I don't want to be loved

Chapter 157: The Fault Lies In You

(♡)

-

"Have you been well?" Lalisa regained her calm and returned Roseanne's question to her.

Roseanne's face frowned slightly in opposition and said, "Have I been... doing well?"

"It would seem so. You're married now."

Roseanne gripped her hand to a tight fist.

"Do you know how old my husband is? Do you know that... that he's forty years older than me?"

Lalisa stared blankly. "Is that important?"

"Of course it is! What sort of woman would willingly want to live with an old, sick man? Or perhaps... since Her Majesty is living with such a young and handsome man, you care not what happens to others?"

Lalisa sighed. "I don't understand you. Why do you argue with me? Was your marriage not of your own choosing or something?"

"No, it was of my own volition. It was the only way I could rise through social ranks and become a noble!"

Roseanne's flaming red eyes flower with fervent passion.

"But... why do you think I ended up with that decision? Was it not because Her Majesty casted me and our father out? Because of Her Majesty, we lived in poverty... without help, without money. Debts continued to chase father. Later on, he mixed himself into gambling. Those people invaded my home every day threatening to pay us back the overdue amount."

Roseanne gritted her teeth.

"Do you understand how painful it was to live that life every day? The only way out of that hellhole was to sell my body to that disgusting noble."

Her words were pure and honest. Roseanne believed with all her heart that the fault in Lalisa. Because of Lalisa... she had no other choice but to marry that old man.

"People who fall into debt don't walk the path as you did," Lalisa replied flatly.

"That isn't something you can say so easily. You've lived your whole life comfortably in Chrichton before coming back to become Arundell's queen. How could you possibly ever understand my pain?!"

Lalisa closed her eyes.

"...If I had taken you in back then... what would have changed?"

"At least... at least I would have ended falling to a dead end and marrying that disgusting man. If you had given me the tiniest amount of sympathy, I wouldn't have fallen to this state."

Roseanne's beautiful red eyes glistened with a tear.

Lalisa looked at her with conflicted eyes. Was her decision back then a mistake? Roseanne had become a villainess.

Lalisa gave a bitter smile.

Lalisa gave everything Roseanne ever wanted in the past, yet she loathed her. In this life, she cast her away, and still, she was hated. In both lives Roseanne despised her.

Maybe this was fate-that they were destined to have an irrevocable relationship. Their hatred ran deep and it was something that couldn't be changed easily.

Lalisa sighed quietly, icy-blue eyes looking straight into Roseanne's flaming red eyes.

"Roseanne, no matter what I give to you, you'll still hate me in the end."

She no longer felt the need to continue their conversation. At this rate, they'll only end up hurting each other.

Lalisa ended the conversation abruptly. Just as she was about to pass Roseanne, the window curtain rustled and the gentle wind blew by. At that moment, a familiar sense of deja vu washed over her.

Lalisa stopped immediately walking.

With a stiff and frozen body, she slowly turned around.

"...That scent..." Lalisa trailed off.

"Scent? Ah..."

Roseanne donned a confused expression before proceeding to smell her own clothes. Her brows tightened in annoyance.

"My husband needs continuous treatment for arthritis. I've to keep carrying around medicinal herbs which include herbal mints. Perhaps that scent permeated onto my clothes."

Lalisa gasped quietly. Her eyes trembled and her hands shivered unconsciously.

"You... did you go to the hunting grounds?"

At Lalisa's questioning, Roseanne's expression changed. She looked somewhat surprised at first, but it immediately changed to a cunning smile as if realizing something.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I did go."

🍀