Acidity of Regret Ch 86
- Feb 8
- 9 min read
Her heart froze, as if submerged in glacial water.
[Vanessa] "Is it because of that?"
Her voice, devoid of any significant rise or fall, sounded remarkably cold.
Dina, her eyes wide like a startled rabbit, turned her head toward the window and gasped, sucking in a sharp breath.
Vanessa glanced at the maid, who couldn't hide her shock, before casually walking back toward her bed.
Dina swept a hand over her chest, exhaling in relief that her lady’s destination was not the front gate. She scurried after her, explaining the situation in a frantic whisper.
[Dina] "Well, I heard he arrived thirty minutes ago. The Count sent a servant to refuse his request for a visit, but he remains unmoved. He insists he has something he must tell you, My Lady......"
While Vanessa had been offering a half-complaining prayer to the Goddess in the chapel, had this man appeared with such shameless audacity to poison the atmosphere of the Count’s estate?
Given her father’s heart—still grinding with rage over the recent kidnapping—he wouldn't have let Declan inside even with a blade at his throat. He had issued a cold order for the guest to leave multiple times, yet the man persisted with such stubbornness.
She returned to her bed, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
[Dina] "The Count specifically requested that you do not meet him......"
[Vanessa] "I won't go out."
Dina’s face brightened instantly, as if she had received specific instructions regarding that answer.
Vanessa swallowed the medicine the maid brought and climbed onto the bed.
[Vanessa] "Could you give me the book over there?"
Seeing her utter disregard for the Grand Duke, Dina’s heart lightened. While she was following the Count’s orders, she had also secretly hoped Vanessa wouldn't go out.
Since the horrific kidnapping, Grand Duke Vinkart had long since become the public enemy of the Rohawk household.
As the personal maid serving at her side, Dina’s animosity toward the Grand Duke ran deeper than most.
[Dina] "Oh?"
Vanessa, who was propping a pillow against the headboard, looked up at the puzzled sound. Dina was staring out the window. Following her gaze, Vanessa saw the first few droplets—tap, tap—hitting the glass.
Rain began to fall.
The sky had been gloomy since morning, and now the clouds finally broke.
[Vanessa] "......"
She stared blankly at the window as it blurred with moisture, then lowered her head.
Rustle.
She opened the book she had been reading and settled into bed.
Since there was no sign of her leaving the room, Dina quietly closed her mouth and withdrew.
The elegantly written letters began to blur, and a heavy shroud of sleep descended. The medicine the physician prescribed for her to take three times a day contained a small dose of a sedative.
When she finally opened her eyes, unaware of when she had fallen asleep, the book lay discarded in a corner of the bed. Darkness had swallowed the room.
The first thing she noticed was the thunderous roar of water—whoosh—striking her ears. The drizzle from earlier had transformed into a violent downpour. Perhaps because of the relentless sound, even inside her bedroom, she felt as if she were submerged in the deep sea.
Vanessa slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. The lingering effects of the medicine kept her logic hazy for a moment. Then, the conversation she had with Dina before falling asleep surged back into her mind.
Before she could stop herself, her head snapped toward the desk clock. Three hours had passed since she first entered the room.
Surely not.
She climbed out of bed and approached the window. She slowly pulled back the curtains Dina had drawn.
[Vanessa] "......"
The landscape was a blur behind the sheets of falling water, but the man standing in the center remained vividly clear.
She froze the moment she saw him, standing still and soaking wet without an umbrella.
[Vanessa] "......Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped her.
Did he think she would meet him just because he stood there with such reckless persistence? It was that same stubbornness that always exhausted people.
Believing his obsession would never change, she shook her head and pulled the curtains shut again. She wasn't even curious why he had suddenly come here to act this way.
Ultimately, she did not leave her room that day.
The fierce rain continued to lash against the earth.
Three days passed.
During that time, her life remained consistent. However, a tiny, subtle crack disturbed that peace.
That crack was Declan Vinkart.
She realized he still guarded the front gate by observing Dina’s behavior; even while tending to her, the maid constantly stole glances out the window.
[Vanessa] "......"
She never imagined this foolishness would last for three days.
He did nothing. He simply stood there, staring at the mansion, while the rain fell as if the Goddess were testing someone’s limits.
Declan waited for her in that exact position without so much as an umbrella. He stayed until the sun emerged through the rain and eventually transformed into a pale moon.
Enduring for such a long time was no easy feat. But since the subject was Declan, it was none of her business. His idiotic persistence was a hardship he had invited upon himself without anyone’s interference.
Vanessa ignored his presence, continued her daily routine, and firmly refused to show her face even once.
On this third day, the rain finally stopped. The morning was about to slip away fruitlessly when a sudden sound interrupted the quiet.
[Dina] "Oh, oh?"
She let out a strange cry.
[Dina] "M-My Lady! The Master is going out!"
[Vanessa] "What?"
Vanessa, who had been sitting on her bed like a fixture, bolted upright and rushed to the window.
Just as Dina said, the Count was walking toward the stationary Declan without a single knight to accompany him.
Vanessa felt the world spin for a moment. A nightmare from before her regression—one that should have vanished into memory—surged back.
That night, when the Rohawk estate became a sea of fire filled with screams due to a treason they never committed. The night her father met a cold death at the sword of the Royal Guard Captain......
Her grip tightened on the curtains. Vanessa, who had been clutching the fabric until it creaked with ugly wrinkles, suddenly turned around.
[Dina] "My Lady!"
She ignored her frantic attempt to stop her and hurried out of the bedroom. She didn't even know how she managed to descend the stairs and reach the front door.
In the hall leading to the main entrance, the knights of the Count's household, including Elliot, stood armed and positioned as if for a siege. Their posture made it clear they were worried about the Count, who had just left the mansion.
