In A World Full of Silence, My Heart Will Find Its Way To You - Chapter 52

Edward bit his lip tightly as he recalled Count Dennis, who had once defended Eric while comparing himself to a tree. What was so good about someone like him, who was so full of dark intentions?

With a dark expression, Edward quickly composed himself. He glared at Eric with an unpleasant look in his eyes.

“Aria ran away because of you. If you hadn’t come back here, none of this would have happened.”

“Are you saying my presence ruined your wedding?”

“If it weren’t for you, Aria would still be by my side. Then, we could have finished the wedding safely and started everything again in the new mansion.”

“Start again, huh…”

Eric, who had been staring at Edward with a lazy expression for a moment, let out a brief laugh, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

This made Edward’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“You’re so pathetic… Did you really think that was the right thing to do for Aria?”

“You’re just using her temporarily… At least I was willing to take responsibility for her entire life!”

Edward’s voice rang through the air.

The thought that he could have both Aria and Isabella surrounded him. If only that obstacle in front of him were gone.

Eric arrogantly looked him over, his smile disappearing from his face as he stood up from his seat.

“After losing everything you worked for, you still have the nerve to say such things… How pitiful. It’s laughable that your family is so desperate to elevate someone like you to the position of Duke.”

“Who are you insulting?”

Edward’s whole body began to tremble, clearly insulted by Eric’s words.

He clenched his teeth and balled his fists, ready to strike the man in front of him.

Eric’s gaze briefly lingered on Edward’s trembling fists before he let out a small, almost amused smile, without any sign of fear.

“You’re the one who abandoned Aria, the one who ruined your wedding. Don’t cowardly try to blame someone else. It’s disgusting to watch.”

“If it weren’t for you, nothing would have happened! You brought Aria here and forced her to sacrifice everything!”

“Sacrifice, huh…”

The word “sacrifice” made Eric’s expression grow colder.

His chilling blue eyes, visible between strands of black hair, focused on Edward. They were sharper than ever, more frightening than before.

Edward instinctively lowered his gaze. Pushing things further could easily cost him his life right here.

While he shifted his gaze nervously, a cold voice suddenly cut through the tension.

“It’s amusing that you, with your lack of ability, used a lady you had no real intention of helping, and now you talk about sacrifice.”

“Use?”

“Use? Unlike you, I wasn’t planning to make anyone run away.”

As Edward raised his head in anger, Eric had already stepped right in front of him without hesitation. Caught off guard by the sudden closeness, Edward instinctively pulled his upper body back.

But Eric grabbed his arm, preventing any space from forming between them.

“Why did the lady from the Cecil family end up with the reputation of being jealous of her maid at the party that day? Of course, you must know the reason.”

“Reason? What do you mean by that…”

“Her fiancé’s heart was directed elsewhere, not at her. And it was directed toward the maid, someone she had always looked down upon. Isn’t it obvious that she would lose her mind and act recklessly in that situation?”

At that moment, Edward’s gaze wavered. Eric’s indifferent stare cut through his confused thoughts.

Edward couldn’t refute Eric’s words.

He thought he had deceived everyone, convinced that his choices had been the right ones.

Even when Aria was suffering, he reassured himself that it was the right thing to do.

But now, facing Eric, he felt like the ugly truth he had been suppressing for so long was about to come to light. Without realizing it, he turned his head away.

Eric stared at him intently, as though he had expected this reaction.

“Want to hear something interesting? The real reason you woke up six years ago.”

“Aria sacrificed herself to save you. She gave her voice as the price. If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have had to live in such humiliation.”

“What… what are you saying? Aria saved me?”

Edward’s pupils flickered like a candle flame in the wind as he heard Eric’s words.

What was this? He began to suspect Eric’s motives.

Edward tried to stay calm, forcing a smile onto his face.

“Don’t lie. Do you really think I’ll give up on Aria because of this?”

“You’re the one who used Aria until the end. You don’t deserve her.”

Eric clenched his jaw tightly, his voice low and filled with a warning not to touch the subject further. After finishing his words, Eric returned to the table and resumed his focus on the letters there.

