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"Well... the quality doesn't look that great..."
I replied with a cold smile.
Then, as if he'd never been amiable, my father flared up and raised his voice.
"What do you know about this fabric! I've seen tons of this kind of fabric there. I know the value of this fabric better than you do!"
Seeing his reaction, it didn't seem like he brought bad stuff to deceive me.
'So, he got scammed.'
It's a relief that he didn't try to sell me bad stuff.
But thinking about him trying to sell that to someone, my head throbbed with pain.
I could picture how my father would act if I didn't buy those things from him here.
'Since I'm making a name for myself in the clothing industry, he'll definitely try to sell that fabric while mentioning my name.'
I gave him one last piece of advice, not for my father's sake, but for my own.
"Consider going to the Eastern Continent as just a trip, and don't even think about selling those things. Just keep them stored away."
"What, what?"
"If you sell that fabric, something will happen that will require you to compensate for everything."
"So, you're saying just keep the stuff I bought at a high price locked away at home? Just trusting your words?"
"It's expert advice, but it's your choice whether to believe it or not. However."
"..."
"Keep in mind that if you do business using my name, I'll sue you."
"Are you threatening me now? Instead of helping your father, as a daughter should?"
As expected, my father didn't believe me and, on the contrary, got furious.
"Well, if it sounds like a threat, there's nothing I can do. Anyway, it seems like we're done talking, so please go back now."
"Ha!"
My father trembled with anger, unable to believe the change in his daughter, who had always been obedient despite hating him.
He seemed to have hurt his pride considerably.
Having finished what I had to say, I got up to leave the reception room first.
At that moment, I heard my father's voice.
"I wondered why the Grand Duke was acting so arrogant... it's all because you played us against each other."
Grand Duke.
The title that suddenly came out of my father's mouth made my heart drop.
"...You met Idris?"
"Yes. Since you treat your father like a roadside stone, I went to him directly."
All the blood seemed to drain from my body, and I grew cold.
I clenched my trembling hands tightly.
In the end, Idris found out.
My family history that I wanted to hide so much. My shameful past.
"When I asked him to help because my situation wasn't good, he threatened me not to appear in front of you instead. So..."
My father rambled on, but I couldn't hear anymore.
Except for the sound of my heart beating painfully.
Ding-dong—
After finishing my bath, I faintly heard the bell ringing at exactly six o'clock, signaling the dinner time that was implicitly set.
'Letizia said she was going to the Florence family in the afternoon.'
She didn't say she wouldn't have dinner, so it seemed we could have dinner together.
Idris changed out of his gown and went to the bedroom, intending to go downstairs.
However, there was someone waiting in front of the bedroom.
"...Letizia?"
"I have something to talk about."
"Can't we talk during dinner? Or are you so eager to see me that you can't even wait that short amount of time?"
Letizia, who would usually take the joke or be shocked, didn't react.
Only then did Idris, sensing a different atmosphere than usual, look at Letizia and see her eyes painfully distorted.
He had never been afraid of anyone in his life, but at this moment, fear rushed in.
"...Let's go inside and talk."
Idris took Letizia into the room.
Letizia immediately got to the point.
"I heard you met my father."
Idris frowned at the unexpected topic.
He didn't think he would disappear so easily, but at least he didn't expect to see him for a while.
'I overestimated the Viscount too much.'
Idris thought Letizia might be angry at him.
It was for her sake, but in any case, he had handled her personal affairs without permission.
But unlike expected, Letizia bowed her head to Idris.
"I'm sorry. For getting you involved in something unnecessary."
At that sight, his heart seemed to sink.
"Wait, Letiz—"
"I'll pay back the money my father borrowed as soon as you tell me the amount. This won't happen again. And..."
"..."
"I'm going to leave the mansion on this occasion."
"..."
"I told Wigg to book a hotel right away, so I'll leave tomorrow morning right aw—"
"You're... going to leave the mansion?"
Letizia raised her head at Idris's question.
The gazes that met were calm, but at the same time, chillingly cold.
"My father will come again. It's better for me to leave than to get you involved for no reason."
"So, you're going to go out and deal with the Viscount alone."
"Because it's my family's business."
There was no intention in Letizia's words.
She was just stating the facts as they were.
But more than any words, it scratched Idris sharply.
She drew a clear line.
This is not your business.
You must not cross this line.
So he became anxious and urgent.
"If you're worried about me, just stay here. As you know, hotels are also dangerous, and above all, I'm really okay, so—"
"I'm not okay."
"..."
"...I am."
Letizia's voice and eyes, adding the last words, trembled without being able to hide it.
Feidan was okay.
She was ashamed of her own judgment for believing in such a guy, but once divorced, he could become a perfect stranger.
But her father was not.
No matter how much she drew a line and turned a blind eye, the fact that she was the daughter of such a shameless man would never change.
That fact was suffocatingly terrible.
If she could only cut off her father from herself, she could draw all the blood flowing through her body.
She didn't want to show her bottom line, her shameful past. She didn't want to be caught.
"So just...!"
Please don't make me miserable anymore.
"Just... do as I say. Please."
Her father, who had always been an obstacle.
In her past life, she couldn't cut him off, and in her current life, she cut him off but couldn't sever the connection.
The fact that she couldn't escape from the family bond unless one of them died was terribly dreadful.
She tried to pretend to be okay, swallowing the emotions that welled up, but she had reached her limit.
In the end, Letizia turned away from Idris as if running away.
But she couldn't get any further away.
Because of the hand that grabbed her.
"Letizia."
"..."
"Look at me."
Letizia didn't turn around.
But Idris knew what her face, her heart, which she was desperately trying to hide, would be like.
Because he had been like that in the past.
It was she who had healed him, who had been raising thorns because he didn't want to show his wounds.
Idris continued to speak, gazing silently at her back, which was trembling without shaking him off or fully revealing her wounds.
"Family can't be your weakness."
"..."
"I won't attack you with the shameful things that aren't your fault, and I won't be disappointed."
"..."
"So don't run away."
At the same time, tears fell from Letizia's eyes.
Once the tears started, they didn't stop easily.
She didn't want to show her weak side.
She never wanted to break down in front of anyone else.
She was afraid that if someone knew her weaknesses, they would break her again.
So she built a wall.
So that no one would notice that she was weak, so that no one would think of breaking her down again.
But...
'How did this person know what I wanted to hear?'
The moment she heard those words, the emotions she had been holding back burst out uncontrollably.
It was the first time she had shed tears since returning to the past.
But even at that moment, Letizia couldn't cry out loud.
Idris silently watched her trembling back without showing her face until her shoulders stopped shaking, then carefully hugged her.
"It's okay."
Until her shoulders no longer trembled.
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