Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 16

Revenge Bears Interest 16

16. Like a Rain-Soaked Wildflower

2023.08.16.

Late in the evening, Leia arrived at the church, the same place where her funeral had been held. Wandering the streets alone at night was as good as suicide for a woman, so she sought refuge in the safest place she could think of.

People came to pray even at dawn, so the church doors were never locked, allowing Leia to enter.

Leia closed her eyes, clasping her hands together.

‘What was I trying to do, leaving the Duke’s mansion?’

As her plan fell apart, the vengeful feelings that had filled her heart faded like smoke. She should have ridden that momentum and gone to Galdenia.

‘Does it all end with dying alongside Allen?’

Leia felt a sense of doubt about her revenge.

She questioned whether this was the revenge she truly wanted.

Shouldn’t she expose Allen and his gang’s schemes to the world, reveal the truth, and clear the Hamilton Merchant Guild’s name?

‘Killing Allen is a given, but what crime did Grace’s body commit?’

She had promised her she wouldn’t tarnish her honor.

‘I think I rushed things too much.’

At this rate, how was she any different from a moth blindly flying towards a flame? Losing her reason at the news that the Hamilton general store had been sold off was the root of the problem.

‘Allen has been putting in effort for years to steal the Hamilton Merchant Guild.’

Yet, she didn’t know why she thought it would all end by just killing Allen.

Even if Allen disappeared from the world, nothing would change. The Hamilton Merchant Guild would still be seen as a family that had committed treason.

‘Why aren’t you making an effort? What are you going to do if you only act on emotion?’

Leia felt pathetic. At the very least, before killing Allen, she should have let him know why he was dying.

If she went to him in Grace’s body and shot him, he would die, sure. But until his last moment, he wouldn’t realize his mistakes or repent.

‘Was this the revenge you wanted, Leia Hamilton?’

Leia sobbed, her hands clasped together.

‘Father, I miss you.’

Today, she missed him to the core of her being. And she was ashamed. The method she had come up with for revenge was just borrowing a stranger’s body and shooting a gun.

She didn’t even know how to load bullets, yet she was consumed by anger and acting recklessly.

‘What should I do now?’

Leia felt lost. Her vengeful spirit was overflowing like lava, but there was nothing she could do.

It was even worse because she couldn’t reveal her identity to anyone.

Tears streamed endlessly from Leia’s eyes.

‘Father, I can’t live without taking revenge on Allen.’

But she didn’t know how to take that revenge.

Allen was no longer the poor nobleman he used to be. He was a wealthy tycoon who had taken over the massive McDowell Trading Company.

She had no idea how a woman like her, with nothing, could fight against him. She couldn’t see a way out.

* * *

Terran tapped the desk with his finger, glancing at the clock.

Then, the midnight bell rang.

As he immediately stood up, Luke brought him his cloak and helped him put it on.

“If the Imperial Family finds out that we damaged the railroad, there will be a huge uproar,” Luke grumbled.

The instructions Terran had given him yesterday afternoon were so absurd that he was still dumbfounded.

To hold Grace back, he had not only damaged the railroad but also issued a curfew in Levon City.

“If the Imperial Family finds out, it just means your skills are lacking.”

“That’s impossible.”

In any case, the result of damaging a few sections of the railroad was significant.

There would be no trains departing from Levon Station for several days. Of course, the same went for carriages.

Terran passed through the lobby to get into a carriage.

“Do you know where the young lady is before you go?”

“Obvious.”

He answered curtly and got into the carriage.

Luke shook his head as he watched Terran leave the Duke’s mansion alone in the carriage.

“He could just grab her.”

But this time, he truly understood.

What Terran’s feelings for Grace were.

And that he also had an unimaginable level of obsession and possessiveness towards the woman he wanted.

Just then, James approached Luke.

“Someone like the Duke just has a difficult start. Once he awakens to his feelings, he’ll wage love like war.”

“That’s right. I had a bad feeling ever since he said he was going to blow up the Rapa building.”

Luke felt sorry for Grace.

Did she know? That she could never escape from Terran.

* * *

As the carriage stopped in front of the church, Terran got out without hesitation.

The Grace he knew wouldn’t spend the night at a hotel or station.

Of course, if it were the old Grace, she wouldn’t have done anything so reckless.

He opened the church door and saw the back of a familiar woman.

Why did she look so fragile and small today? Terran slowly walked towards where Grace was. But he stopped before he could get far.

‘Is she crying?’

He couldn’t move, his feet stuck to the floor by the sound of Grace’s sorrowful sobs.

He didn’t know why she was trying to leave his side and crying with such regret.

That was the big question. It seemed Grace had a secret.

And the doubts he had from the beginning resurfaced, stirring within him.

Whether she was the her he knew, the absurd suspicion that another soul had entered Grace, making her a completely different person.

Could such a thing really be possible?

