Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 43

Revenge Has Interest 43 (43/200)

43

2023.09.12.

After earnestly pleading with the Empress, Leah fled the Imperial Palace as if running away. Even after getting into the carriage, her ragged breathing didn’t subside.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Pauline’s worried voice sounded distant. Leah stared out the window, lost in thought.

‘What am I doing here?’

She thought she had grown accustomed to Lubeck, but in an instant, it felt as foreign as the first time she had arrived.

‘This isn’t Galdenia.’

She wasn’t a Lubeckian. She had lived in Galdenia until she was twenty, and she had a proper home there.

A storm of homesickness raged within her.

The longing for her father crashed in like a tidal wave. She didn’t want to stay in unfamiliar Lubeck for even a moment longer.

Bang, bang. Leah knocked on the ceiling to stop the carriage, and Pauline stared at her with a surprised expression.

“Give each of the coachmen a gold coin.”

Leah took out two gold coins from her purse.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Tell them to go to Brasel, the capital of Galdenia. I need to check out Hamilton’s General Store.”

“Now?”

Pauline asked back with a bewildered face.

To inspect the general store in Galdenia, shouldn’t they make plans in advance and send a message? Moreover, making the Empress’s riding clothes was more urgent right now.

“Pauline, how about we combine our work with a little trip?”

“It sounds nice, but the Duke……”

“Don’t you trust me?”

Pauline was concerned about Grace, who seemed particularly depressed today. Well, she must have been upset after saying such things to the Empress.

“Of course, Miss, wherever you go, I’ll be with you. I’m a little worried about Chenner, but there are unavoidable situations, aren’t there?”

“Thank you for understanding, Pauline.”

Leah felt relieved. She had been worried that Pauline would strongly oppose and tell her to return to the Duke’s residence.

Pauline quickly got out of the carriage, gave each of the two coachmen a gold coin, and told them their destination. Fortunately, the coachmen readily agreed.

After all, they would be in trouble if they returned to the Duke’s residence with an empty carriage.

‘I want to take the train, but Terrence might stop me again in the middle.’

Above all, the train would leave a record of her destination, which made her uneasy.

Leah’s heart ached. She didn’t know how to express this feeling, but right now, she vaguely wanted to revisit old memories.

She wanted to see the house where she, her father, and the Hamilton Company people lived, even from a distance. Soon, the carriage departed for Brasel, the capital of Galdenia.

“Pauline, don’t worry. We’ll only check the general store in Brasel and come back.”

“Yes, but it will still take a few days. I wish I had packed my luggage.”

“Everything we need is at the general store. We can buy it there. How about we sleep in a hotel and order food in our room?”

“꺅! That sounds amazing.”

Pauline was now completely on board.

In fact, Leah was also overcome with longing for her homeland, but she didn’t have the confidence to see Terrence right now.

By now, he would be pouring out all the emotions he had been suppressing to the Empress, or rather, Vivian. Honestly, she didn’t want to go to the Duke’s residence where Terrence and the Empress were.

‘I’m going to find out who I am.’

* * *

Terrence rose from his seat and looked at the Empress with a bewildered expression. He couldn’t understand the situation of her being in his bedroom and immediately getting angry.

“Vivian, what brings you to my house?”

“Do you think I wanted to come? Your incredibly undeserving fiancée begged me, so I had no choice.”

He had no idea what she was talking about. He wondered why Grace had gone to the Empress and begged for something.

“Terrence, was I your first love?”

“Around when I was eight?”

“Ha! That’s not first love. You’ve made a big mistake, and Lady Vizak is seriously misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“And I never liked you. You know that too. You know how much I admired His Majesty [the Emperor]. So why are you writing novels and making people tired?”

“I don’t have feelings for you either.”

Terrence was also starting to get angry.

He had liked the Empress very briefly when he was not even ten years old, but after that, he didn’t see her as anything more than a friend. What meaning did the feelings of a snot-nosed kid have?

But what the Empress said afterward struck Terrence’s heart like a bullet. Grace had come to her without prior notice and said absurd things.

[Your Majesty, my fiancé is very ill.]

[Oh dear, oh dear! I don’t know how to comfort you… Lady Vizak.]

[Instead of comfort, could Your Majesty come to the Duke’s residence? That person still has you in his heart. He’s calling out your name and struggling with old feelings.]

[That can’t be….]

Grace looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment, and he felt sorry for her.

The Empress intuitively realized that there was a misunderstanding between Terrence and Grace and that the situation was more serious than she had expected.

But on the other hand, she was curious. In this kind of situation, a normal woman wouldn’t come to the woman her man liked and beg so pathetically.

