NIYTR 45

Chapter 45

The Fallen Chandelier

“…Maybe she’s still just a child, getting carried away by the emperor’s favor. Sorry. I think my nerves are just on edge.”

Rosemary sighed, finally setting aside her suspicions.

“Thank you for coming today, sister. I’m so glad I got to see you.”

Edelweiss lifted her head, wearing a sorrowful expression.

Rosemary, seemingly reassured, smiled in satisfaction.

“Oh, come on. Of course I had to be here.”

Creak—

A thin metallic sound scraped through the air.

Edelweiss’s ears caught it immediately. She turned toward the noise.

Up near the far ceiling to the left, a chandelier was swaying faintly with a groan.

Wasn’t that the one they said needed repairs earlier? Didn’t they fix it?

“Edel, don’t take what my father said to heart. I’ll talk to him later and try to calm him down.”

And then—

CRASH!

The chandelier, adorned with golden decorations, came crashing down.

Glass shards and iron chains rained from above like a violent downpour.

“KyAAAH!”

Rosemary’s scream tore through the room.

She stumbled backward, her injured ankle giving out.

A jagged glass shard struck Edelweiss’s foot, embedding itself across the top.

Blood began to flow down.

It stung—but it was bearable.

Edelweiss turned back toward Rosemary, who was frozen in terror.

Must be scared because she couldn’t move right away with her ankle.

Rushed footsteps echoed as the lounge door burst open.

“Rosemary!”

the Duke of Stern called out.

“My child!”

It was the Marquis of Blossomweaver.

The Duke of Stern had already rushed to cradle the fallen Rosemary, checking her over.

…Why?

Even now, it was still Rosemary he prioritized—completely unharmed, yet always first.

Edelweiss had always been pushed aside.

And now, that fact felt especially cruel.

“My child, your foot is bleeding… Just wait here a moment, I’ll bring a physician. Alright? Please?”

The Marquis of Blossomweaver gasped when he saw the deep red blood flowing from the shard embedded in Edelweiss’s foot.

Panicked, unsure of what to do, he eventually rushed off in a frenzy.

The Duke of Stern finally turned around after lifting Rosemary up.

“Edelweiss!”

“…Don’t come near me.”

As he shouted her name and stepped forward, Edelweiss turned and left through the back entrance.

Each step sent sharp pain through her foot as the shard dug deeper—but it wasn’t the wound that hurt most.

There was a scene she had imagined countless times before:

That when she died—when Rosemary pushed her from the railing—perhaps the Duke would worry more about the traumatized Rosemary than the daughter who had just died.

Now she was certain.

He would have felt no sorrow, shed no tears, had no regrets about failing to love her.

She would never have been anything to him.

Her chest ached so much it was hard to breathe.

Each inhale brought to mind the image of him calmly ordering her funeral arrangements.

“Edelweiss, wait!”

The Duke’s voice rang out behind her.

“Sister must be really shaken, so why are you following me?”

“You need to treat that foot! Where do you think you’re going with a wound like that? What if it worsens?!”

“…”

“This all happened because we rushed your coming-of-age ceremony. D*mn that Cesare—what kind of preparations did he even make? If only we’d held it at the Stern duchy as originally planned, none of this would’ve happened!”

His angry mutterings buzzed around her ears.

He wasn’t concerned about her; he was too busy blaming others and pointing out poor decisions.

But the chandelier fell because a servant failed to repair it properly—something she clearly remembered the Marquis had ordered to be done.

The Marquis had done everything for her.

He’d accompanied her to get the dress tailored. He’d signed the adoption papers and given her the Ovelyn name.

He gave her everything the Duke never did.

Even just moments ago, he was the first to come running to get a doctor—for her.

As if he were the one whose foot was injured.

“What right do you have to say those things?”

“…What?”

Edelweiss had promised herself she would never cry in front of the Duke.

But now—

The tears she had long held back spilled down, blurring her vision.

“When I was in pain, the one who stayed up all night watching over me—

The one who measured how much I’d grown—

The one who held me and read me stories—

It was him.”

“…”

“So how dare you belittle the one who filled the void you created?”

“…”

“Why don’t you ever worry about me? Why is it always Rosemary’s name you call? Why…?”

Her voice cracked with grief.

The years of being ignored, pushed aside, imagining affection that never came—

It all choked her at once.

“But Rosemary hurt her ankle. She fell in shock, and—”

The Duke tried to justify himself, instantly making Edelweiss sound like a petty, childish girl.

As though she were simply jealous of her hurt sister.

Of course. That’s who he is. I’ve always known.

“When I was hurt, you didn’t come see me even once…”

“…”

“You didn’t even come to my coming-of-age ceremony… Even when I let go of your hand, even when you kept leaving me alone and turning your back on my misery, I still couldn’t give up the faintest hope… I couldn’t abandon you, even to the end. I told myself I had, again and again, but the truth is—I hadn’t.

All these tangled, hardened disappointments mean only one thing.

Even after becoming a Blossomweaver.

Even after no longer being a Stern.

I still longed for my father’s touch.

I still couldn’t let go of hope.

I was still stuck in the days when I rubbed my sleepy eyes, waiting for you to come.

And I hated myself for that.

When will I be able to let you go?”

“……”

“If you were never going to be a father… if you were always going to treat me like this… then why didn’t you just abandon me from the start? You made me think I might be loved. You made me try, hope, and even made me afraid to want it at all…”

If only I’d grown up not knowing you were my father.

How much easier it would have been.

“Did you come to my funeral? When you heard I died, did you feel relieved that the honor of the Stern had been preserved?”

Of course you did.

“Or did you think it was pathetic? That the profit you could’ve gotten from selling me off to Yennieham was lost?” I’m sure you thought that too.

“Well? Father, please answer me. I want to know so badly. I’m going insane. It hurts—right here—it hurts so much I want to rip it out.”

Edelweiss clutched her chest, speaking without taking a breath. She couldn’t hold back the sorrow pouring out.

Even though she already knew the answer—she wanted to hear it.

“…Funeral? What are you talking about? Edelweiss… I don’t understand what you’re saying. Yennieham?”

The Duke of Stern looked confused. His violet eyes trembled.

She had forgotten—he would never know.

He was still living in the past.

And she had already moved beyond it.

Their timelines were no longer aligned.

She had asked a question that didn’t even make sense anymore.

Or maybe, she didn’t want to hear the answer… because she already knew.

And she hated him for it.

“I hate you so much…”

“Edelweiss—”

But what rose to the surface in her mind

was her younger self—

the one who once said:

‘I love Father the most…’

Why did she say that?

She was never his pride.

She never became anything to him.

Then why—why did she struggle so desperately?

Why did she fight so hard to earn even a sliver of space in his heart?

‘It’s okay if you don’t love me. I’ll be okay. I’ll try harder…’

‘I was never okay. Not even once…’

She was always afraid he’d hate her for crying,

so she never cried out loud.

Even when tears came,

she bit her lip and forced herself to endure it.