In fact, he had shaken off all such worries when he went to meet Aiden. He had decided to love her as she was.

If he faced Grace again, he was going to make sure she knew it wouldn’t be easy to leave his side.

But he couldn’t easily approach her because her sadness pained him.

‘This is difficult.’

Watching a woman cry, especially the tears of a woman he loved, was hard to bear.

He sat next to Grace and watched her for a while.

Leia didn’t believe in God. But at this moment, she wanted anyone’s help, hoping they would show her the way.

She looked up at the cross.

Then, she felt someone’s gaze beside her, and Leia immediately turned her head.

“Terran!”

How did he know she was at the church?

Leia looked at him with a surprised face, and Terran stared intently at her.

He wasn’t planning on leaving a woman crying so sorrowfully, and Grace, wet with tears, was as pure as a rain-soaked wildflower.

Her crying face shone so brightly that it painfully stirred his heart.

In that moment, the string of his reason snapped. Terran’s hand reached for Grace’s face and kissed her.

“!?”

Leia struggled to get away from Terran in surprise.

The more she refused his kiss, the more she felt trapped.

Rather, she unknowingly gave up and closed her eyes, succumbing to the warmth of his lips.

His kiss was warm, comforting, and gave her a great sense of relief, as if reaching out to her in her utter despair.

Grace’s tears seeped between their softly closing lips.

As she slightly opened her mouth, a hot firestorm raged. It was a passionate and desperate kiss.

His hand caressed Grace’s abundant blonde hair, and she placed her hands on Terran’s broad shoulders.

Then, Terran pulled her closer so she couldn’t get away from him.

The sudden, unexpected kiss ended, and the two felt the lingering afterglow of the kiss with their eyes closed.

Then, Leia spoke first.

“I don’t like being forced like this.”

“If it was unpleasant, I’m sorry. I just wanted to comfort Grace.”

“That’s……!”

Leia felt regret. She had relied on him because she was too tired and exhausted.

“How did you know? That I was here?”

“Isn’t it impossible for the Duke not to know the situation in Levon City?”

Terran avoided giving a direct answer.

‘You’re trying to leave my side, but that can’t happen, Grace.’

“I see.”

Terran reached out to Grace, who seemed on the verge of collapse. He would never tell her the truth of today with his own mouth.

“We should go back.”

“But I’m to Terran…….”

She had demanded a breakup and declared she would leave. Was he suggesting they act like nothing happened?

“That was Grace’s one-sided demand; I never agreed to the breakup.”

“When I said I was leaving, you told me to go, didn’t you?”

“You couldn’t leave.”

“There were circumstances.”

“Grace, I think we have something serious to talk about, don’t you?”

“I’m not qualified to be Terran’s fiancée.”

That much was true. Terran knew nothing about the terrible thing that had happened to her.

“Let me ask the opposite. Am I qualified to be Grace’s fiancé? Of course, I am.”

He didn’t give her a chance to answer. At that moment, Leia’s eyes sparkled. A man who asks a question and answers it himself.

When she demanded the breakup, he was surprisingly calm, even offering her a carriage to the train station.

On one hand, she was puzzled, but she thought things were going too smoothly. But coincidences and artificial events happened simultaneously.

The train didn’t come, and Levon City was sealed off. Like a farmer trying to keep the sheep from escaping.

If what happened today was someone’s meticulous plan, it had to be someone with great influence.

Someone like Terran Courtois, the first Duke of Lubeck.

Could he be the one who stopped all the trains and carriages today?

The question was asked, but the answer was already determined. Terran took Grace’s hand, left the church, and got into the carriage.

“Did Terran do that? Stop the trains and seal off Levon City?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my god!”

At the time, she couldn’t have imagined it. She was amazed that he had stopped the entire city to hold her back.

Only then did she realize that she was just a small bird trapped in Terran’s cage.

“Why did you go so far?”

“Because your heart was wrong.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t you realize it yourself? That your will and method were all wrong from the start.”

Leia paused for a moment. It was as if Terran had seen through her.

His next words made even the last bit of pride she had left disappear.

“If you so desperately wanted to leave, you should have come back to me and asked for help. Having enough *余裕 [yoyuu: leeway/composure]* to assert your pride means you weren’t desperate.”

Terran’s words were neither completely right nor wrong.

If she had the will to put a bullet in Allen’s head, she should have asked Terran for help instead of going to the church.

She should have told him to help her get to Galdenia.

But she had doubted her plan first.

Terran didn’t know that it wasn’t easy for humans to act so simply.

“Whatever you dream and practice must all be done within me.”

Terran warned her sternly and said no more.

Leia didn’t ask anything until the carriage arrived at the Duke’s mansion.

Finally, as the carriage stopped in front of the main building, Terran looked at Grace with a very different look in his eyes.

His hand cupped her face.

“I’ll grant you anything you want. No, I can even be your strength. But you must keep one thing in mind.”

“What is it?”