Silver Lining Yesterday - Chapter 18
“Not just a few, not.just.a.few! Of course, I think it’s a good thing for young men and women to experience free love before marriage. But there has to be a limit! How am I supposed to accept it when every single day you’re seen with a different woman?!”
The article even mentioned, [Recently, Colonel Nix Heidegger has been caught up in romance rumors with Lady Elizabeth Greenwood and actress Clara Maxwell.]
Nix didn’t even look at them and replied indifferently.
“I take after my father.”
“Young Master!”
“Well, Ernest Garland was rumored to have been with men too. Would you only acknowledge him if it goes that far?”
Jean awkwardly avoided Madame’s gaze.
She couldn’t bring herself to mention that Ernest had even had a scandal with a bishop who was forty years his senior.
Jean sighed deeply, folding the newspaper and pushing it out of sight.
“I guess Gemma isn’t very skilled in raising children. How could someone come out like Little Ernest under such a devout mother?”
From her observations on the ship over the past few days, Nix was the epitome of a workaholic, dedicated to his work from dawn until late at night.
Unlike Ernest, who always wore his shirt unbuttoned to the chest, Nix was dressed in a buttoned-up, ascetic style, with a strictly regulated diet that stood in stark contrast to his father, the self-proclaimed gourmet.
Jean, who had been reassured that only Nix’s outward appearance was just like Ernest’s, felt deeply disheartened after being blindsided by this.
“What has Gemma been doing all this time while the boy’s gone astray? No, if Gemma couldn’t control him, someone else should’ve stepped in. Nix, haven’t you heard anything from Miranda or Karl?”
“He doesn’t listen to his mother, so do you think he’d listen to her friends?”
“Even if you say so…”
Jean sighed and lowered her shoulders in frustration.
Madame, noticing Jean’s genuinely downcast expression, skillfully changed the subject.
“By Karl, do you mean Professor Leighmallory?”
“Oh, Karl became a professor?”
Karl Leighmallory, who had been part of the revolution, was a student at Riholm Academy along with Jean, Ernest, and Gemma.
“Well, that’s not too surprising. With his personality, what else could he do but become a professor? I bet the students are just dropping dead. Poor Riholm students.”
Jean stifled a laugh, making a mock-serious gesture while crossing herself.
Madame, flustered and about to offer an explanation, was met with Nix’s stern gaze from across the room.
“By the way, do you know how other people are doing? Like, Master Amelroi or Miranda… Oh, never mind. Please don’t say anything. The joy of imagining the faces of old friends should be preserved for as long as possible.”
Jean looked up at Madame with eyes that had regained their sparkling vitality.
Gemma, now a respected leader among the citizens.
Karl, a renowned professor, shaping the future of students.
Others, too, would have gone through their own fierce youth and built stable lives.
As Jean imagined their lives, she couldn’t help but laugh with an uncontrollable smile.
“…Do you really care so much for your friends?”
“Of course. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of a revolution. I ended up drifting apart from them for half my life… but when all this is over, I’ll return to Riholm, where I’ll spent my days with them.”
Jean’s eyes glowed softly as she whispered.
Riholm.
The name of her hometown, a word that made her heart swell even just saying it.
“Riholm gave me everything. It gave me dreams and a future when I was nothing but a wandering orphan with no home or family. Even when I left to raise the banner of revolution, I always dreamed of the day I could return. Half my life has passed in the blink of an eye, but my dreams have never changed.”
Twenty-three years ago, Master Amelroi was already old, and still, he must be growing older. Gemma, troubled by her impudent son, would still be absorbed in her swordsmanship, and Karl, though grown older, would still be as naive as ever.
And above all, the wisest person in the world, Miranda, would warmly welcome her back after half a lifetime, just as she always had.
Jean, lost in her daydreams, softly blinked her teary eyes.
A refreshing feeling of anticipation bubbled up, like a mirage.
“Today feels promising. I’ll get to see the people I miss.”
“Not just the Duke of Satin, then?”
“Yes. Karl will come. It would be nice to meet Miranda too. Oh, my Miranda. Madame Aubert, have you read her works? She’s truly perfect.”
Jean’s voice, full of pride for her friend, mingled strangely with the soft classical music playing in the store.
In the midst of Madame’s strange responses, Jean’s passion grew stronger.
“If it weren’t for Miranda, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Oh, if I meet her today, what should I do? How amazing must she be now, after turning forty?”
The violin’s melody, with its varying pitch, gradually consumed her voice.
The rising crescendo of the violin seemed to pull her once lighthearted voice to a precarious height. The violin screamed in a high pitch, like the cry of a bat.
Even her smile that spread continuously, was being torn apart by the violin’s sharp scream.
Unable to bear it, Nix pressed his hand to his forehead and closed his narrowed eyes.
It was a miserable morning.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
