For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 72
The Desire for Recognition
Something she had always thirsted for in her past life.
Just as Vanessa had helped Ian unlock his Gold Vein, Ian had struck precisely at Vanessa’s weakest point.
“…It was only ever a matter of time, not something impossible.”
He was right.
Ian would have found a way to unlock it eventually, one way or another.
“That you saved me the time — that’s you. It’s an accomplishment worth praising.”
Ian pressed deeper into Vanessa’s vulnerability.
Harder this time.
“…Stop it. I didn’t bring the dessert to get praised for my business sense.”
“Oh? So you did think of me when you bought it? I thought you meant something else entirely.”
Vanessa’s mouth snapped shut.
Her excuse had crumbled in a single sentence.
“…Eat it quickly.”
Vanessa turned away, sipping her tea.
Heat crept to the tips of her ears — as if she’d caught it from him.
Only the soft sound of tea being drunk and the quiet rustle of dessert being consumed filled the study.
The silence wasn’t oppressive or uncomfortable.
But for the first time, Vanessa found the quiet of being alone with Ian strange.
An unnamed feeling seeped through the fracture in her exposed weakness, settling in little by little.
Vanessa set down her tea before finishing it and rose from her seat.
“If I stay any longer, I’ll be in the way. Thank you for the tea — I’ll be going.”
Before Ian could say anything, Vanessa left the study.
Only then did Ian’s fork come to rest.
He leaned back against the sofa, staring down at Vanessa’s teacup, still half-full.
“…When will you finally stay long enough to finish it?”
The quiet murmur echoed through the study.
Having pushed the half-eaten cake within reach, Ian stood and picked up his own empty teacup, then sat back down in his chair.
He left Vanessa’s teacup and shopping bag on the table where her hand had rested, and took up his pen again.
The sound of the pen scratching filled the study at steady intervals.
Quietly, slowly. But Ian never cleared away her cup.
The warmth it still held hadn’t faded.
So he simply left it there. Until it had gone completely cold.
Now and then, as he worked through documents, his gaze would drift to the table.
He didn’t touch the half-eaten cake again.
There was no point in eating it alone — it would only taste bitter.
Remembering how she’d sat there just moments before, his lips curved slightly.
A thank-you for her help.
Even her excuse was pure Vanessa Sharoze.
***
Vanessa fanned herself as she made her way back to her room.
Between having her weakness exposed and her excuse completely unraveled, she couldn’t stay any longer.
She fled before she could say something she couldn’t take back.
Because being alone with Ian had felt strange for the first time.
Not burdensome, not uncomfortable.
The first thing that caught her eye when she entered her room was the parchment laid out neatly on her desk.
Seeing it reminded her that today she’d had two outfits tailored at the salon.
The choice had looked convincing to outsiders, but it crumbled before her own excuse.
No contact clause in effect, so they should appear close with matching outfits instead — that was the excuse she’d given herself.
Never mind that it was only a contract after all.
What did it matter whether they linked arms or held hands? So why match their clothes like a couple?
It was too late to regret it now.
Production had already begun.
Vanessa took a small breath, then unrolled the parchment spread across her desk.
She meant to pin down the thoughts that kept jutting out like stubborn nails.
In her past life, Calail Leonard divorced her and took a new wife. It was a remarriage arranged by the House Leonard matriarch.
Unlike her, who couldn’t even hold hands without the No Contact Clause, the two became famous in society as a devoted couple.
That woman used to laugh, saying her husband wouldn’t leave her alone at night.
That woman used to boast about being difficult to manage, since the matriarch gave her so many gifts, always thinking of her.
There was no news of a child yet, but she’d spoken of one arriving soon with such embarrassed pride—that woman.
She’d grasped with ease everything she’d failed to hold during her marriage, and still bragged as though it weren’t enough—that woman.
Ardelian. That was her name.
True to her merchant’s blood, she had a sharp mind and keen instincts.
It was her temperament that was the problem.
