To My First Love, With Regret - 68

—…What on earth is this?

—A vault.

At Ethan’s nonchalant answer, Eve finally accepted that the sight before her was reality.

Creeeak. Thud.

The vault door only yielded after three men threw their weight against it. Ethan flipped a switch, and as light flooded the darkness of the vault, Eve gasped.

The ‘treasure’ he had hidden away in this abandoned mine, secured behind a vault door, consisted of priceless works of art and jewels. Every single piece was familiar to her. They had all once belonged to Kentrell.

—There are no fakes or forgeries. I’ve personally verified them all.

To think that Robert Callas hadn’t sold the items he embezzled yet. Ethan had snatched them away and buried them here, deep underground. From the hands of one thief to another. That much she could understand. But…

—Why are you showing this to me?

—A gift.

Ethan pressed the key to the vault into Eve’s hand with an indifferent attitude, as if he were handing down a toy he had grown bored of. Even with the key resting in her palm, Eve still couldn’t believe this stroke of luck.

—Are you saying you’re returning all of this to me?

He simply gave a sharp nod, arching his eyebrows as if the answer were obvious.

—Tell me when you’ve decided where to move them. I’ll have my men transport them for you.

Eve nodded, accepting his help. She did not say thank you.

—Why… why the sudden change of heart?

—Because it’s what you want.

He threw back the very words Eve had said to him when she handed over the public apology.

In that moment, Eve realized. As the finale to his long, vicious revenge, what Ethan Fairchild truly wanted was neither the Kentrell fortune nor her utter ruin.

It was solely the restoration of his grandfather’s honor.

Now that he had obtained the one thing he desired most, had this man decided to end his vendetta?

Ethan had invited Eve to this vault to return the assets that no longer held meaning for him—even if they were only a fraction of what he had seized.

Yet, that alone forced Eve to see him in a new light.

Perhaps Ethan Fairchild hadn’t turned into a devil to his very core, not as much as he appeared on the surface.

Maybe he had become a demon simply to survive hell, but deep within his heart, the very man she once loved was still alive and breathing.

—Do you think I’m crazy enough to leave you?

It was a foolish and dangerous hope to harbor for the madman who had once abandoned her.

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On the way back, Eve stopped at a bookstore in the train station. She had intended to buy a novel to pass the time during the tedious journey, but a toy unexpectedly caught her eye.

It was the kind of gift a father returning home from the front might buy for his child. Though she wasn’t exactly returning from a battlefield shrouded in gunpowder smoke, Eve felt she understood that sentiment.

Tony’s dejected face had been flickering before her eyes all day. She wanted to bring something back to make him smile.

As it happened, a corner of the bookstore was stacked with kits for model airplanes, the very kind the boy loved. Of course, he would likely be preoccupied with the much finer toys Chantal bought him at the department store and wouldn’t spare a glance for something this crude.

She was hesitating with a box in her hand when Ethan stepped in. He put the box back and picked up another.

—He already has that one. He doesn’t have this.

To Eve’s eyes, they all looked identical, but Ethan seemingly could spot the difference. Just how much time had this man spent with the boy to know Tony’s toy inventory—which was so vast even the maids had lost count—well enough to know what was missing?

She had given up on keeping the two apart. The first reason was that Tony might misunderstand it as unjust interference. The second was the burgeoning trust that Ethan wouldn’t be cruel to Tony, having heard how he had shielded the boy from shrapnel amidst a rain of shells.

—And lately, he’s been obsessed with dam-busting operations, so he’ll be more interested in a bomber.

Eve gazed blankly at Ethan, then slowly blinked to shake off the cruel vision that began to stir once more.

—…Thank you.

They bought the recommended kit and stepped out, but as if his cooperative persona had belonged to a different person entirely, Ethan began to sneer.

—Lady Evelyn, you lived your life in your brother’s shadow, and now you’ve decided to become a shadow for your younger brother. Is that the life you truly want?

In an instant, Eve’s heart froze.

Because of whom do you think I lost myself?