She wanted to know what Grace was thinking when she came all the way here.

[Doesn’t Lady Vizak mind? You like the Duke, don’t you? If it were me, I would be too proud and jealous to do this, right?]

[I…….]

Grace was so overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn’t speak for a while.

[I want Terrence to be happy. Rather than being unhappy with me, whom he doesn’t like, I want him to confess his feelings to Your Majesty and be comforted. That way, he won’t have any regrets left.]

After hearing the situation from the Empress, Terrence ran a hand over his face.

Damn it, he had been trying to explain while taking medicine, but it had become poison instead. The situation had worsened with the things he had done to fix it.

“I can say with certainty that there is no woman in your life who can love you as much as Grace Vizak. You idiot, you moron, you mutt!”

“Mutt, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard that. When you were angry as a child, the worst insult you could come up with was ‘mutt’.”

It was a side of the Empress that the world didn’t know at all.

She was known as a woman of great dignity and refinement, but the Empress was a great tomboy with a strong competitive spirit when she was young. In some ways, she had a lot in common with Grace.

“Are you going to let go of such a woman? She’s beautiful, capable, and kind-hearted. There are plenty of men who want her even if it’s not you.”

He knew her too well, which was the problem. He knew it when she flew to him like a dove when he was shot in the shepherd’s hut.

And from that moment on, he became anxious. He was afraid that she might fly away from him someday.

“I’ll give you one warning as Empress. If you don’t capture Lady Vizak’s heart, the Imperial Family will look for another match.”

Terrence’s face turned cold at the Empress’s words. He got out of bed and strode towards the Empress.

“If that happens, the Emperor of this country will change. Your Majesty!”

“Ha! Now you’re acting like Terrence Courtois.”

He seemed like a perfect man on the outside, but he was too clumsy in love and made mistakes.

Still, his unwavering devotion to one woman was commendable.

* * *

The Duke’s residence was turned upside down by the sound of the bell tower ringing at midnight.

Leah and Pauline, who had gone to see the Empress, had not returned. The problem was that the carriage that had taken the two women had also disappeared from Lebon.

Terrence immediately put on his uniform.

“A message came from the Empress, but the Miss is not at the palace.”

James said in an agitated tone.

After the Empress returned, Terrence contacted the palace. He wondered if Grace might still be at the palace. But unfortunately, it was confirmed that Grace had left the palace early.

“Prepare the horses. We’re going to search every inch of Lebon.”

He led the guards into the city. Of course, Luke was by his side, running alongside him on horseback, carefully watching his mood.

“All the shops are closed after midnight.”

At Luke’s words, Terrence turned his horse towards Lebon Train Station. If she had left the city, there would be a record.

But there was no record of her taking the train.

“Inform the Rapa organization [a local intelligence network]. They know all the back alleys.”

“Yes, but could the Miss have gone to a dangerous place?”

“Just tell them!”

Terrence shouted.

Was this what it felt like when the sky was falling? Just breathing felt like torture.

“Send people to every hotel in Lebon.”

“Understood.”

He rode madly through the deserted city.

He kept calling her name, knowing full well that Grace couldn’t hear him. Belated regret washed over him like a storm, and he wanted to die because he felt so pathetic.

Moreover, he realized exactly how he felt about Grace. At first, he vaguely liked her, then he realized that he couldn’t live without her, and now…….

‘I feel like I’m going to die.’

He didn’t want to go back to the hellish past.

Before, he had been constantly suffering from the wounds of war and trying to escape, but now he hated the reality without Grace.

‘Please come back to me.’

Terrence called her like a mantra.

The woman who had breathed life into him was wielding a sword of death. But despair was not far away.

A guard ran up and reported to Terrence.

“The Duke’s carriage has crossed the border.”

“Did you confirm it?”

“I sent a telegram to the border, and the reply just came.”

“Where did she go?”

“That has not been confirmed.”

“Do you all want to die? You should have confirmed the destination when she crossed the border!”

Terrence shouted fiercely.

“Since it was the Duke’s carriage, the guards seem to have just let it pass.”

“Goddamn it!”

He cursed. Once she crossed the border, she could go to several countries: Galdenia, Velis, Estro, Lapoli, and so on.

Terrence gritted his teeth.

‘No, it doesn’t matter where she went. It’s not like there’s no way at all.’

“Ugh……!”

He clutched his chest. His heart was pounding wildly, and now a bursting pain was coming.

‘She crossed the border without fear?’

Terrence was overwhelmed with anger that even he couldn’t handle.