Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 41

Revenge Has Interest 41. Love Dummy (41/200)

41. Love Dummy

2023.09.10.

‘A liar?’

Terran was stunned by Grace’s cry.

It was completely unexpected. He swore he had never lied to her.

“What lie are you talking about?”

“You didn’t catch the Empress—Vivian. You didn’t catch her because of me, did you? Because you had to take responsibility for a woman you didn’t even love?”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t still have such affectionate feelings for the Empress.

“That’s not it!”

Terran was frustrated. Grace was definitely misunderstanding something.

‘Does Grace know everything about my relationship with Vivian?’

‘I think she knows. You keep calling the Empress of Lubeck Vivian. You called the Empress with such a desperate and sad face, didn’t you?’

Terran was a little confused.

Was she angry that he called the Empress’s name? If so, is Grace jealous right now?

Besides, a desperate and sad face? No matter how much he recalled, he didn’t make such an expression.

“I was trying to get better!”

“What?”

“Terran told me to try to love him. So I worked hard… but did you want to match yourself with your first love, who is incomparable to me?”

Leah was so emotional that she burst into tears. It was difficult to say these things to a man she liked while sober.

‘Match myself with my first love?’

‘I don’t know what all this means. Who is matching whom? Where did things go wrong?’

Grace is exaggerating beyond misunderstanding.

“I won’t try anymore. Someone like me can’t even follow in the Empress’s perfect footsteps. So Terran, just abandon me here. Pick a woman you can be proud of, your first love.”

Leah poured out her feelings like a shower towards Terran and ran towards the mansion.

She tried to protect only her self-esteem, which had fallen to the bottom, but he finally scratched her inside.

Tears welled up in Leah’s eyes, and she didn’t even notice the person walking from the opposite side.

“Miss.”

Luke couldn’t bring himself to catch Grace, who was running away crying sadly. If his plan had succeeded, Terran and Grace should have returned to the mansion arm in arm by now.

‘Ha! You couldn’t control your strength again.’

Luke sighed deeply and went to find Terran, who would have been left alone on some street.

“Duke!”

As expected, his prediction was correct. Terran was standing in the middle of the promenade with half of his soul gone.

“The young lady was crying a lot?”

“Crying? Damn it!”

Terran was so angry that he kicked innocent pebbles. Then he glared at Luke as if to kill him and shouted.

“It’s all your fault! You idiot!”

All he did was work hard to provoke jealousy. Luke’s advice created a deep rift between them.

“You succeeded?”

Unlike Terran, who was red-faced with anger, Luke was calm.

“Does this look like a success to you?”

“If the young lady had no feelings for the Duke, why would she be angry, cry, and run away?”

At Luke’s words, Terran swallowed the curse he was about to say.

It was a valid point. If you have no feelings, there is no need to be angry with the other person. Not only that, Grace did not hesitate to belittle herself by comparing herself to the Empress.

“Okay, okay! Calm down and explain the situation from beginning to end.”

“Huh? That’s……”

Terran told Luke everything as it was.

Then Luke’s face gradually turned pale, and he put his hands on his waist and paced back and forth.

“What Vivian? And her head is small, her arms and legs are thin, so take care of it yourself? Ha! Duke, love is not war. I told you to provoke jealousy, but why did you trample on the young lady’s self-esteem?”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s beyond repair. Her first love is said to be the Empress, so which woman in the world wouldn’t compare herself? Moreover, there are even rumors that the Empress is the idol of noble young ladies.”

“Grace is more beautiful and lovely.”

“Are you giving medicine after making her sick?”

‘You can tell that you’ve never been in a relationship.’

Luke shook his head and clicked his tongue. He had a great appearance, wealth, fame, and even power, but he was terrible at dating.

You have to boost a woman’s self-esteem by praising her appropriately.

Calling her Vivian, talking about engagement, and even saying that you still have feelings for her, it had the opposite effect.

“I thought I had to work hard to succeed.”

“Miss Grace is also physically weak. People who are physically weak have greater inferiority complexes because there are limited things they can do.”

“Grace is a smart and capable woman.”

That was just Terran’s opinion, but the problem was that the person in question did not agree.

“If you had finished with praise like that, this wouldn’t have happened.”

It was natural that it couldn’t be resolved because he had only provoked jealousy.

Terran was curious about the conclusion even though he had made such a fuss.

“What exactly is Grace’s state of mind?”

Terran waited for Luke’s answer with a nervous expression.

“The heart that was directed towards the Duke is breaking and returning to its original state.”

