Chapter 146

Edward was persistent through and through.

Although Yelena stood firm in her refusal to go back with him, he wouldn’t leave the castle and continued his stay.

Yelena’s husband stopped her from kicking him out. As the days passed, Yelena gradually began to treat Edward as if he was invisible.

‘I don’t care if he stays or leaves.’

Instead, she pleasantly spent her time with her former exclusive maid, Merry.

“Young Miss, how have you been while we were apart?”

“I told you, I’m Madam, not Young Miss.”

“Oh, right.”

Merry lightly slapped her lips as if she had made a mistake. Well, she had spent almost 20 years calling Yelena Young Miss. Discarding the habit in a day would be difficult.

‘I feel like I’ve gone back to the old days since she keeps calling me Young Miss,’ Yelena thought as she lounged about, eating grapes with Merry in her quarters with Merry.

Truthfully, calling it the “old days” was a bit of an overstatement, as it had only been a few months ago.

But why was it that Yelena felt like her memories from a few months ago were so far off in the past? Was it because her life had changed so drastically in the months after?

‘The biggest change was, of course…’

Yelena pictured her husband’s face.

There had been a time when she didn’t know what he looked like, had never met him, and everything she knew about him was from some of the rumors that surrounded him. It definitely wasn’t very long ago, but it felt so unfamiliar that it was as if it was from the far, distant past.

Yelena recounted her memories from back then and blinked. Then, she looked at Merry again.

“Anyhow, I’ve been well. And I haven’t experienced any discomfort… How have you been, Merry? Have you been doing well without me?”

“Me? Oh dear, don’t even get me started. I missed Young Miss—no, Madam, so much that I shed tears on my pillow every night.”

“Millen must have comforted you.” Yelena smiled as she mentioned Merry’s boyfriend.

Millen had been dating Merry for a long time, and he had promised a future together.

The reason Yelena didn’t bring Merry with her to the fief after getting married was because Millen and his family all lived in the capital.

“…Ah, Millen.”

“…”

“Young Miss, to tell you the truth…”

At that moment, someone knocked on Yelena’s door.

“Yelena, it’s me.”

It was Edward.

He wasn’t really welcome, but refusing him would have been awkward, so Yelena said, “Come in.”

The door opened and Edward stepped inside.

“What is it?”

“Let’s talk.”

“If you’re going to tell me to go home with you, forget it. I’ve had enough.”

“It’s not that.”

“…”

“Let’s just have a brief talk.”

***

Edward said it would be brief, but he spent a long time walking around the garden with Yelena without speaking. Their talk could no longer be called “brief” with the amount of time that had already passed, but Edward seemed a little different from usual, so Yelena waited for him quietly.

Then Edward spoke.

“Ever since you were young…”

“…”

“You were always disagreeable.”

Yelena immediately furrowed her brow.

“That’s what you wanted to tell me?”

Just as she was about to feel wronged for sparing him her time, Edward continued.

“Let me finish. You were disagreeable… but unexpectedly, unambitious.”

“…”

“You’ve never asked for something first or fussed about wanting anything.”

‘That’s because I never really needed to.’

Yelena had known from a young age that she had been born into an affluent family. She was the youngest daughter of a count whose wealth never left anything to be desired.

She had been excluded from the fight for inheritance early on, so she was just a sister to her older siblings, not a competitor. And her father worked hard in his own way to be a good father to his daughter who had lost her mother at a young age.

Yelena had grown up without lacking material possessions or emotional affection.

So she never really needed to complain or fuss or want anything first. She was almost always already provided with whatever she needed.

It wasn’t that she lacked ambition, she just never needed to act on it. That’s what Yelena thought, but apparently her family thought differently.

Edward’s perception of Yelena felt unfamiliar, so she replied a beat late.

“…I didn’t know you thought of me that way. Unambitious, you say.”

“But a few months ago, as unambitious as you were, for the first time in your life, you said you’d do something first and acted stubborn.”

“…”

“Without having said anything beforehand, on your own accord… And you even lied.”

“I lied?”

“You said that you loved Duke Mayhard, which was why you wanted to marry him in Mielle’s stead.”

“…”

“That was a lie.”