The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 26
“Um, I have a question about the presentation from earlier.”
According to rumors, it was obvious he would ignore them and turn away. The boy, encouraged by Hartbisa’s reassurance, reluctantly asked and swallowed hard, while Dayan inquired with indifferent downcast eyes.
“What is it?”
“…!”
At this, the students who had been pretending not to be interested seemed to seize their chance and approached with questions.
“I have something I want to ask too.”
“Me too, me too.”
Dayan was instantly surrounded by students. With an annoyed expression, he told them to speak one at a time and methodically answered questions about their assignments that were thrust at him.
Seeing this, a smile spread across Hartbisa’s face. Despite his grumbling, he looked quite natural among his peers.
With this, Hartbisa quietly left the classroom, thinking she should return to where the carriage was waiting alone.
However, as soon as she stepped into the corridor, Hartbisa collided with someone. The impact against the solid body pushed her back with a thud. Hartbisa barely managed to keep her balance.
“I’m sorry.”
She had been too excited about Dayan’s success without realizing it. As she hurriedly raised her head to see who it was, Hartbisa’s face turned pale.
Since arriving at the academy, her smile had never faded no matter what happened, but now her face was devoid of any trace of a smile, completely pale. She slowly looked up at the other person.
“It’s alright…”
The other person, who seemed startled, trailed off upon seeing Hartbisa. Their voice was terribly familiar.
A large, sturdy body with red hair and a lively voice. It was Wolfgang Lamberth, whom Hartbisa had so desperately wanted to avoid.
Wolfgang, seemingly blind to Hartbisa’s pale face, gradually blushed. Then, stammering as if flustered, he spoke.
“Um, if you don’t mind, could I know the lady’s name?”
“…”
Wolfgang scratched his nape embarrassedly, volunteering without being asked that he usually wasn’t the type to ask such things so directly.
Both his attitude and his words were all familiar. All of this had already happened once in her previous life. This was the moment Wolfgang fell in love with Hartbisa at first sight.
Originally, their meeting had taken place not at the academy, but at a Lamberth family charity party she had been forced to attend by her aunt. Just as her relationship with her family had changed, it seemed the connections from her previous life were changing too.
Hartbisa felt her body growing cold rapidly. Wolfgang, apparently blind to Hartbisa’s pale face, continued rambling about his feelings without any shame. Hartbisa moved her lips, feeling she needed to say something.
The current Hartbisa was different from her weak past self. Like how she had handled everything well after her regression until now, she could get through this situation appropriately too. But at that moment, like an auditory hallucination, words she had left behind in her memories echoed.
‘Are you reading the Imperial newspaper now? Don’t tell me you think that so-called Imperial hero Wolfgang or whatever is still waiting for you? Such grand dreams. If I hadn’t taken you in, you would have perished along with your family when your house burned down, you woman without a single lovable trait.’
The insulting words of her ex-husband from her previous life. Lamberth was always included in them.
Through Helena, he had heard something and believed that before their marriage, Hartbisa had wanted to create a scandal with Lamberth. That’s why that name was always present in his mockery.
Because of a man whose face she could no longer even remember, the Count had to suffer his entire life until death. All because that man had fallen for her first.
So the starting signal for all that misfortune was Wolfgang Lamberth’s confession.
“If possible, I’d like to escort you to where you’re going… My Lady!”
As Wolfgang spoke shyly like that, at that moment, Hartbisa turned and ran. Though she wore flat shoes with low heels, her dress was heavy and her body was constricted by the corset.
She thought she heard the startled Wolfgang calling after her, but Hartbisa’s only thought was wanting to escape from this suffocating constraint.
She ran without knowing where she was going. Light was pouring out from the end of the corridor. Wolfgang shouted something from behind, but she couldn’t hear anything. Hartbisa pushed her body toward the exit, gasping like someone parched for water.
“My Lady, below that is…!”
Beyond Wolfgang’s voice, a cool breeze suddenly blew in. A long staircase stretching downward came into view.
