Chapter 38: 38

Episode 38: Of Old Friends and First Love (II)

 

Charlotte’s lips parted meaningfully and slowly.

“Eristella.”

“……!”

‘Uh…?’

Seeing Sonia and the fox harden in surprise, the corners of her lips rose even higher.

“How could I not know?”

Charlotte wasn’t looking at her, yet she was already aware.

‘Since when…?’

Eristella defensively hid her body behind Sonia’s back.

But Charlotte’s gaze tenaciously followed the fox. After thinking about something for a moment, she continued.

“I knew what Sonia was up to when I heard that she was working here.”

Sonia was startled and stiffened. She had an idea of why Charlotte would say that.

“The Sonia I know cannot work for the Grand Duchy of Adelasia for no reason. She’s refused to help me all this time.”

“I really appreciate your suggestion. I turned it down because…”

As expected, Sonia, who noticed Charlotte was upset, was trying to explain.

“I meant it. She’s different from others. I didn’t want to pretend that I didn’t know that the person I care about is in trouble.”

“…….”

“However, when I found out that she vehemently rejected me and was living in the Adelesia mansion, I was actually a little sad.”

Charlotte’s words were virtually aimed at Eristella.

‘Are you saying that on purpose, knowing I’m right here?’

It was when Eristella’s eyes were widened and glaring at Charlotte.

‘…Oops!’

Their eyes met as though Charlotte was waiting for this instance, and Charlotte smiled brightly at Eristella.

“You’re so quick to lose your temper, aren’t you really Eristella?”

‘…Shit. I missed the opportunity to pretend I’m not Eristella and turn away.’

“A fox that suddenly appeared.”

Eristella forgot that there were more people besides her family and Heinricion who had seen her transformed into a fox.

Then, Eristella remembered Charlotte whom she met as a child, and missed her belatedly.

A fox who suddenly appeared in the grand ducal house, Sonia who abruptly became an employee of Adelesia.

Charlotte was quick to notice with only a few clues, and swiftly came to the truth.

“You seem to be working hard to hide your identity, but what are you going to do now? You got caught by me?”

Charlotte’s lips drew a meaningful half-smile.

Unlike the elated Charlotte, Eristella was shivering.

She hadn’t yet decided whether she would reveal her identity to Charlotte.

She was going to see today and decide. But she was caught almost immediately like this.

Was it really a good thing to have called Charlotte today? When she met Charlotte’s sharp eyes, Eristella’s spine cooled.

There was something between Eristella and Charlotte that could be called a bad relationship.

Although Charlotte was a member of the imperial family, her childhood was not very good.

A prodigal father who was addicted to alcohol. A mother whose face was hardly seen.

The beautiful and clever girl who grew up under them.

Delilah.

The little girl’s only pleasure was singing, and imitating scenes she had seen in performances.

Eristella was the audience who watched Delilah’s performance over and over again.

At one point, she watched with Heinricion by her side.

Little Delilah had a dream. She wanted to live freely while singing and acting in the future.

But at the same time, she already knew the reality she was in right now.

She knew that when she grew up, her father was going to marry her to someone who had nothing but property.

Due to her father’s extravagance and an absurd business that only threw money away, the imperial support was dwindling. Hence, the family couldn’t let her go easily.

The girl who had grown up like that was biding her time.

The moment she turned eighteen.

She declared that she would renounce all her rights as an imperial family member.

But she wasn’t allowed to do what she wanted right away.

Her declaration became a hugely controversial issue, and although she persisted unrelentingly being stubborn, it didn’t seem easy.

Charlotte remembered what had happened back then. She parted her lips; there was still a smile in her eyes.

“I’ll help you.”

‘Uh…’

Eristella blinked.

“Let’s treat it as me paying off the debt I owe.”

‘Debt?’

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Was there such a thing? Eristella tilted her head.

“I know it was all thanks to you that I could leave the imperial family.”

It was like acting; Charlotte’s playfulness, her youthful expression became serious in an instant.

“I didn’t know at first. So I resented you and got angry.”

At the time, she was Delilah, unable to leave her family using her own abilities.

