Lady Cinderella - Chapter 42

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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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Lady Cinderella, Chapter 42

“Cal?”
“I did it because I didn’t want you bothered by them coming back again and again. If I hand them something, they’ll go away, right?”
“Those people won’t stop like that. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to satisfy their greed completely.”
He brushed Ella’s hair back behind her ear as she firmly denied it, then pulled her slight shoulders close and held her tightly. He couldn’t remember how he had lived before he knew this warmth. Holding her, all his worries truly melted away, and he felt happy.
Now that he had someone so precious that nothing could be exchanged for her, he understood the mindset of the tyrant who had ruined his nation over a woman. He wanted to throw away his work and everything else and simply stay by Ella’s side all the time.
They could play chess together, read the same books and share their impressions, and if Ella fell asleep while embroidering, he could carry her to bed and let her rest. To make that possible, he did not want to leave this engagement hanging on a time limit any longer. He needed some firm certainty, in whatever form it took.
“Then promise me one thing. From now on, you won’t say anything about leaving my side.”
“But we—”
“Don’t rush to imagine an ending. I’ll keep saying it: I have no intention of ending this relationship. I’ll let you do whatever you want to do. Whether it’s your embroidery or your reading, I won’t get in the way of anything. Just stay by my side.”
He held her so tightly that Ella couldn’t even see Cal’s face. His voice trembled slightly, and the strength in his arms was far from ordinary. Cal’s words came back to her, that he was glad she was there beside him.
Kevin had also said that Calaile was the pillar holding everyone up. As far as Ella knew, he had always walked that lonely road. Many good people surrounded him, yet there was no one Calaile could truly lean on. She had even thought that perhaps she should simply leave.
When she had first heard Kevin’s words and rushed over, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had become a burden. But she hadn’t been able to say it aloud. If she did, this man would truly end up alone.
‘I don’t want to leave him alone.’
They had gotten past this one, but the Grand Duke of Wellington still faced countless trials ahead. Knowing all of that, she could hardly look away and pretend not to see. No, she simply could not refuse such a painful plea from him.
“I’ll stay by your side.”
“Do you mean it?”
“I really do like you, Cal. Except when you do things like this.”
A hand stroked her waist with sly casualness. Ella smacked that wicked hand sharply and rose from her seat. Cal, disappointed that the mood had been broken and that he couldn’t stay close a little longer, pulled Ella back beside him and rested his head on her small shoulder.
“So what should we do now?”
“My father has a lot of debts.”
The place her father had borrowed from was the private Stevens Bank. The Royal Prince Bank, which Ella had visited today, was a national bank and made loans difficult to obtain, but private banks lent money easily to anyone, though their interest rates were high.
By rights, he should have been ruined by debt in the year Ella married, but by sheer good luck, Stevens Bank collapsed under its own bad debts that very year. Marquis Stevens, who ran the bank, could not bear the unstoppable debts and set fire to all the ledgers before taking his own life.
Naturally, the Emperor was furious, and the Magic Tower launched a large-scale recovery effort, but the documents reduced to ash and the Magic Tools that had been used to store the magical records were also severely damaged. Amid the many nobles and commoners who had deposited large sums and went on to take their own lives one after another, the Count’s debts were also left dangling and eventually came to nothing.
I learned for the first time that the same misfortune that makes the sky fall for one person can be a joy for another. Also, the aftermath of that incident was what led me to subscribe to the newspaper, out of concern that I would be in serious trouble if I stayed so ignorant of how the world works.
“Debts?”
“They’re called bonds. The rights to collect the money your father owes. Please buy those. Stevens Bank might collapse within a few years.”
“The bank is going to collapse?”
The Grand Duke’s Residence also held a great deal of wealth, so for safety it did business with every bank in the capital. In particular, a proposal to increase investment in Stevens Bank, which guaranteed high returns, had just been put on the agenda.
“Its outlook still looks excellent. Hard to believe.”
“They promise great profits when you deposit your money, but when it comes to lending, they don’t carefully check whether the borrower can actually repay. As long as you can bear the high interest, they’ll lend to anyone.”
Because it guaranteed immediate returns, many people were still depositing their money at Stevens Bank. If Stevens Bank, one of the five largest private banks, were to fail, the ripple effects of the damage would be beyond imagination.
“Isn’t that a very serious problem?”
“It is. But if someone borrows from such a dangerous place like my father did, and the bank collapses and the ledger of the loan disappears, then there’s no reason to bother repaying it.”
“That’s outrageous.”
Ella was as unhesitating as if she had come from the future. If Cal had only looked over the documents and approved, and then Stevens Bank had collapsed, Calaile too would have suffered a great loss.
“I’ll have the Intelligence Department look into it. If there really is such a problem, we’ll overhaul it thoroughly, and the bonds of people who borrowed recklessly without any standards, like your father, will also have to be handed over to outside parties and go through a full-scale recovery process.”
“And if Cal buys them, they’ll be the perfect bait to drive my father away.”
