My Arrogant and Insolent Shadow - Chapter 51

Elise frowned as she looked around the inside of the building. The cheap silver candlesticks and out-of-season lace curtains were more than enough to sour her mood.

With every step she took, she couldn’t hide her discomfort.

If people found out that the heir had lived in a place like this, the reputation of House Blanchet would be ruined.

Of course, back then, she had agreed to send her son here.

There was nothing good to come from revealing his terminal condition, and they needed somewhere far away from the capital.

At the time, Elise never imagined the cure would be developed so quickly.

As she drifted through her old memories, something far outside the window caught her eye.

Sky-blue petals swayed gently upward on five thin stems.

Forget-me-nots. That familiar flower brought back bitter memories.

Her husband had picked a bouquet of those flowers, which were said to grow only in the South, and gave them to another woman instead of Elise, his fiancée.

“They say the flower means true love,” she remembered.

As if mocking that meaning, the woman left without a word.

Carrying that magically preserved bouquet in her arms.

Did she know the flower had a second meaning?

“Forget me not.”

Even now, she might still be looking at those flowers, clinging to the belief that her love was pure and everlasting.

Inside her husband’s drawer, there was still a painting of that woman holding those flowers.

She was his first love. People had pitied her humble origins.

She had outshined even the most admired women in society, despite her background.

Elise had been the fiancée trailing after her own fiancé, while he chased after that woman.

Everyone whispered about how pitiful Elise was. That past was her greatest shame.

Her husband had been loyal only when he was with that woman.

Now, he moved from one woman to the next without hesitation.

Not that it mattered anymore.

In the end, Elise married the Duke of Blanchet. That woman disappeared with a tragic ending.

After the woman vanished to some unknown place, Elise’s husband, Duke Deviron, drank himself into madness. Every single day.

Even right before their engagement.

Elise had never involved herself in any of it.

When she married Deviron, who was then the young lord of House Blanchet, she made only one request.

“Just don’t stain the family name.”

He had honored that promise ever since.

Even when he was with countless women, the only heir was still the son born from Elise herself, Cassian de Blanchet.

Still, Elise had always wondered.

Was that really true?

Was Cassian truly the only child he had?

His nights with the other women were always carefully managed, strictly physical. But with that woman, it had to be different.

Elise once saw her husband coming out of a room with that woman.

Could it really be that nothing happened that night?

There were times when she caught that faraway look in his eyes. He often wandered near the orphanage where that woman had stayed.

A question Elise had buried over ten years ago began to resurface.

But she quickly pushed the thought away.

It didn’t matter anymore where that woman was or how she was living.

Her husband would never go back to her.

The dignity of House Blanchet demanded it, and Elise believed it always would.

To the world, she and her husband had always looked like the perfect couple.

No flower could change that.

Elise was the kind of person who only needed that much.

As her thoughts slowed her steps, she eventually reached the center of the hallway lit by the chandelier above.

At that moment, a shadow caught her eye, quickly disappearing in the distance.

“I know we made eye contact just now…”

The girl with emerald eyes had looked straight at her, then quickly hid herself.

Elise couldn’t see the girl’s face clearly behind the new curtains.

But from the slender figure, she was sure it was a girl.

And she had been wearing a dress, just like any other noble young lady.

Still deep in thought, Elise walked forward again and stopped in front of the room the girl had entered.

The doorknob was old and worn, clearly not something fashionable. It had to be a guest room.

“I thought the Lord and Lady of Alphonse didn’t have children,” she thought.

Was someone else staying in this mansion?

Elise’s quiet voice rang sharply in the Lord’s ears.

“It seems there’s someone else living here.”

“What…?”

The Lord’s face turned pale.

He rushed forward and stood in front of the door, then quickly closed it with a loud click.

Just beyond that door, Yurisiel held her breath.

She had squeezed herself into the closet as fast as she could and shut her eyes tight.

Just as the Lord warned, she was trapped in the room with no way out. The fear made it impossible to move.

