A Summer With Bitter Rivals - Chapter 84

Chapter 84: You’ll Just Live However You Want

After reflecting on her actions throughout the night, Emeline ended up staying awake until morning.

Rising with fatigue, she finished a light meal and drank black tea in her room.

She was quietly soothing her exhaustion, enjoying her tea alone.

That was when someone came to her room—an uninvited guest.

“Emeline, it’s me.”

At the sound of Antony’s voice following a knock, Emeline narrowed her eyes slightly.

‘It would’ve been strange if he didn’t come.’

Antony had been watching her. That meant he also knew who she had gone to visit.

She had gone to the hospital where Zenon Trancium was admitted, and asking a nurse would have revealed the identity of the patient in that room.

‘Even so, there’s no way he could’ve seen inside a tightly closed hospital room. Unless he climbed up the outer wall, that is.’

Expecting him, Emeline calmly let Antony in.

“Come in, brother.”

Seeing Emeline leisurely enjoying her refreshments, Antony dropped himself into the seat across from her.

“Emeline Delzeier.”

“Yes.”

Emeline was already watching him with wary eyes. Catching her gaze, Antony gave a short laugh.

“So you do realize you did something wrong. I’m sure Father ordered you to stay confined, yet you lied about meeting a friend and slipped away.”

“And what of it?”

“……”

“…Then what, should I not even visit Zenon Trancium after he got injured saving me?”

“Well, when you put it that way.”

Unexpectedly, Antony agreed without resistance. Only Emeline, forced to revisit the events, grew more uncomfortable.

‘Maybe this time, he will tell Father the truth.’

That thought brought back the fear of her father, deeply ingrained since childhood.

But Emeline felt something greater—contempt.

Especially remembering how her father had said Zenon’s injury served him right.

Looking at Antony, who was one and the same with their father, she lowered her gaze.

Regardless of her resentment toward them, she didn’t deny her own wrongdoing.

That guilt had even led her to make the mistake of drawing a line with Mathis.

Resigned, Emeline asked Antony, who had fallen silent, “Father’s still very busy, isn’t he? You’d know, since you often go out to help him. He must be swamped, seeing as he’s barely home.”

“He’s very busy. Ah, and I’m not going to tell him. Just so you know.”

“What? Why…”

“Your behavior? I think telling him would only upset him. Why trouble a man who’s already so busy with that?”

For a moment, Emeline’s expression turned strange.

So he was withholding it just to avoid burdening their father.

It was odd. If that were truly the case, he should’ve acted that way before. Why now? It didn’t quite add up.

‘Now that I think about it, he deliberately helped me last time too. Even when Father asked him directly, he said I hadn’t met Zenon Trancium separately.’

What is it, really?

Unable to figure out his motives, Emeline tensed. After much hesitation, she asked, “…What are you scheming, brother.”

“Scheming? That’s a bit harsh.”

Noticing the heavy hostility and wariness in her tone, Antony chuckled.

He resembled the Duke of Delzeier more than she did, and that resemblance never failed to unnerve her.

Like their father, Antony had always obeyed the Duke’s will without question.

To Emeline—who had grown up under their father’s oppression—that alone had built an unbreachable wall between them.

His cold-colored eyes looked at her, then drifted to the window with a sigh, as if surrendering.

“It’s your life. You’ll just live however you want.”

At his words, Emeline’s face went blank.

But Antony didn’t seem to care about her reaction and muttered, narrowing his eyes, “Not everything guiding you is right, anyway.”

In the past, Emeline had committed a major act of rebellion, following Zenon Trancium.

At the time, Antony had joined forces with their father to crush her resolve.

Under heavy oppression and interference, she had slowly regained the form of an ordinary noblewoman.

Submission. That word suited Emeline best.

But now, she once again stood before a similar situation and choice.

No matter how much things were forced in the opposite direction, the fact that she ended up back where she started may have meant that the way they tried to change her was wrong—and that there was a different, rightful path.

Antony had dared to organize his thoughts in a direction that diverged from their father’s will.

Because he had always listened to and obeyed their father over his younger sister since childhood, he and Emeline had never been especially close. Still, that didn’t mean he didn’t care what happened to his only sister.

Once, he had believed that everything was for Emeline’s future, and so, in accordance with their father’s teachings, he had tried to scold her.

But at some point, Antony began to feel that the pressure Emeline had to bear was unjust.

He too had grown up under constant demands for perfection, but she had even more of her freedom restricted.

And yet, the very man who imposed such oppression—their father—acted unethically and often drew the disapproval of others.

Antony recalled how lifeless Emeline had once been.

After her rebellious streak had been thoroughly extinguished, she had become no different from a doll. A more refined, obedient doll—just as their father had desired.

But ever since she’d once again been faced with choices similar to those from the past, vitality had slowly begun to return to her.

Seeing that, Antony realized something had been wrong with his own past choices.

He had completely killed the human part of his younger sister.

After being lost in thought for a while, he straightened up and looked at Emeline.

Perhaps Antony’s words had been so unexpected that Emeline now looked completely dumbfounded.

Leaning back lazily against the chair, Antony spoke flatly, “I don’t understand you. So take care of your dignity yourself.”

He was telling her he had no intention of interfering anymore.

He would no longer stand in her way under the guise of protecting her dignity.

And if something went terribly wrong, it would now be entirely Emeline’s responsibility.

Perhaps understanding this quickly, Emeline soon shed her bewildered expression. She gave a reluctant nod.

Still eyeing him with suspicion, she also knew Antony wasn’t the type to say such things as a joke.

She just couldn’t understand the sudden change in him.

The fact that he stayed only a short while was his way of showing Emeline some consideration. It would be stranger if she didn’t notice—after all, he sometimes bit his lip and cast resentful glances at them when no one was looking.

“I’m leaving.”

“……”

From the breeze blowing in through the window, Antony brushed back the hair that had fallen into his face, then stood up.

He knew well that his younger sister found both him and their father difficult to be around.

“Oh, right. That friend of yours.”

As he headed toward the door, Antony suddenly turned back.

Emeline tilted her head at the unexpected remark. “You know I’ve got more than one friend, don’t you?”

“Sure. Among your many friends, your closest one. A delivery came from her house addressed to you. I picked it up on the way.”

As if just remembering, Antony pulled out a piece of mail from his coat. One corner was crumpled.

Emeline opened her mouth in disbelief at his carelessness.

‘Is this his property or something?’

And to think this man was considered one of the top bachelors, lacking nothing, in society. The ladies and madams who said such things clearly had poor judgment.

Regardless, Emeline took the mail he handed her. The sender was Angel Laresa.

Seeing the name, Emeline’s heart was suddenly at ease, as if calm had returned. She was a dear friend who truly understood and supported her.

Before opening the letter, Emeline looked up at Antony.

He had been silently watching her and, meeting her gaze, gave a short cough before turning his back again.

And just like always, without a single word of farewell, he left her room.

Once he was gone, Emeline finally felt the tension in her back release.

Her heart was still unsettled, she couldn’t understand her brother’s sudden shift, and her whole body was weighed down by guilt and tangled emotions.

Still, she steadied herself as best she could and opened the mail.

As she read the letter, the look in her eyes softened.

‘Angel must’ve been really worried about me.’

Seeing the mixture of concern and relief in the letter, she smiled quietly.

‘Hm? But…’

Her eyes stopped at the end of the letter.