bernhard’s color, Elvira had happily worn them.
When Bernhard saw Elvira adorned with the jewelry originally meant for Faustina, his eyes had darkened in a way unlike Neige’s.

Around the time the first dance ended, a stir spread through the hall.
The man Bernhard had been searching for had arrived.
Ciel Canaan Garcia, the current king’s half-brother.
His silver hair and blue eyes, his otherworldly beauty, drew the attention of everyone present.
At his side was a beautiful man famous for having been by Ciel’s side since childhood.
Vered, with rose-colored hair and eyes unseen anywhere else in the kingdom.
With the two of them together, noblewomen and young ladies alike flushed in delight.

…Vered wore an openly annoyed expression, and Ciel had a smile that revealed nothing of his thoughts.

Cain, having stepped away from his parents, quickly searched for the two of them.
Spotting them within his field of vision, he felt relieved.
Bernhard looked as though he wanted to say something to Ciel, but Cain wished he would remain quiet.
If Bernhard were to provoke him and get beaten down, it would be Cain who would have to deal with the aftermath.

Then Ciel exchanged words with Elvira, the star of the night, and Bernhard approached him with a desperate expression.
He was probably asking for time, wanting to know Faustina’s whereabouts.

‘Why do you think I would tell you?’

Cain drank half of his Stinger.

After Ciel said something to him, Bernhard stood frozen, utterly dazed.
Relieved, Cain then looked toward his parents.
Ciel’s gaze met theirs.
Cain sighed, certain it was deliberate.

He had seen all of this while dancing.

By now, Bernhard must be suffering after provoking Ciel’s wrath.
If he survived the killing intent hidden behind that pasted-on smile, then so be it.

Cain finished his Stinger in one go.

After Faustina was disowned by the ducal house and vanished, Cain carried out the last task she had entrusted to him.
Disposing of the gifts that had been sent to Faustina over the years.
Most of them had been from Bernhard.
From a certain year onward, having completely given up on Bernhard, Faustina had stopped even opening his birthday or engagement gifts.
She merely sent letters of thanks.

Fortunately, Bernhard had never once brought up the subject of his gifts, so Faustina said she had not needed to come up with excuses.

‘Fana was strangely oblivious about things like that, so she probably never noticed.’

On her birthday, Bernhard would look at her as if he wanted to say something.
When visiting as her fiancé, he would chat happily with Elvira while searching for Faustina.
What Bernhard’s lapis-colored eyes had always been seeking was his fiancée.

‘…It’s all in the past.
This too is the path Fana and His Highness chose.’

According to Neige, Bernhard had continued searching for Faustina even now.
But recently, it seemed the king had forbidden him from doing so.

Even so, seeing him continue the search in secret…

‘His Highness’s obsession is impressive.
…Just like his brother’s.’

Cain murmured the final, meaningful remark.

Among the gifts he disposed of were several from their mother as well.
Elvira adored soft, springlike colors such as pink.
Lyudmila had given Faustina similar-colored dresses each year, saying they would suit her too.
Most of what Cain discarded from Lyudmila followed that pattern.

‘Mother always got angry when Fana didn’t use the gifts she gave her.
But by then, Fana no longer felt anything toward her.’

Instead, Faustina discussed new dress designs and fashion trends with Queen Sierra.
At dinner, she would happily talk about what she had discussed with Sierra that day.
Citrin had been relieved to see Faustina build a good relationship with the queen.
Meanwhile, Lyudmila…

Stop.
Cain shook his head as if brushing the thoughts away.

Holding his empty glass, he stood from the bench to return to the hall.
As he began walking back from the terrace, Vered appeared ahead of him from another direction.
Why was he here?
Curious, Cain followed the direction Vered had come from.

There, he found Bernhard collapsed to his knees, his face deathly pale.

‘…’

Most likely, Ciel and Vered had split up, and after getting nothing from Ciel, Bernhard had gone to Vered instead.
Despite Vered being even more merciless.

Cain had no words to console Bernhard.
He did not know what had been said, but Bernhard could be comforted by Elvira.
He had once said, in front of Faustina, that simply having Elvira by his side healed him.

Even if Faustina had stopped reacting whenever Elvira was absent.
Even if Bernhard had ignored Cain’s repeated warnings.
Everything was the result of Bernhard’s own actions.

By his own will.

Cain returned to the hall.
From his parents’ earlier interaction with Ciel, it was obvious they were elsewhere now.
He returned his glass to a passing server and asked them to inform the crown prince that the crown princess was at the far end of the terrace.
After that, he left the hall.

‘How pitiful…’

Cain had spoken with Neige a short while earlier.
After the Crown Princess’s birthday, Neige planned to completely sever the lingering attachment Bernhard held toward Faustina.
Hearing Neige speak openly with those dark violet eyes, Cain could only respond, “I see.”

Neige and Cain had repeated this cycle the same number of times.
No matter how much Cain tried to stop things from the outside, it would never work unless Faustina herself changed first.
Even if Cain struggled alone, unless Lyudmila’s attitude toward Faustina changed, the same fate would repeat over and over.

Change only came after the engagement was broken.

The first time, Bernhard’s obsession had captured Faustina.
She had been meant to sleep at an inn Cain had prepared, then go to a distant relative the next day.
Cain believed she would be safe there, since that person was known as the king’s greatest enemy.
But Bernhard himself found Faustina there.
And in the end—

Cain shook his head, refusing to recall it.
He did not want this time to end the same way.
This was the fourth cycle now.
Each time, Faustina had ultimately found happiness.
In contrast, Bernhard had always fallen to the depths opposite of happiness.

The cause of the repeating lives lay at the end of the first cycle.
Neige had uncovered the secret underground chamber beneath the church’s upper sanctuary, known only to successive high priests, and used what was stored there.

‘Or perhaps it was Fortuna’s curse.’

Cain asked a nearby knight if he had seen Ciel.
He was told that Ciel had entered that room.
Thanking him, Cain headed toward the guest room where Ciel was said to be.