My Arrogant and Insolent Shadow - Chapter 54

Saying she hoped he would return was a lie.

He was never coming back anyway.

Whether he recovered or not, the result would be the same.

No matter what the outcome, there was no reason for him to return to Alphonse, a place that held nothing but shameful memories.

Yurisiel knew this, yet she had still written those sweet words. She found herself ridiculous for doing so.

But there was some truth in her words.

She truly did hope he would survive.

Even if he frightened her, and even if being near him always came with fear, she still wanted to see him alive at least once. Just once, looking healthy.

Of course, she probably would not see that in person. But if she could catch a glimpse of him in a newspaper, that would be enough.

She was writing the letter for the sake of her mother’s medicine, and yet she had let these thoughts take hold. It felt shameful.

Would the young master think so too?

Everything had started to twist out of place from the moment she said she liked him. From the moment she wrote this dishonest letter.

She would bear the weight of all her wrongs, but, if possible, she wanted only her mother to be spared.

With that prayer in her heart, Yurisiel added her final line.

“Since you left, the seasons in Alphonse feel much colder.”

Half of it was true, half of it was not.

Her feelings were so mixed she could not even tell what part of her words were sincere.

The problem now was that she had no idea where to send the letter.

She had walked all the way to the post office without thinking that through. It was a foolish mistake.

The address printed on the back of the newspaper was clear, but what if someone else from House Blanchet received it instead?

She suddenly remembered the elegant lady who had visited the estate.

Someone like that, so far above her, might find it suspicious.

The contents of the letter were harmless, but she still felt like she was committing a crime. She bit her lip hard without thinking.

But there was no other way.

Letting out a long sigh, Yurisiel carefully wrote the address and sealed the envelope.

“A letter has arrived for the young master.”

Baymon, the head butler of House Blanchet, held the letter in his hand.

It trembled slightly in his large palm.

The young master’s presence had become more intimidating than ever. Though he had not been gone long, his change in demeanor made it feel like years had passed.

His face was still pale, but something else about him had shifted.

Baymon could never forget the night he had been caught leaving the lady’s bedroom after attending to her. From that moment on, every time he saw the young master, he felt a chill down his spine.

That night, while preparing for his butler exam, sharing the lady’s bed had secured his future.

But it also placed him under the control of the young master.

Duke Deviron, the head of the household, would have turned a blind eye even if he knew about the lady’s affairs. The young master, on the other hand, was impossible to read.

He never said anything, yet after that night, Baymon had been walking on eggshells around him.

This task was no different.

“The medicine?”

Cassian tapped the table softly with his fingers.

Baymon could not understand why the young master had suddenly taken such interest in another person.

He had always been distant. Why was he giving such specific orders now?

What made it stranger was the content of the command.

Only one pill each month.

Was it punishment, or was it care? Baymon could not tell.

He shook his head slightly, but only in his thoughts.

Cassian used to be the type to silence people with a single glance. Now, just being in the same room as him was overwhelming.

“I confirmed that the letter arrived and stopped the delivery for now. If you give the order, I will proceed.”

“Send it. As planned.”

Baymon bowed and turned to leave, but Cassian’s sharp gaze stopped him.

“And butler.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Follow orders as given.”

Cassian took off his glasses and slowly spun them between his fingers.

“What do you mean?” Baymon asked, hesitating.

“The medicine was supposed to be given at a specific time.”

Only one day had passed since the planned delivery, but that was not an excuse. Not in front of Cassian.

With his cold eyes and unwavering presence, he looked more like a predator than a person.

“I am sorry.”

“Keep your personal judgment out of it. That is the only way you will keep the position you worked so hard for, Butler Baymon.”

Remembering that night again, Baymon forgot how to breathe.

“I apologize.”

“From now on, give her the medicine only when I receive a letter from her. One pill each time a letter arrives.”

“Understood.”

Baymon bowed deeply, and only after Cassian gave a small nod did he step out.

Standing in the hallway, Baymon hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do.

Should he report this to the lady? Or keep it to himself?

Whenever conflict grew between the two heads of the household, it was always the servants who were caught in the middle.

The young master, who had once seemed destined to die, now had access to a cure. He would survive.

If that happened…

But if the lady found out about this change from someone else, it would certainly cause trouble.

Still caught in his own uncertainty, Baymon quietly closed the door behind him.

As the soft sound echoed through the room, Cassian’s eyes slowly dropped to the letter in his hand.

The ink had smudged in several places, as if it had been pressed down too hard.

Yurisiel came to mind again.

He could see her in his thoughts, clear as day.

She always pressed her lips together tightly whenever she told a lie. How many times had she done that while writing this letter?

He could not begin to count.

The letter was short, just a few lines.

But even in those few words, he could feel how much she had held back.

It was almost laughable.

Each line of the letter felt like a cry. Not just a message, but something closer to a confession disguised as desperation.

A confession pretending to be something more innocent. How romantic. Unnecessarily heart-fluttering.

Cassian’s eyes stopped at one particular line.

“Since you left, the seasons in Alphonse feel colder.”

He hadn’t expected her to write something like that.

And just like that, the memory of her voice came back. The voice that had once told him she loved him.

A quiet smile touched his lips.

If she had gone so far as to say she loved him, then saying Alphonse felt cold without him was hardly surprising.

So, what would she write next?

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was curious.

Even if she tried to escape the leash he held, she would never break free.

At least not until her mother passed away.

And her mother would never die, not while Cassian was alive.

It was a perfect chain.

For the first time in his life, he had placed something so unlike Blanchet around someone else. A low and selfish chain.

By the time her next letter arrived, the news of his engagement would have likely reached Alphonse.

When it did, he wondered how she would respond.

Over the past month, Yurisiel had found new work.

Now that the young master was gone, there was no one to stop her from taking other jobs.

At night, she worked as a copyist. During the day, she took the highest-paying job she could find. It was the best she could do for now.

Oddly enough, her wages had doubled.

It felt strange.

The bakery job was far easier than the exhausting work she had done at the fish shop, yet it paid twice as much.

Still, it was a good thing. Yurisiel didn’t question it too deeply.

She only focused on working hard, doing more than what was expected of her, as always.

As she kneaded the dough, thoughts rose up in her mind without warning.

“Did the letter arrive safely?”

“Did the young master read it himself?”

“What if someone else saw it first?”

But what mattered more was something else entirely.

“Even if he did read it, would anything actually change?”

Every second seemed to collect like moisture in her chest, forming a pool of anxiety without shape or end.

That invisible weight finally faded when the door opened and a customer stepped inside.

“Welcome…”

The man in the brown coat was not from the village.

Yurisiel sensed it right away. Her body tensed as she looked at the unfamiliar face.

The man removed his hat and gave a polite nod.

There was a calmness in his manner, something that seemed a little arrogant, and something about the way he moved reminded her of the capital.

The capital made her think of Blanchet. And of him.

It was not surprising. In such a wide city, the only person she had ever known there was the young master. Of course he would come to mind.

But the feeling she had was not just instinct.

“I have come on orders from the head butler of House Blanchet.”

The name Blanchet made her snap back to attention.

She realized her body had gone stiff, reacting before her thoughts could catch up. She could not move. Her voice came out broken and unsure.

“Oh… what brings you here…”

“The young master asked me to deliver this.”

The man reached into his coat and placed something in front of her.

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