Milly, fixed in his sights, didn’t so much as flinch. She simply held his gaze.
The one who finally snapped was Gilbert, who had been stunned silent until now. “Enough of this, Ike!”
“Stay out of what doesn’t concern you!”
“What doesn’t concern me? Don’t be absurd! What are you even trying to accomplish, carrying on like a child since last week?!” Gilbert responded, his voice raised in anger.
Ike, provoked, seemed ready to shout back even louder, when a sharp clap rang through the room.
“Honestly, are you planning to put on this little scene every week? Both of you, cool your heads.” It was Edgar. Chin resting on one hand, he looked at them with a weary exasperation and cold eyes.
Gilbert shut his mouth, a guilty expression crossing his face. He knew he’d lost his temper.
Still, Ike shouted on. “Why should I?! Why should I be the one to endure this?! Don’t let yourselves be swayed by that bastard’s blood! Have you all lost your minds?!”
“Ike.”
“You too, President! You know what her father did to my family! Yet you bow your head just because she’s the grand duke’s daughter!”
“No, Ike. It’s time you realized something. I don’t want to be angry either.” Nicholas’s calm tone made Ike falter, breath coming rough but words cut short.
Milly, lips pressed tight, said nothing. She watched the scene before her as if it were happening in another world. So there really was someone else besides Angelina who despised me. As the grand duke’s daughter, Milly had lived in comfort, never once threatened by others.
“It’s natural you hate the grand duke. He tore you from your family on a whim. That anger makes sense.”
“...”
“But that doesn’t justify lashing out at Lady Milly. To me, it just looks like you’re throwing a temper tantrum.” Nicholas’s voice remained that same quiet murmur, difficult to catch.
Ike’s eyes were deadly serious, carrying the weight of someone who saw through everything.
What an unusual feeling. My chest feels tight, and there’s this sting right at the bridge of my nose. Milly pressed lightly at the front of her uniform. It was a feeling she had never known before the rewind. Something like sadness, something like emptiness, something like loneliness, all swirling in her chest. Strange. Before time turned back, I swore I’d never expect anything from anyone. But now that she’d been given a “redo” and allowed herself to reach out to others, she found it only brought her sorrow and emptiness.
She lifted her head, and her eyes met Ike’s wavering crimson ones. For a few brief seconds they stared at each other, silence stretching as if time had stopped.
“So...what?”
Before Milly could look away, Ike’s voice cut through the stillness. “So what?! I’ll never forgive her family, or her! And I won’t accept her being here!”
“Ike!”
“Shut it, Gilbert! I’ve spent all this time wishing...praying that you’d all die in the most miserable way possible! That’s all I’ve ever thought about!” No one could interrupt him. Ike barreled on. “And it’s not just me! There are countless others who hate the grand duke’s house just as much!”
“...”
“At least your mother got what she deserved! Serves her right! Grand duke’s daughter or whatever, sooner or later you’ll...”
A deafening crack split the air. Then, silence. Everyone turned toward the source of the sound. Without a wand, Milly had cast Spark, her eyes fixed on Ike, cold and lifeless. The momentum drained from him. His mouth hung open, but no words came out.
In that instant, there was no doubt Milly commanded the room. She drew in a quiet breath. “I see.” Two syllables. That alone made the air turn icy. “Trying to understand you was my mistake.”
“What?”
“All you’ve got is your grudge, and nothing underneath. Just shouting how much you hate, hate, hate. You’re pathetic.” Milly was startlingly calm. Fury supposedly made the heart race, but her pulse was steady. She had gone beyond anger into sheer contempt. “I understand perfectly now. You’re just afraid of my father.”
“What?”
“That’s why you vent your rage at me—and at my mother, who’s already gone and can’t answer back. You’re pretending it’s as if you’ve stood up to the grand duke himself.”
Ike leaned forward slightly...but no words came.
“How disappointing. I thought you had some backbone, but you’re just a child.” With that, Milly briskly began gathering her things. There was no longer any reason for her to stay. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she looked toward the president’s seat. “Forgive me, Nicholas. I’m going home.”
“Ah... Oh. All right.”
“I was wrong about so much. I’m sorry. Truly.”
She reached into her bag, pulled out a hefty bundle of papers, and thrust it into Gilbert’s hands before heading for the door.
“Another time.” With those final words, Milly closed the door behind her.
The five who remained sat dumbstruck. At last Gilbert seemed to recall what he was holding, and spread the bundle across the table. There were dozens of sheets, every one filled with neat, detailed writing.
Lucius picked one up and muttered, “Notes on cake shops. All the ones in the capital.”
And not just shops. Mixed in were recommendations for tea leaves, sketches of tablecloth patterns to suit the party’s atmosphere, and other such details, complete with rough illustrations.
“She put all this together, just for the tea party?” Gilbert muttered.
Nicholas and Edgar leaned over to peer at the bundle of papers.
“Amazing. I would have thought she’d be the last person who’d care about this sort of thing.”
“Agreed. Yet it’s written in such obsessive detail it’s almost creepy. And what’s this sketch supposed to be? Don’t tell me it’s a cake?”
While Ike alone bit his lip and stared down at the table, his childhood friend Lucius looked pained, weighed down by frustration. He knew Ike hated the grand ducal house. Had he done something—said something—maybe Ike and Milly could have reached an understanding. All Lucius had done was watch in silence, and that regret gnawed at him. He’d hoped Milly would have been able to break through.
“Excuse me. I’ll go look for her.”
Murmuring to the others as they pored over the papers, Lucius stepped out of the council room. He had to find Milly. He couldn’t just leave her like this. After all the effort she had put in—at the cost of her health, even—he refused to let it all be for nothing.