Chapter 17
"You act like you're so classy, how annoying! Where do you find the nerve to lecture your lady?"
“I didn’t mean to…”
“Shut up! You keep answering me back. Do you think I don’t understand your intentions, nobles? Do you think I don’t notice how you twist words and throw in hints?”
Linnea looked as if she remembered something, and she gritted her teeth angrily.
“You opportunists! You liars! Do you know who it is thanks to whom you live a life of luxury without getting dirty? It is thanks to the common people! My brother is the one who manages the mercenaries who are fierce like scoundrels, and wins battles for you…”
Her words began to falter and become incoherent, but Idil continued to listen silently.
She began to understand the reason for Linnea's anger, and she also realized that she had been feeling anxious and afraid.
After Linnea had said everything that was on her mind, she looked at Idil, who had been listening quietly, and finally raised her hands as if she had surrendered.
"Get out! I can't stand the sight of you anymore."
“…I will withdraw.”
Edel stood quietly and slowly stepped back out of Linnea's room.
As soon as she closed the door, a name escaped her lips, a name she hadn't uttered in a long time, like a long sigh.
"flexible …"
***
“Sister, will I be as smart as you when I turn twelve?”
"What are you talking about, Lynn? You're already smart enough."
“…But my father said I’m a stupid girl.”
At that moment, Idil remained speechless.
Her younger sister, Lynn, the youngest in the family, was only twelve years old.
The verbal abuse directed at her younger sister was just as painful for Idil. Unable to condemn her father, Idil tried to soothe Lynn with the gentlest voice she could muster.
“Ah, our father… his words are sometimes harsh. Perhaps he said that to urge you to put in more effort; he didn’t mean what he said.”
"Do you think so?"
Lynn's eyes became lonely.
Although Idell was only twelve years old at the time, she instinctively knew that a ten-year-old girl should not have such looks.
"Lynn! Shall we go downstairs and get some cookies? It's almost snack time."
I tried to lighten the mood, but Lynn shook her head.
“I don’t deserve to eat snacks. Snacks are forbidden for a while.”
"What?"
“I don’t deserve it, you go and eat it. I’ll stay here and read some books.”
With a forced smile, Lynn picked up the nearby book and sat down in a corner chair.
The feelings that Edel felt at that moment were so complex that she couldn't clearly understand them when she was twelve, but she knows now.
She was angry.
She was angry with their father because he directed insults every day at Lynn, who was well-loved and admired enough.
However, she felt bitter and sad because she could not change anything.
“Lynn! How can you sleep after giving such a poor answer? Did you bring the teacher here for money to see such a performance?”
"I'm sorry, Dad."
“If you are sorry, I want you to write the correct answers to this exam ten times and hand them in to my office by tomorrow morning. Don’t make a single mistake.”
"Yes…"
“Answers should be short and clear!”
“Yes, Dad.”
The father had stormed into his daughters' room, where they had put on their pajamas in preparation for bed, and unleashed a barrage of criticism on them, then left.
As for Lynn, she sat silently wearing her shawl and began browsing through a book on her desk.
Idil, despite being present, could not offer any help to Lynn, as her condition was very similar to that of her sister.
“My sister, I can’t take it anymore.”
“Lynn, just bear with it a little longer. Once you get married, things will get better.”
“You say that because you’re not in my place, but I really have endured all I can. This life has no value anyway.”
“Lynn! What are you saying? You shouldn’t say something like that!”
“Don’t talk to me like my father does! I have a mouth, I have a mind, and I have a heart! Why can’t I speak freely?”
Lynn, who was sixteen years old, was becoming more and more sensitive day by day, and everything around her seemed fragile and unstable.
Just a few days later, a shocking piece of news arrived that Idil hadn't expected. She was alarmed by the maid's disheveled appearance and unkempt hair.
“Miss, Miss Lynn…!”
"What? What happened to Lynn?"
