Revenge Comes with Interest - Chapter 52

Mary walked over with flushed cheeks and began speaking about the riding outfit.

“The shoulder area feels a little tight. There’s not much room to move.”

She described what had felt uncomfortable, and Lea quickly wrote everything down.

“What else was there? Duke, what did I say was wrong with the boots again?”

“You mentioned the ankle area. You thought it might help if a small fold was added there.”

Terran’s gentle voice made Lea’s nerves twitch.

“That’s right. Thanks to the Duke correcting my posture, the test ride went well, but the ankle part of the boots could be a bit more flexible.”

“Mary, didn’t you also say it would help to add a drawstring to the waist?”

“Oh my, how attentive. Yes, when I jumped over the obstacle, the back of the jacket lifted too much.”

Lea continued jotting down their conversation, then looked up and asked calmly.

“If we add a drawstring to the waist, it will ruin the shape of the outfit. I’ll look for another solution.”

Drawstring? Seriously? She had designed the jacket to hold a clean and sharp silhouette, and now they were suggesting nonsense.

Then a question suddenly came to her. Why had Terran ridden the horse with Mary in the first place? Honestly, who cared if the outfit was comfortable or not?

“Terran, why did you ride with her? Was there something wrong with the outfit?”

Lea asked as neutrally as she could, trying not to let any irritation show in her voice.

“Oh, that. I just wanted to teach Mary a small technique for jumping over obstacles.”

Is he trying to play coach now?

Maybe he should go ahead and manage the entire riding competition. That would be quite the sight.

With the Empress, his first love, present, and now Mary, who he had only just met but seemed to get along with—he must be having a great time.

Lea gave a small smirk and wrote something down on her page.

“Duke, what if you become the official coach of our riding team?”

Mary seemed excited by the idea and spoke up quickly. Lea almost snapped her pen in two.

Her eyes shifted to Terran. What would he say? Her heart was pounding with anxiety.

Just try accepting it. I’ll end the engagement right here and now.

Lea smiled sweetly, while in her head she imagined a hundred ways to punish him. If she could, she would pinch every part of his body out of spite.

“That’s not appropriate. The competition is meant to showcase the riding skills of the ladies. If a man were to coach them, it would go against the very purpose of the event.”

The Empress spoke firmly, shutting Mary down without hesitation.

Of course. That’s why I admire her so much.

She had never once let Lea down.

“I’ll make the necessary adjustments to the outfit as soon as possible,” Lea said, turning to the Empress with a respectful tone.

The Empress placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

“It’s so reassuring to have a clever woman like Lady Vizak by my side.”

“You flatter me, Your Majesty.”

Lea gave a shy smile, and the Empress looked over at Terran and spoke loudly, as if to make sure he heard.

“If only Lady Vizak weren’t already engaged, I would have introduced her to my younger brother, Vitello.”

The smile on Terran’s face immediately froze. Even if it was a joke, she knew he didn’t like hearing things like that.

“Lady Vizak, if you ever break up with him, let me know first.”

The Empress’s playful comment made Lea laugh as she replied.

“Of course. I trust anyone recommended by Your Majesty.”

The Empress then took Lea’s hand and led her aside to speak in private. The conversation focused mostly on the upcoming riding competition, and Lea listened with full attention.

But then, the Empress said something unexpected.

“I must win this competition. There’s someone I absolutely need to show.”

“His Majesty?”

“No. Empress Teresa.”

That surprised Lea. As far as she knew, the two women were quite far apart in age. Were they rivals?

Also, Teresa was not participating in the event. She would only be watching.

“She was my hero. Beautiful, wise, kind. A perfect empress. For years, she and her ladies-in-waiting won every riding competition.”

Now Lea understood. The Empress wanted to become like the person she once admired.

“But Teresa has changed. After suffering from severe smallpox, her face was scarred, and she transformed. The once wise and noble ruler became obsessed with power and increasingly authoritarian. I want to remind everyone of the Empress she used to be, through myself.”

The message was clear. The Empress wanted a perfect riding outfit that would captivate everyone. It was the only thing Lea could do for her.

“I will do my very best, Your Majesty.”

For the first time, Lea felt real pressure. What the Empress had said meant there was no room for even the smallest mistake.

Terran was confused by Lea’s mood. He had done everything he could to impress her. He hadn’t even gone this far to train his own men in riding.

Yet she didn’t say a single word to him on the way back to the estate.

Is she just tired?

Even if she was, he had helped her so much today. That should count for something. He had done more than enough to earn at least three grape signatures.

