101st Confession - Chapter 127

<CHAPTER 127

Lucia was speechless. She wasn’t sure exactly how to react. 

“……How did you know that?”

“Herwin told me the other day, and then he blamed himself for being stupid.”

“Herwin told you…….”

“So when I heard that, I punched him in the head, telling him he was crazy.”

“……….”

Arista deliberately raised her voice to break the ice, but Lucia was still staring at her, mesmerized. Arista shrugged and cleared her throat.

“Anyway, I couldn’t help but think of you when I heard that. I know you’ve had a crush on Herwin for a long time.”

“Arista…….”

“You also said that you knew Herwin liked me, is that right?”

“……Yes, that’s right.”

“Didn’t you hate me? If I were you……!”

After a moment of excitement, Arista caught her breath and calmed down.

“If I were ……you, I wouldn’t even want to look at my face.”

Lucia hadn’t realized that she was going to have to talk about something she’d put off for so long, much less share it with Arista.

“When I first found out, I hated you so much.”

“……….”

“Do you remember the first semester of freshman year, when, I was avoiding you like crazy?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“It was the time I went with Bianca, so I wasn’t affected at all, but you know what, now that I think about it, she hated you.”

Arista immediately blushed at the mention of Bianca’s name.

“Well, that doesn’t excuse my behavior, after all, I was avoiding you, and I almost did something to get you in trouble.”

“Something to get me in trouble?”

Lucia was taken aback for a moment, but then she calmly explained what had happened. Arista’s face stiffened as she listened.

“I didn’t end up doing anything, but it’s still on my mind.”

“……….”

“Arista, I don’t hate you. I could spend the rest of my life apologizing to you because you accepted me as I was and I’ve been hiding the wrong I did to you all this time, and I’m so sorry.”

Lucia’s heart was heavy. Somehow, she’d managed to put it behind her. 

She might have rationalized to herself that now that she’s friends with Arista, she can’t get away with it.

But that was just running away from the truth. 

Like a dirty snowball, no amount of fresh snow can make it clean.

After hearing Lucia’s words, Arista let out a deep sigh. Her heart felt even heavier. But first, Arista hugged Lucia.

“After all that, you still chose me.”

“……….”

“Honestly, I was surprised, but you shouldn’t be sorry. In the end, you didn’t run, and you decided to be friends with me, right?”

The gruff voice touched something inside her.

“Lucia, if I were you, I would have done it a long time ago; I would have been jealous and envious of me, and I would have tried to take me away from Herwin somehow, but you didn’t, and that’s wonderful.”

“I, I’m not the one who deserves to hear that…….”

Something inside her finally broke, and tears welled up in her eyes. She sobbed and stammered, and Arista panicked, hugging Lucia tighter.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“Arista…….”

“Don’t cry. Herwin will be mad if he finds out I made you cry.”

At Arista’s mention of Herwin, Lucia composed herself as best she could and tried to stop crying. As she pressed her lips together, Arista laughed.

“I was a little nervous when I heard that from Herwin… I wondered what if you hated me…….”

“That’s not possible, why would I hate you!”

Arista pouted at the sight of Lucia squirming in her arms.

“You’re right, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have.”

“Did anyone say anything strange? There’s no way I hate you, but why are you saying that…….”

Lucia pouted and demanded to know the name of the person who said such a strange thing. Arista, who only smiled at the sight, hesitated.

“So… would you be okay with me being closer to you than I am now?”

“As long as we’re close…….”

“Like… family.”

She didn’t seem to be referring to family in a literal sense. That didn’t mean she was going to join as Agnes, and there was no other way….…

Something flashed through Lucia’s mind, and surprise bloomed on her face.

Then her mouth fell open.

“You want to …… marry my brother?”

Arista shuddered, rolled her eyes, and nodded shyly.

The hairs on her body stood on end, and her jaw dropped in surprise.

“Oh, oh, are you, are you, are you dating my brother?”

“…… Um, it’s a little fuzzy.”

The tension quickly subsided. Lucia gave her a strange look, and Arista laughed.

“I’m sorry, did I say something weird?”

“No, it’s, um…….”

As Lucia fumbled for the right words, Arista spoke up.

“Are you okay with me going out with brother Lucas? Don’t you hate it?”

“Me? Why would I hate it?”

“Because you might not like me ……, and besides, it’s happened in the past and…….”

Neither of them had blushed directly, but given their tangled history, she thought Lucia might not like her.

The thought of her husband’s former love interest coming to be his brother’s wife was too much to bear. 

Even if Herwin had mistaken longing for love, it was true that Lucia had been hurt and troubled by it in the past.

Lucia suddenly realized why Arista had mentioned it.

“Arista. I’ve told you before, I don’t hate you. I want you to work things out with my brother.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah. So, Arista. I’m rooting for you. I mean, if you marry my brother, I’m all for it!”

Arista, momentarily overwhelmed with emotion, put her hand on Lucia’s back and hugged her tightly.

“……Thank you, Lucia, you give me courage.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you’re sure you want to marry my brother, right?”

Arista nodded vigorously.

“Then, fine, but if things work out between you two in the future, you’ll be the first to tell me. Do you understand?”

“Of course!”

The two women looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Then Lucia sneezed, and Herwin, who had been looking for her, appeared just in time.

