The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 69

“I’ll make sure no one ever dares run their mouth about you again. You can step out of this whirlpool of political strife. No harm, no danger, completely safe.”

 

It was undeniably a tempting offer. Right now, she was mired in a swamp, tangled up in so many things that she could neither move forward nor back. Of course, she had accomplished things too. She’d inherited her mother’s voice, successfully established herself as a singer, and taken revenge on Claire. She had been quietly gathering the Diponz Ducal Family’s weaknesses, one by one.

 

But Shailoh had also lost Olivier, the first friend she’d made after coming up to the capital. She nearly died a second time at Evan’s hands when they reunited. Albert, Caleb’s political enemy, had tried to rape her, and the people around her had seized on that incident to brand her a shameless whore who had both brothers in the palm of her hand and weighed them against each other.

 

It would be a lie to say she didn’t want to escape that mire. Even so, Shailoh slowly shook her head. “…No.”

 

“…”

 

“I can’t. Not yet.”

 

She wasn’t the only one trapped in that swamp. Olivier, who had died unjustly because of her entanglement with the Diponz family, was there with her, and so was her younger brother, Oliver. And more than anyone, there was Caleb.

 

“I’m sorry…”

 

A heavy silence settled over the abandoned church.

 

Confirming the resolve in her eyes, Declan withdrew his hand. “I thought about it from the first time I saw you… Those eyes of yours aren’t the eyes of a twenty-three-year-old woman. Your eyes that have been through so much.”

 

Shailoh gave a wry smile and nodded. Just as she had had countless questions about him, he must have had just as many about her.

 

“What in the world have you been through?”

 

“It’s going to be a long story.”

 

With a face that said he didn’t mind, Declen waited for her to continue.

 

Calmly, Shailoh began with the days of her childhood spent with her mother, then her mother’s death, the painful years in the orphanage, and how she’d come to be taken in and registered as a daughter by Duchess Diponz.

 

“Until Claire, their real daughter, came back, I was… happy, at least. For eight years…”

 

There were times when she felt a strange sensation, as if she were being projected onto someone else, but, blinded by happiness, she failed to notice it. She simply loved and cherished the first complete family she had ever had.

 

“Gradually, Claire took over the place where I belonged. The duke and duchess tried to hand me over to the Grid Merchant Guild leader. To a man with an enormous age gap, and horrifying rumors surrounding him.”

 

At that point, Declan clenched his fist so hard the veins stood out on the back of his hand. As if to soothe his anger, Shailoh laid her hand over his and continued.

 

“It’s not like I just sat there and took it. I sought refuge with Baroness Kildare. Her title may be low, but she’s someone even the Diponz family can’t treat lightly. And there, I met Caleb… His Highness… for the first time.”

 

Starting from the day she fell in love, when it felt like electricity shooting through her whole body, her story of the past carried her through the two years that had since passed.

 

“When I finally thought I could make a living on my own with the education and knowledge I’d gained at the Barony Kildare, the ducal family sent an invitation for Claire’s twentieth birthday. They’d been my family for eight years, so I thought I’d face them and put an end to things. I steeled myself and went back there. But there…”

 

The image of the Grid Merchant Guild leader writhing in agony, coughing up blood, and dying flickered before her eyes like a nightmare.

 

Unable to watch her suffer any longer, Declan reached out and steadied her. “If it’s too hard, you can tell me the rest later…”

 

“No. Please, listen to the end.” Shailoh shook her head firmly and parted her lips again. “I saw Evan Diponz trick the Grid Merchant Guild leader and poison him to death. The ducal family had called me back so they could sell me to him one last time in Claire’s place. But the Grid Merchant Guild leader refused. To get rid of me, the witness…”

 

She told him everything that had happened after that as well. How she had reunited with Caleb when she was on the verge of certain death, how she’d had to flee under a false accusation, how she had spent the last three years preparing for revenge, and how she had debuted as a singer.

 

Declan listened to Shailoh’s story without so much as a breath, then squeezed his eyes shut. “If only I’d found you a little sooner.”

 

“That isn’t… Your Grace’s fault.”

 

“You can call me brother.”

