The Truth I Didn’t Want to Hear

What surprised me a little wasn’t that Eleanor-buin had seen through my intentions.

The position of head of the Eleanor family wasn’t won in a game of Ttakji, and anyone who’s risen to this level would naturally have some degree of perception, so it wasn’t that surprising.

What surprised me was that her attitude was more composed and gentle than I’d imagined.

It wouldn’t be unusual to be displeased with a stranger who hid his intentions and demanded a meeting, but there was no sign of that at all.

,You knew.”

,How could I not? You keep checking your watch like you’re so pressed for time.”

,I’m sorry for unintentionally deceiving you.”

,No, don’t worry about it. I’m happy to have the chance to talk with a young friend like you.”

Eleanor-buin said that jokingly, then lowered her gaze.

As if signaling that the pleasantries were over and it was time to get down to business.

,Actually, there are a few things I wanted to ask you, buin.”

,Is it about my daughter?”

,It’s similar, but different. Specifically, I want to ask about the relationship between you, your husband, and Eleanor-gongnyeo.”

,So you want to hear something more than just that we’re family.”

,That’s right.”

When I specifically mentioned only those three, excluding the youngest daughter, Eleanor-buin’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

It was as if she had a sense of what I was about to say.

This expression might be a little rude, but it was like a thief caught red-handed.

,Hearing from your daughter, your husband has been quite harsh on her.”

,He was. It’s a shameful story. He didn’t even want to see a child who was only a year old, so it’s safe to say he hated her.”

,And you vehemently opposed that, buin.”

,Yes, because she’s my daughter. How could I abandon her just because she was born with cursed eyes? I should be cherishing her even more.”

She was saying it calmly, but I felt a strange mix of emotions hearing it.

How could a couple be so polar opposite?

A husband trying to abandon his own flesh and blood born with cursed eyes, and a wife wanting to shower that child with even more love.

I realized anew that Sylvia was able to endure without becoming twisted because of the influence of the person in front of me, and continued speaking.

,But I heard that your husband couldn’t stand your pressure and eventually stopped persecuting your daughter from halfway through.”

,That’s right. It’s a bit of a shameful story, but my husband is a bit of a wife-lover. He’s completely devoted to me, so no matter how much he disliked the child, he couldn’t do it in front of me.”

,Indeed.”

The part I found most surprising was this.

At least, the Creed Eleanor I faced was quite a stubborn man.

Or rather, pig-headed.

There are some people like that. They have to push their own ideas, and if they don’t feel it benefits them, they easily ignore other people’s suggestions.

That’s why I deliberately played hardball when I took over Sylvia’s ownership from Creed Eleanor.

Because I knew at a glance that he would never agree otherwise.

,But after you became ill and started living a semi-secluded life, that became difficult, I imagine.”

,That’s right. My health deteriorated rapidly before and after giving birth to Lyne, and around that time, my husband’s misdeeds started again.”

Being able to definitively call her husband’s actions “misdeeds” is impressive in a way.

Most people would try to express it indirectly.

That’s how much the act of persecuting her daughter must have seemed like an unpardonable act of filial impiety in Eleanor-buin’s eyes.

,I heard he put her in a room that the servants used to use.”

,He did.”

No wonder. I thought Sylvia’s room was particularly isolated from the other rooms, so it used to be a room for the servants.

Come to think of it, the room was a little smaller, too.

Moreover, in such a large castle, the rooms of the family members are usually on a higher floor, but Sylvia’s room was particularly low.

,I protested again when I heard that, but it was weak. I can’t even live in the same room as my husband anymore, and I barely see his face, so there’s no way my words would carry any weight.”

,You must have been devastated.”

,I was. I don’t care what happens to me, but thinking that the child was being persecuted because I couldn’t be there to protect her made me feel like the sky was falling.”

For the first time, sadness settles in her eyes, which had been indifferent all along.

She was just trying not to show it in front of a guest, but Eleanor-buin herself would be the saddest person if she recalled those feelings.

It’s a tragic story.

But now is not the time to feel pity.

It’s my duty to set this twisted relationship straight.

