Don’t Ask, It’ll Hurt If You Know - Chapter 35

“Who…… is the Crown Princess?”

Ian asked in a sharp voice, and the Duchess replied, bewildered.

“Who else? I’m talking about Young Lady Chloe Elena. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that the Imperial Family had chosen her to be the Crown Princess?”

“That won’t happen.”

Ian said determinedly, clenching his fists so tight the veins in his hands bulged.

“She will never be the Crown Princess.”

“What? How can you be so sure of that?”

“…….”

Ian parted his lips as if to answer her question, but in the end, he said nothing and bowed his head.

“I’m leaving, Mother.”

“W-wait a minute!”

As if she had just noticed something, the the Duchess anxiously grabbed her son’s arm as he turned away.

“Ian, don’t tell me…… you see her as more than a friend, do you? You don’t, right?”

There was no answer to the question filled with a desperate wish. Ian just looked down at his mother with unreadable eyes.

“Ian.”

The Duchess of MacMilden, who didn’t get the answer she wanted, became even more anxious and grabbed her beloved son’s hand. Her fingertips trembled with anxiety.

“I’ve told you countless times, haven’t I? You must not defy the Imperial Family’s will or do anything that will catch their attention.”

Isabella had accepted the proposal of the Duke of MacMilden, who was a full 8 years older and a widower, because she wanted to escape the blood-drenched Imperial Palace and live in peace.

Her timid and weak personality made living in the Imperial Palace even more dreadful.

However, even after becoming the Duchess of MacMilden, she still couldn’t live in peace.

Unlike her, who gave birth to a son just two years after marriage, the Imperial Family still had no heir at the time. Neither the Empress nor the Imperial Consorts had given birth to a prince.

Naturally, people’s attention was drawn to Ian MacMilden, Isabella’s son and the Emperor’s nephew.

To make matters worse, as Ian showed his genius by mastering the Imperial language at the age of two, a rumor that he would become the next Emperor spread widely throughout the Empire.

The silver lining was that when Ian turned four, the Empress finally gave birth to a prince. The Emperor adored the precious heir he had in 15 years and immediately appointed him Crown Prince when he was two.

Isabella thought this would make the attention towards her son disappear, but she was mistaken. People still kept a close eye on Ian, and they even compared him to the Crown Prince.

It was only natural that the Empress became displeased. The nobles of the Crown Prince’s faction also regarded Ian as a thorn in their side.

“Even if you know, pretend you don’t. Even if you can do something, pretend you can’t, Ian.”

From then on, the Duchess of MacMilden held her young son and constantly drilled it into him. She told him to never do anything to stand out and that he could only live a long life if he lived like a dead mouse.

Even at a young age, Ian understood his mother’s feelings well and did as she wanted.

“Let’s end this once and for all, Ian!”

If he hadn’t met her, he would have continued to live that way.

The things that had happened with Chloe were still as vivid as if they had happened yesterday, no matter how long ago they were. Ian, who temporarily buried those memories in his heart, pulled his hand away from his mother’s.

“You won’t have to worry, Mother, so you can rest assured.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

When Ian answered yes repeatedly, the concern-filled, pale face finally showed some life. The Duchess of MacMilden smiled as brightly as the sunlight shining down on her.

“Of course, my son would never disappoint his mother.”

Ian, who substituted his answer with a light nod, turned around. His face looked quite tired as he walked away, with his back to his mother, who was waving and telling him to have a safe trip.

* * *

If the bucket list really was related to this, she would have to keep checking them from now on, but it was very cumbersome to search through the diary every time. She thought it would be better to write them down separately, so Chloe organized the bucket list into three main categories.

The first was revenge, the second was love, and the third was daily life.

A wish to help someone was a type of love, so she classified it there. Wishes like wanting to go to a night market or eat cake were classified as daily life.

Even so, the wishes related to revenge were overwhelmingly numerous. The targets of revenge were mostly the Viscountess Lloyd and her stepsister.

“That makes sense, since she suffered so much at their hands.”

Chloe, who knew well what they had done to Bianca through her diary, understood her feelings but was also baffled.

Nowhere was there a single wish related to her father, the Viscount Lloyd.

She checked the diary again in case she missed something, but it was the same.

“What’s this?”