For a while, Edward, still tense, couldn’t bring himself to move. He just stared at Eric blankly.

Eric was clearly trying to tear him away from Aria. It was just nonsense to try to shake him. He shouted silently in his mind as he quickly left the room.

Hastily leaving the annex, Edward raised his empty gaze and looked down at the garden.

“There’s no way. What he said can’t be true.”

He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. He even felt foolish for nearly being swayed by that man.

Edward tilted his head slightly and gazed at the annex.

“No matter what he says, I’ll never forgive him. I won’t let him take anything from me. Not my family, not my position.”

Grinding his teeth, Edward soon regained his cold expression and headed toward the main building. In the southern part of the Orphen Empire, surrounded by the Cape Beach, there was a small village called Kritos.

At the highest point of the village stood the large mansion of the elderly Lord Woburn Bedford, the lord of the village. When the massive gates opened, endless corridors and towering ceilings greeted guests with an overwhelming presence.

The servants, trying to avoid the scolding of the strict lady of the house, spent the morning cleaning the checkered floors. As a result, the smooth surface shone with not a speck of dust.

Aria, who had woken up early, cleaned the living room walls with a rag. Small crystal statues and swords commemorating the lord’s military achievements were hung on the walls.

Lord Woburn, unusually waking up early, sat reading a book placed on the living room table. He repeatedly combed through his few strands of hair and occasionally glanced at Aria with a lecherous gaze.

Despite his skeletal, unattractive figure, he seemed to view her as just another source of fresh prey. Every time he swallowed greedily, the wrinkled skin on his neck moved up and down.

At that moment, the sound of heels clicking on the stairs from the second floor was heard. It was the lady of the house, dressed in a deep blue dress.

Her eyes, marked by the passage of time, were sharp with malice.

Her cold gaze immediately turned to Aria.

“What are you doing here? I’m sure I told you there would be breakfast at this time. You’re not planning on preparing it with those dirty hands of yours, are you?”

At the harsh sound of her voice, Aria quickly turned her head. Standing behind her was the lady of the house, her back straight, eyeing her sharply.

The chill in the air pressed down on her, and she had to snap herself back into focus.

Aria lowered her head hurriedly under the lady’s piercing stare and made her way to the dining room.

She wiped down the chairs and table, preparing bread, stew, and apple pie. Freshly caught lamb from the hunters was also served in the middle.

Though it was a much grander breakfast than what she had at the Bailey estate, the leftover food here, unfortunately, was not for the servants.

The lady of the house, who detested fat and lazy servants, would throw the leftovers into the pigsty.

Because of that, the servants could only eat one meal a day, as allowed by her.

As for Aria, the food allowed to her was far less than that.

“It’s such a pity. The lady is so strict. When a young, pretty maid like you comes in, she gets even worse,” one of the servants commented with sympathy.

“They say it’s because you’re from a different region… Be careful around the master. He’s known to have a liking for women. If you get caught in any rumors, you might fall out of favor with the lady,” another servant warned.

Though she had only recently arrived, Aria could already tell the reputation of the lord wasn’t very good.

Sure enough, the lord’s behavior toward her was improper. He’d grab her hand while thanking her for pouring water, and occasionally touch her waist.

Thankfully, the lady of the house’s sharp eyes made the lord stop his actions, but Aria had to stay on edge at all times to avoid his increasingly bold advances.

Moreover, the lady of the house made Aria do all the difficult tasks.

Every morning, Aria had to carry heavy clothes to the well, far from the mansion, to wash the lady’s clothes. When she entered the lady’s room, as usual, several dresses were placed in front of her. Aria put them in a basket and stepped outside.

The warm sunlight shone down as women heading toward the well filled the streets. Among them, Aria’s gaze fell on a small cottage.

In front of the small fence, purple lilacs bloomed in bunches, filling the air with their fragrance.

“Why can’t I forget? I should be forgetting… erasing….”

No matter how hard she tried to empty herself, she hated how her thoughts kept filling up with memories of him.

In the end, all she could see in her empty eyes was Eric’s languid smile.

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