Chapter 150
“How’s your health? I’ve heard it’s worsening, but you seem quite well, much to my surprise.”
Rubens spoke mockingly, without a hint of concern. Arzena felt a smile creeping up despite herself and asked,
“When did your Name manifest?”
“It manifested last winter.”
“Last winter? It must have been quite cold.”
“Winter is always cold.”
“Do you plan on keeping that person as your mistress?”
“Madam, I’d advise you not to interfere with that person.”
Although Rubens hadn’t directly said anything, his warning was clear.
“Do you think I have the power to interfere?”
In contrast to Rubens’s tense tone, Arzena remained completely relaxed.
“Then why bring it up?”
“Perhaps it’s a small distraction in my otherwise lonely recovery.”
Arzena lightly laughed. Rubens looked at her, puzzled by her demeanor.
At the same time, suspicion flashed in his sharp gaze, as though wondering what scheme she was plotting.
Arzena knew. To him, she was the adult who had led him down the wrong path, someone he could speak to without hesitation, but also someone who could easily stab him in the back like a cold-hearted ally.
That was why Arzena’s carefree attitude must have seemed strange to him.
“Don’t be so wary. I have neither the power nor the interest to interfere.”
“…”
“You may dislike me, but I don’t dislike you. In fact, I’ve liked you from the beginning. That unyielding posture of yours, despite being from the streets, never cowering no matter where you are.”
She spoke as though reflecting on the past.
“There were times when I thought you resembled me more than my own child. You were just as focused on moving forward without looking back. The difference, though, was that you seemed to lack ambition, and that bothered me a little.”
“You’ve been talking nonsense.”
“You remember the time when you changed and became more ambitious?”
Rubens responded with indifference, as if dismissing the reminiscing of an old man, but Arzena didn’t stop speaking.
“The day you came of age. You said you didn’t want much, but then you asked for control over the steel business.”
“It was so long ago that I don’t really remember. Honestly, it’s not a memory I want to dwell on.”
“Macy Horton. It was after seeing that girl.”
Arzena replied without hesitation, giving the correct answer.
“That’s what I was hoping after showing you.”
“…Are you saying I became greedy because of Macy?”
By now, Rubens’s voice had dropped, thick with displeasure. It was clear he couldn’t accept it.
“Technically, it’s because you needed the means to take responsibility for her. You didn’t have to desperately cling to business while being the head of the Krygen family, did you? If your secret came out and you died, Macy would die too, and you’d become the perfect heir, with no one suspecting a thing.”
Arzena clearly remembered that time. Rubens had achieved his short-term goal of “revenge” and then fallen into a brief period of powerlessness.
Macy, the Name master, had rescued him from that powerlessness.
She had such a profound influence on him, perhaps without even realizing it, and she was his driving force to continue living.
Moreover, at the time, Rubens had been watching Macy even before Arzena had gestured to her.
As if enchanted. Time seemed to stop for them, and Rubens had silently observed Macy.
If it wasn’t love at first sight, then what should it be called? But to place her in the role of just a mistress and still not recognize his feelings—how strange.
Even if it was a defense mechanism triggered by past events, it was excessive. He seemed fine, but there was something about him that seemed broken, as if he had always been that way.
It wasn’t entirely unreasonable, considering he hadn’t lived an easy life.
“I heard you’ll be marrying in the spring. Think carefully if that wedding is truly worth it.”
“Are you implying that I should just abandon County Werfel?”
No one had drilled into Rubens the importance of becoming the perfect heir more than Arzena. She had taught him that he must never act in a way that would tarnish the Krygen family’s reputation.
For Arzena to now say such a thing, Rubens couldn’t understand.
“Isn’t it ridiculous to be told now to protect the family’s honor? You took a beggar from the streets and made him the head of the house.”
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