Salvation of the Fallen - Chapter 20
In fact, although Arsena was accused of stealing it, Saira’s tears were in the safe. Only the Countess and Rosalyn could open the safe. It wasn’t something Arsena could have stolen in the first place. But no one wanted to reveal that fact.
When asked if she really lost her memory, Rosalyn nodded, and it was clear. The answer was obviously a lie.
The nanny sighed with deep despair. While a five-year-old child’s lovely mistake could easily be covered up with a little movement on her part, Rosalyn’s sin had shaken a person’s entire life. Yet she couldn’t turn her back on Rosalyn, whom she had raised.
Oh God. Please make my eyes and ears blind. And please, forgive my young lady. I will gladly bear that sin.
She shouldn’t know, and she shouldn’t think about it. The nanny vividly remembered that day when she quietly prayed to God in this miserable situation.
Watching Arsena, who didn’t offer a single excuse in this unjust situation, the nanny secretly felt sorry for her. Arsena’s endurance of contempt was like that of a holy saint undergoing asceticism. Seeing Arsena being called here and there from the moment Rosalyn woke up until just before she fell asleep, silently enduring her whims, the nanny repeated her own unforgivable sin to herself.
“Why are you so late, sister? That girl who came into my room before. Call her here. This time I really need to cut off her hand. It doesn’t make sense to have a thief in the Count’s mansion.”
On days like today, the nanny would give Arsena some rest time, avoiding Rosalyn’s eyes, trying to alleviate her sin. Though the only place Arsena could go to escape people’s eyes would be that dirty garden. Every time she saw Arsena, who bore a noble name, bowing her head in greeting to her, the nanny let out a deep sigh.
“What did you lose?”
“The new earrings I just bought. No… I’m telling you, she stole them!”
“Do you mean these?”
“Oh! Where were they?!”
“Next to the mirror.”
“Oh really? That’s strange. I’m sure they weren’t there when I looked…”
“Young miss. How about putting them in the safe?”
“No. I told you I want to see pretty things up close.”
Despite the nanny’s suggestion, Rosalyn nonchalantly held the earrings up to the sunlight. Rosalyn lay on the bed, gazing in rapture at the sight of red fruit-like light scattering in droplets. The nanny’s insides burned red.
“Still, you specially prepared them for the coming-of-age ceremony, if you lose them…”
“Ah! Right! The coming-of-age ceremony!”
Rosalyn carelessly tossed aside the earrings in her hand and sat up abruptly. Arsena quietly picked up the fallen earrings, placed them on the table, and made eye contact with the nanny. As if stamping that she had put them there herself.
“Sister, why don’t you come along this time? You haven’t had yours yet, right?”
“…Me?”
Arsena turned to Rosalyn, showing a rare surprise.
A coming-of-age ceremony. It’s special for everyone, but for a noble daughter, it holds a different meaning. Due to the law that proposal letters can only be sent to women who have had their coming-of-age ceremony, it’s usually held in the year they turn twenty. But until she turned twenty-five, no one had cared about Arsena’s ceremony. Except for Rosalyn now.
“Yes. That’s a good idea. Why don’t you talk to Madam about it!”
Though there was clearly a different intention, the nanny eagerly encouraged Rosalyn. Although everyone knew she was a noble in name only, who knows? She’s so beautiful. If Arsena were to get married, there was hope that she might escape this sinful fate, even if just a little.
“I should do that!”
Rosalyn clapped her hands together with a snap, saying it was a good idea, and smiled innocently. At that, Arsena’s blue eyes, which always looked like those of an empty doll, wavered greatly.
***
“Go ahead and do that.”
It was a rare dinner with the two of them together. Rosalyn chattered incessantly during the time arranged to wait for Viareche, who had returned home late, long after the sun had set.
Viareche tilted a glass full of red wine with an indifferent expression. Was the saying that it washes away sins true? When she poured the wine made from Felita down her throat, it felt as if the doubt that had grown inside her was washed away for a moment. That’s why she couldn’t let it go. Only with a muddled mind could she not worry about Arsena. Her only concern was the Felita tree, whose branches were drying up day by day. Not that unsettling Arsena.
It was also why Felita’s condition had worsened. Unlike the commercial version, which mixed one Felita fruit with apples to make several bottles, what Viareche drank was made from pure Felita extract. Naturally, the quantity was becoming insufficient. Seeing the storage room gradually showing its bottom, she had recklessly harvested, which became the root of the problem.
“Even if I marry the Crown Prince, I want to take the Peter brothers with me.”
The topic had naturally shifted to Rosalyn’s marriage. Having been discussed several times already, it was almost a foregone conclusion that she would marry the Crown Prince after her coming-of-age ceremony. It was due to the Emperor’s greed, unaware that the world’s last holy relic of God was on the verge of dying out.
“There are good stable hands at the palace too.”
Viareche, listlessly poking at the meat oozing red juices, quietly soothed Rosalyn. She had heard that Rosalyn, who particularly liked pretty things, was especially interested in the Peter brothers. That must be why she often visited the stables, saying she wanted to see the horses she rarely rode. It wasn’t something to discuss before her marriage to the Crown Prince.
“But Rosalyn like the Peter brothers…”
“I see. Let’s think about it later.”
Viareche swallowed her words and pressed her throbbing head, hungover. She didn’t even have the energy to wrestle with Rosalyn, who still seemed like a child.
“Madam. The young master has returned.”
Amidst the noise buzzing in his ears, it was the butler who broke Viareche’s silence. No sooner had the butler finished speaking than Morpheus strode in with long, refreshing steps.
“Mother.”
Viareche examined her son. The strong line of his jaw. Sturdy shoulders. And his height, grown so tall. Unlike when he left for his knightly service, he now had the appearance of a mature young man. Her mouth tasted bitter.
“You arrived early.”
An early, unwelcome return of her son. The reason was all because of Arsena.
While Morpheus was away on his knightly service to inherit the Duke title, there had been big changes in the capital. When the temple promoted the kindness of the Count and the Countess who had adopted Arsena from the orphanage, everyone started adopting orphans. Of course, for them, it was just following a new trend, but her brother, Duke Guineste, was sincere.
The Duke and Duchess cared for the lowborn adopted child as if she were their own, and then did something irreversible. They announced that they would pass on the Duke title to this lowborn child of unknown origin. Everything was like a bolt from the blue.
The matter she had started. The thing she had so desired. What she had sought to fulfill her secret desires while receiving people’s praise had taken away the Duke title from Morpheus. Viareche ran her tongue over her rough mouth and tilted the Felita wine again.
“I missed my family.”
While saying so, Morpheus turned his head to look for Arsena. Arsena, barely hiding her presence in a corner of the dining room, flinched at his gaze.
Before he left for his service, in the Room of Repentance filled with darkness. It seemed visible even though it wasn’t. The blue eyes wavering towards him. The delicate shoulders curled up in fear. The red lips exhaled weak breaths and the frail, powerless body trembled slightly.
His outstretched hand brushed Arsena’s lips. Arsena’s body jumped in surprise but ultimately didn’t avoid it. In the end, it was Morpheus himself who avoided it.
It was an impulsive action. One he couldn’t even stop himself. Only then did Morpheus truly realize what he desired.
