Beast, Blue Blood - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

“I understand.”

Eugene said.

“Thank you for everything. I’ll take my leave now.”

As Eugene stood up, Hisha reflexively stood up as well.

“Eugene…”

“Hisha.”

Ivan called his son firmly.

“Ms. Eugene has made her decision clear.”

Eugene bowed her head.

“Thank you for allowing me to stay.”

“I’ll see you off.”

Selena offered, standing up and gesturing towards the door.

“Thank you.”

Eugene grabbed her jacket and started up the stairs. Hisha moved to follow her, but Ivan, who had also stood up, spoke.

“Of all the women you could have chosen, it had to be her.”

“But Father, Eugene…”

Hisha started, but he didn’t finish his sentence and instead ran outside. Eugene was about to board a helicopter.

“Eugene!”

Hisha called out, making Eugene turn around. Hisha, with his hair and clothes fluttering in the wind, pleaded.

“Don’t go.”

Eugene just looked at him. She had never dreamed of spending her life with Hisha or anyone else for that matter, especially not as a worn-out adult. Without a word, she boarded the helicopter.

* * *

As Eugene entered the mansion’s lobby, Leah and the servants, who had been waiting for her return, rushed out.

“Eugene!”

“Director!”

Eugene glanced at the servants and asked.

“Is everyone all right?”

Without waiting for an answer, Leah hurriedly asked.

“I heard about the terrorist attack. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Eugene looked around. Although some areas had been tidied up, the damaged parts remained unrepaired. This was her rightful place. She noticed Pierlu among the servants and addressed him coldly.

“You’re fired. Never set foot in this mansion again.”

Pierlu, who seemed prepared for this, bowed deeply. He looked almost reverent, like someone expressing gratitude to a benefactor. No one tried to stop him as he left. Eugene then headed upstairs with Leah following behind.

“Where have you been? We couldn’t track your location and were worried.”

Leah asked as they entered the dressing room. Eugene started to take off her coat without responding. Leah, used to talking to herself in Eugene’s presence, continued from the doorway.

“Setting off a bomb in the middle of the road was a bold move. Who would want to kill you?”

Eugene finally spoke.

“Who would benefit from my absence?”

“That’s obvious, but…”

Leah paused, noticing Eugene’s gaze on her. Leah pointed at herself in disbelief.

“…me?”

Without waiting for an answer, Leah protested.

“Eugene! How can you suspect me? I revealed Hisha Ivanov’s true identity to you. If I wanted the virus, I wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

“Because you cannot develop the virus.”

Eugene said, tossing her coat onto the floor.

“You don’t think I trusted you, do you? I don’t trust people who lack common sense.”

Smirking, Eugene added.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out about you and Sergei?”

Leah was speechless. Eugene waited for Leah’s excuses, but Leah stammered.

“It was just once. I’m not into authoritarian machos. Besides, you liked Sergei…”

“You know that’s not the point.”

Eugene cut her off. She thought Sergei would have treated Leah as a one-night fling since he disliked frivolous people. Eugene didn’t care about their affair but disliked Leah’s disregard for basic decency. At least Eugene knew not to sleep with her half-sister’s fiancé.

“But that was when I was young…”

Leah started to say but then fell silent. Eugene, arms crossed, waited. Leah’s expression changed to anger as she glared at Eugene.

“I wanted to hurt you. You, the girl from the Fuger-Dulloch and Lian families had everything. But you didn’t even care about Sergei. You only care about yourself. You only trust yourself.”

Leah laughed bitterly.

“Why did I ever think you’d trust someone like me? Sometimes you’re so much like Father, it’s chilling.”

As Leah turned to leave, she glanced back with cold eyes.

“Good luck living alone in this castle, Princess.”

* * *

Hisha sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV. What did it mean? Did Eugene leaving mean they were breaking up? His mind was a mess when he heard the sound of a helicopter landing and saw Yeon-ha coming down the stairs.

“Hisha.”

“Welcome.”

He greeted her. Yeon-ha nodded toward the approaching Ha-yeon, indicating the sofa with her head.

“Both of you, come here.”

As they both sat on the sofa, Yeon-ha looked at the two cousins with a stern gaze.

“Do you two even think?”

Ha-yeon and Hisha flinched. Yeon-ha seemed genuinely angry, and it was understandable.

“I didn’t say anything yesterday because we had a guest, but do you think you have more than one life? Do you know where you went? If it wasn’t for Eugene moving in, things could have been much worse. And how on earth did you find out about Fuger-Dulloch?”