As if she had planned it in advance, Ella laid out for Calaile, point by point, how to rid herself of her father. Even though he was her own father, the way she shuddered with such loathing looked, to Cal’s eyes, rather pitiful.
‘Just how bad could it have been.’
I couldn’t help but wonder how much she had really been driven to this. Her words came without any hesitation, as though she had nursed her grievances since she was very young. Cal’s own inclination was to trample him by any means necessary, but the method Ella had come up with was far more elegant. For the sake of her dignity, this approach was surely better than a brutal one. Calaile took the pen right out of Ella’s hand, as she was even taking notes.
“Cal?”
“I understand that well enough now. What’s more important than that is—”
Cal brought the hand holding the pen to his lips. Deliberately, he knelt down on the floor below the sofa and pressed a kiss to the back of Ella’s small hand.
“I hope your heart won’t be hurt anymore.”
Knowing Kevin’s temperament, he had probably accused Ella of conspiring with her parents. Kevin was excellent in every other respect, but his one serious flaw was that when it came to the Grand Duke’s affairs, he didn’t weigh anything, neither water nor fire. If he had only thought for a moment, he would have understood. Thinking that one of his own people had added another wound to Ella’s heart, his guilt deepened with regret and tenderness.
“I’m not hurt by things like this.”
I had endured even harder trials. After I returned to the past, I went straight to find Mary, but when I first started doing embroidery work, I was cheated out of my pay many times. Before my marriage was suddenly arranged, even the servants in the same house who had called me “Miss, Miss” looked down on me and treated me poorly. My older sisters stole Mother’s Keepsakes, and once they grew tired of them, they broke them or sold them off.
“Just because you don’t feel it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
If only forgetting were as simple as wanting to. Even if I had returned to the past and it had all been undone, whenever I thought of those days, the place just beneath my heart still ached.
‘Is this what hurt is?’
Perhaps it hurt so much, and I had grown so used to the pain, that now I could no longer feel the agony at all. Stroking Ella’s hair as she struggled to find words, Calaile gently pressed his forehead against hers.
“Think carefully about what I just said, my dear Lady.”
“Cal.”
“I told you I would grant whatever you wish. I won’t give your parents money separately, as you asked. That would be deceiving you.”
Having received his assurance, Ella let out a breath of relief and nodded. He needed to refocus on work so that they could share dinner and resolve the trouble at Stevens Bank. It was maddening that he had to send her away like this, when she had come all the way to his office herself.
“You forgot this.”
Olga came running after them and handed over the box Ella had left behind. Ella steeled herself as he looked up at her, bewildered. The timing was awkward, but she still wanted to repay his sincerity.
“Cal, I actually have a gift for you.”
“Hm?”
“I bought it with the money I earned from the Empress’s job this time. Please accept it.”
Calaile took the box without understanding. Olga always saw to his clothing and accessories, so he had never been given anything like this. It felt strange.
“You prepared this for me on purpose?”
Instead of answering, Ella only smiled. Calaile carefully untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside, a navy cravat of fine silk lay neatly folded. He set the box aside and unfolded it. Along the long end of the cravat, embroidered with exquisite care, was the Lion and Lily Crest, the family emblem.
“Did you embroider this yourself?”
“Was I not supposed to do that?”
“Of course not. I’m truly delighted.”
She had said she bought it, but this cravat, stitched by her own hands, was undeniably the one and only gift meant solely for Calaile in the world. Imagining those small hands working stitch by stitch made his chest tighten.
“Won’t you tie it for me?”
Calaile loosened the cravat he was already wearing and bared his neck. Ella hesitated for a moment before wrapping the new one around him. She tied the knot neatly and tugged it just so, so the embroidery showed to its best advantage. Against his dark formal coat, it suited him remarkably well. Calaile deliberately kept his eyes shut, waiting for her to tell him to open them. But Ella found herself unable to look away from his face.

‘Her lashes are long.’

Unlike his bold, dark brows, his eyes were truly lovely up close. Together with his sharply raised nose, the mischievous curve of his lips never stayed still for a moment. Ella had never had the chance to study his face so seriously like this. She stalled by pretending to fuss with his collar.
“Are you almost done?”
“Just a little longer.”
It was oddly amusing. He sat there with his eyes closed, completely defenseless, trusting only Ella. With the roles reversed from usual, she suddenly felt like teasing him. Ella gently held his chin, closed her own eyes, and carefully leaned in.
For the briefest moment, something soft brushed against him, and Calaile knew exactly what it was. Before he could even open his startled eyes, Ella’s lips had already fluttered away like a feather.
“I’m glad it suits you. See you this evening, then.”
Before he could catch her, Ella slipped away at a quick pace with Olga in tow. Too stunned to think, Calaile sat there with his hand resting on his lips, staring blankly at the place she had just left.
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
He turned his head toward the mirror. As if it had been chosen to match his hair and eye color, the cravat looked even better now that it was tied. True to her talent as a skilled master embroiderer, her eye for detail was impressive. For some reason, he couldn’t stop smiling. Even after Ella had gone, he kept grinning on his own like a man who had lost his wits.

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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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