“I… I fell from the balcony of the third floor!”
"What…?"
She felt as if her mind had become empty.
She rushed to Lynn's room where people had gathered, wondering anxiously how badly she was injured.
But her father stopped her, asking her not to cause any commotion, and sent her back to her room to anxiously await news.
“Oh God, please, make Lynn recover quickly. She is too young to suffer a permanent disability… Please…”
But fate had planned a much harsher end.
“Lynn is dead.”
Her father's words were brief and dry, so much so that they seemed unreal to Idil.
"What... what are you saying?"
"What do I mean? Have you become a fool too? She's dead, what more explanation do you need?"
Idil trembled and fell.
But her father did not reassure her.
“Lynn fell from the third-floor balcony while gazing outside. That’s what you’ll find out, and make sure you don’t spread any rumors.”
When I heard those words, I understood.
“Lynn… committed suicide.”
It seems the whole world is shrouded in despair.
In the midst of all this, what was most unbelievable was the single thought that filled her mind.
“Lynn has found her freedom.”
That's when she realized. She, too, had always thought about escaping, just like Lynn had.
* * *
As he walked down the dark corridor, he remembered sixteen-year-old Edel Lane, who was filled with anxiety and sharpness.
Lin and Linya.
Even their names sounded somewhat similar.
“Both of them are forced to do things they never wanted to do.”
Lynn was naturally free-spirited and energetic. Such a child would never have fit her father's idea of a "proper lady".
It was Linnea herself.
She was clearly a cheerful and kind person, and overnight she became a countess because her brother became a viscount.
Perhaps she was unable to deal with her given situation properly, and knew nothing about the manners, morals, or common sense of a noble society.
The nobles may also have used her as a target of ridicule, either because she was more friendly than her brother, or to find an excuse to attack Laszlo via Linnea.
'Therefore, she must have developed resentment towards the nobles themselves. But on the other hand, perhaps she also wanted to acknowledge them.'
Edel knew all too well the cold and cruel side of aristocratic society. Although her life was short, she had seen many times how social circles both elevated and crushed people.
Despite being lauded as the Empire's finest maiden, she was plagued by gossip as soon as her marriage to the Duke of Lancaster was announced.
'People's attitudes change faster than the flip of a hand.'
However, thanks to years of education, she knew how to handle such situations. She smiled gracefully until people's attention faded. She acted mysteriously, as if there were deeper meanings unknown to others.
'But it will be difficult for Linnea to do the same.'
She could imagine that Linnea might not be able to say a word appropriately outside. And perhaps she would take her anger out on the maids inside the house.
'It is certainly wrong for a person in authority to vent their anger as a person in authority. But there is no one to teach them otherwise.'
Although Laszlo was busy at the palace and was a cruel person, he did not seem to care about Linnea properly.
No, even if he could, he would not be able to give the right advice because he did not understand the noble society very well.
“If Count Chrysos had appointed a governess for his sister, it would have been better… Should I also interfere?”
But who am I to give such advice?
There may have been a reason why they were unable to hire a nanny.
“Perhaps the governesses hesitated to attend because of Count Crisis’s background…”
Especially if the nanny is teaching everything meticulously from one to ten to the novice who will soon enter the social circle, she should not be a poor noblewoman but a wife from a respectable family.
Even disregarding the cost, who would dare send his wife to Count Crisis, who was viewed with suspicion among the nobility?
It wasn't her business, but she sighed anyway.
“Let’s not get involved unnecessarily.”
Edel returned to her room with all this determination, but she still felt uneasy and anxious.
* * *
Laszlo did not return home until dusk that day.
After leaving his horse with the stable boy, he opened the palace gate, but no one came out to greet him.
Since the palace was used as a meeting place for members of the mercenary guild while deceiving the eyes of other nobles, not much attention was paid to the etiquette of servants.
However, he was sometimes bothered by the gap between his title and his actual life.