Tail’s Curse Chapter 58

 

I felt sorry for Sasha, who was tearing up. 

 

What could I do for her? 

 

Though I hadn’t known her for long, Sasha was a good person deserving of love, even before she became Cordelia’s lifesaver. 

 

Cordelia rambled on with the words rising within her, then suddenly felt a certain intuition.

 

Old friend. Engagement. Of all days, Miss Langham, who hadn’t been invited today.

 

Muttering in disbelief, Cordelia said.

 

“Could the person Sasha loved be Sir Mikael?”

 

The hand she had been gripping tightly trembled pitifully, like a hunted deer. 

 

Oh my God!

 

Confirming the answer in her pale expression, Cordelia let out a hollow gasp.

 

If Sasha’s lover was Sir Mikael, then everything fit perfectly, including his recent engagement to Miss Langham. 

 

Ah, of all men to fall in love with. 

 

Cordelia didn’t know him well, but from the vileness he had shown in their short time together, she had no good impression of him at all.

 

The car accident was one thing, and his rude curiosity, as well as the attitude he and his fiancée displayed when they were together.

 

Unknowingly, Cordelia shouted out her first thought at the top of her lungs.

 

“Sasha is far too good for him! He’s nothing but a decent-faced tiger moth!”

 

What a rotten man! 

 

Not only did he toy with a lovely, kind-hearted, and adorable young lady like Sasha, but he even got engaged to her friend! There was no insult like this!

 

When the usually gentle and quiet Cordelia raised her voice in anger, Sasha looked bewildered for a moment before giving a faint smile. 

 

It seemed her heart had lightened a little.

 

“How did you know? Have you met him before?”

 

“I ran into him while staying in Narath with Sir Noah. With, um, Miss Langham.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Sasha gave an awkward smile. Cordelia pondered whether she should mention the mysterious attitude of Miss Langham that she had witnessed at the time. 

 

In Cordelia’s view, she did not seem like a very good friend at all.

 

Even when talking about the scandal between Noah and Sasha, the Miss Langham who spoke as if she felt sorry for Sasha was just like… Dorea. 

 

Cordelia was well aware of that look in her eyes, jealous of the other, looking down on them, and wanting to crush them somehow.

 

Could her hostility perhaps be an emotion that arose after learning about the relationship between her fiancé and Sasha? 

 

If so, it was humanly understandable, but hadn’t she herself thrown flirtations at Noah right in front of her fiancé?

 

She asked cautiously.

 

“Are you perhaps old friends with Miss Langham?”

 

“Yes. She’s a friend I’ve known since childhood. Of course, it’s hard to say we match perfectly in every way, but she was there for me when others gossiped about my origins. I’ve gained a good reputation in society now, but back then, I was so lonely.”

 

“…It must have been really hard.”

 

Cordelia also knew that Sasha was the duke’s illegitimate child from his mistress. 

 

And how much of an impact it could have on a lonely person just to have someone by their side.

 

But can someone be called a good friend just because they were there? 

 

Cordelia had always been forced to stick with her family every single day without exception, but she was never happy.

 

It was unreasonable and strange, but Cordelia knew that there were relationships in the world where people clung obsessively to those feelings without distancing themselves, even while hating and loathing them. 

 

And in her opinion, the malice shown by Miss Langham was somehow cunning and secretive to be manifested as a sense of betrayal toward a friend.

 

Can anger be so venomous and cold, like a snake? 

 

But since she hadn’t seen their exact circumstances firsthand, Cordelia’s thoughts could just be speculation.

 

“But did Miss Langham really not know about Sasha and his relationship?”

 

“I never told her. He didn’t seem to want the relationship revealed, so I never showed any signs of it either.”

 

“I see.”

 

“I thought it was fortunate, didn’t I? I was afraid my friend had betrayed me.”

 

When Sasha pointed it out sharply, Cordelia hesitated and nodded. She said bitterly.