Moreover, since her family would never let her go, the only place she could turn to for help was the emperor and Princess Eristella.

She was desperate for their support. So she asked Eristella.

She pleaded for assistance, because she wanted to get out of that family at any cost.

At that time, Eristella clearly said this to Charlotte:

“How much do you want it? Even with everything on the line. Would you give up everything else?”

Charlotte remembered vividly what she had answered at that time.

And at first, the emperor intervened and supported Charlotte’s will.

But her family was more persistent than she thought, gripping onto her.

Charlotte was thinking about leaving the capital as a last resort.

Then one day, her father offered to have a serious conversation.

“Why did you hide from your parents that your great-grandmother had an inheritance left only to you?”

As soon as he showed his true colors with that one sentence, her expectations collapsed. She had a terrible dislike for her father.

“If you want to go out, give it up. Then I’ll let you.”

The shares bequeathed to her from the territorial land and trade ships held by her maternal great-grandmother were comparable to most families.

Charlotte’s family made that the condition for releasing her.

Thump-thump-thump-thump—

Her heart was pounding unsteadily. It was secretly left to Charlotte by her maternal great-grandmother, who loved her especially when she was young, foreseeing the future of her family.

How did her father know that?

She never told anyone… No, she did tell one person.

Eristella.

“How could you? Knowing what that inheritance means to me!”

“You told me that you could throw away anything to get out of that family.”

Charlotte immediately protested to Eristella, saying ‘How could you do that?’

However, Eristella gave no excuses as her friend, and she spoke soberly.

“Don’t they need to get something from you before they’ll let you go?”

Oh yes. Definitely, Charlotte said she wanted to get out of the family even if she had to throw away everything. But that didn’t mean Eristella could do this without saying a word to her.

“Choose. If you give up, I will help you keep that inheritance.”

“…….”

In the end, all she was given was the choice between two of the unfavorable options.

Eventually, Charlotte gave up the inheritance of her maternal great-grandmother, who was the only one in the family who loved her, and left penniless.

Thereupon, she couldn’t even get a house on her own. With the money she had, the only thing she could do was to get a meal for a few days and find a room to sleep in. She struggled to survive alone.

At that time, it felt like it was all because of Eristella.

But now Charlotte had the experience to view the events of that day with a different perspective.

Back then, Charlotte didn’t know much about the world yet, and she did not consider what would happen after she was no longer a member of the imperial family.

No matter how insignificant her family might have been, it was so natural for her to live in abundance as a member of the imperial family, so her plan was nothing more than a hopeful delusion.

But at the time, she didn’t know.

That was why she felt that Eristella had betrayed her and pushed her to the edge of a cliff.

Thus, on the day she gave up the name ‘Delilah’ and became ‘Charlotte’, she poured all the bad words and resentment that she could towards Eristella.

Charlotte swore that she would show Eristella how she would live well.

Hence, starting from scratch, Charlotte began to do things she had never done in her life. She didn’t mind doing dirty work to earn money, and using that money, she paid for a room to sleep in at night and went to auditions.

Every moment was excruciatingly difficult for her, and some days she regretted leaving the imperial family.

But every time it happened, her resentment towards Eristella allowed her to endure anything.

Charlotte found out only after saving money, passing the audition, and laying the groundwork on stage.

“Did you think the world would be kind to a bum who’s famous?”

“…I haven’t even seen a wink of kindness, what do you mean?”

“Do you think these are the only dirty things in the world? It’s because you grew up nicely. You still don’t know the world at all.”

“……?”

Charlotte was able to get a job on her own and not be deprived of money.

She was able to live safely despite being in a shabby room with a broken doorknob.

It was all thanks to Eristella’s secret support for her.

“Well, it’s still great. It means that you escaped the worst, considering that you have made it this far despite all sorts of mockery and gazes.”

“…….”

It was only then that Charlotte looked back on the past incident. And she learned of Eristella’s consideration which she didn’t notice back then.

“At that time, your way was too harsh for me and I felt betrayed, but now I understand. If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get away from my family.”

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