I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 33
After finally getting a moment of peace from the chat with Rain, I let my thoughts settle.
Kevin hadn’t burst through the door yet, thank goodness. I figured this Duchess’s chamber probably wasn’t bugged or monitored like some kind of basement dungeon.
I had other reasons for this line of thinking. In the original novel, “The Single Flower Melts the Ice,” Erica’s feelings for Kevin really start to hit home around the middle of the book. And Kevin had been quietly nursing his possessiveness and love for Erica even before that.
The thing is, they never actually become a couple. Why? Because neither of them ever takes the plunge and confesses. They just carry on in this endless, mutual unrequited love right up to the bitter end.
Erica often sits in this very room—the Duchess’s room—and talks about her love for Kevin. She even has some pretty daring monologues, like saying she wouldn’t mind a bit what the Duke did to her.
Yet, Kevin doesn’t touch Erica until close to the very last chapter. This is the same man who got Lily pregnant before they were married! Worse, he’s constantly worried and jealous, wondering if Erica’s heart belongs to some other bloke.
(So, that means Kevin is absolutely oblivious to what Erica mutters to herself in her private room.)
That’s why I’ve decided to proceed under the assumption that the conversation Rain and I are having isn’t being eavesdropped on. The only reason I was even thinking about it now is that what we’re about to discuss is likely a straight shot toward one of Kevin’s major trigger points. Just to be safe, I cracked the door and looked down the corridor. Deserted.
“What was all that about?” Rain asked, looking completely baffled.
It was definitely odd behavior. I gave him the straightforward reason.
“I’m about to talk about something I really, really don’t want anyone else to hear.”
“…Even more serious than what we were just discussing?”
“Yes, miles are more serious than that.”
Rain’s face instantly hardened at my words. He probably wanted to bolt, but I wasn’t letting him. Rain is Kevin’s relative, he knows enough about Kevin’s past, and he’s the only one I could have a proper, sensible conversation with.
“Lady Marvella said she absolutely didn’t want Lord Kevin and Lady Lily’s two boys to end up like the brothers from the past.”
“Leo and Ron?”
“She was adamant, right up to the end, that she had trained them so the older brother was a king and the younger a slave. I need to understand why she went to such extremes.”
“…Lady Marvella may well have her own mental health problems, too. Maybe it was that much of a shock for her.” Rain muttered, his expression grim.
I certainly thought Lady Marvella had issues. But perhaps, being a doctor, she couldn’t make an official diagnosis for someone she hadn’t actually examined.
“Speaking purely as a non-expert, I’d say Lady Marvella is in need of therapy. But whether Lord Kevin would pay for it…”
“I doubt it. He’s always had a strong aversion to Lady Marvella. That’s why I was genuinely surprised he chose her to tutor his children.”
“She said Lady Lily recommended her. Because Lady Marvella was supposedly an object of pity after the incident years ago.”
“That woman… Yes, she might have done something like that. She was one of those people who genuinely believed there wasn’t a bad bone in anyone’s body.”
“…Lady Lily sounds like an absolute saint, then,” I said, unable to keep the exasperation out of my voice.
Did Lily live in a bubble, only meeting good people, or was she just utterly clueless about human malice? Rain tried to manage a small, strained smile at my comment, but it fell flat.
“A saint, yes. She was often referred to as a saint or a goddess. She certainly came across as kind.”
“But I never had a clue what she was truly thinking,” Rain said, his gaze distant.
I remembered the portrait of Lily in Kevin’s room. The gently smiling woman was beautiful, but whether she was actually kind was anyone’s guess.
“Kevin will probably be furious about this, and maybe it’s just my own sour grapes, but I have a feeling that her so-called kindness actually made the conflict worse.”
“…What conflict are we talking about?”
“A sibling feud, perhaps.”
When I pressed him, Rain gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Then he got up, opened the door, and shut it again. Exactly what I’d done moments before.
That told me Rain was now ready to talk about something he definitely didn’t want Kevin to hear. It was probably also a story he’d been dying to tell someone. I sat up straighter, ready to listen.