The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 74

“Milady, what are you thinking about so hard?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

The two of them were waiting for Caleb in the parlor. His well‑trained maids had brought in tea and refreshments, but Shailoh hadn’t taken a single sip.

 

Doris glanced at the clock and gave a tentative smile. “His Highness is a bit late today. He sent word ahead that he’d be visiting.”

 

“There are days like that. If we wait, he’ll come. If you’re bored, do you want to go on ahead without me?”

 

“Pardon? By myself?”

 

“Yes. I can always hire a separate carriage.” Shailoh added with a faint smile, “There’s something I need to say to him alone.”

 

It was the same smile as always, yet somehow it looked like it might shatter at a touch. Hesitating at that fragile smile, Doris finally rose to her feet. “…Alright.”

 

“Thank you. I’ll see you later.”

 

“Yes…” Nodding, Doris left the parlor.

 

Left alone, Shailoh rested her arm along the back of the couch and turned her head to gaze quietly out the window. In the distance, she could see birds bursting up from the treetops and taking flight. She remembered seeing a similar scene once, back when she’d stayed in the Barony of Kildare.

 

If she compared her eighteen-year-old self to who she was now, was there even a single thing that remained the same? Back then, she had run, looked away, and tried to escape. She’d believed that if she alone disappeared, everything would settle back into place. It was foolish.

 

The waiting dragged on. Only after the sun had dipped and the sky had gone red did the master of the house finally return. Shailoh, who had dozed off for a moment, opened her eyes to find Caleb, shrugging off his coat as he came in, meeting her gaze.

 

“Sasha.”

 

“You’re here.”

 

“Sorry I’m late. Something came up.”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

Shailoh shook her head and patted the seat beside her. At her gesture to sit, Caleb gave a short laugh, sat down next to her, and slipped an arm around her waist.

 

“So now you’re just going to order me around like a puppy. How far do you plan to toy with me before you’re satisfied?”

 

“I didn’t know that’s how you saw it. I always thought I was the one being toyed around.” With a small, light smile, Shailoh nestled her head against his shoulder. “Then, since I’m already toying with Your Highness around, should I give you one order?”

 

“What kind of order? I’m scared already.”

 

“Don’t call me Sasha anymore.”

 

“…”

 

For a moment, time in the room stopped. The birds flying in the distance, the hurried footsteps of the maids beyond the door, all of it fell silent. Even the gentle air that had been slipping in through the window crack no longer seemed to enter.

 

The one who broke through that frozen moment first was Shailoh. She took his hand from her waist, set it aside, and rose to sit opposite him.

 

“…What do you mean by that?”

 

“Why are you so surprised? I thought you’d already realized back then. That’s why you started avoiding me afterward, and why you deliberately came late today. Isn’t that right?”

 

His picture‑perfect smile slowly faded. At last, as she looked at Caleb’s face gone completely expressionless, Shailoh drew out what hung at her throat and held it out. When he saw it, Caleb’s brows knit.

 

“So you did eavesdrop on that conversation. How much did you hear?”

 

“I heard everything I needed to know.” When he didn’t take it, she carefully set it down on the table. “I think I should give this back. Isn’t it a bit too precious to leave with something you merely used?”

 

Taut gazes passed back and forth between them. Neither of them had any intention of yielding.

 

Caleb closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and growled, “…There’s a limit to how much I can overlook.”

 

“You’re not even going to bother denying it. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to you, Your Highness.”

 

Instead of answering, Caleb fixed her with a blazing stare.

 

“Since when did you start seeing me as a pawn? Was it from the very beginning?” Tracing back through the past, Shailoh slowly lifted the gaze she’d dropped. “Was it… from that first time we met at the lake, by any chance?”

 

“I didn’t even know who you were then.” Casting aside the mask of the man who had been gentle and soft only to her, Caleb replied coldly. “I only found out after we met again.”

 

“I see.” A faint thread of relief slipped into her voice. Wearing an expression that was somewhere between a smile and a sob, Shailoh murmured to herself. “That’s a relief. At least it wasn’t all a lie from start to finish.”

 

“Your Highness, you saved me. More than once, even. In the end, it was all for your own sake, but still.”

 

“Shailoh.”

 

“…”

 

“That day, when I reached my hand out to you, I asked you something. I don’t know if you remember. I asked if you wanted to live, no matter what price you had to pay.”

 

“Yes. I remember. That’s why I didn’t leave.” Looking back, it had clearly been a bargain. Now it was time for her to pay the price for having her life saved. “For everything you’ve done for me until now, what is it you want in return?”