 

“I, too, stared blankly at her smiling face as she confessed the engagement, thinking hundreds of times. Is she really doing this without knowing? She wouldn’t know, right? She couldn’t do this if she knew. At first, I was so jealous and furious that I even hoped she was doing it on purpose, but later I felt ashamed of myself. Because I was doing this to find justification for my own jealousy. If you think about it strictly, it wouldn’t be strange if she felt uncomfortable with me or blamed me for our relationship. How did we end up like this?”

 

“Are you thinking of telling Miss Langham?”

 

“…I don’t know. Morally, I should reveal the truth, but is that really for everyone’s good? I have a lot of thoughts. I haven’t done anything wrong, so why should I do this? I feel wronged, too. I don’t want to deceive her either. Anyway, we can’t go back to how things were before. Unless a very long time passes.”

 

In fact, the problem is not just that.

 

“The Katisha social circle is very complicatedly entangled. If this fact is revealed, all of our reputations will hit rock bottom, and it will become a huge scandal. I will become the woman who got filthily entangled with my friend’s fiancé, Georgiana will become the woman who stole her friend’s man, and he will become a vile man who abandoned a gentleman’s honor. I don’t want any of it.”

 

The more I hear, the clearer it becomes that Sasha didn’t just lose love. 

 

She lost her secret lover, of course, but also her friends, and her reputation in society is on the verge of falling apart. 

 

That man really did something terrible.

 

“Did you confront Sir Mikael about his engagement? I don’t know the details, but even if you weren’t officially lovers, if he acted as though you were, that’s just playing with words.”

 

When Cordelia asked this after thinking for a moment, Sasha looked flustered.

 

“That’s… I hadn’t thought of it. I felt so betrayed and ashamed… The moment I heard the news, I made an excuse about traveling and left Katisha. That’s how I ended up on that cruise. Then the ship was hijacked by pirates, and I met you, Miss Cordelia. I was so out of my mind that I didn’t even think to contact him, but when I returned to Katisha… all the problems I’d been avoiding came back to the surface.”

 

After a brief silence, she gave a bitter smile with a shadowed face.

 

“Maybe there’s no need to ask him. If he heard the news of my kidnapping but didn’t come right away and was in Narath with his fiancée instead, then he abandoned me.”

 

“If you weren’t dating anyway, you weren’t abandoned. It just means that person’s true bad character was exposed.”

 

When Cordelia spoke unusually firmly, Sasha’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she let out a giggle at Cordelia, who smiled awkwardly as if realizing her mistake.

 

“Miss Cordelia, you were like this even when we first met, but you’re stronger and braver than you seem. I envy that. You wouldn’t end up in a pathetic state like mine. You have the strength to turn away from what’s wrong.”

 

“What! I don’t have any such admirable qualities. I’m actually a coward.”

 

Sasha gently shook her head at the flustered and denying Cordelia.

 

“When the pirates first threatened you, you held out without mentioning your family name. If it were me, I would have been so scared that I’d just spill everything. I saw you looking out at the sea with indifferent eyes. As if you’d jump at any moment! Those eyes back then…. They looked like you had no attachment whatsoever to the petty and dirty affairs of humans and the world. It might just be my own arrogant thought, but back then… You seemed free to me. That’s why I wanted to help you.”

 

So that’s how the face of someone driven to the extreme, with nothing left to lose, appeared to others. When Cordelia said nothing, Sasha hesitated and said.

 

“Maybe back then I was too frustrated and in pain…. I probably arbitrarily projected my feelings onto you. I’m sorry if that was rude.”

 

“No. If it weren’t for Sasha, I wouldn’t have seen more beautiful things. Thank you. For helping me.”

 

She expressed her gratitude sincerely. If she had really ended her life back then, how regretful and sorrowful it would have been.

 

The remaining time was just a little over a year. 

 

But rather than fading away meaninglessly like that, Cordelia wanted to see, hear, feel, and leave behind more meaningful things.