Chapter 94: Where Everything Began (4)
《He said he disliked me because I was ugly.》
“......”
Ariel’s face clouded as she heard those shocking words.
Ever since she started writing Elden’s biography, she learned many things about him, including his tastes in an ‘ideal partner’.
Besides someone who cared for animals and plants, all his preferences focused on personality and character, nothing related to ‘appearance’.
That’s why Ariel was feeling confident.
With her average looks and figure...
Her youthful appearance, more suited for a young girl than a mature lady, seemed like wouldn’t be a deterrent for Elden.
And every time she probed him under the guise of ‘needing to understand him’ Elden’s answers always met her expectations.
While Ariel understandably wasn’t knowledgeable about what men liked in women, she prided herself on knowing Elden well.
But clearly, that wasn’t the case.
So it was only natural that Ariel’s face darkened as her pride crumbled like a sand castle.
How could he say that Lady Anna is ugly......
If that was his honest opinion, then...
Someone like me doesn’t stand a chance...
Was I so insignificant in his eyes that he never even bothered considering me a woman...?
Didn’t he say that a person’s heart was more important than her looks...?
Or....
He said the heart was important, but didn’t say he wouldn’t look at appearance... Is that it?
Sigh-.
Ariel let out a long sigh, as her shoulders slumped.
It was such a deep sigh that the ground might have very well collapsed under its weight.
Anna, walking beside Ariel, glanced at her for a moment.
“Hmm...I have to say, this is truly an unexpected development.”
“W-What?”
Ariel who had been shambling around like a lamb towards the slaughterhouse, flinched at Anna’s words.
Of course, this surprise was nothing compared to the astonishment that was about to follow.
“Indeed, this is most vexing. Never, even in my wildest dreams, I imagined someone would love a sorry excuse of a human being like Elden.”
“WHAT-!!!”
Ariel let out a screech, drawing the attention of everyone going about their business, in the street.
Her mouth, eyelids, nostrils - every expandable part of her face widened to its limit as Ariel froze in shock.
“......”
Perhaps only Ariel herself didn’t realize that she had just revealed her long-hidden(?) feelings to someone she’d known for less than half a day.
After all, it had been visible to Anna’s eyes from the moment the pairs were assigned.
Ironically, the signs were blatant and obvious for - almost - everyone to see.
Ariel, who couldn’t hide her disappointment at being paired with Anna.
Ariel, who kept sending envious glances at the hooded woman.
Ariel, who longingly started at Elden’s back as he moved towards his assigned position.
Ariel, who occasionally turned her head towards the direction Elden went even after they dispersed.
Ariel, who shamelessly inquired Anna about their past betrothal.
And also,
Ariel, who stumbled in her steps shocked by that story she heard.
Every action and every reaction was caused solely by Elden.
To the point that it seemed foolish to not notice the bookworm’s feelings.
That’s why Anna couldn’t help but be surprised.
[Elden Raphelion]
She couldn’t comprehend how someone would love that man.
A failure of a human being.
A complete zero.
A Wastrel.
A barbarian.
Smirking at the petrified Ariel, Anna spoke again as she resumed walking.
“Curious...Why would you be surprised? Such a conclusion, although completely nonsensical, was rather obvious.”
“Ah?”
Finally breaking free from her self-imposed petrification, Ariel quickened her pace to catch up with Anna and asked,
“......W-was it that obvious...?”
Such a naive question.
One that brought another smirk to Anna’s face, as she started at a rare case of the so-called ‘pure and young love’.
“Pfft. It’s not just obvious, you’re practically shouting it from the rooftops.”
“What...? Is it really that bad?”
Swish-.
Anna, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned around.
She then scrutinized Ariel from head to toe with narrowed eyes.
Under that blatant gaze, Ariel, who had also stopped, had to shrink back.
“W-Why are you staring at me like t-that?”
“Hm...No matter how I look at you, you don’t suit Elden at all. I cannot understand this. How can a lady like you love such a ruffian? Or is it... some kind of peculiar taste?”
“What...?”
Stunned by Anna’s sincere yet blunt question, Ariel soon straightened her shrunk posture.
A strange determination flickered in her eyes.
And Ariel was about to express that determination,
After all, no woman would like to hear someone speaking ill of the man she loves.
