After He Killed My Kin, I Rejected Him

Chapter 6

Boom!

Solenne's mind went completely blank in an instant, and every drop of blood in her veins felt like it had turned to ice.

She stumbled back two steps, then bolted toward the castle gate like her life depended on it.

Fine, flurrying snow drifted down, settling on her jet-black hair and pale, gaunt cheeks, biting into her skin with a sharp, icy sting.

The noble castle's winding corridors and tiered courtyards dragged on, heavy and suffocating, like they would never reach an end.

Solenne ran as fast as her legs could carry her, finally bursting to the front entrance, only to freeze dead in her tracks.

The ground was blanketed in thick, glistening white snow. Outside the Duke's castle, a crowd of passing nobles and commoners had already gathered, packed shoulder to shoulder, murmuring back and forth nonstop.

At the foot of the icy stone steps, Lord Rivington, well into his seventies, was kneeling straight in the snow. His full head of gray hair was dusted with so much snow that you could barely tell where his age-faded strands ended and the swirling flurries began.

It hurt so bad she could barely think.

It felt like someone had ripped her heart right open in her chest. Blinding pain tore through her entire body, squeezing her lungs so tight she could barely breathe.

The quiet whispers from the onlookers cut through the air sharp and clear, each word landing in Solenne's ears like a thousand tiny ice needles stabbing straight into her heart.

"How come no one's come out of the Duke's castle this whole time? Lord Rivington has been kneeling here for an entire day already."

"The Duke being cold and heartless is one thing, but who would've thought his Duchess, the young lady of the Rivington family, would just sit back and watch her own grandfather be humiliated like this? She won't even show her face."

"What an ungrateful brat! Ever since she was little, every single thing, her engagement, the marriage alliance, even canceling the engagement, has made that poor old grandfather run himself ragged, swallowing all kinds of humiliation just for her!"

Raw, gut-wrenching regret and pain swallowed Solenne whole in an instant.

If her grandfather hadn't noticed how madly she'd fallen for Brando when she was young, how would he have ever swallowed his pride to beg the late king for a royal decree of marriage, forcing this union into existence?

Later on, if she hadn't been dead-set on marrying Brando, which dragged the Rivington family's reputation through the mud and brought wave after wave of targeted crackdowns, how would her grandfather, a man who'd earned glory and distinction his whole life, have ever been forced to step back from public life with his tail between his legs?

This whole mess was all her fault.

Solenne ran forward like a woman possessed, slamming to her knees right in front of her grandfather.

Her throat was tight and raw, her voice so thick with tears she could barely get the words out. "Grandpa, stop kneeling. Please get up, let's go home..."

At that moment, every last bit of her regretted every choice she'd ever made.

Her chest throbbed with a searing, sharp pain. Waves of crushing grief, guilt, and remorse crashed over her, swallowing her whole until she could barely breathe.

When Lord Rivington saw his granddaughter sobbing and disheveled, the deep, lingering worry in his eyes finally softened a little. He lifted his old, trembling hand with great effort, meaning to wipe the tears streaming down her face.

But before his fingers could reach her, the frail old man's body went rigid. He coughed violently, spitting up a gush of bright red blood that splattered across the pure white snow at his feet, the vivid crimson shockingly bright against the white snow, almost painful to look at.

"Grandpa!"

The scene shifted to inside the duke's castle.

Solenne kept vigil by her grandfather's sickbed, her face tight with worry as she turned to Evren beside her, her voice shaking. "Dr. Fenwick, how's my grandfather?"

Evren's face was grave, his brows knitted tight as he spoke in a heavy tone, "I've only been able to stabilize his vitals with medicine for now, barely keep him hanging on. If we want to cure him completely and save his life, we need a edelweiss as the primary medicinal ingredient. There's no substitute for it."

Solenne's whole body jolted hard, her stomach twisted with sharp, cold panic. But just a second later, she snapped to a sudden realization: Brando had an extremely rare Edelweiss locked away in his private collection vault, exactly what they needed.

She glanced at her grandfather on the bed, his breathing shallow and his lips deathly pale, then spun on her heel and headed for the door, her voice tight with unshakable resolve. "Please watch over my grandfather for me. I will get that edelweiss, no matter what. I will save him."

*****

Main Hall, Duke's Castle...

Brando sat rigid on the main seat, his face thunderous, a frigid aura rolling off him in waves.

Olivia sat at his side, her voice soft and syrupy as she soothed him, "Don't be upset, Your Grace. The Duchess just cares too much about her family back in the House Rivington. She was just being foolish for a moment, that's all. She didn't mean any harm."

Right then, a castle servant stepped through the door and announced, "Your Grace, the Duchess has returned."

Brando snapped his head up, his eyes blazing with icy hostility and raw impatience.

A heartbeat later, Solenne's gaunt, fragile figure appeared in the doorway of the hall.

She'd run all the way there, her breath coming in ragged, heaving gasps. She marched straight up to Brando and dropped to her knees without a single hesitation.

"Your Grace, my grandfather is on his deathbed. I beg you, grant me the edelweiss. Save his life!"

Her eyes were red-rimmed, her whole body thrumming with frantic, burning urgency. But Brando's frigid words hit her like a bucket of ice water dumped straight over her head, snapping her back to harsh reality.

"Your grandfather knelt outside my castle in full view of the public, turned me into a laughingstock for every noble in the entire capital, and tarnished my reputation completely. Even if he dies because of this, he got exactly what he deserved. No one is to blame but him."

Thud!

Solenne slammed her forehead hard against the cold stone floor, her voice raw and cracking as she spoke, "I will take all the blame, all the slander, every last bit of it. I won't pass the buck on any of it. Please. Give me the edelweiss. Save my grandfather!"