When My Enemies Began to Regret

“When you were young, you had nothing in common with me…”

“…”

“One day, seeing you playing with insects in the garden reminded me of many things. I didn’t tell anyone, but I also really liked insects.”

Everyone inevitably gets older. As you aged, your body became weaker, and your tiger-like personality softened.

That was exactly the case with Bael Celsius. As time passed, he became more emotional. As a result, he developed compassion for his daughter, whom he had been ignoring.

“As soon as I started to notice one thing that was similar to me, other things slowly started to come into my sight as well.”

“…”

“As you grew older, you had the same expression as your mother. Your legs, straight as they are, remind me so much of my younger days.”

When Fanora heard those words, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She thought he had never received a single glance from him before. In fact, Bael had often been watching his daughter through the window since the distant past.

“Then I suddenly realized that you were my real daughter.”

“After… the death of my mother?”

“Right.”

Bael looked down at his daughter with a darkened face.

The sight of his newborn child, Fanora, was as unpleasant as encountering the seed of the devil. But now the truth has been revealed. His grown daughter had the eyes of someone he had once loved.

“From then on, I wanted to take care of you, even if it was late. But I didn’t know how to approach you because we hadn’t spoken to each other for several years.”

“…”

“So, when I heard that you wanted to get married, I thought you would be happy if I made that happen. I gave you a mine for your birthday as a gift, but you weren’t very happy about it.”

Fanora’s expression gradually became ambiguous. She twisted one side of her face like a person who heard a strange story.

“Then what about the successor? Anyway, the one who has received successor training so far is Purson.” She brought out the main topic she was most curious about.

Bael responded with a lighter expression than before as if this was nothing. “Ah, that’s… You know it too. What kind of background Hanar has.”

“Background?”

What is the origin of Hanar Celsius? The people in the mansion were hissing, but in fact, it was a story that the main members of the Celsius family knew secretly. That Hanar was coming from lowly blood.

She was originally a person who couldn’t enter the noble society. It was purely thanks to Bael’s attention that she was able to rise to her current position.

“I… I’ve never heard of such a thing…”

“The family vassals and relatives are very worried about it. If I make a son born from such a mother to be my successor, Celsius’ noble lineage will fall to the ground.”

Fanora was dumbfounded when she heard his words. Such a discussion would have occurred when her mother was still alive.

“So, I wanted to make you, my child with pure blood, as my successor.”

Nevertheless, it was funny that he was the one who ignored the words of his vassals and brought his lover into the mansion. Still, now he was worried about his lineage.

“But Hanar was completely opposed to your successor’s class. After listening to her, she had a point. I heard from her that you haven’t been able to keep up with any classes you have received since you were young…”

Fanora couldn’t make any expressions when she heard her father.

As she remained blank, Bael sighed and spoke to her. “But are you greedy for the successor position now? Didn’t you want to get married?”

When Fanora heard this, she screamed involuntarily.

“How can you say that! I almost got killed by Hanar because of your indecisive decision! My life has been completely ruined.”

“!?”

“So, you just ignored it while knowing that I wasn’t the daughter my mother gave birth to through an affair? You don’t even know how I’m treated in the family?” Tears formed in her eyes.

She resented her father’s behavior, who knew that she was his biological daughter, but didn’t change his indifferent attitude because he was poor at expressing it.

Fanora began to laugh with her crying eyes. “Why did someone who cared so much about their daughter not know that their daughter was being abused? Right. I once told you that my maid treated me badly, so why did you ignore me then? Because you haven’t figured out yet that I’m your real daughter?”

As she expressed her unfair feelings, Bael looked embarrassed for a moment. “Did something like that happen?”

“…”

Her blood rushed to see Bael blinking his eyes with a guilt-free expression as if he had no recollection at all.

“Are you saying that now?!”

Bael is the head of the family. For someone who had lived his entire life in ignorance, it didn’t feel good to see his daughter yelling at him.

“Why are you doing this now? What do you want me to do?”

Her life was already ruined, and there was nothing else she could wish for.

Fanora frowned and said in a sharp voice. “You’re really incredible…! Enough. Rather, think of me as a child born from an affair. I’ve never wanted to be your daughter!”

“Fanora!”

As she let out her rant, Bael also looked furious. No matter how much he softened with age, his temper was still close to a flame.

“What kind of manner is it to say something like that to the father who raised you!”

“You never really cared about me, Count. Didn’t you give the mine to ease your guilt? If you had helped me, I wouldn’t have suffered this much!”

