Secret Love Affair between a Former Saint and a Dark Hero - Chapter 38
The prince rode away, and Iora’s vision blurred.
‘I must be insane, completely losing it. Has my heart completely shattered?’
She had no idea what she muttered to the prince. Of all times, why was he right in front of her? She felt like she was going to burst into tears. Maybe it was the pain of her brother’s grip on her wrist.
“It almost feels like an unrequited love. All that for just a few instances of kindness?”
But fate was too cruel. She didn’t want to go the way of the villainess in a novel, yet the sight of him made her heart tremble—exactly what Arcanda had worried about. She just couldn’t understand how he could help her without hesitation after breaking off their betrothal. Why did he look at her with such intensity?
‘He shouldn’t be so sweet. He should be as heartless as everyone else.’
But the thought didn’t last. With a grip that bit into her wrist, she screamed in pain. When she turned her head, grimacing, she saw her brother’s face, seemingly wanting to curse at her right then and there.
“You. You foolish woman.”
“Ouch, it hurts…”
“Hah, you pretended not to know anything, yet you’ve been entangled with the prince from the start?”
“Wha…?”
But the words spat out were as vulgar as could be, beyond what she could have anticipated.
“Oh, so that’s how it was. Pretending all this time? No, this won’t do. If the man had taken your body, you should’ve been kept as an engaged woman. Why would he abandon you?”
Iora froze like ice from the intense shame and deep disgust. She couldn’t believe that he was saying such vile things about the prince and his own younger sister. With her brother trampling her last remaining hope, Iora could only stand there, dumbfounded.
“That, that isn’t true!”
“Oh. So you can’t even do night work? Ha! This useless creature can’t do anything right.”
“I said it wasn’t true, ugh!”
He roughly grabbed her hair, his voice a threatening low growl.
“You should have had the Crown Prince’s child before you went out there doing stupid things. Is your head not working? If you had even a bit of sense, that betrothal would have rightfully been yours if you had just been with him for a night.”
“Oh, sto- The Prince and I, that kind of relationship, huff!”
As if he didn’t want to hear it, he turned around and walked away quickly, and Iora’s wrist was yanked at the same speed. It felt like it was being torn apart. The angry look on his face was extremely cold.
“Like a pest. If I know what you’ve done, you won’t be saying such nonsense.”
“Brother!”
“Our reputation in the Ribandt family has plummeted. Do you know what Father did to cover up suspicions about you?”
Her breath hitched and stopped. Father had been summoned to the palace. Was it because of what she had done during the day?
One voice among the murmurs echoed, “She took drugs. That’s why her face looks like that.”
Surely not, surely?
“No, no. I’m not…”
“He sacrificed territory to prove that you were a worthy candidate for sainthood. He bowed his head and filled a hundred boxes with gold. And now, the palace hunting competition on the second day of this grand event will be under our auspices!”
The mansion felt like hell. It seemed like she had become a prisoner, trapped against her will. No, she was being dragged. Iora quickly lifted her head, but the mansion’s servants pretended not to see, horrified by the scene. They knew the nobles’ fears, and whatever happened in this mansion would never leak outside.
Despair filled Iora’s large eyes. It was because she noticed her mother, standing on the stairs as the door opened, gazing down with grim eyes. Instead of welcoming her daughter, it seemed as if she was seeing an enemy. The world before Iora turned pitch black, wavering in her vision.
“Mother, it’s not what you think…”
“Do you realize how dreadful it is for a family to bear the expenses for the hunting competition? All because of your shameful actions.”
Listening to her brother’s sinister voice, Iora quickly pleaded, crawling up the stairs and kneeling at her mother’s feet. With trembling hands, she grasped the edge of her mother’s dress and sobbed.
“It wasn’t me. The juice, it had… it had something in it from the start. It was a mistake.”
“Iora. Do you think that matters?”
“What?”
“You stupid child. It’s the outcome that matters. Do you remember what I told you?”
“Ah!” Iora bit her lip. Her mother gripped her shoulders, the sharp nails scratching her skin and glaring at her with eyes like searing lava.
“I warned you. How dare you do such a thing? A mistake? No. It’s not a mistake. It’s incompetence and stupidity!”
“Mother, I am innocent. I didn’t do anything…”
“It doesn’t matter. Whether you’re unjustly accused or innocent! The fact that you exhibited questionable behavior there is what matters the most! You defied the courtiers and knights and went out alone causing this disgrace! This is all your doing!”
Iora fell to the ground as her mother yanked her clothes. Her hair, disheveled, fell around her.
“I-I didn’t do it…”
No one asked.
“I didn’t do it.”
No one asked Iora.
“The people in the mansion might keep quiet, but everyone has heard about you. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, as time passes, the stories of your disgraceful behavior as a saint candidate will follow you, even if you do become a saintess..”
They never asked Iora to explain herself. It was par for the course by this to point to suspect and accuse her.
“Ugly thing! Don’t you dare step out of the house until the rumors die down!”
“Mother, I…”
“Shut up! What are you all standing around for instead of confining that thing?!”
At her mother’s signal, the servants approached and roughly lifted her up. Like a dog, they guided her up the stairs with their hands. The staircase seemed endlessly dark.
“I…I…”
A single hot tear rolled down her cheek. Just one tear.
Now, even tears wouldn’t come. Tears and sobs, it seemed they only surfaced when someone was there to receive them.
The servants pushed Iora into the room like they were throwing away garbage. Her knees throbbed as she sat dazed.
An irritated voice among the servants spoke, “Please, just stay quiet, Miss. It’s hard for us.”
“…”
“Alright.”
Soon, the door slammed shut. The familiar darkness swallowed her whole.
