There is no happy ending

EPISODE:3.2

CONTINUE.
The marquise’s face will turn cold, and the marquis will be furious. He would tell her that there were plenty of good suitors other than the Duke of Winston and that it was all right for her to divorce him.

Bianca didn’t want to hear that from either of them. Everything had to be decided by her.

Just as she had decided that Bliss and Bianca were engaged. Her relationship with Bliss belonged to her, and no one else could interfere.

First, she had to summon Nicholas and tell him the story of last night, and then she had to figure out what she was supposed to do, though she hadn’t quite figured it out yet.

A faint feeling of regret gripped her.

She wished she hadn’t given the order.

But there was no point in procrastinating. The consequences would always be there, waiting for her.

Shortly after finishing her meal, Bianca called for Nicholas. Bianca wore a calm face, but the knight, in contrast, looked as if the most unfortunate thing in the world had happened to him.

Bianca’s index finger flies into the air and then sinks back down. Tap, tap. Her index finger tapped on the desk.

‘……I’m sorry to tell you, miss.’

‘No, you don’t have to be sorry. So, what kind of girl was Bliss seeing?’

Nicholas hesitated. Bianca narrowed her eyes for a moment. At her unspoken urging, he spoke quickly.

‘He was seeing the daughter of Fabian Halona, the president of the Eldora Chamber of Commerce.’

‘Fabian Halona?’

‘Yes. He’s an emerging wealthy man. I didn’t get his daughter’s name right away, but give me a little time and I’ll find out.’

‘No, I want to know more than her name. How did you find her?’

That’s what I want to know. After all the time I’ve spent without a trace, it was only yesterday that my tail got stepped on.

On any other day, I would have thought, ‘Oh, I must have been doing a good job,’ but when it comes out of nowhere, there’s something to it.

Nicholas’s jaw clenched at Bianca’s question. His jaw creased.

‘Sir Nicholas?’

‘…….’

The next words were a shock.

‘……Yesterday he took the young lady to the Marquis, and then he went straight to Fabian Halona’s mansion, and we haven’t seen him since.’

Bianca was mesmerized. Nicholas squeezed his eyes shut like a man in pain for saying something he didn’t want to say.

As far as Nicholas the Knight was concerned, Bianca must feel betrayed.

Yes, it was, in the eyes of others. I don’t know how Bianca would feel about it, but she and Bliss were in love.

Bianca loved Bliss, and Bliss loved her.

Nicholas knew it. The depth of love in Bianca’s eyes when she looked at Bliss. He couldn’t imagine how Bianca felt.

‘I’m going to leave now.’

Nicholas said, sounding pained. Bianca nodded. She heard the door close behind her.

Her heart pounded wildly. It was a familiar sensation. It had beaten this way the first time when she’d heard the rumors and gone to track down Bliss. Eris hadn’t been lying.

The words I heard yesterday, and the anxiety I felt yesterday, were not false.

Bliss has another……, a woman. Fabian Halona’s daughter, the woman who paralyzes him to the point of running away when he sees her.

I’ve heard the name Fabian Hallona before.

Fabien Hallona is a man who has made a fortune in the last decade. Originally an antique dealer in the eastern county of Grégogne, he famously lent three billion livres to the Count of Grégogne, who was deep in gambling debts.

The Count of Grégogne did a great business with those three billion livres. It was a trading business. If the ships came back safely, it was a great deal, but if they sank, people would argue about the business that would be left behind.

Fabian was not swayed by their words. When he didn’t return for more than a year, so did the people of the Eldora Chamber of Commerce, and so did his trading partners. Fabian’s choice was the right one. The Count of Grégogne’s ship returned to the harbor in one piece, albeit after a mishap that caused it to lose its course.

It earned Fabien the Count of Grégogne’s trust, which he used to build wealth through his connections with the nobility.

Recalling this information, Bianca could recall what she had seen and heard.

Bliss had told me that we needed to sign a contract for the distribution of gold, and the papers I saw on his desk bore the names of Eldora Sanghoe and Fabian.

Business with Fabian Hallona, Bliss’s late-night visits to his office. Nicholas’s investigation, no doubt.

Bianca buried her face in her hands, consciously stopping her train of thought. A sudden wave of regret washed over her.

‘I should have asked her name.’

She should have asked for her name. Maybe then she could have at least calmed the churning in her stomach.

If only I’d known about her. If only…….

There are many what-ifs, but in the end, there is no turning back. In essence, regret is always too late.

Bianca didn’t know what to do with the churning in her stomach. It was the first time in her life she had ever felt this way.

The words, ‘Fabian Halona’s daughter,’ stuck with her for a long time.

How should she use this information, how should she use it, how should she tell Bliss, would Bliss be honest with her if she asked, would Bliss break up with her, would Bliss break up with her?

These thoughts made Bianca uneasy.

‘Why?

It’s ridiculous when you think about it. It’s a perfect, flawless plan, a contract, so why would Bianca balk at it?

The answer is obvious, and Bianca is not stupid enough not to recognize it.

Bianca bit her lower lip hard.

‘I, Bliss…….’

Ah, Bianca was in love with Bliss.

Without much fanfare, after six years of show windows, Bianca had fallen in love with Bliss Winston. That’s why I cried, and that’s why I’m anxious now.

It’s only now that I realize that.

Now that Bianca’s castle has been shaken and their relationship is in jeopardy!

I’d rather not have known, I’d rather not have realized, but I did. In a hopeless situation, I recognized it.

‘Ah…….’

Bianca knows.

Bliss Winston would never, ever love her.

‘Why, of course.’

What should I do?

Even as she asks herself that question, Bianca realizes that the only thing she can do is to find Bliss.

Thinking about it alone would only make the pain inside her grow.

Bianca had never suffered in her life before, and she was vulnerable to pain. She didn’t know how much more she could take of him.

She had been called impatient, but who could bear to embrace and endure so much pain?

She had to find Bliss. I had to ask about Fabian Halona’s daughter.

And I wanted to hear the answer: that she was just a passing woman, like all the women I’d ever met, and that our window would be forever.

No love was needed. I wanted Bianca by Bliss’s side. It had to be. Bianca wanted it.

Is love the right word to describe it, I don’t know. But that’s not the point. I want something.

Bianca rose to her feet. There was only one person who could stop her, and that was Bliss Winston.