Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma - Chapter 15.3
“You’ve been this way for a while. If I bother you that much, should I just leave, as you wish?”
I responded firmly, making my stance clear.
“Honestly, I think that would be for the best. Under the Manifested Persons Management Act, even a sponsored dependent can report their sponsor family if they’re treated unfairly.”
And with the Second Prince himself as a reliable witness beside me, there was nothing more I could want.
If only things with Lorraine had been settled so cleanly, but they would’ve denied everything and dragged it out in court.
Back there, it was better to just cause a scene, but Brondearn is different.
That’s why, for Cassiel, a threat like this was the most fitting.
After all, it was none other than the head of the Brondearn family, Glock Brondearn, who decided to accept us.
It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to go against that.
Acteon tried to reason with Cassiel, who was biting his lip.
“Brother.”
“A bastard like you, trying to speak up now?”
Despite Acteon’s efforts, Cassiel didn’t give him even a sliver of a chance to calm things down.
‘It’s tedious to even bother explaining, ‘You’ve misunderstood,’ but now that it’s come up, there’s no helping it.’
All the things I’d been holding back came out calmly.
“I understand there’s some misunderstanding about why I’m here. I can see how you might think that.”
If I go by what Cassiel just said to Acteon, this is probably why he’s like this.
He must think I, after winning Acteon over, am now feigning sympathy for Claire’s death just to curry favor with Brondearn with half-hearted intentions.
Even if my words were genuine, he still suspects there must be some ulterior motive.
It’s true that Brondearn is a family with massive influence in this country.
Anyone would say so.
Each and every one of Brondearn’s Transcendents is called a demon on the battlefield, or a miracle of Valmoth.
But for me, this was a deeply unpleasant misunderstanding. So much so that I was forced to say things I’d rather not.
“I understand how deeply you’re grieving. But do you think it’s arrogant of me to criticize you for something that might not even be a misunderstanding? Because you’re in pain from wounds no one else knows about?”
“What did you just say…?”
“Have you ever, knowing it was filthy, picked up and eaten a dead rat’s carcass just because you had nothing else?”
The unexpected question left Cassiel speechless.
I didn’t want to play the ‘I’ve suffered more than you’ game, but the bitterness filled my mouth.
“What?”
“Have you ever tried to survive by fleeing through a city collapsing under a Transcendent’s attack?”
“What are you even saying!”
“And to lose your whole family like that… Well, I suppose you can understand that one.”
“What do you know!”
“I know.”
Silence fell.
The murmurs of people praying, the footsteps of those visiting the dead—
All of it faded into a kind of cold hush around us.
“Even so, I did my best to live well. Our parents, who closed their eyes and left us behind, would be even more heartbroken to see their children wasting away because of it.”
So, there’s no way I don’t understand. I know it all too well, and I hate it.
Cassiel could say nothing more.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but only closed it again and again, unable to say a word.
“Compared to me, your grief is something everyone will recognize and validate, even if you don’t prove it at every turn. That’s a luxury. It’s selfish, too.”
“……”
There was no reason to continue the conversation.
Taking Hyacine, who was still holding my hand, I added one last thing.
“Well, we’ll be on our way now. Once we finish our business, we’ll leave, so please don’t take offense.”
As I left, I felt like I could finally breathe again.
Honestly, I felt terrible.
‘This is exactly why I could never like the original Cassiel, either.’
He needed the gentleness Millia gave him, someone who could melt away those wounds.
‘But that’s not me.’
My life has been too vicious for me to offer anyone that kind of kindness.
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