All she could think about was meeting the young master again.

It was a mistake. She hadn’t even checked if the carriage had arrived before heading toward the young master’s room.

When she heard the noise and turned her head, she saw the duchess stepping down from the carriage. But it wasn’t a saddle she had stepped on. It was a person.

The scene was shocking. Yurisiel had read that some high-ranking nobles acted like that, but this was the first time she had seen it in real life.

She stood frozen in disbelief. By the time she thought to turn around, it was already too late.

The hallway was long, and the duchess was already walking toward her without saying a word to the lord.

Yurisiel quickly slipped into the nearest room and hid. Just as she caught her breath, the duchess asked through the door if someone else was staying here.

She heard the lord quickly shut the door, and Yurisiel pushed herself into the closet.

Only then did she notice what she was wearing. A simple dress. One look and anyone would be suspicious. She didn’t look like a maid.

If someone asked who she was, what could she possibly say?

If she wasn’t a maid, there was only one excuse left.

The young master’s attendant.

But that was ridiculous. What kind of attendant dressed like this?

What would the duchess think if she saw her?

If the duchess found out she existed, everything that had happened with the young master would come out.

The place he had given her to stay, the medicine for her mother, and maybe even the truth that she had approached them while pretending to be a noble lady.

Blanchet’s power and information network couldn’t be underestimated.

The only reason the duchess hadn’t said anything before was likely because she didn’t see Yurisiel as someone worth noticing.

Yurisiel’s head was spinning. Her body felt cold.

Please just keep walking. Please.

The most unforgettable season she had spent at Alphonse flashed before her eyes.

The young master, teaching her how to read.

The way he watched her quietly, saying he wanted to paint her.

Inviting her to live in the mansion. Giving her mother the medicine.

The moment he kissed her without warning, and her foolish confession of love.

Every one of those memories included the young master.

Her heart pounded violently.

She felt like a thief who had been caught stealing something she had no right to want.

She couldn’t shake the image of the duchess stepping down from the carriage.

And layered over it was the memory of Lady Catherine, like a shadow.

The two women were different, but deep down, she knew they were the same kind of person.

The duchess had stepped on someone’s back like they were nothing.

If anything, she might be even worse.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway, loud like her heartbeat.

As they came closer, Yurisiel squeezed her eyes shut.

Thankfully, the footsteps began to fade.

It seemed the lord and Lady Ressler had made an excuse and led the duchess away.

Only after the hallway became quiet again did Yurisiel crawl out of the closet and breathe.

She stayed still for a long time, unable to move.

The sunlight had started to shine in.

The large windows revealed the garden that led to the front gate.

When her eyes followed the light, she saw the young master.

Without thinking, she walked closer to the window.

He stood tall and poised in front of the Blanchet carriage. The duchess stood before him in her elegant dress.

Seeing them together made everything clear.

They looked like a perfect family. She finally understood why people said they were warm and harmonious.

Now that they had reunited, she had no more chances to talk about the medicine or anything else.

The young master, who once laughed at her confession, had told her to step away.

Did he think her words were just a joke or a desperate outburst?

If so, maybe he had already decided to leave everything behind.

That would make sense. She would have done the same.

Why hold on to a useless memory when it would be easier to let go?

The home he had promised, the medicine he had given, all of it only mattered while he still saw value in her.

Now that she was no longer useful, he had no reason to help her anymore.

She had known it deep down, but still, she had hoped.

Her heart sank.

The world outside the window was filled with bright light, so different from the cold, gray mansion she was in.

In that beautiful scene, the young master was smiling.

Yurisiel stared at him.

Maybe it would be the last time she saw him smile.

But the smile was different.

It wasn’t like the real one she had seen before. It felt colder now.

That cold feeling reached all the way to where she stood.

Was it just her imagination?

It didn’t make sense otherwise.

Recently, the newspapers had been filled with news about the new medicine from House Blanchet.

It wasn’t perfect, but there was hope.

And this was the moment he reunited with his mother.

So why did he look like that?

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