 

Instead of answering, Caleb stood, went to the cabinet, opened a drawer, and took out a cigar. He lit the end with a match and drew in the smoke deeply. Until then, Shailoh simply watched his profile in silence, like a condemned prisoner waiting for the verdict. After a few pulls, Caleb ground the cigar out in the ashtray.

 

“Seduce my brother.”

 

His words buzzed in her ears, circling and circling, refusing to land. Shailoh thought she must have misheard. “…What did you say?”

 

“Seduce Albert and get important information out of him.” Caleb gave the order without a flicker of hesitation. “That’s my condition. The price for saving you that day.”

 

She could almost hear her heart dropping with a thud. Shailoh couldn’t believe her ears. “You want me to… seduce Duke Cornwall.”

 

It felt like the blood was draining coldly out of her body. Suddenly, the moment when he had tried to rape her flashed through her mind. Just the memory of it was so disgusting and horrifying, it made her skin crawl. Caleb had even watched that scene unfold right before his eyes. She couldn’t believe that the same man had just said those words. No, she didn’t want to believe it.

 

“What’s wrong? Do you think you can’t do it?” His cold turquoise eyes rested on her, unblinking.

 

“…” Shailoh couldn’t give any answer at all.

 

Leaving her frozen like a block of ice, Caleb brushed off his clothes and stood up. Creaking like an old hinge, Shailoh could only watch his back as he walked away.

 

“Was there ever a time you were sincere with me?”

 

She didn’t want to believe that all that kindness, every warm moment, had been nothing but a lie. Those moments had glittered like flecks of gold found on a riverbank in the height of summer, like a spring discovered by someone wandering the desert, dying of thirst. Something you’d rather die than lose.

 

Shailoh wanted him to deny her question, to say no, and at the same time, she wanted him to say yes. Whatever answer he gave, it would let her bring this to an end.

 

Right now, it felt like holding a bomb with its fuse already burning down tight against her chest. She knew she’d be blown to pieces before long, but she couldn’t bring herself to let it go. Because of the stupid hope that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t really a bomb.

 

At her question, Caleb stopped, but he didn’t turn around. His hand on the doorknob, he answered quietly with a question of his own. “What answer do you want?”

 

“…”

 

At that reply, her stomach lurched, and a wave of exhaustion washed over her.

 

In the silence, the door opened and closed. Shailoh was left alone in the wide room. Just as she had been from the very beginning.

 

* * *

It wasn’t that she had no choice. Though Caleb didn’t know it, Shailoh had somewhere she could return to. A half-brother she hadn’t even known existed had appeared before her in the flesh and held out his hand.

 

Around the time the matter of the Diponz family had more or less been settled, Declen made her the same offer again. “I’m going back up to my territory tomorrow. Come to the north with me, Shailoh.”

 

“…”

 

“If you want, you can stay as long as you like. I don’t mind if you stay forever.”

 

“I’m grateful for the offer, but I can’t do that right now.” Shailoh shook her head with a faint smile.

 

Taking that smile for hesitation, Declan added, “If it’s His Highness you’re worried about, you can just reveal who you really are. If you want to stand by his side, you have to become a member of the Yesiol family first. Once you’ve taken back your place, I’m sure—”

 

“That’s not the issue.” Cutting him off firmly, Shailoh went on in a calm voice. “There’s still something I have to do. I want to resolve a deep-seated grudge.”

 

“A grudge?”

 

“If I don’t untie this twisted knot now, I feel like I’ll never be able to.”

 

It was a loaded thing to say. Declan simply looked quietly at his half‑sister.

 

“Miss Sasha Griche? She’s someone you want to keep watching, somehow. When you think about it, it’s really strange. Her voice is unique, and her face is lovely, but… it’s not like there haven’t been other singers as good as her before.”

 

“To me, it feels like she’s hiding some kind of secret. She’s got this mysterious, one-of-a-kind aura about her. When you’re watching her, you really just can’t take your eyes off her.”

 

Just like people said, from the very first moment you saw her, there was something about her that captured your gaze and wouldn’t let go. The reason she’d been able to rise to fame so quickly as a singer wasn’t just her voice. She also had a gift for naturally pulling people’s attention toward her.

 

“Whatever it is, life here is going to be rough. You know how you are viewed in this place.”

 

The public went wild for her, whether in a good way or a bad one. First, she was a talented rookie singer who’d appeared like a miracle, then she was a slut weighing two princes against each other. And now, after weathering every kind of storm and clawing her way up from rock bottom, she was a saint. People were first appalled by her anything‑but‑ordinary past, then showered her with fervent interest all over again. The newspapers churned out article after article about her, and whenever she stepped outside, every eye fixed on her. But not all of that attention was good.