The Person I Loved Hated Me - Chapter 26

The sound of galloping hooves and whinnies came from horses. I could hear the voices of the stationed guards, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Judging by the atmosphere, it didn’t seem to be anyone intending harm to Dian, like rebels or such. When Flurey went out to check the situation, he quickly returned accompanied by two men.

Bursting into the mansion Dian had prepared for Clara, without concern for the late hour, with disheveled hair and frantic expressions, were Duke Winslet and his second son, Rhys.

“Did you lay hands on my daughter?! On Clara?!”

Without even a greeting, Sebastian closed in on Dian as if about to grab him.

“That’s none of your business.”

Dian didn’t want to say “I stopped because it seemed she disliked me…” so he answered dismissively and picked up his wine glass.

Even so, he was somewhat depressed. Sure, Sebastian might be panicking because the previous Duke Winslet had an illegitimate child, but that had nothing to do with Dian. If Ortol hadn’t officially recognized her, Clara was merely a daughter of uncertain parentage. Nothing more than that.

If he was this worried, he should have locked her up before Dian could lay hands on her.

“Your Highness! Your Highness…! Please answer me!”

I could see he was desperate, clutching his chest. Probably because a middle-aged civil official had been riding a horse. The Winslet ducal family were intelligent but poor at physical activities like exercise. …In that case, perhaps Isaac managed as a knight thanks to his mother’s bloodline.

Thinking such thoughts, Dian sighed exaggeratedly out of annoyance.

“That’s why I said it’s none of your business. Flurey, throw him out.”

“Your Highness! This is extremely important! Please answer me!”

“Father, it’s Prince Dian’s order. If you have something to discuss, do it tomorrow or later. His Highness is in a bad mood after being rejected.”

“Wh- Flurey?!”

Dian glared at his aide who had casually revealed that. Flurey, completely unfazed by Dian’s anger, was pulling on his father Sebastian’s arm to escort him out.

“Rejected…? You were rejected? Then that’s wonderful! You haven’t laid a finger on my daughter!”

For a crown prince to be happy about being rejected and right in front of the person himself at that, wasn’t that disrespectful? Perhaps the Winslet ducal family was relieved to avoid trouble, but even for a prime minister, this was too much.

“No, Father, His Highness did touch your daughter.”

“Wh- When did this happen?!”

“Was it today? Yesterday?” Sebastian turned pale and made a great fuss.

“Flurey, whose side are you on?!”

“Yours, of course, Your Highness.”

“Enough, you’re annoying.”

“How could this be… What a disaster.”

Sebastian crouched down, holding his head and beginning to lament “This is terrible.” Dian drank his wine, thinking “What a bother.”

“Rest assured, I haven’t done anything that would produce an illegitimate child. I treated her the same as any proper lady.”

“Truly?!”

Sebastian’s head shot up. I’d never seen him like this before.

“As expected of Prince Dian! I believed in you!”

That seemed overly optimistic, but Sebastian’s relief to the point of tears felt abnormal. Resting my cheek on my hand, I wondered what was really going on.

“So, what’s this all about? If you’re making this much fuss, don’t hold back. Is that girl some kind of cursed offspring or something?”

I knew Sebastian wanted to avoid power concentrating with specific nobles. That his son Rhys aimed to become prime minister, and that his eldest Flurey served the crown prince, were entirely due to their own efforts, not the ducal family’s influence. That’s why no Winslet ducal blood had entered the king’s or crown prince’s wives or concubines.

One could say the Winslet ducal family possessed a noble bloodline capable of fair judgment without pursuing personal gain.

So even if she was a child born from a commoner lover, they probably didn’t want the crown prince to touch her or so Dian thought at that moment.

“Father’s child?”

What he heard from the recovered Sebastian was an unbelievable story.

That his father, who died when Dian was seven, had illegitimate children. And that they were none other than that Clara and her brother Isaac.

To be told such a fact now – he had never even imagined it.

“Some kind of mistake.”

Dian shook his head side to side. That the girl he’d been with until just moments ago, the one he’d intended to bear his children, was actually his half-sister – it had to be some mistake.

But Sebastian mercilessly added, “It’s no mistake.”

“There’s no physical evidence, but we have the testimony of the previous Duke Winslet. Lord Rhodias’s passing was sudden, so all matters regarding the two were handled at the previous Duke Winslet’s… at our own discretion.”

“Are you saying because of you people, I’ve gone until today without knowing I have a brother and sister?!”

In his anger, his voice rose and he stood up so violently that his chair overturned.

“Does Your Highness welcome the existence of half-siblings?”

“Of course! I was Father’s only son! Regardless of now, if something had happened to me back then, my greedy uncles might have interfered!”

When Rhodias died, Dian was the only direct descendant. Clara had no inheritance rights, but if Isaac had strong supporters, he could serve as replacement if anything happened to Dian. Furthermore, anyone who knew the importance of Clara’s eyes wouldn’t scorn her for having a commoner mother.

“Have you forgotten the possibility that your daughter’s eyes might be viewed as dangerous?”

“Dangerous?”

When Dian furrowed his brows in confusion, Sebastian narrowed his eyes as if assessing his capability. “You haven’t noticed?”

“It’s true there are those who aren’t pleased with Your Highness’s position as crown prince. Isn’t that precisely why you desired the girl?”

Pressed, Dian recalled the background behind his intention to have Clara bear his child. Dian was the one who had intended to use Clara.

“If it were discovered they are of Lord Rhodias’s bloodline, voices might rise to make her your wife due to those eyes, and to make any son born with the same eyes the next king. Before that happens, some might appear seeking to eliminate them.”

A threat to Dian, the legitimate heir to the throne. With a commoner mother and no backing, it wouldn’t be strange for some to arrange accidents or natural deaths.

“We cannot allow the assassination of those carrying Lord Rhodias’s blood. I maintain the previous Duke Winslet’s judgment was correct.”

Even if their status was deemed unworthy of carrying royal blood.

If noble blood flows in them, even if only half, we cannot involve them in ugly power struggles and bloodshed. For that reason, Sebastian, like Ortol, would probably not allow the siblings’ existence to be revealed.

Only because Isaac had reached adulthood and could make proper judgments did Ortol finally tell him the truth and let him choose what to do. This timing coincided with the birth of a son carrying Dian’s blood.

“Why only now…?”

If he had known just a little earlier, at least half a day sooner, he wouldn’t have made advances on Clara.

The image of Clara, her heart firmly closed off, accused Dian.

“That girl was my sister.”

It was unbelievable, but not unpleasant. Just shocking. Not only that she was his sister, but also toward himself for having considered making her bear his child without knowing she was his sister.

Furthermore, that she had believed being desired by him was an honor, and that he had forced himself without considering Clara’s feelings.

And finally, he even felt joy at having a sister.

Though he couldn’t reveal this fact, in Dian’s heart, who had lost his father and barely seen his mother’s face until this day, something warm had truly sprouted upon learning he had siblings.

And yet what had he done? There was no room for excuse.