Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 170

Revenge Has Interest 170

170. Finding Her Place? (170/200)

2024.01.17.

The wedding proceeded smoothly, like a script that had been written in advance.

There was no Tua Jo, the Commissioner-General of the Metropolitan Police, barging in to disrupt the wedding, and instead of Allen, who had once been consumed by ambition, there was only a man looking reverently at the woman he loved.

Leah hesitated at the entrance of the wedding hall. Was it right to live according to the whims of fate?

She wondered if it was right to simply accept death when it was her time, to live someone else’s life when told to, and to passively go along with everything.

More than anything, she no longer loved Allen, who was no longer the villain he once was.

Being pushed into a marriage like this would ruin his life. She knew it all too well, having lived it once before.

“Father…”

Leah called Richard in a low voice before the ceremony began.

“Leah.”

“I can’t do it.”

“What? Isn’t this the wedding you wanted so much?”

“It is, but I can’t go through with it. No, this is a marriage I shouldn’t do.”

Richard couldn’t hide his embarrassment at his daughter’s sudden change of heart.

To call off the whole thing now, after inviting so many dignitaries.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not a child!”

Richard snapped.

If the wedding fell apart today, the front page of every newspaper would be plastered with articles about Leah and Allen’s broken engagement.

Even if Allen didn’t care, in such cases, it was always the woman who suffered the most.

Leah ran straight to Allen and took his hand.

“Leah, you shouldn’t be running like this…”

“Allen, I’m sorry. I don’t love you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s all my fault. And I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you as the wonderful person you are.”

Leah conveyed her true feelings, tears streaming down her face.

Allen McDowell could have been remembered as the enemy who ruined her life, but she was glad to be able to face him as a completely different person.

Leah shouted to the assembled guests.

“I’m sorry! There will be no wedding today.”

The audience buzzed at Leah’s words. Everyone was stunned into silence for a moment, before a wave of murmuring rippled through the hall.

Leah ran out of the wedding hall and headed home.

‘I’m going to Terrun.’

There were so many things to verify in Lubeck.

She needed to know if the many things and emotions she had experienced were just a dream. But it was too vivid to be a dream.

It was as if her soul was being slashed with a knife; the pain was so intense. Her heart was tied to Terrun’s side and refused to return.

So, whether it was reality or a dream, she needed time to experience, endure, and accept it for herself.

* * *

As Richard had predicted, the next day, all the newspapers covered the Hamilton and McDowell family’s broken wedding as a major story.

Richard went directly to the McDowell family to apologize, and Leah was placed under house arrest, not allowed to step outside her bedroom.

“This must be real.”

It was eerily realistic to call it a dream.

Well, the very idea of her soul possessing someone else’s body didn’t make sense.

The life she lived as Grace Bizac, not Leah Hamilton, must be a dream. But it was hard to accept it all at once.

“Miss, are you sure you won’t regret it?”

Sarah asked worriedly, and Leah stared at her blankly.

“I don’t know. Everything is just confusing.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t believe I’m alive.”

At Leah’s lament, Sarah got up from her seat and brought something she had found.

“It’s because of this book.”

Sarah handed Leah a book.

“What is this? Is it a book I was reading?”

“Yes, you always read it before going to bed.”

The book itself was too unfamiliar for her to recognize it.

Because she hardly ever read romance novels. She usually liked to read columns in the newspaper and interpret them in her own way.

‘Revenge Has Interest?’

“What’s it about? I don’t remember.”

“It’s about a rich man’s daughter who is betrayed by the man she loves on her wedding day, loses everything, and lives by possessing another woman’s body. It’s absurd.”

“What?”

Leah was startled and opened the book.

But only the names of the characters were different, and the content was exactly the same as what she had experienced. Then she could know the ending, right?

Leah flipped through the book and opened the last page. But the last scene was the heroine entering the operating room to give birth.

“Is this unfinished?”

“Yes, everyone is in an uproar because it hasn’t been completed for years.”

‘How could this happen?’

Then Leah’s mind flashed.

If what she had experienced was simply fiction, then the people she met in Lubeck, including Terrun, would never exist.

“Sarah, can you help me? I have somewhere to go urgently.”

“The master will be very angry with me.”

“I’ll take the blame, so please let me go outside.”

Leah grabbed Sarah and pleaded.

Perhaps her earnestness worked. Sarah helped Leah get out through the back door used by the employees.