It was the outdoor staircase leading to the central garden. Not knowing this, Hartbisa had burst out as if throwing herself forward, and when she hastily stepped forward with an “oh no,” her ankle couldn’t bear the weight of the dress and twisted to one side, causing her body to tilt.
At this rate, she would obviously tumble down this long staircase.
She found it amusing that she would end up battered while trying to avoid Wolfgang. Perhaps this was punishment for daring to avoid the male protagonist.
As Hartbisa closed her eyes, a strong arm firmly embraced her waist.
Her body, which was about to spill forward, was pulled upright by that force. Hartbisa opened her eyes as her rose-pink hair fluttered.
Then she saw the person who had pulled her up, filling her vision. He was a man with silver hair so bright that one might think the sunlight pouring in from outside originated from him.
The man with silver eyes that seemed to perfectly reflect the white and clean scenery of the academy was holding her firmly.
As Hartbisa blinked while being held closely in his arms, the man curved his lips prettily and spoke.
“Hmm, running inside the school is against the rules.”
Hartbisa let out a small “Ah.”
***
“Thank goodness it wasn’t a severe sprain. The swelling has gone down a lot too. Do you know how my heart dropped when I heard you almost fell down the stairs the day you returned from the academy?”
Tar nagged worriedly while changing Hartbisa’s ankle bandage.
Usually, Hartbisa would have cut off Tar’s words, but she remained quiet. She was staring into space with eyes deep in thought.
“My Lady?”
Only then did Hartbisa suddenly raise her head at the call.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been lost in thought a lot since returning from the academy. Are you sure nothing else happened?”
If by something else, there was plenty.
As family relationships improved and she got involved in Dayan’s social relationships, she encountered Wolfgang Lamberth earlier than in her previous life.
Through this, she learned that while the previous life could be changed through her efforts, certain things that must happen would still occur.
However, she never heard Wolfgang’s most important confession. Originally, she should have heard that ridiculous confession about love at first sight. She ran away from him and was saved by a man wrapped in silver light.
Yes, that man. She had heard someone call him. They definitely said Bertolph. Bertolph Radant, from the only one of the six blessed successor families that hadn’t been involved with Julie.
Surprisingly, while she was with that man, Wolfgang, who had followed her, frowned and reluctantly left the scene. Come to think of it, she had seen Wolfgang make a similar expression exactly once in her previous life.
While Wolfgang had always been revered by those around him, there was only one man who could make him take second place – that was Bertolph. Be it academics, swordsmanship, or family status, there was nothing Wolfgang could win at, and he was a character who barely appeared in the story, just to highlight the male protagonist’s glory.
‘I didn’t know he was such a handsome man. But what is it? He seems very familiar.’
As Hartbisa recalled Radant’s face that she had seen head-on, Tar asked worriedly again.
“Something did happen, didn’t it?”
Hartbisa blushed, embarrassed at having dwelled too long on thoughts of an unrelated man, and answered.
“It’s nothing, really.”
Seeing the mismatch between her expression and answer, Tar’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at Hartbisa and asked as if having a hunch.
“Could it be because of that gentleman you met at the academy?”
“How did you…!”
The thought escaped her lips in surprise at Tar’s words that seemed to see right through her. Though she quickly covered her mouth, Tar placed her hands on her hips proudly and continued.
“Despite how I may appear, I’m always watching the direction you look and walk towards, like your shadow. I knew right away when I saw your worried expression.”
As Hartbisa touched her cheek wondering if it had been that obvious, she froze at Tar’s next words.
“Well, he’s been continuously sending flower bouquets to you since then. I wonder if our Lady might receive a marriage proposal soon!”
Hartbisa let out a soft sigh at Tar’s dramatic behavior.
“It’s not like that, Tar. If you’re done changing the bandage, you can go.”
At Hartbisa’s cold response, Tar scratched the back of her head embarrassedly and hurriedly left the room.
