Chapter 120 - Go find someone else to argue with!

“…….”

“Well, I did find it surprising at that time, but it didn’t seem weird.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because anything is possible here. Furthermore… I think I felt that Ruby could actually pull it off. After all, you’ve been that way all this time.”

“Was I really that unpredictable?”

“Didn’t you know? Take this morning for example.”

My sister-in-law, who was shaking her head, tied the ribbon of my cape in a bow.

It was at this moment that I smiled silently.

There was a knock on the door.

“Are you there, my lady?”

Wasn’t that the voice of the butler?

“What’s going on?”

“I apologise, my lady. Lady Furiana has come to pay a visit.”

You could make out his hesitant tone.

He definitely looked flustered. I didn’t know why.

After a moment of silence, Ellenia glanced at me and then replied to him.

“Tell them we’re busy and send her back. I already said the same last time.”

“I’m sorry but she didn’t ask for Young Miss, so I’m reporting to my lady….”

“What?”

“Lady Furiana asked to see the Duchess.”

What did that mean?

Ellen and I stared blankly at each other.

To be honest, I hadn’t thought of Freya at all.

There were some things she didn’t do on purpose, but my head was full of other thoughts already, and I only felt bad when I thought about her.

The temple issues, including Freya, were not something I should think about and judge alone.

But Freya visited me out of the blue today?

“The timing is not good. Just send her back…”

“No!”

I hurriedly interrupted Ellenia’s words.

Her red eyes widened.

“Ruby, you don’t have to force yourself to meet her. I can….”

“I’m not forcing myself. I have something to talk about.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Besides, you have to go out later.”

“We don’t know when it will be yet, so can’t I meet her for a bit?”

“But Ruby….”

“It’s all right, Ellen. Really. She’s your old friend anyway.”

Whether it was for me or not, I couldn’t make out Ellenia’s stance. Even after she let go of the nanny who had been looking after her since she was young.

In addition, I wondered why Freya wanted to see me.

“…Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Sure, did you forget who I am?”

* * *

Somehow, on a snowy winter afternoon, there was the rare scene of me setting up a tea table in my greenhouse garden, which added to the glorious scenery ahead.

With Freya seated beside me.

The last image I remembered of Freya was in the room of mirrors in the Angvan Palace.

Even when everyone was confused by the dragon’s roar, she was staring at me alone, frozen as if she were out of her mind.

In fact, Freya looked neat and elegant as always.

She seemed a little thin, a little less relaxed, but nothing that major.

However, after asking to see me, she showed no signs of opening her mouth.

Not only Freya, but we all seemed to have no sign of breaking the silence first.

The air in the greenhouse was warm, but the atmosphere here was chilly.

It was probably because of Ellenia, who sat upright, staring at her childhood friend with a cold face.

I didn’t know what had happened between the two.

However, considering Ellenia’s attitude, I could only guess that there must have been a dire moment.

Freya was neither talking to Ellenia nor looking at her.

She was just sitting with her shoulders stiffened and looking at the teacup with her head bent.

This is too much. Ah, this isn’t right.

“Ellen, do you mind if I stay with her for a while?”

In fact, Ellenia was going to leave soon anyway, but I asked carefully.

Freya’s hand holding the glass flinched a little.

“…If anything happens, please call me.”

Ellenia, who looked at Freya one last time, rose up.

After a while, I was finally left with her problematic childhood friend.

The clear winter sunlight poured down through the glass ceiling and shone on the table.

Instead of talking to my quiet opponent, I sipped my tea and tasted the colorful pastries on the tray.

There were fresh lemon tarts, crispy cookies, colorful cupcakes, and, of course, chocolate pudding.

Even the huge white cake I ate this morning.

I could finally sense Freya, who was still quiet, slowly raising her eyes.

I dipped almond cookies into the pudding cream, took a huge bite and sipped the plain black tea.

“……My lady.”

“What is it, Lady Freya?”

“……First of all, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Thank you. The tea smells good, so go ahead and drink it.”

Again the silence continued.

What’s the matter with her?

Freya looked at me eating without any sign of getting to business.

Are you going to pick a fight again? You look a little weak for that, but…

“I won’t apologize to you.”

……unsurprisingly. She’s still the same.

That side of her was very consistent.

“So I hope you don’t expect that.”

“…….”

“Anyway, I just did my best according to my beliefs. It’s still the same.”

“…….”

