To the One Who's Only Cold to Me - Chapter 29

“Sophia is Ian’s younger sister and the head of the Lloyd family. But how could she be completely free from the actions of someone in her own family?”

“And from what I know, Vincent and the others were able to do that to you because Ian left you alone, right? If we’re being honest, Ian put you in danger. What if something worse had happened? Then Ian would be more at fault than Sophia.”

As the focus shifted to Ian, Aisha’s face turned pale. She trembled, unable to respond to her older brother’s words. Normally, Edward would have felt sorry and comforted her, but this time he was already very angry. Even knowing his sister was upset, he continued.

“The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I can’t let this go. Even if you try to stop me, I’m going to hold Ian responsible. I forgot about it for a while because of all the trouble caused by Sophia and that bastard Vincent”

“Brother!”

Aisha suddenly raised her head and looked at Edward, pleading. Her tears fell steadily, and Edward let out a deep sigh and turned his head away.

Silence fell between the siblings. Only after his tea had completely cooled did Edward turn to Aisha again. She was still crying.

“Aisha, I’ve never asked you this question before. But I think I have to now. Why do you like Ian so much?”

Edward’s tired voice carried many emotions blame, regret, anger, sadness. But above all, there was pity. Instead of answering, Aisha asked her own question that she had been holding inside.

“Didn’t you also like Ian, brother?”

“I did. Back when Ian treated you well.”

“It’s been over three years since Ian started ignoring you. After three years, it’s natural for your feelings about someone to change.”

“He’s changed, Aisha. Even as your brother, or just as an outsider he’s not a good man for you.”

It was the same thing her third brother had said. In the end, it was her own feelings causing pain to her family.

Sadness struck Aisha’s heart. Then something inside her cracked. A fracture that had begun when Ian betrayed her it now turned into a small but real gap.

But neither Edward nor Aisha herself noticed this small change. Seeing her tears again, Edward sighed once more.

“Don’t cry.”

He pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped away her tears. Then, once she had stopped crying, he quietly shared a plan he had kept to himself.

“Aisha. I’ll let this matter end here, like you want. But there’s a condition.”

Ian sat in his office chair, pressing his aching head with both hands.

‘How did things get this bad’

Since the first day of the palace banquet, he hadn’t been able to sleep. Everything that happened that night had left him completely lost.

‘Sophia… haah…’

When he summoned the knights on Jared’s orders to escort Vincent and his group to prison, he had only thought of it as troublesome, not complicated. At that time, his mind had been clear.

‘Vincent Valto, Jamie Rodang, Paul Bion’

Following the knights into the prison, Ian recited their names in his head, thinking about how much influence he had over their families.

‘I-Ian, please. Help me. Get me out of here. We were academy classmates, remember?’

‘You’re not going to marry that girl anyway. I heard stuff too. Aisha slept around with a bunch of guys. I didn’t even do anything to her. Just said some dirty jokes. That’s all.’

‘She’s not even your fiancée, right? You should help me out. It was just a little argument. We’re on the same side under Duke Levantus. Please tell the prince she seduced me first. You misunderstood what you saw that time ahhh!’

Even when Vincent begged and then got hit by Prince Jared for mentioning rumors about Aisha, Ian stayed silent and kept thinking. Eventually, he reached a decision: he would ruin their lives as much as he could.

‘If we charge them with insulting the royal family, their names will be erased from their family records. No way would Count Valto ruin his whole house for one son.’

Jared, who hadn’t even looked at Ian until then, agreed immediately when Ian suggested that charge. Ian whispered to Vincent, who was now in shock, that he would personally inform his father and then walked away.

But things began to go wrong after that. When Ian tried to meet Count Valto at the banquet, someone unexpected blocked his way.

“Brother!”

“Sophia?”

“B-Brother, what do I do? What should I do?”

Dragging Ian to the break room, Sophia confessed everything she had done. How she had started the rumors for fun, how they turned malicious, and how she had already confessed to the Parden Count and Countess.

“You go home right now.”

“B-Brother”

“Quiet. Go home and stay in your room. Don’t come out until I say you can.”

After sending Sophia away like that, Ian searched the banquet hall for the Pardens, but their children including Aisha had already gone home, and the count and countess had left to meet the emperor.

Luckily, the Lloyd family hadn’t yet received an official letter with the imperial seal. That meant the Parden couple had kept quiet about Sophia’s involvement. Ian knew they had done Sophia a great kindness. If they had linked her to Vincent’s incident, she would be under investigation now.

‘I have to go.’

Ian lifted his hand from his forehead and grabbed a pen. Given the situation, it was only right to personally visit the Parden family to apologize and thank them.

But the thought of bowing to Count Parden made his whole body feel drained. Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, he finally brought the pen to paper.

Dear Uncle,

He always started letters to Graham that way. The words flowed smoothly onto the page but he couldn’t go any further. Dear? Who was he calling that?

“Ugh!”

A sudden pain shot through Ian’s jaw where Daniel had punched him. Even after a few days, the spot still felt hot. He thought it was a good thing the punch hadn’t landed on his eye, or he wouldn’t have been able to show his face.

He rubbed his chin, then his cheek. His thumb brushed the edge of his lips and then he froze.

Aisha’s image appeared in his mind, and a red color spread like paint. The sensation and smell from that kiss came rushing back. Without thinking, Ian touched his lips again, then quickly pulled his hand away, startled, and looked around as if someone had caught him.

Knock knock.

Just when Ian realized he was alone and started to feel embarrassed, someone knocked on the office door. He flinched and knocked over his pen.

Ink spilled on the desk. Ian frowned at the stain but then remembered someone was waiting outside.

“Come in.”

As soon as he spoke, James walked in and stood at the desk. Ian looked at the letters in his hand.

“Anything from the royal family?”

“There’s no letter with the royal seal, but”

James trailed off as he placed the letters on the desk. Ian saw the Parden family’s laurel emblem on the top one and frowned. Reaching for it, he gave James a command.

“Leave me.”

After the door closed, Ian cut open the envelope with a letter opener. The neat, long handwriting was clearly from Count Parden. He read through the short message.

“So please visit the Parden residence at 10 a.m. on Saturday. That is all.”

“Long time no see.”

When Ian entered Edward’s private drawing room, he greeted him first. Edward was sitting with his legs crossed on the couch, holding a stack of papers. He took off his glasses and sneered when their eyes met.

“Long time? You make it sound like we were both too busy. But actually, one of us was avoiding the other.”

“Let’s not start a pointless argument. I came to the Parden residence like you asked.”

“Asked?”

“I sent a threat, and you saw it as a polite request? Then again, knowing how you usually talk, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

At the harsh tone, Ian crossed his arms. He knew Edward didn’t enjoy pointless arguing, but once he started, he never lost. Ian almost replied but gave up and sighed, slumping into the seat across from him.

“Enough. Just get to the point. Whether it was a threat or not, you called me here for a reason.”

It was strange to ask for a seat while already sitting down. Edward looked him over in disbelief, uncrossed his legs, and spoke coldly.

“Fine. Then let’s get straight to the point. Sophia Lloyd your sister. What are you going to do about her?”

“You don’t seriously think we’ll stay silent about this, do you?”

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