Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 114

Revenge Has Its Interest 114

114. Terrence’s Love is Fake

2023.11.22.

Leah felt all her strength draining away. Lying in bed, she didn’t even have the energy to twitch a finger.

“You were very healthy, Miss?”

Sarah’s face was etched with worry, but she immediately realized the foolishness of her question.

It wasn’t Leah’s body anymore.

“Just… being alive… is something to be grateful for.”

Leah barely moved her pale lips to form the words.

At her words, Sarah burst into tears.

‘How wronged she must have felt…!’

Only then did Sarah sob, realizing the immensity of her transgression.

Afraid Leah would see her crying, she turned her back and wiped away the tears.

‘What on earth have I done?’

Why Leah had to live by borrowing someone else’s body, and why her life was also threatened…

She knew exactly why such hardship had befallen Leah and herself, who had never wanted for anything, but she couldn’t quite grasp the memory. She’d simply found herself thrown into the middle of hell when she came to her senses. It was too late for regret and self-blame.

“Sarah, I’m… sleepy.”

“Yes, please sleep. I’ll stay by your side.”

“But it feels like we’ve gone back to the old… days.”

“Y…es, it does. I wish we could turn back time, if only we could.”

Leah fell asleep before Sarah even finished her answer.

Sarah sat by the bed, watching Leah sleep.

‘Miss Leah, I will definitely save Master from Reef Island. Please, watch over me.’

All she had left was a wretched life, but she intended to use it as collateral, doing everything she could.

Meanwhile, Leah fell asleep, engraving Sarah’s sad face in her heart.

‘Sarah, don’t cry. You need to save your tears.’

Those were the words she couldn’t bring herself to say. She had resented and hated her so much, but in the end, they had met again.

She thought she would be able to hate her completely, but even that wasn’t easy.

‘Whether it’s God’s trick or arrangement, I don’t care.’

She knew too well how terrible it was to hate someone. She was just glad that she could relieve some of that burden.

‘Peace will come to us too.’

Leah repeated the words she couldn’t say to Sarah and drifted into unconsciousness.

But where is this, and why is it so cold?

The biting cold and the numbness in her feet were unbearable. Leah finally opened her eyes.

‘Why am I standing on the ice?’

It was the lake in the park she used to visit with Pauline. She was standing alone in the middle of the frozen lake.

There was no one around. No people taking a walk, no birds crying on the bare branches.

‘Terrence!’

Leah instinctively called his name, because if it was Terrence, he would come and find her no matter where she was.

There wasn’t a speck of doubt in that belief. But no matter how much she called, he didn’t appear.

‘Ah! This is a dream.’

Leah knew she was dreaming. So no matter how much she called Terrence, it was no use.

Instead, Grace came to her. Grace was standing in front of her before she knew it.

‘Grace!’

‘Leah, it’s been a while.’

Her face, smiling brightly like the spring sunshine even on the cold ice, was beautiful. It was still an unfamiliar face.

‘Leah, don’t give up on my body.’

‘I won’t give up, Grace.’

‘I know it’s hard to endure, because it’s a body as precarious as thin ice… I’m sorry.’

‘No, thanks to Grace, I can do so many things. So don’t be sorry.’

‘That’s a relief.’

Her face, smiling with relief, looked too sad. Grace looked like someone about to depart on a long journey.

‘Leah, I don’t have much time left.’

‘!?’

‘I believe Leah will accomplish the things I couldn’t.’

‘Don’t go!’

Leah reached out to grab Grace, who was saying goodbye, but she couldn’t reach her. She could only shout for her not to go, feeling sorry for Grace, who was slowly turning away.

‘Terrence will soon realize it.’

Grace only turned her head slightly and spoke in a low voice.

‘What do you mean?’

Even when Leah asked, Grace only smiled softly and didn’t say anything more.

After Grace disappeared, a blizzard raged around Leah.

‘Ugh!’

She wrapped her body with both arms, but it felt like she would be blown away by the strong wind.

The more she resisted, the more violently the blizzard assaulted Leah’s body.

* * *

Sarah was startled to see Leah having a seizure.

She pulled the bell cord next to the bed violently, and soon Pauline and the maids rushed in.

“Something is wrong with the young lady!”

Pauline was also horrified to see Grace trembling violently.

“I’ll go get Doctor Wilson.”

Pauline ran out of the room. At that moment, Sarah was overcome with an ominous feeling.

Because Leah’s complexion was as bloodless as a corpse.

Sarah carefully lifted Leah’s blanket.