So I suppressed the emotions that were welling up and cautiously opened my mouth towards Eleanor-buin.

In a way, you could say that this is the main point.

,Then, buin, have you perhaps heard the news that your husband has found someone who can cure your daughter’s eyes?”

,What? No. I haven’t heard anything like that at all…”

Eleanor-buin, startled by my question, widened her eyes as if she hadn’t heard anything about it.

I knew it.

No wonder the story seemed to be subtly different from when I met Sylvia earlier.

Sylvia clearly said, ‘My father called me urgently, so I tried to come as soon as possible, but it didn’t work out.’

Eleanor-buin replied in a way that said, ‘I don’t know why your father is in such a hurry to call people back and forth.’

If Eleanor-buin had already heard this news, she should have reacted differently there.

Moreover, if Creed Eleanor had such great news, he would have told his wife first.

He couldn’t not know that the person who would be happiest to hear this news wasn’t Sylvia herself, but his wife.

But for some reason, Creed Eleanor didn’t tell the person who should have been the first to know this news, and secretly called only Sylvia separately.

Doesn’t that already smell fishy?

,You must remember what your daughter said earlier. ‘My father called me, so I tried to come as soon as possible.'”

,Yes, that’s right. So when I heard that story, I thought it was unlike my husband… I wondered what was going on.”

Well, yeah.

Given Creed Eleanor’s personality, who originally treated Sylvia as a nuisance, he would have preferred that she never return to the castle, rather than urging her to return quickly.

Eleanor-buin also felt a sense of unease at that point.

Unintentionally, a basis for adding credibility to my words has arisen.

,…….”

Eleanor-buin, contemplating my words, lowered her head slightly and fell into thought.

My gaze, which had been steadily watching her, gradually narrowed, and finally, thinking that now was the right time, I opened my mouth.

,…Buin, you have a look on your face as if you’ve figured something out.”

,……!”

Was it a sharp observation on her part?

She, who had been managing her expression quite skillfully until just now, widened her eyes and looked at me as soon as she heard my words.

Her expression seemed to ask, “How did you know?”

I had to know.

In fact, I had been harboring doubts ever since I heard about the relationship between the three from Sylvia.

First of all, Creed Eleanor is, as I said before, quite stubborn and doesn’t easily bend his own arguments.

But the fact that such a man listens well only to his wife and accepts her words flawlessly, and that they had a late child even though they had a series of arguments about Sylvia.

I can see that the biggest presence for him is still his wife, Marian Eleanor.

However, when I thought that far, I had one question.

If Marian Eleanor is such a precious existence to him, wouldn’t he have reacted when he witnessed his wife becoming so weak?

I would never do that.

He would have done everything in his power to cure her, and wouldn’t he have been determined to cure her even if it meant making a deal with the Devil King?

Just as Sylvia is such an existence to me.

And when I reached that inference, another question was naturally resolved.

That is, why Creed Eleanor tried to join hands with the Eyes of Dawn.

At first, I thought it was a simple desire for power, or an obsession with strength, but in reality, that wasn’t the case.

And the answer to that is held by the person in front of me.

,Buin, has your husband recently brought you any good medicine… or brought someone who would cure your body?”

,How did you know that…?”

I knew it.

I had expected it to some extent from the moment Eleanor-buin said, ‘I’ve been feeling much better lately, so a light walk is no problem.’

Moreover, the existence of the Eyes of Dawn in my memory were those kinds of bastards.

Power to those who have no power, and authority to those who have no authority.

In that way, they approach someone who lacks something, and draw them to their side by offering them what they lack.

That’s their method.

And I can say with certainty that Creed Eleanor was just a pure lamb who fell very well into that trap.

,Buin, do you know about a group called the Eyes of Dawn?”

I cautiously opened my mouth, sensing that all the pieces were falling into place.

The expression on the buin’s face, which changed every moment as my words progressed, was so pitiful to watch, but I couldn’t stop.

If Marian Eleanor was a jewel that Creed Eleanor wanted to protect even if he had to give up everything, then Sylvia Eleanor was such an existence to me.

In order to protect her, I didn’t care about revealing the flaws of others and watching people grieve because of it.