Spring in My Grasp - Chapter 19

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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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(19) Leaving the Party

“Predictable, isn’t it?”
Rowan shrugged her shoulders. Audrey’s hostile attitude toward her was far too unguarded to come from a woman whose husband cherished his younger brother.
Moreover, while Alexis wandered about so recklessly, his older brother Francis’s conduct seemed anything but indifferent. It was difficult to believe the brothers shared any genuine affection.
“As for Francis…”
Once the Butler’s tongue loosened, there seemed no end to his chatter.
“He’s the sort of person I hardly know how to describe.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
Rowan rolled her eyes.
“Well, how should I define it…”
Yet once the Butler’s gossip had begun, it continued unabated.
“The Countess spared no effort in her devotion and support for her eldest son, Francis. But his ventures rarely succeeded—he’s abandoned several ventures entirely. Still, the Countess searched far and wide until he married his current wife. Audrey’s family is quite wealthy and has connections at the Royal Palace, you see.”
“Hmm.”
“Thanks to that, Francis entered the Royal Palace after his marriage and now handles administrative affairs. That too was thanks to Audrey’s family’s assistance. In any case, he’s a gentle and quiet man, but beyond that, I myself don’t quite…”
Rowan blinked her eyes.
‘In other words, he’s incompetent.’
Was he at least better than someone who wandered about causing trouble?
Rowan let out a soft laugh. Well, even she felt confused when her thoughts reached that point. If one monopolized Mother’s affection and one’s wife’s family pushed so hard, wouldn’t one have the peace of mind to care for a younger brother’s struggles?
Could that be called a gentle temperament? He was incompetent and deliberately ignoring his brother’s plight.
‘Perhaps…’
He might be an even greater villain than the Countess.
Rowan mused. But then again, I needn’t concern myself with all that.
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Rowan soon prepared dinner. Shortly after, a delicious aroma filled the entire Kitchen. The Butler gazed at the noodles Rowan was making with an enraptured expression.
While the Butler was spilling all the family’s secrets, Alexis was attending the Party he always frequented.
“Why have you been so scarce lately?”
One of the group addressed Alexis. His voice was already heavily slurred with drink. Alexis himself picked up a crystal glass from a passing Attendant’s silver tray.
He drank the liquor down greedily, thinking he might as well get drunk, but somehow the taste felt hollow. With his mood sinking, Alexis wiped his mouth roughly with the back of his hand and set the glass down.
“Did you know Serez kept looking for you?”
“Serez?”
Alexis’s eyes grew dull and distant.
“Who’s that?”
“Hah.”
The other man looked at him as if exasperated.
“You two were always hanging around together at parties, and now you can’t even remember?”
At those words, Alexis ran his hand roughly through his hair.
“When I’m drunk out of my mind, how am I supposed to remember anyone?”
“He’d be upset if he heard that, wouldn’t he?”
The other man chuckled.
“He seems to think you two are dating now.”
At those words, Alexis let out a short laugh.
“That’s madness.”
“Oh, look—there she is now.”
Alexis turned his gaze in the direction his companion indicated. Just as the man said, a woman with brilliant golden hair was approaching from a distance, her locks flowing behind her.
‘Who is she?’
I furrowed my brow. No matter how hard I tried to remember, her face was unfamiliar.
‘I really need to moderate my drinking.’
She must be someone I’d met during one of those nights when I was thoroughly intoxicated, wandering through the Party Venue.
“Alexis!”
The woman cried out.
‘She’s calling my name so carelessly.’
In that instant, my mood darkened considerably, and I fixed her with a terrifying glare.
“Why are you only showing up now?!”
The woman called Serez shrieked with desperation in her voice. At her cry, the Party Venue fell silent. Several nearby nobles turned their attention toward us, and I instinctively furrowed my brow. I could feel the gazes of those who found this situation fascinating, their stares blatantly obvious.
“Who exactly are you?”
My cold voice made Serez’s face stiffen.
“W-what did you say?”
“Given that I can’t remember you at all, it seems you were never particularly memorable.”
At my callous words, Serez’s face flushed crimson—not from embarrassment, but from humiliation.