When Herwin saw Lucia’s frozen body, he scolded her for staying out in the cold.

Eventually, he heard Arista join in, but they both laughed.

Arista felt like a stone had been lifted from her heart.

* * *

“Hurry up and move!”

“You’re already at the Duchy!”

“Jay, I told you to put it there, not there!”

The Duke’s Castle of Phoenaeus stood majestically against the backdrop of pure white snowy mountains like a picture.

From the first rays of dawn, servants were bustling around, preparing to welcome those who were about to arrive.

Scarlett, in particular, has been giving instructions to the servants, making sure the castle is spotlessly clean.

The cleanup had been going on for days, and the fatigue had set in, but their faces were bright, and so was her.

“Finally, the master is back with the little madam!”

It had long been heard that Herwin married Lucia in the capital.

Half the people in the duchy had known Herwin since he was a baby, so when they heard he was marrying Lucia, they were surprised.

But then they remembered Lucia and were quickly convinced.

‘If she’s Lady Agnes, I approve.’

‘They’ve been dead to each other since they were children.’

When they were younger, Lucia had confessed her love to Herwin as little as possible in public, but those with a keen eye could see that she was in love with him without having to witness it.

So when Herwin took Lucia as his wife instead of someone else, everyone rejoiced.

Personal feelings aside, none of the servants could resist the enthusiasm with which their master greeted her.

“The carriage is coming in!”

A young servant clearing the snow from the porch announced the arrival of Herwin and Lucia with a peal of peacock bells. 

Then the servants finished their work as best they could and lined up in the line they had practiced yesterday. Scarlett and Hail hurried down the stairs and waited for the carriage to arrive.

The carriage came to a gentle stop. The door opened, revealing Herwin first, followed by a young woman who looked like she might be a child.

Those who saw Lucia for the first time let out a gasp of admiration. In her white fur coat, she looked like a winter fairy.

“Lucia!”

“Is our new baby here?”

Scarlett and Hail grinned and hugged Lucia as hard as they could. Lucia was confused at first, but then she greeted them with a fresh smile.

“Mother, how have you and Father been doing?”

“Excuse me, don’t you see your son?”

Herwin shot a dumbfounded glance at her parents, who greeted Lucia alone, their biological child aside.

Regardless, the duke and duchess focused solely on Lucia.

“It was a long way to get here. It’s cold up north, isn’t it?”

“Oh, my hands are cold. Didn’t you have heated tools in the carriage, Herwin? As a husband, you should have taken care of that.”

“Mother, my hands are cold, they were warm enough on the way here.”

Suddenly cold, Herwin shook his head with a laugh as he watched his parents enter, carrying only Lucia.

“Welcome to the duchy, little lady.”

The servants said in unison as they reached the entrance. Lucia looked startled, then smiled sheepishly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to your kindness.”

It was a gentleness that was completely out of character for the cold-blooded, harsh North. It was a single word, but it was enough to melt the hearts of the servants.

Especially the young servant standing closest to the entrance, who stared so long at Lucia that he lost his grip on his broom.

Thwack-thud.

It was a small sound, but it instantly created a heavy silence. The boy realized his mistake and quickly bowed his head.

“Sorry, I’m sorry!”

He hurriedly bent down and moved to pick up the broom, but a delicate hand grabbed it before he could.

“Here, here.”

It was Lucia. Lucia looked like a fairy out of a storybook. As the young servant froze, Lucia shook her head.

“……yes, pretty.”

The sincerity spilled from the boy’s mouth, causing Herwin to raise one eyebrow and Lucia to laugh. The boy suddenly realized his mistake.

“I’m sorry! Now, little lady, what did I say…….”

“No. It feels good to be pretty.”

Lucia took the boy’s hand in hers and placed the broom on it. Suddenly, his hand turned gray, and she realized that it had turned blue.

As she watched, Lucia took off her gloves and put them on the boy’s hands.

The boy panicked, but before he knew it, her glove was in his hand. Lucia’s hands were small, so the gloves were barely fitting.

“It’s cold out, so wear these to work. Take care of yourself.”

“These are precious…….”

Lucia shook her head, though the nearby servant said it was fine.

“I’ll just knit another one, it doesn’t matter.”

With those words, Lucia turned to Herwin, and before she knew it, she was walking up the stairs with the Duke and Duchess.

In the distance, Herwin called out to Lucia to knit him a glove, but the boy’s ears heard nothing.

He just stared at the gloves, densely padded with soft wool.

“Let me see.”

Just then, the butler appeared. The boy took a sharp intake of breath, for this was not a man with whom he usually spoke.

Shouldn’t he have taken it, he wondered, even if it was from the little lady?

“As expected… No, it’s the little lady. She’s very skillful.”

“A… aren’t you going to scold me?”

“There’s no need to scold you, Little Lady gave it to you herself.”

“……Then, may I have this precious thing?”

The old butler smirked at the boy’s wide eyes.

“Yes. It’s yours now. Take good care of it in the future.”

“……Yes!”

The boy answered loudly, raising his back straight. Servants around him looked at him with envious eyes, but they soon scattered to do their work.

The boy hugged the glove tightly to his chest and vowed.

‘I will be loyal to the little lady for the rest of my life!’

That was the moment when Lucia’s Fan No. 1 was born in the Duke’s Castle.