There is no happy ending

CONTINUED.

Poor future..?

It wasn’t.

It was a bleak future, and when she thought about it, Bianca found herself envying Eugene, who sometimes seemed almost pathetic.

‘Do dead people cry?’

‘Maybe.’

‘But what’s the point?’

Bliss was still smiling. Bliss had once said that Eugene was like the sun, and here he was, with a smile that was so out of place on a cloudy day…… that it was almost too much like the sun.

If he was this shameless, I admired him. No, I liked her coldness. It’s the kind of coolness Bianca wants.

‘I liked your face…….’

Bianca looked at Bliss and mulled over his words.

Should she slap him for insulting the dead Moening, or just laugh at him? She didn’t know, she didn’t want to do either.

A little…… calculation went through Bianca’s head.

Just as Bianca was about to say something to Bliss, her maid Jade approached. Gently, Jade informed Bianca that it was time for her to leave.

Jade’s eyes were the only ones red at the funeral, as no one else cried.

‘I hope I can see you next time.’

Bianca swallowed what she was about to say and turned away. Still, Bianca was smiling. Bliss looked at Bianca’s tiny head and replied.

‘I expect so.’

Without being asked, Bianca knew where she was headed. It was Eugene, known to the world only as Moening, even if she was only half Morning.

Therefore, Eugene would be buried in the family plot behind the Marquise. Jade followed silently behind Bianca.

There was no one near Bianca and Jade. Eugene’s funeral was attended by many bigger names than Bianca, who was not yet an adult, so naturally Bianca was pushed to the fringes of attention.

This was fortunate for Jade, for otherwise, the servant would have received the punishment she deserved for interrupting her master’s conversation.

Bianca walked ahead, Jade following a few paces behind her. Jade swallowed the words she wanted to say over and over again.

She didn’t know what to say first. Bianca had completely removed her veil and exhaled. Jade quickened her pace and grabbed Bianca’s hand.

This was Jade’s method when she desperately wanted to say something. Bianca looked at Jade with annoyance.

‘……Please, please, please don’t do that. Miss.’

The cracked voice was not pleasant to hear.

Bianca’s eyes slowly swept over Jade’s still wrists. With disheveled dark brown hair, a tail that drooped underneath, and docile pale green eyes…… that looked nothing like Bianca’s at first glance, Jade looked at her longingly.

Jade’s eyes were still watery.

‘What is it?’

‘Young lady, I know what you’re thinking right now, but there’s something called decency that a person is supposed to have.’

‘Oh, no…….’

Bianca swatted Jade’s hand away, not hiding her irritation.

‘How dare you, you arrogant bastard, grab me like you don’t know what you’re talking about?’

With those words, Jade didn’t dare grab Bianca again. But I knew very well what I had to say, so I spoke again.

Despite being in front of the future Marquise of Moening, Jade was not nervous. Jade knew the calculations that went through Bianca’s head as she spoke.

‘I’ve known you since you were born, young lady.’

‘That’s new. Yeah, I’ve been watching you since I was born, too.’

‘……So I now know what you’re thinking just by looking at your face.’

Jade had to stop Bianca, she had to, she couldn’t let the young woman before she walked down the path of using the dead as an excuse to take advantage of her.

‘You’re going to approach the Duke of Winston. No, miss, that’s not a good option.’

But no matter how loyal Jade was to Bianca, Jade was Jade. She was not Jade Moening. The words of a nobleman, a non-Moening, had no meaning to Bianca.

‘So?’

Are you going to stop me?’ Bianca added. She didn’t dare use the word directly, but her voice was no less blatant.

So Jade couldn’t stop her.

All Jade could do was mourn Eugene’s death in her room and wish Bianca peace in her future. And hopefully, Bianca would stay away from Bliss. Just those things.

But Jade’s wishes were not granted.

Every so often, after Eugene’s funeral, Bliss and Bianca would meet. Stories of a broken-hearted Duke Winston and his dead fiancée’s brother comforting the Duke had been circulating in social circles.

It was only because Bianca hadn’t made her debut in society that the rumors didn’t grow much.

One day, the Marquise de Moenings summoned her to his office. Bianca did not refuse his summons.

‘Bianca.’

He didn’t call her ‘Bibi,’ so she assumed he was calling her the Marquess of Moening, not her father.

Bianca’s guess was correct.

‘I have heard that you have had a recent meeting with the Duke of Winston.’

‘I will not deny it, for it is not untrue.’

The Marquise of Moening’s wrinkles deepened.

Bliss and Bianca knew the resemblance, and they knew the aftermath of their meeting. The preparations had already been made.

Bianca was a human who did not show tears in the presence of others…… and she did not cry in the presence of the Marquise de Moening, so while she did not shed tears, she could easily raise her voice.

‘I’ve missed Eugene, father.’

Bianca said, her voice trembling. It was a frighteningly perfect performance.

‘I wasn’t the flesh-and-blood sister, but Eugene and I didn’t get along too badly.’

‘……Yes, you were.’

‘But after Eugene died, I had so little to remind me of him, so I strangled Duke Winston to listen to Eugene’s stories. That’s all.’

It was a flimsy story, but not a strange one. The Marquise of Moening knew very well that Bianca had lost her childhood far too early, but he also knew that the two of them had continued to spend time together.

So he decided to believe her.

The fact that Bianca was not a fierce woman, but she had never pushed Eugene away, and that her temper was not affectionate or gentle, supported the flimsy facts.

The last thing she wanted was for the Marquise to suspect his daughter.

As we left the Marquise’s office, Bianca snorted softly.

‘Keep all your teeth…….’

Bianca loves and respects her father deep down, but she readily admits that he has become a bit of a dullard.

How could he lead a family with such dull senses? No one else could hear her. Only her footsteps echoed in the corridor.