In reality, Leila had wanted to walk away from the drunk man. But when she’d noticed that he was clad in high-quality attire, she had hurried over to his side. And the outcome of that decision was their eventual marriage. With my beauty, I had a feeling I could do it, Leila thought with a triumphant giggle.
In a serious tone of voice, Clement continued. “Yes, it’s very nostalgic. By the end of the day, you had drowned your sorrows as well, and you were even drunker than I. You screamed and cried and threw up... You were a mess.”
“I...” Leila glanced away awkwardly. She had wanted to forget those awful memories.
“But you were incredible back then. You were so angry with your stingy in-laws that you said things like ‘I’m beautiful, so of course I’m going to spend lots of money! It was their fault for taking me as a bride if they weren’t prepared for that!’”
“D-Did I, now...?”
The baron’s words were true. When the others asked about the beginning of their romance, they only told them the first half of the story: that Leila had found the drunk Clement passed out on the street and nursed him. Leila had asked Clement to keep the latter half a secret. Somehow, Claus had found out about it, and in the past had threatened to out her if she kept conspiring against Jeanette.
“Most incredible of all was your care for Ariel,” Clement said wistfully. “‘Please!’ you said, ‘I don’t want Ariel to be a prostitute! I don’t care what becomes of me, but I want to protect her even if it costs me my life!’ It was the first time a woman had pulled on my lapels with such strength. I’d never seen someone look so ghoulish before either.”
“My, how embarrassing... Did I really say that?” Leila replied, tilting her head. I was drunk, so my memories from that time are hazy. She feigned ignorance, relieved that the topic was getting further and further away from Claus.
Clement nodded repeatedly. “You did. I remember it well. The reason I took you in as my wife was because I was taken with your strength of character, as both a woman and a mother.”
“Goodness...” Leila took this opportunity to blush.
Clement kept going. “That was why I didn’t mind the fact you didn’t like me in the slightest.”
“Right... Huh?” She looked up at him with surprise. The topic has suddenly changed, hasn’t it?
He gazed back at her intently. His usually cheerful countenance didn’t have an ounce of laughter to it now. “I always wondered whether I should caution you about how you treated Jeanette. But I tolerated it so long as Jeanette herself was amused by it.”
“Huh...? What...?” Jeanette? Why is the conversation shifting in that direction?
“But what you did this time is the one thing I cannot accept.” Clement’s eyes narrowed, his pupils shaking with suspicion. “You tried sending Jeanette off as a sacrifice, didn’t you?”
“I... That’s...!” Leila’s mouth gaped. She was shaken to her core.
“And you really did send Ariel off as a sacrifice,” the baron added, his eyes glinting sharply.
He was aware of everything, after all. His cheerful reminiscing had all been a ploy to gradually corner Leila. The moment Leila realized that, everything seemed to slow down. Clement’s cool, emotionless gaze pierced her. He was looking at her like a judge about to issue a verdict.
“I could put up with you making a fool out of me. And I knew that Claus was protecting Jeanette, so I was willing to tolerate how you treated her. But you betrayed the one person you should never have betrayed—Ariel. Am I wrong?”
“I...”
“Leila. Let me ask you again. Isn’t Ariel your precious daughter, whom you were willing to protect with your life? Are you truly fine with sending her off to someone infamously senile and lecherous just to pay off your own debt?”
The baron didn’t shout or get agitated; he only addressed her in a low, matter-of-fact tone of voice.
“You know how much hardship Claus went through because of people claiming he was selling himself, don’t you? So why did you do the very same thing to your own daughter? Why couldn’t you find it in yourself to say, ‘I’ll protect Ariel no matter what’? What a shame, Leila.” Clement patted her shoulder. “I overlooked the way you bullied Jeanette because I didn’t want Ariel to end up homeless. But now that she’s gone, I no longer have to worry. Leila, I want you to leave this house. We’re divorcing.”
Divorce. That single word blared in Leila’s ears.
Clement began walking out of the room. She hurried after him, outstretching her arm toward his back. “W-Wait, Clement...! I’m sorry! Forgive me...!”
With his hand wrapped around the doorknob, Clement paused and slowly shook his head. “No, Leila. It’s not me to whom you should be apologizing. It’s Jeanette and Ariel. And...Ariel might not forgive you even if you tell her you’re sorry. But I wouldn’t blame her, after what you did to her.”
The door shut mercilessly, and with that Clement had made his rejection unmistakable.
Leila collapsed with a thud, her hands falling against the floor. It was at that moment that she realized how she had sacrificed something so precious to her. And the fact that Ariel, whom she had sold off, would never smile at her again. Large teardrops hit the floor one after another. Unable to bear it any longer, Leila wailed.
“Ah... Ahhh... AHHH!!! Clement! Jeanette! Ariel!”
She cried out the names of those who had once been her family and who would never smile at her again.