No One Ever Loved Me - Chapter 109

“I don’t want to tie Isla down either. Like she said, she’s not a complete orphan like I was. As her older sister, looking after her would be a huge responsibility.”

“Now that things are sorted, we need to call Baron Estas.”

When Ricardo said this, Joanna—who cared deeply for her daughter—went as far as to force her to her knees and beg.

“Cecilia, your sister only said those things because she was angry. You know what she’s like. Isla sometimes says cruel things she doesn’t mean, just because she’s upset. If you don’t take care of her, who will? Fine, I’ll leave for the Estas estate. If you really can’t stand to look at me, I’ll go right away. But Isla—your sister—should stay here at the Rosette estate.”

“Mother, why are you doing this? What did my sister even say? You told me yourself the Estas family was acceptable! You said even if I went there, I’d still be the Lady of the Rosette estate!”

Isla thrashed in Joanna’s arms, trying to break free.

Joanna had clearly made up a convincing lie—unable to tell her daughter the embarrassing truth about their family—and now that lie had become Isla’s only comfort.

“The young lady from the Estas family said she wanted to return, and Lady Isla insists she won’t leave her mother’s side. I think we can consider this a mutual agreement.”

At Ricardo’s signal, the drawing room doors opened, and a man in a disheveled state walked in.

He looked healthier than Count Berger, but his weathered face wore a twisted, unsettling smile.

“When did you summon him?” Cecilia whispered.

Ricardo replied that he’d instructed the royal guards to bring Baron Estas before entering the Rosette estate.

The baron had likely imagined himself rising to power by impressing a trusted lady-in-waiting of the Queen—even serving as a coachman if needed. But instead, he had become nothing more than Ricardo’s errand boy.

“If you weren’t planning to warm your bed with that untrustworthy man, then maybe think twice.”

Ricardo muttered bitterly, grinding his teeth.

He shouldn’t have brought up that damn bed. All he’d done was hand them more fuel to argue.

“You’ve arrived just in time, Baron Estas. We’re not meeting under pleasant circumstances, so please take your daughter and granddaughter with you.”

Baron Estas, who was about to sit without being invited, scowled in irritation.

Even when he saw his daughter and granddaughter kneeling, he didn’t address them. Instead, he walked straight toward me—more precisely, toward Count Berger.

Joanna glared at the baron with fury in her eyes.

As for Isla, the look on her face made it clear—she didn’t want to believe that man was her grandfather.

“Hot-tempered, just like Joanna. That girl once rejected a marriage arranged by her parents. Still, she wasn’t foolish—she managed to marry Count Rosette, after all.”

Baron Estas put on a fake, friendly smile as he plopped himself onto the sofa.

Count Berger didn’t bother hiding the disgust in his eyes, but the baron’s shamelessness was impressive in its own way.

“So, you must be Count Berger. I’ve heard you’ve handled many things on behalf of my granddaughter.”

But I wasn’t his granddaughter. And now that the divorce was finalized, Joanna wasn’t technically the Countess of Rosette anymore either.

So Baron Estas’s act—pretending he was family to Count Berger—was completely inappropriate.

“Cecilia, I used to think my legs were the only part of me growing weak, but maybe my hearing’s going too. If that man wasn’t interrupted, then I must be the one who’s not hearing things properly.”

Count Berger made his displeasure obvious as he pointed out the baron’s rudeness.

“Aging really is cruel, isn’t it? Compared to you, Count, I may still look young, but these aching bones remind me that time catches us all.”

Baron Estas quickly changed his tone.

Not only did he become polite in an instant, but he also tried to build rapport with Count Berger.

“Even waking up in the morning feels like a struggle. And now, to have a daughter I married off long ago suddenly say she wants to return—how do you think I feel? On my way here, I couldn’t even raise my head from the shame I felt toward my late son-in-law and to you, Count Berger.”

And yet, when he first walked in, he held his head high. It had only taken him a few seconds to scan the room and decide whom he needed to impress.

“If my daughter insists on returning to her family, then as her father, I must accept that. But, Count Berger, I say this not just because she’s my daughter—hasn’t she done a great deal to support House Rosette? Don’t you think her late husband, watching from above, would grieve to see the wife he left behind thrown away like she’s nothing?”

“Judging by Count Rosette’s will, I think he’d be glad—he finally had a chance to make amends with his daughter.”

Ricardo suddenly dropped into a seat beside Count Berger as he said this.

Crossing his long legs and resting his elbows on his knee, he looked like a prince straight out of a storybook.

Baron Estas, clearly startled by Ricardo’s sudden appearance, couldn’t hide his discomfort. He’d likely thought Ricardo was just some low-ranking knight—only to see him act more noble and self-assured than any of them.

“Count Berger, who… is this gentleman?”

“This is Viscount Bastian, Baron Estas. He’s the one who reported me, a trusted servant of His Majesty. His Majesty favors him greatly, and Her Majesty the Queen trusts him so deeply that she personally assigned him to protect me.”

I was the one who answered.
Count Berger clearly had no intention of speaking to the man—his face said as much—and if I let things go on, I could already picture it: not only would Joanna and Isla not be taken away, but this man might even insist on staying at the estate himself.

“I may be Lord Ricardo’s lady, but I’m sorry for bothering him with such trivial matters.”