As soon as Lea stepped down from the carriage and entered the lobby, she turned to Terran with a smile.

“Terran, thank you for today. You must be tired, so please get some rest.”

“Wait… that’s it?”

Her response was nothing like he had expected. She was smiling, but somehow it felt cold.

A moment later, Grace was gone.

She must have felt overwhelmed because I was doing too much.

She was supposed to be the star, and he had accidentally stolen her spotlight.

I should have held back.

Terran shook his head. Still, by morning her mood would probably improve, and he could ask her to sign another grape.

Meanwhile, Lea had thrown her handbag onto the sofa the moment she entered her room.

“What happened? Did something go wrong?”

Pauline and Chenera rushed over to her side.

They had been excited earlier when she left with high hopes. But now she had returned looking visibly upset.

“Did Her Majesty not like it?”

“No, she was very pleased.”

Then why do I still feel like this? Lea didn’t even know herself.

She sat on the sofa with her arms crossed, replaying the day in her head. She let out a frustrated sigh, followed by an empty laugh, and then grabbed at her hair in exasperation.

“Is it because of the Duke?”

As expected, Chenera was the one who hit the mark. Pauline immediately jumped in and started pressuring Grace for answers.

She insisted on hearing every detail of what had happened, so much so that Lea ended up spilling everything, even the parts she had wanted to keep to herself.

“Am I just overreacting?”

Even as she said it, Lea worried Pauline might call her childish or petty. After all, Terran had done nothing but work hard to help her. He had no bad intentions.

“It depends on whether he did it on purpose or not,” Pauline replied, her tone serious as she rested her chin in her hand.

“If the Duke acted that way just to get your attention, then it is natural to feel upset. But if he didn’t mean anything by it, then he is just clueless.”

“Clueless?”

“It means he is completely unaware of how others feel.”

Pauline’s explanation only made Lea feel more confused. But Chenera offered a different kind of truth.

“Either way, it still hurts, doesn’t it?”

That was exactly right. Whether Terran meant it or not, the pain Lea felt was real and unchanged.

Pauline gave it more thought and had to admit that Chenera made sense. Love rarely followed logic.

“Lea, you should get back at him.”

“Get back at him? How?”

Lea was intrigued. She didn’t want to do anything extreme, but she did feel like doing something small to even the score.

“When I lived with Grandpa, I heard some of the men say something. They said men get really weak when they see a woman naked, wet, or crying and then…”

“And then what? What are you trying to say?”

Lea couldn’t quite follow, so Pauline leaned in and whispered the rest to her.

“What in the world has Rafa been teaching you? Chenera, don’t ever say things like that again.”

“Okay.”

Naked, wet, or crying? That is supposed to be revenge?

The idea of stirring up a man’s desire only to shut him out seemed immature and crude. The fact that Chenera even knew something like that was shocking.

Lea shook her head firmly.

That is vulgar. I’m not going to use something like that for revenge.

Absolutely not. That was not who she was.

Allen had been discharged and returned home. His body was not fully recovered, but he could no longer afford to stay away from the company.

His leg still bothered him, but the rest of his body moved freely.

So it was Terran who ordered the attack?

He had gone over it so many times in the hospital that it had nearly made him sick. If his leg hadn’t been fractured, he might have died of stress.

Ever since learning the truth, Allen had thought of nothing but how to get back at him. Just then, his secretary entered the study.

“What did you find?”

Allen had instructed him to contact the servant he had secretly planted in Terran’s estate.

Terran still did not realize that several of his staff were leaking information to outsiders.

“Lady Vizak has brought in tailors from the Sainteburque royal family to create a riding outfit for Empress Lubeck.”

“A riding outfit?”

Of course. The Royal Equestrian Tournament was coming up in Bellis. It was a long-standing tradition where empresses and their ladies-in-waiting demonstrated their horseback skills.

“And Empress Teresa is scheduled to attend.”

“What? Her Majesty is attending?”

Allen’s eyes widened in shock. Teresa was famous for avoiding public appearances. And now she was planning to attend this event?

“Get me a ticket. The best seat available.”

“Yes, sir.”

Suddenly, a pleased look spread across Allen’s face as a new idea came to him.

“Contact the Duke’s estate. Let them know there will be a big reward if they carry this out well.”

“Shall I tell them what the task is?”

Instead of replying, Allen wrote down the instructions on paper and handed it over.

The secretary read it and went pale.

“If we take it this far, we will not be able to maintain any more spies inside the Duke’s estate.”

“You are too naive. There is nothing money cannot solve. Spies are tools. If we lose one, we can always plant another.”