About Your Pride and My Prejudice

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“Are you leaving the mansion?”

My voice immediately trembled. Sandra was the only one in this huge cage who could say she was on my side without hesitation. After she leaves, I’ll be alone again.

What was disappointing was the fact that I couldn’t even fathom why she had suddenly packed her luggage.

“I’m sorry, miss.”

Sandra’s eyes were shaking with a dark light, but her voice was firm. It was unlikely that a clumsy persuasion would work for her, who seemed already determined.

“I like you very much. But my existence just got caught.”

“What do you mean?”

The vague story narrowed the gap between my eyebrows. Have you been hiding your identity from me all this time?

“Mr. Maurice is dead.”

“……What?”

“If I stay here, you’ll see a terrible sight. If it’s that person….”

My heart sank. As if everything had stopped.

It’s true that Mr. Maurice hasn’t visited the mansion in a while, but I thought it was ridiculous. I never wanted to believe it.

“Sandra, what do you mean? A terrible sight. Mr. Maurice, why…….”

“There was a suicide note at Mr. Maurice’s house. They haven’t found the body but can guess a few things. Such as jump into the river.….”

“Ah……”

I hurriedly shut my mouth at the terrible story. My trembling gaze lost its place and shook aimlessly. Sandra, who stopped talking for a while because she felt sorry for me, opened her mouth again with a bitter face.

“But what’s clear is that his death is not a suicide but a murder. Anyone who knows Mr. Maurice can’t miss it. Actually, I knew it would be like this from the beginning…….”

“Killing? Who the hell…….”

“It is him, my lady.”

For a moment, I got goosebumps all over my body. I felt like I was about to encounter a fact that I didn’t even want to imagine.

As if I were standing in front of a cliff where there was no end to it, I closed my quivering lips, and then I groaned again and managed to say a word. It was a very low voice compared to turning the pages.

“…… Is it Alan?”

Sandra, who shook her head at the words, looked at me in silence. She seemed to be thinking about something.

“Miss.”

After a moment of silence, she said.

“I’m going far away, so I don’t need any more mental preparation.”

“…….”

“I’ll tell you everything.”

Sandra’s story was about Monica Elwood. A long time ago, Maurice, who was hired as a tutor at Leopold mansion, was in charge of Monica. It meant that she was the one he fell in love with.

He said love is inherently painful. With green eyes that are endlessly desperate and sad.

A noble and beautiful lady unlike himself, who is a poor writer. It wasn’t too hard to imagine how painful it must have been for Mr. Maurice, who was obsessed with forbidden love. The imagination made my heart throb.

Monica Elwood had many lovers, but Maurice had never been one for a single moment. He was just pitifully swayed, but nevertheless, he was always willing to stay at her feet. It was his habit to blame himself as if he were a sinner.

—I could die for that love.

I remember Mr. Maurice’s face saying that. Nevertheless, even the sight of his beloved woman shedding tears saying that she would not want anything from him.

I suddenly thought. If Monica Elwood had urged him to die as proof of that love, or because she needed a boring variation of daily life, or for some other reason.

And if Mr. Maurice is willing to accept it, would I be able to sympathize with the death?

And I had this thought because his body was not found. It wasn’t the world he abandoned, maybe it was himself.

It may have been the belated parting of the times when he was suffering from a love that could not be fulfilled. So that he can move forward.

Of course, this is just my wish, but I was sincere in my hope that Mr. Maurice was not dead, but just determined to make a fresh start after overcoming his unfilled hunger.

Then, Sandra made a shocking statement, which was that Monica Elwood was the real daughter of the Leopold family.

I’ve heard firsthand from Alan that he was an adoptee, not Mr. Leopold’s descendant. Of course, it was a thorough secret, and it was completely unknown to the public.

I don’t think Alan lied to me that night. Just because Leopold’s blood didn’t mix, he was so perfect as a successor to the family that I would forget about it.

But I never thought Monica Elwood was Leopold’s only blood.

Monica’s mother was a street woman of unknown origin. It was not surprising that he was busy hiding his child from such a woman. He must have been afraid of damaging the reputation of the great family.

After sending Monica to the Principality, Mr. Leopold’s indescribable support can be seen from her flamboyant appearance and fancy carriage, but it seems that he didn’t even give her love.