Leah prepared thoroughly to go to Lubeck. She took the train from Bracel Station to Lubeck.

‘I’m just going to check.’

She thought a lot on the train to Lubeck.

The content of the novel was exactly as she had experienced it. If she was simply mistaking the content of the novel for reality, there would be many errors.

That way, she would be able to endure the trials that had befallen her.

But why was she so sad? Strictly speaking, the situation she was in now was right.

It was a good ending that her father was safe, Allen was not a villain, and Empress Teresa was not unhappy.

But only she felt empty and heartbroken.

In addition, she was also afraid of what she would find in Lubeck. Above all, losing love was the most painful.

‘Was my love with Terrun an illusion?’

It was hard to accept the fact that it was a fiction created in a state of unconsciousness after reading the novel.

‘My heart still hurts so much…’

Leah cried, hitting her chest with her fist.

She was overwhelmed by the fear that her desperate feelings for him would be completely denied and that Terrun Courtois would not exist in the world.

* * *

Leah got off at Lebon Station and took a carriage.

Instead of telling him whose house to go to, she told the coachman an address she knew. Fortunately, the address existed.

Of course, it was unknown whether Terrun lived there.

The view of Lubeck from the carriage window was the same as she had seen before.

The streets of Lebon, where she had ridden countless times in Terrun’s carriage.

Seeing the officers patrolling the city on horseback reminded her of the time she was arrested and imprisoned for attempted murder.

Of course, she was surprised that the content was also in the book.

Finally, the carriage took her to the address she wanted. Leah got out of the carriage and headed to the Duke’s residence.

“It’s the same!”

It was the same as the Courtois Duke’s residence. Even the Duke’s family crest engraved on the iron gate was the same.

Leah slowly approached with a trembling heart. But for some reason, there were no protesters in front of the iron gate.

It was as if they had deliberately opened the door wide to welcome guests.

Leah entered the Duke’s residence without hesitation.

“It’s this smell.”

The woody scent that Terrun had emanated was permeating the Duke’s residence garden.

Beyond the garden was a spruce forest, and she used to take walks there with him.

But why was the mansion so quiet? There were so many employees, but not a single person was to be seen.

‘James will be at the main building, right?’

Leah didn’t go to the main building.

She looked around the garden and headed to the spruce forest path where she often went with Terrun.

She really liked the place where the atmosphere of the four seasons was felt. Then she heard children’s laughter in the distance.

Leah followed the sound without realizing it.

‘Why are there children at the Duke’s residence? It can’t be Oliver.’

In fact, she couldn’t even guarantee that Oliver existed. Still, Leah didn’t stop walking.

The closer she got to the forest, the louder the children’s laughter became. And finally, Leah witnessed it.

The sight of a happy family. Terrun and two children, and Grace.

‘Oh my God!’

Leah was frozen in place with goosebumps all over her body.

Was she about five years old? The girl looked just like Grace, and the boy looked just like Terrun.

They were singing and walking happily, unaware that Leah was watching.

‘How could this happen?’

Leah’s eyes were red and tearful.

In particular, seeing Terrun looking so happy, as if he had nothing to envy in the world, broke her heart.

She should be blessing and supporting his life, but she resented Terrun for not recognizing her even though she was right in front of him.

Leah couldn’t take her eyes off the children.

‘They’re like angels.’

She had never seen such pretty children in her life.

If possible, she wanted to run over and hug the children. Soon, Leah’s eyes met Grace’s head-on.

Strangely enough, Grace’s smile disappeared from her face as if she could see Leah.

She left Terrun and the children alone and walked towards Leah.

“Leah Hamilton, I gave you back your life, so why did you come all the way here?”

Grace’s attitude was very cold.

“How did this all happen? I was clearly Grace. I was pregnant with those children and gave birth to them. But when I opened my eyes…”

“Leah, have you forgotten? You promised me that you would give birth to my daughter and son.”

“That’s…!”

It was like a will that Grace said as her soul disappeared.

She didn’t tell her that this would happen at all.

“I’m grateful to Leah. But it’s right for each of us to return to our original places, isn’t it?”

Everything Grace said was right. She was never Grace Bizac in the first place.

So, it was natural to give her back her body and life.

But emotionally, it was still difficult to accept. Because there was so much love for Terrun and the children in her.

“Leah, go back. Quickly!”

Grace shouted at Leah.

Leah unknowingly took a step back, turned completely around, and ran forward.