“It’s about the Lady saying she wanted to break off the engagement. The Duke never gave his permission. He only said those words to calm her down, but it seems she misunderstood.”
Rodrigo spoke abruptly as soon as he arrived at the Duke’s greenhouse with Ayla.
The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became.
If it had not been for that ridiculous letter of dissolution, he would not have lost sleep or rushed over like this. How spoiled must she be to believe such soft words so easily and hand him a breakup letter?
The fact that he seemed to be the only one the Duke was angry with made him even more irritated with Ayla.
“Is my father’s permission really that important?”
“Are you saying it is not?”
“I will say it again. With or without my father’s approval, I have no intention of marrying you.”
“What did you just say?”
Rodrigo was stunned. Her words were so unbelievable that he questioned if he had heard her correctly.
“I waited for you because I thought it was important to make myself clear. No matter what my father says, my decision will not change. I wanted to tell you that directly.”
“What are you saying? Lady Ayla, do you hear yourself right now?”
“Why do you think it is nonsense?”
“What do you mean why? This is completely irrational. I cannot believe this.”
Rodrigo felt like he was going to explode from the overwhelming frustration.
“I believe I have said all I need to. Goodbye.”
With those final words, Ayla gave a small nod and turned away without hesitation.
Rodrigo stared blankly at her retreating figure, then ran his hand through his hair in growing irritation.
“Damn it. Do you really think I was so desperate for this?”
She was not even his fiancée until four months ago. Even if her family was the Everetts, it was only a verbal promise. It could easily be dismissed as if it never happened.
“At worst, people will just gossip. What is there to take responsibility for?”
Struggling to breathe through his frustration, Rodrigo loosened his cravat and turned around sharply.
This marriage was nothing he could not walk away from.
Outside the greenhouse, Ayla finally let out the breath she had been holding.
She had spoken clearly and firmly, but now that her father knew she was the one who brought up breaking the engagement, there was no way things would go quietly.
Just thinking about it made her feel like all the strength had left her body. Still, she forced herself to stay calm.
If she had planned to give up, she never would have started this.
She gathered her resolve and stepped into the front hall of the mansion, only to run into Marcus, who was on his way out.
“Ayla.”
“Father…”
An uncomfortable silence hung between them.
Under Marcus’s cold, still gaze, Ayla could not even step aside. She bit her lip and then slowly let it go.
“Father, I…”
“Ungrateful child.”
His voice was as cold as ice. Ayla’s lips, just beginning to part, closed tightly again.
“You dare demand a broken engagement? You, who does not even know whose blood runs in your veins? We raised you as a noblewoman, and this is how you repay us? You refuse even the modest price we placed on you?”
“…”
“If you ever try to ruin things again with talk of breaking the engagement, you will pay a much heavier price. If you do not want to regret it, then behave like a proper noblewoman until the end. Do you understand?”
Marcus did not wait for her answer. With a look that said he did not want to see her face any longer, he walked past her with cold indifference. His footsteps showed no concern for the way she stood frozen in place like a statue, or how broken she felt.
A hollow laugh escaped from Ayla’s lips.
Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes.
“So that is what it was. I was never really his daughter.”
A child of unknown blood. That was how Marcus saw her.
Like a fool, she had spent over ten years trying to earn his love. She had believed that if she just worked hard enough, things would change.
She had not realized she was clinging to a sandcastle that could never last.
It felt like someone had punched a hole through her chest.
The emptiness inside her ached as if it would never be filled, and at last, the tears fell quietly down her cheeks.
“It is all right. He was planning to throw me away anyway.”
Her tearful voice whispered in bitter resignation.
The only comfort she had was that she had already chosen to walk away from this fake family before learning the truth.
As she fought to keep her crumbling heart together, she wiped away her tears.
“Ah…”
Suddenly, a powerful grip yanked Ayla’s arm, causing her body to stagger.
“What the hell is this supposed to mean?”
As she barely regained her balance, Rodrigo’s distorted face filled her vision. In his eyes, wide with fury, she could see her own pale reflection. His sharp gaze bore down on her, suffocating.