[Elliot] "My Lady......?!"
The knight, Elliot, tried to grab Vanessa as she bypassed them to open the door.
[Vanessa] "Don't follow me."
She radiated an aura so chilling that even he held his breath, and she stepped straight outside.
Elliot, who had intended to follow her secretly, froze at the unusual intensity flickering in her eyes.
Though she had been more withdrawn since the kidnapping, she had never lost her gentleness; seeing her act so fiercely was rare. No, it was the first time since he began serving her.
Ultimately, he did not approach but positioned himself where he could intervene the moment trouble arose.
The grass, saturated by days of rain, was sludgy. Stepping onto that path toward her father felt as grueling and long as wading through a swamp. She swallowed hard, her throat dry.
The Count, who had approached within inches of Declan, noticed the presence behind him and turned his head. His eyes widened the moment he discovered his daughter.
[Count] "Vanessa?"
[Vanessa] "Father, go inside."
He couldn't immediately speak, shocked by her sudden appearance, before finally finding his voice.
[Count] "But......"
[Vanessa] "Please."
She knew her father's heart better than anyone. He had stepped out after enduring and enduring for the sake of his daughter, who suffered because of the Grand Duke’s presence. His rage toward the man who kidnapped her had likely not faded.
However, she couldn't stand to watch her father and Declan meet. Especially not here, at the Rohawk estate. Her painful past haunted her like a ghost.
[Vanessa] "Such a thing will never happen again. So, please."
The Count's gaze drifted toward the Grand Duke, who stood quietly. He stared at his daughter, who seemed desperate to send him inside, and finally retreated.
However, instead of entering the mansion completely, he stood beside Elliot. He intended to watch his daughter's safety with his own eyes.
Vanessa watched him go, then turned to Declan. She couldn't suppress the heat rising from her chaotic heart.
[Vanessa] "You."
[Declan] "......"
[Vanessa] "How dare you come here?"
Three days ago, when she first spotted him through the window after returning from the chapel.
[Vanessa] "How dare you......"
Her first thought was that this was absurd.
He was undeniably thick-skinned and shameless. Even if those events hadn't happened yet in this timeline, the memories remained vivid in her mind. The memory of the dawn when the rebellion broke out.
How could the man who orchestrated everything think to show his face here?
[Vanessa] "It means I don't want to see you."
[Declan] "......"
[Vanessa] "It means I have no desire to speak with you."
[Declan] "......"
[Vanessa] "Three days of silence—could you not understand such a simple meaning?"
Mindful of her father and the knights nearby, she struggled to steady her voice, which threatened to break into a scream. Despite her efforts, her sharp tone didn't soften.
Even during her interrogation, Declan said nothing. Watching his silence, she let out a cold, hollow laugh.
[Vanessa] "Ah, of course. You always view me as a joke."
Declan, who had been standing with a static expression since she appeared, furrowed his brows deeply at those words.
She had criticized herself, in a way, yet he looked as if he were the one suffering the insult.
Finding even that reaction ridiculous, she glared at him.
[Vanessa] "You act so selfishly because you consider me an existence worth disregarding."
[Declan] "Vanessa."
[Vanessa] "Don't call my name."
[Declan] "......"
[Vanessa] "Leave. Vanish from my sight. Please."
Despite her icy reaction, he remained unmoved.
[Vanessa] "I said leave! I can't stand the sight of you!"
Unlike the sharp edge in her eyes, her voice was flat enough to be considered indifferent. It carried a heavy sense of exhaustion.
Strangely, that exhaustion stabbed into his heart. It felt as if she were sick of his very existence.
He hesitated, his lips parting and closing for a long moment before he finally spoke.
[Declan] "I know you loathe the sight of me."
[Vanessa] "......"
[Declan] "I know, but...... I had no other choice."
He took a step toward her. She immediately recoiled, like someone sensing a threat.
He flinched at her blatant avoidance and looked at her with a withered, defeated gaze.
Then.
[Vanessa] "What...... what are you doing?"
His noble posture crumbled as one knee bent toward the ground. His line of sight dropped abruptly.
When his other knee finally touched the earth, she became utterly speechless. She was so horrified that her throat tightened, and her words came out as a stutter. Simultaneously, the deathly quiet surroundings began to stir with an eerie rustle.
Along with the Grand Duke’s knights, who had been hiding according to their master’s wishes, a significant commotion broke out among the Count and his men.
Declan had taken a stance that no one watching could have predicted.
But she was the most shocked of all.
[Declan] "I had to come after hearing the national wedding was moved up."
[Vanessa] "......"
[Declan] "I know I am too late. I know I am in no position to beg you to cancel the wedding. No, in truth, I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like you will hate me no matter what I do......"
[Vanessa] "......"
[Declan] "But the thought of you becoming another man’s wife makes me lose my mind......"
His voice, steady at first, now wavered like a candle in the wind. While his kneeling posture was unwavering, the words he struggled to pull out were precarious and fragile.
Vanessa stared at him, her agitation gradually settling into a calm mask.
The national wedding.
So, it was that again.
A sense of futility washed over her, and she took a step toward him, despite her previous avoidance. It would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid.
But in this moment, the man who offered his knees like a confessing sinner felt too pathetic to be a threat.
Looking down at him for the first time, she was swept by a bizarre sensation. It felt like a mix of disgust and bewilderment. More accurately, it was both.
A moment later, she realized why she felt this way.
In every moment she remembered, their positions had been the opposite.
She had always been the one kneeling and begging, while Declan looked down at her with arrogance. He held everything; she held nothing. Before her regression, he had even held her heart hostage.
A perfect hierarchy of master and servant. The positions of heaven and earth, which seemed eternal even if the world ended, had been completely inverted in this single moment.
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