At first, she was just hoping it wasn’t true, but the coppery smell of blood wafted out from under the slightly lifted blanket. Sarah immediately threw the blanket off.

“Ah!”

The moment Sarah screamed, Pauline returned to the room with Doctor Wilson.

“Young lady!”

Pauline ran to Leah in one breath. Her chemise [a loose-fitting undergarment] was stained with blood from severe bleeding.

Doctor Wilson also turned pale and began his examination.

Pauline wrung her hands, watching Doctor Wilson’s treatment.

“You two, I need some help.”

Doctor Wilson urgently gave instructions to Sarah and Pauline, and the two women followed his orders.

“You need to stop the bleeding, so push the cloth as far inside as possible.”

The two women frantically pushed the cloth between Leah’s legs. Then Doctor Wilson gave Leah an injection.

The maids kept carrying in hot water.

“Why is the young lady bleeding?”

Pauline asked Doctor Wilson, changing the cloth that was soaked with blood.

“It seems she had a miscarriage.”

“Yes?”

Sarah and Pauline exclaimed simultaneously.

A miscarriage? Then she hadn’t even known she was pregnant. Doctor Wilson addressed their unspoken questions.

“In the early stages of pregnancy, there are many cases where not only the person involved but also the doctor doesn’t notice.”

At his words, Sarah closed her eyes tightly. Leah must have been pregnant when she was assaulted by Alicia and her gang.

‘I should have stopped it sooner.’

Her heart ached with belated regret. Sarah bit her lip tightly.

Pauline was already sobbing, and there was a sound from the open door. James and Louis rushed in.

They were horrified by the sight of the maids they encountered in the hallway: red blood and towels in a silver basin. It was clear that something had happened to Grace.

The two men didn’t dare approach the bed, trying to understand the situation.

“Doctor Wilson, what’s going on?”

At James’ urgent question, Doctor Wilson simply turned his head and answered.

“She had a miscarriage. I’m stopping the bleeding, but I need to monitor her closely.”

At his answer, Louis ran out of the room. He had to inform Terrence quickly. But he was likely in the southernmost part of Lubeck. A telegram would be faster.

* * *

Luke thought it was strange that Terrence hadn’t even sent a letter to Grace. It wasn’t like him.

In the first place, it was questionable why he had chased the Emperor all the way to this distant place, especially after being so furious about the women who terrorized Grace.

Since arriving here, he hadn’t said a word about Grace.

“Are you worried about something, Duke?”

“Worried? Why? Does it look like that?”

“Yes, you haven’t asked about Miss Grace and haven’t sent a single letter.”

“Did I? I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t been thinking about it.”

Luke didn’t press the issue, sensing that Terrence was deliberately avoiding the conversation.

Whatever it was, it seemed better to leave him alone until Terrence sorted it out.

“Let’s go back to the lodgings; it’s late.”

“Let’s do that.”

Terrence turned his horse. He would feel better if he went back to the lodgings, took a bath, had a drink, and got a good night’s sleep.

He decided to set aside his worries about Grace for a while.

Perhaps because he had made up his mind, he felt exhausted after eating and bathing.

He thought he would lie down on the bed for a while, but he fell asleep almost immediately.

But then he saw a spruce forest drenched in heavy rain.

Grace, soaked to the bone, was standing in front of him.

‘Terrence hates Grace, right? You only got engaged because of Aiden, right?’

‘That’s not true!’

Was it a dream? The woman complaining to him was Grace, but she wasn’t the woman he loved.

‘If not, why do you keep trying to get away from Grace? What does Terrence really want?’

‘What I want?’

Of course, it was Grace. But the old her, whom he met after a long time, didn’t seem like the real Grace.

Then, is Grace, dominated by the soul of Leah Hamilton, the real one?

‘Terrence doesn’t deserve to love Grace.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s clearly Grace no matter what she looks like, but you keep judging her. Terrence’s love is fake.’

‘That’s not true!’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it’s not.’

It was certain that his love for her was not fake. He was loving Grace even at this moment.

However, the mysterious phenomenon that had occurred was unfamiliar and frightening, making it difficult to accept.

‘Hypocrite!’

Grace shouted at Terrence.

‘Terrence also has multiple personalities inside, right? There’s Terrence who loves Grace and Terrence who doesn’t, but why don’t you admit it?’

Terrence felt like he had been struck hard on the head.

Because her words were accurate, leaving no room for argument. Could there be another double personality like him?

He didn’t like the immature Grace at all, but he was terribly obsessed with the confident and independent Grace.

‘Terrence is a fool who can change my mind as much as I want and refuses to accept the other person.’