“Even if there were mistakes, I have had values accumulated through various experiences since I was born. And according to them…. I just can’t understand you.”

I got up with a cookie in my mouth.

I strode across the garden with all kinds of colorful flowers and bushes lined up.

Then, I beckoned the servants standing outside the entrance to leave, and closed the door.

When I came back to the table, Freya was frozen with a confused expression on her face, as if she had thought I left..

I sat back, chewed on my cookie, and folded my arms.

“Keep talking.”

The sound of stream water in the fountain rushing in the background was loud.

Freya, who stared at me with a pale face, soon continued.

“If one doesn’t help themselves, nobody else will.”

That’s a nice thing to say. Which book is this phrase from?

“Why have you been so…… I don’t know if you just neglected it, but it’s an addiction. Unhappiness and self-pity are like addiction.”

Ah…

“Of course, I have feelings of sympathy and compassion, but I can’t help but sigh first. Why in the world did you live like that?”

“…….”

“A combination of firm will and correct words can hurt anyone. If you decide to act on them, even the heavens will help you. If you’re a duchess and not a servant, you could have asked for anyone’s help at any time, so why did you stay still until it reached such a bad stage? Why didn’t you think about leading your life more actively and let everyone be unhappy, not just yourself?…”

Misfortune, self-pity, alienation, loneliness, exclusion, fear of death, violence, fear, compulsion and shame…

A confident lady who had never experienced all of this in person was now arguing with me.

It didn’t matter what she knew about me.

She just wanted to argue with me just by the vague image she procured that one moment she saw me.

Why did I live so pathetically, so passively that I made her confused with her ‘noble’ values?

Strangely, I felt that this was quite funny rather than angering.

It may be natural for the other side to react like this, since this was a scene different from the environment in which she was born and raised. She never experienced anything that I had.

The bewilderment of a person who has never been abandoned or left behind.

Nevertheless, despite being as different from me as she was, there were also people who said it wasn’t my fault just by looking at my eyes instead of blaming me or saying empty condolences.

“Are you listening? My….”

“Oh, I really can’t listen anymore.”

Splatter.

It had already happened here once the other day.

Gracefully combed platinum blonde hair, smooth white face, luxurious dress and accessories were soaked with tea.

Only the person who dumped the tea was different.

I could assure you that Freya’s expression now was exactly the same as the one I would have made last time.

A completely lost expression.

It was very worth seeing her covered in tea.

“W-What are you doing?….”

“Why, wasn’t it your hobby to cover yourself with tea? You kept blabbering, but it doesn’t seem like you live an active and confident life, at least not while you remain as childish as now.”

“Hey, who do you think you are? I….”

I picked up a handful of pastries and stuffed them inside her non-stop moving mouth.

Die of high blood sugar, you b*tch.

“Ugh! What kind of vulgarity is this….”

“It’s because I feel sorry for your shallow snout, why? As you said, let’s say I lived a pathetic life, but who are you to be confused? Who the hell are you to play tricks on me instead of playing fair and square, resorting to stupid pranks?”

“I-I…….”

“What, ‘Even the heavens will help you if you act’? Did God make you do those childish acts? If you envy me that much, then just say it instead of pretending to be noble and burning yourself in the process of looking ‘pitiful’ like me. Do you know how ugly and pathetic you seem? I feel so sorry for you who’s going crazy because of a pathetic human being like me!”

Purple eyes, which were shaking as if an earthquake had occurred, continued to burn.

I didn’t expect to see such a fierce and spiteful expression on Freya’s face, so I have to live long enough to see it again.

“If you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have been so shaken! What’s the point of you being here? What’s the point of you messing up my whole world?! Dirty Borgia girl, not even the real child, sold here for money because she’s a d*mned pr*stitute daughter..….”

Thwack.

Freya’s head got slammed in the white cake.

Her fine face quickly became creamy, and she soon reached out her floundering arm and grabbed my hair.

Tears welled up in my eyes due to the pain.

Just look at her.

“If it weren’t for you, the North would have been the same! You showed up without a care of what you do…!”

“If your patriotism burns that deep, go and become a martyr, you evil crooked human being!”

“All… you…… All because of you! Why the hell should I feel this way because of someone like you?!”

“I don’t care how you feel.”

“Why should I feel so deprived because of a woman whose status is unclear, who is not worth comparing anything, a stupid doll who can only laugh and dance!”

“That’s life, you little b*tch! Go find someone else to argue with!”