The man who had whispered that they should fly out of the birdcage together had flown away alone. And now, he had the audacity to mock her—the one left trapped—asking why she didn’t fly.

Anyone else might mock me, but you don’t get to.

She discovered the true intention behind his brazen words while clinking wine glasses in the dining car of the swaying train.

—Shouldn’t you stop being loyal to your family and start living your own life? You weren’t exactly the type to be obsessed with the family name to begin with.

To think the thing you chose after abandoning me was nothing but a birdcage.

Ethan was genuinely curious. Why had Evelyn Sherwood suddenly transformed into a woman who would sacrifice her life for her family?

He knew she had changed from the moment she abandoned him to side with her father, but the reason for such blind devotion remained a mystery.

Had she developed an obsession with the family because it was all she had left now that they were pushed to the brink? Or was it atonement for the reckless spark they had shared?

—How does Evelyn Sherwood intend to live her life when she’s no longer the shadow of her house?

For Eve, a future for herself was a luxury she couldn’t yet afford to dream of.

—If you haven’t given up on your dream of becoming a painter, I can help. I’m close with some quite famous dealers and collectors. After all, the Princess can’t exactly go around on foot trying to sell her own paintings.

—I’ll pass.

Because I’m already living that life. Without your help.

His offer did serve one purpose, though. It confirmed that Ethan still hadn’t realized she was ‘Leclerc.’

On one hand, her impulse to strike that face—which she had felt ever since his brazen taunting—began to subside. Seeing him offer to help first made it seem as though he felt at least a shred of guilt for abandoning her.

—You look more like a bird trapped in a cage now than you did before.

Eve didn’t deny it. As she lifted her wine glass to wash away the bitter taste in her mouth, Ethan watched her intently before throwing out his next suggestion.

—Then why not at least meet a man to give yourself some breathing room?

She stared at the man who was advising her to meet a man over the rim of her wine glass.

When Ethan first ordered a bottle of wine, Eve hadn’t doubted his intentions for a moment. At the dinner table, wine was as common as water. But not anymore. Now, this glass of wine looked like a potion intended to paralyze her reason.

Even his suggestion to have dinner together sounded different now. When they left the abandoned mine, he had insisted on a restaurant quite far away, saying it was already late and they should enjoy a leisurely meal. Eve had refused, fearing she wouldn’t be able to get home within the day.

—Are you hiding something at home? Why such a hurry?

The man who had grumbled those words also looked different now.

Now that your revenge is over, you’ll live your own life? I’ll gladly cheer for that.

But why are you trying to drag me—someone who should no longer matter to your life—into it?

Did he think that now the guilt of loving the enemy’s daughter was gone, he could freely dive back into his games of love?

By whose leave?

Eve truly prayed for Ethan to break free from the shackles of the past and find his freedom. She wanted him to find ordinary happiness.

But please, be happy somewhere I can’t see you.

The Ethan Fairchild who held a grudge against the Sherwoods, and the Ethan Fairchild who had abandoned Evelyn Sherwood. He would say he was the same man, but to Eve, they were never the same.

How can you abandon my love and then brazenly expect love again? Especially a love like mine, which you never once believed in.

Ethan Fairchild, I don’t make the same mistake twice.

Eve glared at the man who was lost in his own arrogant delusions.

‘She understood that I meant for her to see me.’

Behind a relaxed smile, Ethan secretly grit his teeth. Eve was looking at him with blatant contempt. Long ago, at the moment of her betrayal, she must have trampled him with those same eyes—eyes that looked at a pathetic insect.

But for the sake of his final revenge, Ethan had to act like an insect with no pride, wooing the woman who had trampled him.

For a Fairchild to seize the Kentrell Dukedom from the Sherwoods, he had to father a son through the Princess of Kentrell, who held the succession rights.

But how, with a woman who hates me?

He might be a shameless smuggler who swindled his country and the wealthy, but he was no rapist. Forcing a woman was not a demonstration of power. It was merely the declaration of defeat by a weak coward who could never win a woman’s heart through his own merit.