Given that there were no wishes for revenge, love, or even daily life, did she have no feelings for her father? She appeared in the diary occasionally, so that couldn’t be it.

“I don’t know. There must be some circumstances.”

She already had so many things to worry about, and she didn’t want to think about something like this.

Chloe put the question about the Viscount Lloyd aside and quickly scanned the organized bucket list. There were roughly over 40 wishes.

While most of the revenge wishes were related to the Viscountess Lloyd and Maria Lloyd, most of the love wishes were related to Ian MacMilden.

Cooking with my prince. Becoming my prince’s lover. Going on a date with my prince. Being hugged by my prince. Kissing my prince…….

“Having s*x with Ian.”

Chloe’s face turned bright red as she read it aloud without thinking. The word itself was embarrassing, but unlike the others that all used “my prince,” this one used his name, making her shame multiply.

And to have had a dream like that……

“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”

She felt like she was going crazy, as that dream kept coming to mind whenever she had a free moment. Dreams are supposed to fade over time, but that one wasn’t. It was still so vivid that she felt like she was going insane, and Chloe let out a series of deep sighs.

* * *

Chloe wanted to confirm if she would really return to her original body if she fulfilled a wish on the bucket list, but she couldn’t.

Wishes related to revenge or love naturally required another person, and wishes related to daily life all required her to go out on a specific day or to a specific location.

“Unnecessarily difficult.”

Chloe clicked her tongue and scanned the list of wishes classified as revenge. She thought revenge would be the easiest to fulfill.

“The problem is the target of the revenge isn’t here…….”

She had expected either Maria or the Viscountess to come, but a whole day had passed and no one had come.

“Could I meet Maria Lloyd?”

Growing impatient, Chloe subtly asked Emily.

“W-what? You want to meet Young Lady Maria? Why on earth?”

Emily was startled and asked back. Chloe thought for a moment about what to say since she couldn’t tell the truth, and then she parted her lips.

“It’s nothing, really, but I thought I was too harsh back then, so I wanted to apologize.”

It was a blatant lie. She would have to think about whether she would forgive them even if they came and bowed down first, saying they were sorry, so why on earth would she apologize first?

“Ah, I see.”

Chloe gave a small laugh when she heard the noticeable sense of relief in Emily’s voice. It was absurd that they expected her to apologize first when Maria Lloyd had been the one to start the fight and hit her.

“Should I go and tell Young Lady Maria about your heartfelt feelings? She’ll be so happy!”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Chloe had no intention of apologizing, but she lied nonchalantly since she needed to meet Maria to test her theory.

“Please wait for just a moment!”

Emily, who had no way of knowing what was on her mind, answered brightly and disappeared.

How much time passed after that? She was looking at the bucket list, pondering what she should experiment with if Maria Lloyd came, when she suddenly heard a commotion outside the door.

“It looks like she’s finally here.”

Chloe quickly put the things she was looking at into the depths of her drawer. She put all the diaries at the bottom of the drawer cabinet.

As she was looking around to see if there was anything else she needed to hide, the tightly closed door opened. Chloe, who had expected it to be Maria Lloyd, frowned when a woman she had never seen before came in.

Judging by her clothes, she seemed to be a maid, but her arrogant expression made her look like she was of a higher status than Bianca Lloyd. When Chloe just stared silently, the maid let out a scoff and asked Emily, who was behind her.

“Did she really say she wanted to apologize to Young Lady Maria? From her face, it doesn’t seem like it.”

Not only her expression but also her tone was arrogant. Most of the servants at the Viscount Lloyd’s household ignored Bianca, but none of them did it as overtly as this maid.

Where had this kind of person been hiding until now? Chloe tilted her head. It would be normal for a person who disliked and ignored Bianca this much to have shown her face at least once before.

It was especially strange that she was nowhere to be seen when the head maid and butler were disciplined. She must have heard what happened to them for the same reason, and yet she was still so arrogant, which made no sense.

Was she acting this way because the Viscountess Lloyd and her stepsister were back, and she thought Bianca wouldn’t be able to act up anymore?

“As expected, apologizing to ‘our’ young lady was a lie!”

‘Our’ young lady. At those words, Chloe remembered the personal maid who had appeared in Bianca’s diary with Maria. Her name was definitely…….

“Vessa, right?”