What I felt when I first met her was not just the appreciation of her beauty. I felt an unprovoked lack of her.

It’s ridiculous that Melissa Collins, who was no one and has nothing, thought of lack when she saw Monica Ellwood. However, her appearance, which hurt and tore me, was more like an untamed beast than a noble lady.

I have no intention of criticizing her now. Hearing Sandra’s story, I just felt strangely pity for her. A little girl who would have been abandoned in a foreign country without her family could not have grown up tender and kind.

Monica has many lovers with her eye-catching appearance and charm. There was even someone next to her who would prove his love towards her with death, but it is a pity that none of them could fill her void.

“Well, Miss Monica only loved that person.”

“…….”

It felt strange to think that she and I, who seemed to have nothing in common, were actually in the same position. In the end, it’s refreshing to know that both she and I are just a woman who is infinitely weak in front of her love, who has suffered her heart from her long-standing unrequited love.

One day Alan said. She’s not his lover, more than that, she’s the family business. It was only today that I could fully understand his words.

If it’s a story like this, I understand that he couldn’t tell me hastily. He had no confidence that the dimwitted Melissa Collins would not easily divulge about the secret affairs of the noble family. It’s such sweet gossip, and most ordinary people are crazy about it.

In the meantime, I am deeply relieved that Alan Leopold is not really her lover. In other words, the two of them are a kind of family.

So I don’t know if the friendly hug in the garden was actually a private thing, and his words that he wants me, not my … Perhaps it was the most sincere confession.

Before long, I came to reflect on what Monica had told me.

—We’ve been together for close to a lifetime. We had each other’s first kiss, and we’re destined to get married someday. Dad wants it too.

She said that she went to Florin’s Leopold mansion as if it were her own home, so it’s probably true that she’s been with Alan for a long time. Maybe it was a childhood mistake to have each other’s first kiss. Alan kisses me like a mistake even when he’s grown up. I wasn’t unbearably upset when I thought like that.

However, I was forced to collapse when I heard that they were destined to get married. In fact, they didn’t share any blood, and she was not given Leopold’s name, so even if the two were married, there wouldn’t be a stir in public opinion.

Then Sandra’s words cleared up my thoughts.

“But they won’t get married. It’s just Lady Monica’s wish.”

Sandra said all the servants who have been working for Leopold’s family secretly know the truth about Alan and Monica. They are just keeping their mouth shut for fear of the consequences.

And she confessed that she was one of the people who learned from young Monica that Alan was an adopted child and that it was because of Monica’s threat when she noticed the incompatibility with Alan.

“She really acted like she was going to kill me. I couldn’t help it…….”

“……I understand.”

As I witnessed the madness in Monica’s eyes, there was nothing I couldn’t understand. Childhood innocence is sometimes even more brutal.

“Later, when the master hunted down those who had leaked the family secrets, the young master secretly helped me, who was his exclusive maid. Thanks to him, I was able to come to the principality, but…… I later found out that all those who were kicked out were dead.”

“Ah…….”

I closed my eyes. Was the shadow of power so deep and terrible?

I didn’t even want to know how many they were or how they were killed. I just wanted this lying story to be Sandra’s illusion.

“He’s not just a benefactor to me, but a man who saved my life. He’s a precious person to me.”

“…….”

“So you know why I’m leaving. Lady Monica is a person who can hurt anything that bothers her eyes. If she found out that I returned to the master’s side unharmed, something terrible may happen if I don’t leave now. She’s probably going to mess this place up.”

I clasped Sandra’s hand with a stunned face. Two hands that are dry and rough.

“Where are you going…….”

“I should go somewhere where the sight of Monica and Mr. Leopold doesn’t reach. As if I am dead. Don’t worry too much, miss. I know the Principality very well.”

“But…….”

Sandra, who gently let go of my hand, picked up the bag and continued. It was a very firm tone.

“I believe that the young master will take over the family safely and correct everything right.”

“…….”

“I hope you stay healthy, Miss Thank you very much.”

“……My name is Melissa, Melissa Collins.”

I hugged her tightly with a big bag.

“I’m sorry to tell you now. I was thankful too…….”

Sandra, who couldn’t hug me back because I was hugging her tightly, leaned her cheek on my shoulder and whispered softly.

“Please take care of the young master, Miss Melissa.”

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