Chapter 399 The Price Of Skipping Out Must Be Paid
Three days before Sara's birthday, Robert, Rebecca, and Elizabeth, along with her 2 sons, arrived at the Grandchester residence in the royal capital. For Elizabeth and the others, it might be more accurate to say they had returned home.
Adam had been reluctant to return to the capital until the last moment, but Elizabeth decisively stated, "It is unacceptable for the eldest son of the Young Marquis family to be absent on Sara's birthday." However, this was just the official reason. The real reason was that the adults of the Grandchester family believed it was not right to leave Marg alone with just Adam.
Elizabeth did not dislike Marg. She had intended to bring Marg to the capital residence as well, but Marg's side declined the invitation, saying that her manners and upbringing were not enough to be with higher nobles.
Elizabeth found Marg's humility and intelligence even more admirable, but more than that, she trusted her own son less. Edward shared the same opinion on this matter.
"Based on experience, it's better not to expect much reason from boys that age."
"But isn't Adam not feeling well?"
"It's not just about crossing a line. While I doubt Adam would force anything, he might still go a bit overboard with his affection."
"...It must be hard for Marg to refuse."
"Yes, so, shouldn't we protect Lady Margaret as much as possible?"
"Of course. If she's Emily's daughter, she's like my own daughter."
Marg is actually stronger than Adam and will fight back if needed. Although she pretends to be a noble lady, she is tough and has survived in the slums. The real issue is Adam, who struggles to earn his parents' trust due to past mistakes.
Adam returned to the capital feeling down, but Cordelia, and Thomas piled on a ton of assignments. Before he left, Marg had put pressure on him by saying, "This year, you have to pass the academy!" As soon as he got back to his room, he started studying without taking a break. Adam understood that he had to pay for the time he had slacked off. Watching him, Elizabeth's opinion of Marg kept getting better. It seemed like there were no issues between the future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
As for Elizabeth, she didn't have time to focus on the kids. On the very day they arrived, she hurriedly got ready and went out with Rebecca to the Duke Arbal's house. Because it was said that having a child around wouldn't help with the party preparations, the main guest, Sara, was left behind.
Victoria, the Lady of Duke Arbal, wanted to apologize to Sara for the incident at the palace. However, when Rebecca informed her that Sara didn't care, Victoria felt relieved but also realized that Sara didn't interest her son, Alfred. This surprised Victoria because she believed Alfred was smarter and more capable than other boys his age. The situation was unfortunate for everyone involved.
And Rebecca realized she had neglected her social life. She attended necessary events but lived comfortably at home, which kept her from making close friends. She felt sad about not being able to create a good guest list for Sara's birthday or her own wedding. While traveling in a carriage, she expressed her feelings to Elizabeth, asking,
"Liz..., am I not enough as a governess or as a mother?"
"Well, it's true you haven't fulfilled your duties as a noblewoman. I'll help you, so do your best. But why have you been avoiding social events?"
"It's because of the women connected to Rob."
"I get that, but aren't you good at handling those kinds of women?"
"I think I'm pretty good at it. But if I keep doing that, I start to dislike myself."
"Did something happen?"
"Basically, Rob's partners are all experienced women. I don't care what they say, and I can feel better by throwing some sarcasm back at them."
"Then that's good, right?"
"The problem is the young ladies who are seriously in love with Rob. They openly show their hostility and say things like, 'Only I can truly make Sir Robert happy. Please stop toying with his heart.' Or they cry and say, 'If I were Lady Rebecca's childhood friend, I would always be by his side.'"
"Ahahaha. If Revi was toying with him, Rob would be a goner. You should have played with him."
"Hey, I'm an unmarried noble lady too!?"
"You're quite the mature young lady, aren't you?"
"That's terrible!"
"It's the truth. If you think about it, a reckless young lady like that is probably around half Revi's age, right?"
"Ugh..."
"Even if you look young, you mind isn't young at all. In other words, you can't even say anything sarcastic to a pure young lady, can you?"
"Because it's just sad, you know?"
Seeing Rebecca's expression, Elizabeth let out a deep sigh.
"You know, I never really liked that part of Revi. To be honest, I think I hated it."
"I kind of felt like you disliked me."
"Well, it's mutual, isn't it?"
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, then burst out laughing at the same time.
"Hey, don't you think saying 'it's sad' is really looking down on someone? In the end, Revi, you don't see that young lady as an equal."
"I can't deny that. After all, she really is a young lady."
"But what if Rob really falls for such a young lady?"
"No way!"
"Right? I think that's impossible too. Besides, you know that no matter how many experienced women Rob has been with, he wouldn't fall for them."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Because Revi, you must have known that Rob loved you. YOu could feel it even without words. It's because he's such a coward that he made you wait like this, but you were waiting for Rob too."
"That's..."
"If you deny it, I'll spread the word that you're a lying woman."
"...I think I knew. But it's not a lie that I was starting to think I should give up soon."
"I think you didn't want to see Rob playing around, right?"
"Maybe. Because of that happy guy, I felt like I was getting tangled up with some really dumb girls."
"That's the anger of 'There's a woman like me here!' If you had just told Rob, 'Let's get married,' it would have been over. Do you think a beauty like you shouldn't make the first move?"
"Well, ladies are supposed to wait for men to make the first move."
"So, you didn't like that Rob didn't kneel in front of you on his own. You really hate that kind of superiority complex. At least those young ladies who approached you must have told Rob, 'I admire you.' Are you going to say to those ladies, 'How unladylike'?"
Rebecca shivered a bit. She realized that Elizabeth had pointed out her ugly side.
"Yeah... I admit it. I might have been a really annoying woman."
"Well, I can understand why Revi became like that. Noble women of our generation didn't want to be friends with you."
"Yeah. I noticed."
"It's not Revi's fault. They whispered, 'Lady Orson isn't bad, but she's too beautiful; it feels like we live in different worlds.'"
"I've been told that to my face before."
"It's a strange story, right? So, if Revi were ugly, would you be able to be friends? I don't want a friendship that changes based on looks."
Elizabeth smiled and took Rebecca's hand.
"But I couldn't bring myself to want to be your friend."
"Was I really that unpleasant, Ez?"
"Well, that's part of it, but I've liked Ed for a long time, so I was scared of being compared to you standing next to him."
"Then if you married Ed, it would be fine for us to be friends, right?"
"I knew Rob liked you, and I didn't want to be compared to you as the wife of the third prince of Grandchester. I didn't like Adelia for the same reason."
"Pfft. Liz, are you really that vain?"
"Any woman would think that much. But you know, my thoughts have changed a bit now."
"Why's that?"
"Because I realized that Ed truly loves me. There are more beautiful women and smarter women out there, yet Ed loves only me. I was really surprised because I thought he proposed just because Madam Eleonora told him to."
"Liz has been loved from the start. You can see that just by looking at Ed."
"Maybe it's easier to see from the outside. But I was scared that Ed would think me was the least attractive."
"Then I'll do my best not to be a stuck-up woman, so will you be my friend from now on?"
"What are you talking about? From now on, we're sisters and family."
"That's true!"
Elizabeth thought Rebecca, with her slightly teary eyes, was really beautiful. However, more than that, she felt a surge of affection, so Elizabeth gently poked Rebecca's nose.
"Come on, stop complaining and get to know people. Socializing is really just about connections between people."
"Okay, big sister-in-law!"
"Still, Revi, you can't show this clingy side of yours to Sara."
"Oh, can you show Chloe the part of you that says 'I really hate you' to me?"
The two of them giggled like girls. And at the same time, they were thinking the same thing.
'I wish Arthur and Adelia were here too.'
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