“You’re being too cruel! That night, we—”
“That night?”
I tilted my head at an angle, my eyes freezing over with a dangerous chill.
“If you’re going to talk to me, start by telling me exactly what happened that night. I don’t even remember your name.”
“…!”
Serez’s lips trembled violently. She tried to speak, then clamped her mouth shut. Unable to say anything more, she turned away with tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. Around us, whispers and snickers rippled through the crowd.
“Again. I heard this happens often.”
“And Alexis didn’t even do anything particularly kind for her.”
“He doesn’t even remember her.”
As I listened to the murmuring group, I brought the glass to my lips. But in that moment, the transparent liquid inside felt strangely nauseating.
‘How tedious.’
Truth be told, such indulgences had never truly brought me joy. Yet they were the only way to escape my twisted heart and loneliness. If I simply drifted mindlessly, the days would pass quickly enough. But lately, why does it feel different?
‘I can’t keep doing this anymore.’
Those times when I drank heavily, smoked cigarettes, played cards, and didn’t particularly push away the beautiful women who clung to me—when I simply sprawled lazily in the Party Venue. Those moments had at least allowed my tedious life to blur past, but why does everything feel so unbearable now?
Before I knew it, I was watching people noisily pour drinks, and without realizing it, another person’s image surfaced in my mind.
The East Annex.
The Kitchen with its subtle herbal fragrance.
Warm broth.
A woman moving busily about. The incessant chatter of her voice. Like a bird chirping.
In the darkened Room, beneath the soft glow of candlelight, the gentle face of one who had nursed me back to health.
And, and again.
-If that’s how you feel, why don’t you come help me yourself!
In that place where my aunt Ureia had been confined, withering away in solitude—how could such a thing be?
Alexis closed his eyes quietly. His face contorted ever so slightly.
‘What am I thinking right now?’
But moments later, he set his glass down upon the Table. Then he rose from his seat in silence.
“Leaving already?”
Someone from the group asked. Instead of answering, Alexis donned his black coat and slipped wordlessly out of the Party Venue. After he departed, a few others whispered among themselves once more.
“What’s gotten into him lately?”
“Found a more entertaining gathering?”
It was true that Alexis’s demeanor had changed noticeably in recent days.
His attendance at this Party was itself a rarity, and yet here he was, wearing a bored expression, lingering for mere hours before departing abruptly. Was this not the same man who, in times past, would have remained until the Party’s end, his face vacant and dazed, chain-smoking and drinking himself into oblivion?
“Speaking of which, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“About the Idinga Brothers. Apparently they’ve been completely beaten to a pulp?”
“What? And House of Duke Iden just sits idle?”
“What else can they do?”
The voice of the one spreading the rumor murmured conspiratorially.
“The culprit is Alexis of Glister.”
“Ah.”
Those gathered burst into raucous laughter.
“So that bastard finally got his revenge.”
“I always knew he wasn’t the type to just take it lying down.”
“It’s worse than that. Both brothers are so battered they’re still convalescing, I hear.”
“They should’ve known better than to mess with Alexis.”
And so, once again, Alexis’s dark reputation was climbing higher within the Party Venue.
Meanwhile, Alexis, standing alone in a place unknown to others, had been considering whether to have another drink before heading home to bed, when he paused. Something didn’t sit right with him. And strangely enough.
‘I’m hungry.’
Alexis, who had never felt such an emotion in his entire life, now found that after downing only a few glasses of cold liquor, his entire body felt chilled. He needed something warm, something gentle.
-You’ll have a meal before you go, won’t you?
Already, Rowan’s voice was speaking to me in my mind.
-Have something to eat, Alexis.
She didn’t seem to dislike my leaving all that much.
Alexis moved forward with a dispirited heart. Something within him felt as though it were crumbling. Yet he thrust his hands into his pockets and began to walk. This time, his pace was purposeful—neither hurried nor leisurely.

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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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