Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Lucius was the one who had to work strenuously outside all day long, but when he came back, she would often look even more exhausted than he was.

To somehow comfort the tired-looking Deatrice, Lucius laid her on his thighs and stuffed some of her fruit into her mouth.

“What the hell did you do during the day that made you look this tired?”

When she told him, Lucius couldn’t stand the questions as he realized he couldn’t answer most of them either. No matter how much he loved her, it seemed too early to talk about their future, especially children.

But no matter how evasive she was, he couldn’t be unaware of what she was hiding. Just by looking at her brief silence and the vaguely changing expression on her face, Lucius was able to guess what was bothering her.

He’s not an idiot, and he wouldn’t be able to guess what kind of conversation was going on at such a meeting, or what subject she was having trouble with.

In fact, even before coming here, Lucius had thought that there was a need for some major breakthrough between them. They need something solid to break down the weak wall they have built.

And after a long thought, Lucius decided to find ‘the ring’.

The ruby ring that was given to Deatrice at her engagement,

It was never a pleasant or comfortable thing for him, but it seemed to act as a signal that he was ready to embrace their past.

So Lucius sent a letter to Dixie.

[Dixie,

I am asking this question, despite the shame, do you remember the ring your Aunt Josephine left for you? A ring made of large rubies and small diamonds. Of course, I know I’m in no position to discuss things in the house anymore, but that one is important to me. And if you do know where it is, may I request that you disclose that information to me?

I’ll be waiting for your answer.

With regards,
Lucius]

He sent it to the mail and was prepared to be cursed in response. At the moment, he felt very lucky that she’s pregnant, otherwise, she would’ve already come running and swearing at him about his foolish decisions.

Although it is a somewhat selfish expectation, he thought of the child in her belly and hoped that the letter to be sent in response would also be sent with censored content.

Although, it appears he was asking for too much.

[To my crazy older brother…]

This was how Dixie’s letter began, followed by long strings of profanity.

[I thought long and hard about what the hell it means to find that ring when you two have already broken up. Could it be that you couldn’t stand the existence of the ring, so you’re just going to break it personally? Or will it be displayed as a trophy of some sort and subject it to your ridicule? However, the last time I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears how much my brother acted like an asshole, I can’t bear to deny you this.

So, have you found true love?

It’s not even funny.

I remember when the ring was brought back to our mansion. You just wandered around the mansion like a ghost for days, do you remember? At that time, when your lawyer came, you didn’t even think about seeing him and just played the piano upstairs. It wasn’t even music, and that’s saying it lightly.

My older brother, who had lost his words, somehow tried to express his grief in a few notes.

You would stay on the porch for a long time every day and would check every letter that came through that door. Once, I saw the vacant look in your eyes and immediately knew that what you had been waiting for had finally arrived.

A ring fell out of an envelope—the ring you had been waiting for. While it was rolling towards me, you had rummaged through the already empty envelope to see if there was anything else.

And yet, there was nothing.

Not even a single goddamned note.

That mail came from that woman, she is exactly that kind of person. Can’t you see that? Looking at how pathetic you’ve become, I wonder if men are such pitiful beings after all.

And to answer your answer, there is no way I would still have that ring because I threw it away. I don’t know if it entered some servant’s pockets or if the butler disposed of it. I do not remember.

Regards,

Dixie]

Maybe he really is as pathetic as Dixie described. After reading the letter, his first thought was that it was better that Dixie didn’t have it. If she or the Countess truly had it, it would be difficult to retrieve it from them no matter how hard he tried.

As he mulled over this though, he realized something.

Dixie wrote every word in this letter, so shouldn’t he look back a bit?

But thinking about that particular past, standing on the porch and scouring every nook and cranny of that envelope to find something—anything—to fill up the gaping void in his chest, made him laugh at himself instead of feeling hate for Deatrice.

After all, wouldn’t it be more peculiar if she really did include a scathing letter when the ring itself being returned was already enough to break him?

Of course, she could’ve just written a simple sorry, but that wouldn’t be very Deatrice-like. He’d come to realize that she is a person who handles things in silence and with silence.

With the thoughts running rampant, Lucius gave the order to find the ring.

It was like a slippery eel, one he couldn’t quite catch. Just when he was almost this close to finding it, he would lose its trail again and would be back at square one. But thanks to having a capable man by his side, he was able to acquire the ring a day before departing for Rondini.