“A-And what kind of lady...do you think would suit Elden?”
“Are you acquaintance with debauchery, perhaps? For that trash in human skin, only a loose woman would stand him...Yes...Someone who parties wildly, lives soaked in alcohol, and prefers gaining fat over being a proper lady? You know, that type?”
“......He’s not like that anymore.”
Ariel clenched her small fist and spoke firmly.
The old Elden might have suited such a type, but the current Elden had built walls against such people, striving hard to settle the karma of his past.
He wasn’t dissolute or arrogant, but steady and humble.
He cared about other’s sufferings more than his own pleasure.
The current Elden deserved encouragement rather than criticism.
Perhaps that’s why.
She felt a bit angry at Anna for blindly badmouthing Elden.
Of course, she understood.
If she had been insulted like that to her face, it would have left a lifelong scar on her too.
It just upset her that Anna’s words and actions, stuck in the past, seemed to belittle and mock Elden’s efforts to move forward in the present.
Ariel’s biggest reason for wanting to write Elden’s biography was, of course, her desire to be with him, but an equally significant reason was her wish to change the current situation.
To let the world know about Elden, who was transforming from a good-for-nothing, a Wastrel, a barbarian into a wonderful man.
Of course, this might stir up old wounds for those trapped in the past, but he had said that his culinary journey wasn’t just about eating, drinking, and enjoying.
He wanted to apologize sincerely if he met those whose past actions had hurt.
Just like now.
Therefore, Ariel wanted to defend him so that Elden’s efforts and feelings wouldn’t be in vain, so she spoke with an uncharacteristically firm voice.
“Pardon?”
“You may not believe it, but Elden has really changed. He’s making a lot of effort to repent for his past and not repeat his mistakes.”
“...Well. They say love is blind.”
“It’s not blindness, it’s the truth! Recently, he even wiped out a bandit group near Gelida Village and rescued the villagers. And about a month ago? He dug through the snow for three days straight without sleep to save villagers buried in an avalanche!”
“Ah, is that so.”
Ariel spoke passionately.
However, Anna only responded with indifference.
“So, are you betrothed to Elden? Since you asked about betrothal stories.”
“What? No. We’re not like that. Not yet...”
“What? Don’t tell me... it’s unrequited love?”
Anna asked in an incredulous tone.
From any angle, the small, cute, and lovely lady before her seemed too precious.
For such a lady to be in unrequited love with someone like Elden was something even Rev, the goddess of love, would be outraged about.
Ariel answered in a timid, bashful tone,
“Yes...”
“Oh my.”
Good grief.
Anna swept her bangs back and let out an exasperated sigh.
A situation beyond incredulity, bordering on absurdity.
How dare he, that lowlife, not only reject her but also fail to recognize this delicate and lovely lady’s affections?
What could this lady possibly lack that she’s clinging to such a worthless man as Elden?
It was truly frustrating and incomprehensible.
Moreover.
“......”
It was also incomprehensible how this Lady Ariel reminded her of her past self.
Her pitiful and regrettable self.
The foolish girl who had to cry all night after being harshly rejected by a scoundrel she didn’t even truly care for.
Perhaps that’s why.
Anna felt an inexplicable desire to make Elden regret his mistake.
If she could turn this adorable girl’s unrequited love into a mutual one...
She could finally crush that bastard’s arrogance.
Fortunately, Ariel’s natural beauty already gave Anna plenty of tools to work with.
“Let’s go.”
“Ah? W-Where to?”
“We need to visit a place.”
“W-Why?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Perhaps.
Anna Ventria wondered if the faded memories she thought she had let go with time weren’t really gone, but just temporarily distanced, still bound to that day.
**
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
During the night when Elden’s party entered the Grand Duchy.
Somewhere in the Winterfell’s Grand Ducal Palace, shrouded in pitch-black darkness,
“......Mmm.”
A faint moan left the lips of a girl who had been in a coma for several months.
On the 100th day since the Grand Ducal Bethothal, the girl who knew the truth of the events that transpired during that night had been severely injured.
A girl who had thrown herself into danger just to protect a vulnerable Third Northern Duchess.
And a girl who defied the Grand Ducal family doctor’s diagnosis that she would never wake up was now making her presence known with a faint moan in the November night on the cusp of winter.
“Nngh......”