When Fanora found the whole truth, she was unable to maintain her composure.

If he knew she was his biological daughter, what on earth did the father do until she was treated like a ghost in her family? Moreover, if he hadn’t arbitrarily changed his successor, at least Hanar wouldn’t have tried to kill her out of spite.

“…”

Fanora, who had been complaining, spoke in a calm voice after a while. “Apologize.”

“What?”

“You don’t know what kind of situation I was in?”

Feeling her anger rising, her hand holding the hem of her skirt trembled.

In fact, she lied. There was never a time in her life when she didn’t want to be Bael’s daughter. Rather, Fanora spent the night in tears, imagining how happy she would be if he recognized her as his daughter. But why does she feel miserable even though the dream she wanted so much has come true?

“…Then, at least apologize for not noticing it,” Fanora said what she really wanted to her father.

“…”

However, her wish, which was only one word, was not fulfilled by Bael.

For Bael, who had lived his entire life as a noble and the head of the family, apologizing was something that would hurt his pride.

“…If you’re done talking, go back.”

“…”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Bael ignored his daughter’s request and tried to send her back.

Then Fanora, with red eyes, shouted the words that came to mind. “Apologize. Apologize to me!”

“!”

“Apologize right now!”

In the end, this was not her fault either. Things went wrong because of Bael’s choice. Thinking like that, a feeling of injustice rose to the top of her head.

“

can’t you be quiet! You’re a grown noble but lacks manners!”

As Fanora screamed repeatedly, Bael stopped her, fearing that his colleagues in the gambling house might hear her. However, Fanora couldn’t calm her anger, and Bael, angry at this, raised his hand.

“You brainless fool!”

Bael Celsius tried to slap her in the face. Fanora saw this moment overlap with the day in her previous life. It was when he found out her incent of pouring wine on Vasago. It was the first time Bael got angry and slapped him. One of her eardrums got damaged from that. She never wanted to go through that again.

“Ah!”

Fanora’s fear came back to her. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed him away with all her might as he tried to swing his hand at her.

“Don’t touch my body…”

But the moment she opened her eyes again. Due to the sudden action, Bael was seen losing his balance and staggering. She couldn’t overcome her anger and pushed him with her whole body, so she gave too much strength. Right next to them was a long stone staircase. Unfortunately, there were no railings installed.

“!?”

Eventually, Bael rolled down the stairs before anything could be done. Fanora hurriedly ran to where he had fallen. But the Count had already fallen to the floor at the end of the stairs.

“!”

A gasp was heard as she took in a breath. She was taken aback by the sudden situation and hardened into place. When Bael, who had fallen, did not move, her mind turned completely white.

Fanora covered her mouth with her hands and swallowed tears. She didn’t mean to do this. Even more when she was finally recognized as his biological daughter. Her mind was a mess, and she couldn’t do anything.

“What’s going on?”

“!”

It was then. A man’s voice echoed from the top of the stairs. For Fanora, it was the appearance of a savior-like figure.

“Lady Fanora?”

“Carl…”

Carl had been waiting at the end of the alley for their conversation to end. However, Fanora and Bael’s conversation suddenly stopped. When he glanced down the alley, he couldn’t see them either, so he ran in surprise.

“…!”

It was not until he saw the two at the bottom of the stairs that he understood the situation. Bael fell down. But he didn’t ask for an explanation of the situation. Because Fanora had a pale face as if she was about to collapse at any moment.

“Let me take a look.”

The red-haired man quickly examined Bael’s condition. At first, he had a serious face, but Carl’s expression softened as time passed.

“I think he’s just fainted.”

“Really?”

He soon looked up with his usual kind face and said. “Yes. I think he broke some bones, but he’s not going to die from this…”

“Broke bones…”

This was different from the revenge she had in mind. It was an unexpected accident, and the fact that she hurt her family with her own hands came as a greater stress than she thought. Fanora still shook her hand with a dark expression.

“…”

Carl stared at Fanora, who looked unstable.

“It’s okay, Lady Fanora. I will take care of everything.”

What followed was Carl’s unique, kind tone. He spoke to her in the softest voice possible.

“If you’re worried you will be blamed for this, you can say that I did it. If he suddenly fainted like this, they wouldn’t know who pushed him.”

“…”

“Don’t worry about anything.”

Fanora was so distraught that she couldn’t remember what she had said to him. After she finally calmed down, everything was done as he said.

Carl picked up the unconscious Count, sent him to the nearby hospital, calmed down the shocked Fanora, and returned her to the Count’s residence.

* * *