 

“…” Instead of answering, Shailoh lowered her gaze. The sudden appearance of a half-brother she’d never even known existed, and the story of her mother and her birth father on top of that, too many things crashed over her at once, leaving her mind in turmoil. She was happy, but at the same time, she was afraid. Every time she barely managed to grasp happiness, despair had come rushing in and snatched everything away.

 

Seeing her confusion, Declan finally took a step back. “…Do you love Caleb?”

 

“Yes.” That, at least, she could answer without a moment’s hesitation. He had always been her protector when she had no one to rely on, her brother figure, her teacher, and her lover.

 

“All right… If that’s how you feel, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll support Caleb. Just don’t forget you always have a place to come back to.”

 

“I will… thank you.” A lump rose in her throat again. Barely holding back her tears, Shailoh said, “I think it would be best to keep it a secret for now that I’m a member of the Yesiol family.”

 

“What about Caleb?”

 

“I’ll tell him myself. And…”

 

“And?”

 

“I have one favor to ask. Please investigate under the white rock on the Sigurd Plateau.”

 

“Why?”

 

“There’s a good chance that real ledgers Olivier uncovered, the real books tying the Diponz family to the Grid Merchant Guild, are hidden there.”

 

Those ledgers would be the cornerstone that brought the Diponz family down.

 

* * *

Riding back to the townhouse in the carriage Declan had lent her, all Shailoh could think about was how to tell Caleb the enormous secret she’d learned today. More than anything, she was glad she’d become someone who could actually give him strength. Not just a singer, but a member of the Yesiol family. Surely that would help bolster Caleb’s faction, even if only a little. So instead of heading to her own townhouse, she went straight to the royal villa where Caleb was staying.

 

The gatekeeper was flustered by the unannounced visit, but as soon as he saw her face, he opened the main gate without a word.

 

“Please go in quietly. I don’t want him to know.”

 

“Understood.” The coachman nodded and did his best to muffle any sound as he brought the carriage to a halt.

 

Shailoh squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again, and, with the coachman’s help, stepped down from the carriage. It was late at night, and every light in the residence was out.

 

The butler’s eyes flew wide when he saw her. “Miss Griche.”

 

“Where is His Highness?”

 

“He is in his study. A guest has come to see him.”

 

“A guest at this hour… would that be Lord Eric?”

 

“Yes, Milady. I’ll go announce that you’ve arrived.”

 

“No. I want to surprise him.” She wanted to see his startled face. Then she wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him the good news. “You can go and rest. I’ll go by myself.”

 

At her playful expression, the butler gave a small smile and withdrew.

 

On tiptoe, Shailoh went up the stairs toward the study. The house was swallowed in darkness, and only the study door stood slightly ajar, a sliver of light spilling out. Her lips curved faintly as she imagined how to startle him. Her face full of anticipation, she reached for the doorknob. At that moment, a voice, thick with anger, suddenly rang out from inside.

 

“What the hell are you thinking, Caleb!”

 

“What do you mean, what am I thinking?”

 

This was clearly not a moment she should be barging into. Shailoh froze, then, to see what was going on, she peered through the crack of the door. Caleb sat in a rosewood chair, skimming through the documents strewn across the mahogany desk. Eric paced in front of him, raking his hands through his hair as if he couldn’t make sense of any of it. At Eric’s next words, Shailoh sucked in a short breath.

 

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for Sasha Griche?”

 

“…”

 

“Father said so himself. That the way you were looking for Miss Griche on the night of the ball was anything but normal. That you ran around searching for her so desperately, you overturned a perfectly laid-out game just to find her.”

 

Caleb, who had been calmly moving his pen, stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course I did. What’s so strange about going to look for something I lost?”

 

“Something you lost?”

 

“Sasha Griche is mine.”

 

Fall for? Mine? The words made no sense. Her thoughts tangled into a knot, and her vision darkened. Shailoh clapped both hands over her mouth, afraid even her breath might give her away. The bolt of lightning struck her the very next moment.

 

“So that’s why you shot Albert? Just because he put his hands on her? On a woman you brought here for exactly that reason in the first place?”

 

A woman he brought here for that…? Shailoh couldn’t believe her ears. Something was definitely wrong. Was this a dream? But when she pinched the back of her hand, a sharp sting shot through her. It wasn’t a dream after all.