“Thank you, Dion, for your assistance.”
“You’re welcome. If you need anything, please feel free to let me know.”
They expressed their gratitude to Dion, who guided them to the second-floor study of the Winter Palace annex. As Rebecca entered first and looked around the room, she muttered under her breath as soon as the door closed. “It seems like you come here more often than I thought. The caretaker didn’t seem surprised.”
“Not to that extent.” She shrugged her shoulders and smiled, but the truth was that she did come here frequently. Was there any need to deny it? Rebecca briefly mentioned wanting to talk by the lakeside, but it was her suggestion to come here instead. “You’re the one who wanted some time alone with me.”
“Why? Are you scared?”
“We’re not that close, are we?”
As they climbed the stairs to the second floor, a chuckle escaped her when Rebecca wrapped her arm around Catherine’s. To others, they might seem like an unparalleled stepmother and daughter. Well, that was true.
“Sly girl, I need to know your intentions. Can a dress like that be fitting for someone like you?”
“Oh?”
Look at this. Could anyone else see any other fierce ‘mother-daughter’ pair like them? She felt more at ease the moment Rebecca revealed her true nature. Catherine rested her hand on the large chair. It was a leather sofa where Rashid often sat and looked up at her.
“How dare you? Someone like you isn’t even worthy of formal attire!”
“What do you mean, someone like me?”
“You still don’t know what I’m talking about? You were rescued from some dingy corner, not even knowing where you came from, and now you want to repay the favor as an enemy? You cling to the Emperor, unable to distinguish between heaven and earth. You even dared to cast off your mourning gown?”
“Seems like the problem is indeed this gown.” She looked at her reflection in the study’s golden mirror. It was a color she wasn’t accustomed to, so it felt awkward, but even in her own eyes, it was dazzling and elegant enough to make one’s eyes widen.”It’s fine, though. Why?”
“Hey! This is serious!”
“If you didn’t want me to wear this dress, you should have been less obvious with your surveillance, Your Highness.”
It must be hard for them to complain so much on the outside. Since the incident with the two sisters and Haniel’s capture, Catherine hadn’t let her guard down even once inside the house. Especially if they had known that Haniel was precious to her, they wouldn’t have just watched her once or twice. They couldn’t have been unaware that she went with Rashid to the city center. If she hadn’t previously hinted by opening the window while holding her mourning gown, she wouldn’t have been able to come here wearing this new dress. Surely, they would tear it to shreds on the night of the big day.
“It seems like your sister scolded you a lot, huh? Well, Lania isn’t exactly lenient with mistakes.”
“Catherine!”
“Isn’t it ridiculous? Not treating me well as a mother and forcing me to wear the mourning gown for your deceased father?”
“….”
Rebecca’s jaw twitched, showing how tightly she clenched her teeth. However, judging by the fact that she didn’t raise a hand or grab her hair, she must have mustered her patience to the maximum extent. Before Rebecca’s teeth broke, as a mother, she showed some tolerance first.
“Get to the point. Why did you call me? It can’t be that you want me to help with your engagement.”
“You didn’t hear what our sister said?”
“I heard, but I’m not talking about that.”
“What do you think about gradually helping with the preparations for our engagement, Mother? I want to help, but I have no experience, and I don’t think there’s anyone more dependable than you at a time like this.”
While she and Rebecca climbed the stairs with their arms crossed, Lania raised her voice gallantly. A proud smile, as if it could burst into tears at any moment, followed her.
“You’re not asking me to believe that now, right?”
“If you don’t believe it, what can you do about it?”
There it was again, ‘What can you do about it?’. They might be humans whom Catherine didn’t have much expectations on but it was still not a pleasant phrase to hear.
*SIGH*
Suppressing the fatigue that welled up deep in her heart, she took her hands off the chair. As it was the seat Rashid often occupied, she couldn’t hide her fancy thoughts as if he would hear them.
“Even I, who have never had a proper engagement or marriage, need to know something to be of any help.”
“Well, surprisingly, you can be helpful.”
“…” Rebecca’s smile towards her wasn’t a good sign. She stared at her eyes intently and shifted her steps. Leaning against the window frame, she fiddled with the pink diamond on her ring finger. She was the epitome of a lady about to be engaged as she caressed it lovingly.
“To be honest, there’s nothing as helpful as someone like you in assisting with these kinds of things.”
“When you explain, can you start with what you mean by ‘someone like me’?”
*SPLASH*
An out-of-place sound of water broke the silence in the quiet study. Rebecca’s hand, which had reached beyond the window, came back empty-handed.
“You.”
What did she just do?
Surprised, she immediately approached the window, but all that appeared on the blue lake was a perfectly round ripple.
“Catherine, do you not know what I mean with ‘someone like you’?”
“You’re unbelievable!”
“I’m talking about someone who spills saliva on other people’s belongings without knowing the subject.”
Rebecca slowly moved away from the window, clutching her chest with both hands. In the next moment, she looked at her empty hand and went from smiling as if she owned the world to suddenly closing her eyes tightly.
“Kyaaaaaah! My ringgggg!”
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