“You… You’re an illegitimate child? And not even the Duke’s?”
“Let me go… Let go of me!”
Ayla struggled desperately to free her wrist, but it was useless.
“What? You don’t even know who your real father is? Is that true?”
“I said let go of me!”
“Why aren’t you answering? I asked if it’s true, so everything about the noble Blue Rose of the Empire was a lie?”
Rodrigo’s furious accusations tore into her like shards of glass.
The strength she had barely managed to hold onto collapsed again. The tears she had been holding back burst forth like a broken dam.
Her suppressed rage erupted as a scream.
“Then just break off the engagement already! I am begging you, get out of my sight!”
“Break off the engagement? You think you can decide that?”
Rodrigo’s eyes gleamed coldly with malice.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I don’t know what the Duke was thinking, raising an illegitimate child like you?”
In that moment, Rodrigo became consumed by the delusion that he could get revenge for the humiliation he felt today. A twisted smile spread across his handsome lips.
“Don’t worry too much, Lady Ayla. I will keep your secret. No one needs to know what’s on the inside, as long as the outside looks perfect, right?”
“What…?”
“In the end, I will be the one to pluck the Empire’s precious Blue Rose. I might write a poem about that moment. Or better yet, I could hire an artist to paint it. Look forward to it, my lady. That is the least I deserve for my entertainment, don’t you think?”
Rodrigo smirked and added one last thing before walking away.
“So take good care of that body of yours. You already know I am good at what I do, don’t you?”
With a loud, mocking laugh, Rodrigo climbed into his carriage and left.
Only then did Ayla release the breath she had been holding and begin to walk unsteadily.
It was horrifying.
Wanting only to get back to her room, she pulled open the front door. But the moment she did, she froze in place.
“Mother…”
Standing right outside the door was Claudia. Ayla’s heart dropped.
Her mother’s red lips were tightly sealed, her face stiff, and her sharp eyes glared at Ayla as if she were looking at an enemy.
Ayla knew immediately.
She had heard everything.
A moment of suffocating silence passed.
Claudia walked coldly past her daughter without a word, not sparing a single glance.
“Was it wrong for me to be born in the first place…?”
Back in her room, Ayla sat in a daze. She slowly looked down at the soft touch brushing against her leg, as if comforting her heart.
“Oh… Bam.”
Ayla smiled faintly as she saw her black cat rubbing its head and body against her legs.
“Are you trying to comfort me?”
She crouched down and gently stroked Bam’s head.
For a second, she wondered if those green eyes looking up at her were filled with worry. Maybe it was just her imagination.
Ayla held the cat close and whispered softly.
“It’s all right. It’s nothing.”
She spoke as if to comfort the cat, but it was really for herself.
There was no need to make a big deal of it.
After all, she had always been alone. Every day, every moment.
At the grand estate of Duke Saint, Ayla was always alone.
Her father spent most of his time at the townhouse in the capital. Her mother, who was constantly attending social events, did the same.
Even when the Duke and Duchess were away, the Saint estate was always busy with servants. But the western annex, where Ayla stayed, was always quiet.
Unlike other noble children, she had no nanny and no tutor. She had always been by herself.
One day, she finally gathered the courage to speak.
“Mother! Can I come with you?”
Just before her mother climbed into the carriage bound for the capital, Ayla ran toward her with all her strength and grabbed her skirt.
“You want to go to the capital too?”
Behind her mother’s flowing dress, a small, neatly dressed head popped out. It was Shuel.
The familiar and warm gesture made Ayla feel so touched that tears almost fell. She nodded eagerly with a trembling smile.
“Yes! I want to go too!”
“But you’re sick, remember?”
Shuel tilted her head and looked up at their mother.
“Right, Mother? Ayla is sick, so she has to stay in Saint.”
Ayla looked up at her mother in shock. It was true that she often caught colds in the winter, but she was fine now.
In that moment, a small hope bloomed in her chest. She believed that maybe, just maybe, she could ride that carriage too.