WPVMVA Chapter 65

“I’m sorry, I take back what I just said. That story, it sounds really boring.”

“No, Duchess! I think it will be very interesting! A handsome young boy who suffers the unjust death of his only family member… The boy grows into a young man consumed by despair and rage, and in the process, the boy’s enemies try to kill him as well…! Ah, isn’t that a perfect story? I’m sure our patrons will be ecstatic!”

“Really? But… can’t we put on something else instead? Please?”

Who would want their own miserable past consumed as entertainment? Daniela thought Ashid would hate it. She pleaded with him, and Lysander tilted his head and asked,

“Why should we put on something else when we have such a good subject? Is there some other reason why we can’t perform this story?”

“Well, um… what if someone sees an opera with this content and gets angry, as if it were their own story?”

“Oh, come on. An opera is a story made up of lies and imagination, after all. It’s not like we’re using that person’s true story, so what does it matter?”

It matters because it’s a true story.

Daniela swallowed those words, frowning. She couldn’t tell Lysander the real reason why this story shouldn’t be made into an opera. That would be a great discourtesy to Ashid. It would be better to frame it as a story she just happened to come up with by chance.

Daniela sighed in dismay and said, “…Alright. Then at least make it his father instead of his mother. I can’t budge on that.”

“Yes, I understand!”

Lysander, who was oblivious to her real feelings, beamed and replied. He looked at Daniela with a gaze full of respect and said, “It was a good thing I spoke to you, Duchess! Thank you very much, Duchess!”

Daniela replied with an awkward smile.

That night.

After finishing her bath and dinner, Daniela changed into a light green dress instead of her nightgown and stood in front of the door connecting to Ashid’s bedroom. She absolutely had to apologize for the situation caused by her slip of the tongue, which would result in his past being turned into an opera.

She hesitated for a moment in front of the door, then gathered her courage and knocked.

Ashid, wearing a thin shirt with a deep V-neck, opened the door.

“What is it?”

At first, he thought he had misheard. He didn’t think she would ever knock on his door first. But he had definitely heard the knock, and when he opened the door, he saw Daniela standing there in a lovely dress.

Ashid tried to hide his joy and asked bluntly. Daniela looked up at him with a serious face and spoke with difficulty.

“I have something important to tell you, Your Grace. Do you have some time for me?”

“…Is this about our contract?”

‘She’s not trying to end the contract now, is she?’ Ashid asked, frowning. Daniela quickly shook her head, denying it.

“No, it’s not that… but it’s just as important.”

“Alright. Come in.” Ashid replied in relief, stepping aside slightly. Daniela gave him a small bow and entered.

Ashid’s bedroom was the same size as Daniela’s, but the decor was the complete opposite. Aside from a four-poster bed with curtains, a closet, a table with stacks of documents, and two armchairs, there was no other furniture. The only decoration was a single portrait on the wall.

It was a painting about thirty centimeters wide and long, of a beautiful woman with long, lush brown hair pulled up, holding a boy with short black hair and looking straight ahead. Daniela stared at the painting for a moment and then asked Ashid, “Is the woman in this portrait Empress Julia?”

“Yes. They say it was painted when I had just turned two. When my mother died and I was sent to the North, the maids in the Empress’s Palace were about to burn it, but the head butler, who was a servant at the time, secretly hid it behind his back and snuck it out of the palace.”

Ashid, who had come to stand close beside Daniela, answered. His gaze, fixed on his mother’s face in the portrait, was filled with longing and affection. Daniela, feeling an even stronger sense of guilt at his words, said, “…I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden? There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”

When Ashid asked, looking puzzled, Daniela slowly shook her head and replied, “No. I want to apologize. No, I have to apologize. I made a careless mistake.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me, step by step.”

Ashid tried to calm Daniela, who seemed increasingly anxious, and had her sit on the sofa by the window. He then pulled a chair from across the table and sat down right next to her. Daniela looked down and hesitated, then spoke with difficulty.

“The thing is, Lysander came to see me…”

She proceeded to tell him everything that had happened with Lysander. She told him that she had mentioned a story similar to his past when Lysander was 고민 about what opera to put on next, and that Lysander had immediately said he would make it into an opera and she had failed to stop him.

‘He’ll think I’m so frivolous and careless, trying to make money off of his painful past.’

Daniela had nothing to say, no matter what accusations Ashid threw at her. She hunched her shoulders like a criminal and bowed her head even lower.

“I am so sorry, Your Grace. I was careless. I really have no excuse.”

Daniela’s face, as she apologized repeatedly, was distorted as if she were about to cry. Ashid had been listening to her story with a tense, expressionless face, but suddenly he let out a short, puffing laugh.

‘I wondered what she would say to make her act like such a criminal.’

He couldn’t help but laugh at her words, which were much less serious than he had imagined. At the same time, he felt a warm sensation in his heart because of her thoughtful consideration and apology. He felt that she was even more lovely and said in a calm voice,

“If that’s the case, you don’t have to apologize. I’m alright.”

“…Really?”

When Daniela looked up in surprise and asked, Ashid met her gaze and nodded.

“A child who unjustly loses their parent and grows up to take revenge is, to be honest, a very common plot. It’s not like I’m the only one who went through something like this in real life.”

“But…”

“And there won’t be many people who will think of me and my mother when they watch that opera. The thing is, they all believe my mother lost the Emperor’s favor and took her own life. I’m just a foolish person who couldn’t accept that fact and was exiled for making nonsensical claims.”

“…”

“In fact, I would be grateful if that opera made people think of my mother and me. If public opinion starts to grow that my mother might have been poisoned and a reinvestigation is needed, it would make Adrian’s followers quite flustered.”

Ashid said that and gently patted Daniela’s drooping shoulder. If it had been anyone else who tried to make money by creating an opera with a story like his without telling him, he might have been furious.

But it was her, who had already risked her life several times to uphold her end of their contract. It was her, who was worried about him and sincerely apologizing. How kind and lovely she was.

Most importantly, she was the person he was secretly in love with. It was impossible for him to get angry at her.

“Your Grace…”

Daniela looked at him with a face full of emotion. She had thought he would be angry. She thought it was only natural. But instead of getting angry, he told her it was alright. She was genuinely moved by his attitude.

‘Was he a person capable of saying such a considerate thing?’

He’s a little cool.

Daniela’s face flushed with an unexpected sense of happiness, relief, and a strange sense of anticipation, and she asked cautiously,

“Does that mean… it’s alright to make an opera with this story?”

“Yes. Go right ahead.”

Ashid answered readily. Daniela’s face brightened. She grabbed his hands with both of hers and said in a voice filled with emotion,