At that moment, Terran remembered what Grace had said.

[I won’t try anymore…….]

He didn’t even want to remember the words that followed.

What if Grace called her first love’s name and raved about praise? What if her first love was the Emperor? After all, people can quickly judge the situation only when they are in the same situation.

Terran suddenly felt dizzy.

From now on, he won’t be able to hold her hand affectionately or feel her sweet lips. It was good to just hold her in his arms and sleep… It’s all over.

“Luke, come up with a plan.”

“Just don’t do it. Duke, you can’t control your strength.”

“You won’t come to your senses until you die?”

Terran shouted scarily and grabbed Luke by the collar. Only then did Luke put his hands together politely.

“There is one thing. You have to perform enthusiastically, thinking this is your last chance.”

“What is it?”

* * *

Allen was shocked to see the newspaper. It was so persistent. He thought Hamilton’s general store would go bankrupt soon, but there was an article saying it was thriving again.

‘That gypsy is a Baron’s daughter?’

I hope the employee he bought at the Duke’s mansion didn’t tell her background. Of course, he would have been fired by now. But they don’t know that there is more than one person he bought at the Duke’s mansion.

Besides, they are even launching new products and orders are pouring in?

‘Things aren’t working out so well.’

Well, it doesn’t matter. Hamilton’s general store is not causing a big blow to his business yet. In times like this, it was wise to hide his schemes behind a solid mask.

“Sir, a telegram arrived from Lubeck early this morning.”

The secretary handed Allen the telegram.

‘Grace and the Duke are not on good terms?’

Allen’s face brightened as he crumpled the telegram.

“Send flowers to Grace Bizac.”

“I understand.”

Allen instructed his secretary next to him.

Like last time, he had to go to Lubeck to order a dress for Rivette. So he had to take action in advance.

His younger sister, Rivette, comes every day and whines.

She even threatened that if she couldn’t wear a Chenel [likely a misspelling of Chanel] lace dress to the Crown Princess selection party, she wouldn’t even attend the party.

‘That’s good, I can take this opportunity to completely seduce Grace Bizac.’

There was no woman he couldn’t bring down once he made up his mind. Last time’s mistake could be solved with material things like any other woman.

Just as Allen was about to fold the newspaper with a satisfied expression, a woman’s hand stroked his shoulder.

“Sarah, I told you not to come into my office without saying anything!”

He regretted not getting rid of Sarah sooner.

“Allen, are you going to Lubeck again?”

“How did you know that again?”

“Sending flowers means you’re going to meet that woman soon, right?”

“Don’t come this time.”

“Don’t worry. I will never do anything Allen doesn’t want.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course.”

‘I’m not going with you, I’m just going separately.’

Sarah knew Allen’s intentions too well.

He was not only fascinated by a woman named Grace Bizac at first sight, but he also planted people in Lubeck and received daily reports on her whereabouts.

Even when he was in Galdenia, he knew exactly what Grace was doing.

‘I know you’re a bad guy, but I can’t give up either. Because of you, I sent Miss Leah and the owner to hell.’

So there was no way to go back. He had no choice but to look ahead and walk with Allen.

‘Before you abandon me, I’ll just kill Grace from the start.’

Sarah smiled brightly with sad eyes.

* * *

Leah was working hard with Pauline to make riding clothes.

First, she finished designing what form to make it in. Now all that was left was to meet with the mansion’s exclusive tailor and discuss it.

However, Leah was not happy at all even though things were going smoothly.

“Miss, make up with the Duke.”

“What make up? He doesn’t look for me or talk to me.”

“That’s because you’re so angry, so he’s giving you space.”

Who? Duke Terran Courtois? You have to say something that makes sense.

He was not the type of person to say something regrettable to others. He should have come right away that day and apologized, but he turned away from her.

“We’re over.”

“Not over? Sister likes the Duke very, very much.”

Chenel, who was knitting lace in a rocking chair, muttered to herself. Even she wasn’t cute today because she was stabbing people’s weak spots like that.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she looked for the reason herself: why she was writhing in jealousy like this.

‘What’s the point of liking him so much? He’s a man who can’t even apologize.’

Leah just sighed. Just in time, James came with a knock.

‘Is he looking for me now?’

It was obvious. Terran was going to have James tell her to have dinner together. But James’s face didn’t look very good.

“Miss, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The Duke is very ill. He hasn’t been able to eat for days and has a high fever.”

“Terran is sick?”

Leah jumped up from her seat and asked. This was completely unexpected.