Yeon-ha didn’t understand how the two had managed to gather information about Fuger-Dulloch and sneak into the mansion since she didn’t know about Ha-yeon’s club activities.

“Well…”

Hisha was about to speak, thinking about how to calm her mother’s anger.

“We wanted to help.”

Ha-yeon suddenly spoke up.

“We’re always a burden, and there’s always someone out there looking for something, but there’s nothing we can do about it, and since you’re working so hard to keep us hidden, I thought maybe we could do something.”

Yeon-ha was at a loss for words.

“I’m sorry.”

Ha-yeon mumbled, feeling down, which was unlike her. Yeon-ha hugged her niece tightly.

“Never think like that. You and Hisha are our joy. The happiness you give us is beyond words.”

Ha-yeon wrapped her arms around Yeon-ha’s back.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

Then, with a deer-like look in her eyes that would make even Hisha, who would never normally think of Ha-yeon as ‘cute,’ think otherwise, she asked.

“You won’t tell my mom and dad, will you?”

Ha-yeon’s mother, Yeon-ha’s twin sister Kyu-hwa, was working on a public welfare project building a school in Africa, and her father Alex was serving as the commander of MCTC in Africa, so they were far away.

Even though her niece was adorable, Yeon-ha looked troubled about what to do. Ha-yeon quickly said.

“I’ll tell them.”

“Okay. Make sure you explain well.”

This seemed to be the most Yeon-ha could concede.

“Yes.”

Ha-yeon replied, seemingly satisfied.

“I’ll go to my room now.”

Then Ha-yeon turned and walked towards her room.

‘Wow, survival instinct…’

Hisha admired her as he watched her go. This time, Yeon-ha turned to him.

“Hisha, doing things like this doesn’t help us.”

Hisha smiled bitterly.

“I’m sorry. I think I oversimplified things. I thought we could just get the information and leave, or if we couldn’t find anything, we could just run away on our strong legs. So I thought it was worth a try. But I was wrong.”

He realized too late that breaking into the mansion meant getting involved with the people there, including Eugene. And relationships couldn’t just be cut off cleanly.

At that moment, Hisha suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, right! Wait a moment.”

He then ran to Ha-yeon’s room and urgently asked.

“The car you used to rescue me, was it Mr. Pierlu’s car? What about Mr. Pierlu?”

Ha-yeon, who was lying on the bed, sat up and spoke.

“The gardener? I don’t know. He just lent me the car. When I asked if it would cause any trouble, he said it was fine. He said getting fired was the worst that could happen.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Hisha left without a word. Ha-yeon muttered in disbelief.

“Seriously…”

But then Hisha returned. He seemed hesitant to say something, and Ha-yeon shot him a look as if to ask what was wrong. Hisha, dropping his guard, finally spoke.

“Thanks for saving me.”

Ha-yeon’s face immediately turned to one of disbelief.

“Who are you?”

Gratitude didn’t seem to suit their relationship. Hisha shook his head and left the room.

* * *

<Mirsi Pierlu>

The name was written on the plaque next to the hospital room door. Pierlu passed by it and entered the room. To his surprise, he found Hisha sitting next to the bed, causing him to pause.

“What are you doing here…?”

Mirsi, sitting on the bed, looked puzzled as Pierlu seemed overly shocked to see Hisha there.

“You said you were a colleague, right?”

“Technically, I’m an assistant.”

Hisha said with a smile, and Mirsi faintly smiled back.

“If there was such an assistant, my father wouldn’t have had such a hard time.”

The two seemed to be quite familiar with each other. Pierlu, hiding his confusion, gestured for Hisha to follow him.

“Come out. We need to talk.”

“Just a moment.”

Hisha said to Mirsi before following Pierlu outside. However, in the hallway, Pierlu hesitated to speak, lost in thought. Hisha cautiously broke the silence.

“This might sound strange, but he looks like Eugene.”

“I know. I think about it every day.”

Pierlu’s calm response left Hisha unable to imagine what that must feel like.

“Does Mirsi know about Eugene or Fuger-Dulloch?”

Hisha asked carefully, but Pierlu shook his head.

“No, he’s never heard of Fuger-Dulloch. He thinks his mother died in a car accident when he was young and that she was just an ordinary person.”

Then Pierlu looked at Hisha.

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything to him.”

“I won’t. I don’t have the right to.”

Just then, a familiar voice came from around the corner.

“Oh, someone is here…”

Hisha instinctively turned and was shocked by what he saw.