“His Majesty is especially fond of Lady Cecilia,” Ricardo replied. “But don’t go thinking I came here just because the king ordered me to. Even without His Majesty’s request, I still would’ve come.”

As expected from someone with impressive acting skills, Ricardo matched my performance effortlessly.
He didn’t just play along—he made sure to add a personal touch of his own.

“Viscount…”

Baron Estas blurted out a strangled cry and started shifting anxiously in his seat.

He seemed unsure whether he should stand and offer a proper greeting to Ricardo now. But doing so might seem like admitting he had ignored someone more important than himself. So he hesitated, visibly torn.

Thankfully, that tension was cut short by someone else stepping in.

“See that, Cecilia? That’s the man who calls himself my father. And you’re sending me back to him. No—not just me, but your sister, too. You’re throwing both of us into hell.”

Joanna spat her words bitterly, her face set in cold disgust. She looked like she couldn’t bear to watch Baron Estas another second.

With Isla standing right beside her, her frustration was understandable.

The version of Baron Estas that Isla had heard about was likely softened and heavily edited.

“Isla was the one who said she’d go to the Estas estate, Lady Joanna.”

“She made that decision before she laid eyes on that man. Cecilia, you’ve never had a cruel bone in your body. I know you, and I know there’s no way you’d send your sister away after seeing him.”

“Shut your mouth!”

Baron Estas, who had kept a groveling tone the entire time, finally exploded.

Count Berger ignored him. Ricardo brushed him off. But when it came to his daughter’s accusations, his voice erupted in rage.

“How dare a child speak that way to a parent? After all I did for you—feeding you, clothing you—you ungrateful brat! You rejected the marriage we arranged for you and ran off, and now look at you! An old divorcee, dragging yourself back with a burden in tow!”

Isla’s face turned pale. Joanna shoved Isla aside and stood up.

“A marriage you arranged? The man was a middle-aged creep with five kids! Not once, not twice—he’d already gone through five wives! And you wanted him to be my husband? You call my daughter a burden, but at least I only have one! You were ready to sell me off to a man carrying five burdens!”

I calmly sipped my tea and watched the argument unfold.

Isla looked at Joanna with betrayal in her eyes—hearing her own mother call her a burden, even if it was to insult her grandfather.

Joanna probably didn’t mean it that way. She would never truly think of Isla as a burden. She was just desperate to strike back at Baron Estas, no matter the cost.

But still, Isla was hurt. And after today, their mother-daughter bond would never be as unshakable as it once was.

Cecilia must have been envious of the way Joanna and Isla considered each other their only family. That kind of closeness. This—this was interest added to the debt Cecilia left behind with her divorce from Edgar.

Back during my debut, I’d wondered if simply divorcing Edgar was enough to consider the deal finished.

Cecilia had died, and so had I in a way. She disappeared, and I was given a new life. But somehow, it still hadn’t felt like enough.

What Cecilia had truly wanted, I would never know.
But one thing had been clear—she had wished for a life without love for Edgar.

So, I decided I would repay both the original debt and the emotional interest—on my terms.

And now? Now, I could finally say the debt was settled. I no longer felt like I was living Cecilia’s life while carrying her burdens.

“You look happy all of a sudden.”

Of course, Ricardo noticed. He always picked up on my mood instantly.

“Not happy, exactly. Just… at peace.”

“Even after watching all that?”

“It has nothing to do with that.”

Baron Estas had already raised his hand several times—only to stop himself at the last second. He wouldn’t dare hit anyone in front of Count Berger and Ricardo. Still, the way his hands trembled told me everything I needed to know.
He was the kind of man who raised his hand out of habit. The kind of man you had to be afraid of.

“Lady Joanna.”

Her voice had risen steadily through the chaos, and now Joanna was shrieking—nearly screaming.

“Lady Joanna, please calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down?! You expect me to calm down when you’re trying to send me back to that man?! You want me to live the rest of my life with someone who treats me and my daughter like we’re not even worth the dirt beneath his shoes?!”

“I won’t send you.”

Just like that, Joanna snapped back to herself.
Aside from her flushed cheeks and messy hair, it was hard to believe she’d been screaming just seconds ago.

“There are two options.”

Baron Estas hadn’t recovered so quickly. He was still breathing hard, fists clenched, unable to stay still.

“You don’t have to return to the Estas estate. But that doesn’t mean I’ll support you financially, either.”

“I never planned to rely on you.”

Joanna called to Isla, who stood some distance away. Isla bit her lip and shook her head.

Joanna looked confused, but seemed to decide that hearing the rest of my proposal was more urgent and didn’t press her.

“The first option is to sue Count Linton and receive compensation. You know him better than I do, Lady Joanna. Right now, he’s ignoring the court’s ruling, claiming he has no money. But if you were to list all of his hidden assets, it would help both of us.”

Strictly speaking, Joanna wasn’t a victim.

If anything, she had been Edgar’s accomplice. But while Edgar only suffered a blow to his reputation, Joanna had been divorced by a dead man and forced to return to her estranged family.

“If you get compensation from Count Linton, you can move to the countryside. Buy a house, live comfortably.”

“And the second option?”

Isla snapped, voice sharp.

“If not betrayal, then what else are you offering?”

I truly couldn’t understand why Isla still stood by Edgar, someone even Joanna had long discarded.

I sighed and continued.

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