In my past life, after divorcing me, she’d married Calail, so House Leonard’s lady treated her well enough. But this time around—what would happen?
Could she really keep that nature of hers in check?
The merchant house was crude and aggressive by design.
The nobility too needed steady income to maintain their titles, so they constantly watched their business ventures like hawks, terrified of losing them.
Ardelian’s silk trade was no exception.
Silk was a vital commodity of the Eastern Empire and a raw material the Empire constantly sought to improve the production of.
Already, clothes made of silk had become fashionable in La Fonds Dunev, yet commoners still could barely glimpse such things.
The sole trader conducting exclusive distribution was Ardelian’s merchant house.
She’d likely receive a barony at the next reception. She’d received it around this time in my past life too.
Perhaps that’s when it began.
When House Leonard’s lady marked her as Calail’s match.
In my past life, it would have been inevitable—the Grandmother’s granddaughter was already dead then.
House Sharoze alone didn’t engage in private business; they worked as something like imperial civil servants.
The Emperor’s personal aide couldn’t conduct private enterprises, but could double the Knight Order’s size compared to other ducal houses.
They’d married me off to establish a Knight Order they could command like private soldiers, but when I stubbornly refused, they couldn’t even attempt it—so I became useless to them.
A Dukedom I couldn’t possess, couldn’t inherit, was a card I could neither discard nor hold.
So they killed me.
My father too, disguised as an accident.
With no heir to pass the title to, they’d tried to seize it under my husband’s name.
By branding me with infidelity.
At the time, I couldn’t see the full picture. Now it was clear.
Taking a step back, following the footprints of House Leonard, I could see it all.
How far they’d corrupted themselves for a Dukedom.
So, one by one, if I erase their footprints, they’ll stumble blindly.
When they realize the path they were so certain of was actually a bed of thorns, they’ll leap in panic.
Vanessa laughed quietly.
A choice had to be made.
Save the Grandmother’s granddaughter as things stood. Or let the past life unfold as before.
If I didn’t save her, she’d die regardless.
My past life was proof of that.
House Leonard’s lady must have made some effort to save her, yet in my past life, she let the Grandmother’s granddaughter perish.
Why?
Tap. Tap. Her index finger drummed against the table.
Was there no reason to save her?
Or was there something preventing her from welcoming the Grandmother’s granddaughter as Calail Leonard’s wife?
I dimly suspected the Grandmother had some connection to the Eastern Empire. But I couldn’t say exactly what kind.
Trade with the Eastern Empire mattered to the Dekarte Empire too, but in my past life, who led that trade was blank.
Ardelian’s merchant house had filled that gap, and afterward House Leonard’s lady had pushed for Calail Leonard’s remarriage to the Ardelian merchant house’s daughter.
Tap. Tap. Vanessa’s finger slowed.
There was little information about someone who’d died in the past life.
Almost none, really.
Even in my past life, all I knew was that the Grandmother had a granddaughter. But she died of illness—that’s all that was ever said.
But what if that granddaughter—they’d tried to arrange a marriage with her, only failed?
Not refused, but couldn’t. Then what reason could there be for that?
Vanessa’s mind raced.
The memory of sharing tea with Ian in his study vanished without a trace.
The Eastern Empire. Silk. The Grandmother’s existence. And her position. The granddaughter’s current circumstances…….
Study abroad.
Even after rejecting the Grandmother’s granddaughter, House Leonard’s lady hadn’t distanced herself from the Grandmother in my past life.
That meant the reason for breaking off the engagement lay not with House Leonard’s lady, but with the Grandmother herself.
For that to happen, only one thing was necessary.
The granddaughter must have already been involved with another man, and the two of them must have been past the point of separation.
A mere courtship wouldn’t have caused such a rift.
Something flashed in Vanessa’s mind.
‘Could she have been pregnant?’
So that’s why he returned? A fatal reason had emerged that made it impossible to continue his studies abroad.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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