Love at Dawn

26.The Glorious Surname

"I'm sorry, Edith," said Charlene as soon as she saw her friend enter the room, her tone serious and devoid of any emotion. "You needn't worry about Helene anymore. The matter has been settled. She lied to me. They didn't come back to Paris to handle property affairs. Her husband came here to take on a mission for the royalists, and she was aware of it. She has confessed everything to me, begging for my forgiveness on her knees. But I won't help her anymore. This matter is settled. You don't need to trouble Citizen Quenet anymore either. She had the audacity to say that her husband didn't deserve death! Does she expect that I'd be overcome by weak sympathy? Does she think I would ever forget the principles you've taught me all the time?"

The slow-speaking noble girl now talked apace, as if afraid that if she stopped, she wouldn't be able to continue anymore. Edith, crouched next to the wheelchair, heard Charlene speak these words in that voice that had always been as soft as a thread. Her tone became increasingly fierce, and both of her hands tightened on the armrests, propping up her body as if ready to lunge forward to attack someone. For a moment, she almost thought Charlene had also fallen into that kind of fanaticism that would sacrifice loved ones for the Republic. She looked up at her friend's face in surprise.

However, from Charlene's tightly clenched jaw, Edith could see that she was clearly feeling deep pain for her unfortunate relative; and as for the words she spoke rapidly, she didn't truly believe them herself. Yet in those burning and dry eyes, there was still a certain resolute expression, a heart-pumping strength that supported her to keep going.

Silent for a moment after the speech ended, Charlene slowly turned her wheelchair away, leaving her back to Edith. As she spoke again, her voice had returned to its usual low and sorrowful tone. It didn't sound like she was talking to Edith, but rather unconsciously murmuring the emotions in her heart to herself.

"But during those long years when I was trapped all alone in that empty castle, who was there to keep me company but Helene? When I was tormented by illness and pain, wasn't it she who held my hand by my bedside, reading to me, singing for me? And don't I know full well that if her husband is found guilty, she will be in grave danger as well? When she said she couldn't go on living if her husband died, didn't I also think of my Raphael?"

Edith watched her friend's back, her lips moving but no words escaping.

"You might not know this, but Raphael is the most terrified of the guillotine,"Charlene paused for a moment before her voice carried a hint of studied lightness, "He must have never told you! He has never told me either. But I saw it. When he watched that child being executed, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his whole body was shivering! I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt that Raphael was also standing on the guillotine, surrounded by the crowds. I wanted to save him, but I couldn't even stand up! And everyone below was cheering, even the children were shouting: 'Down with Saint-Clemont! Kill the nobles!'"

"Charlene..."

The former noble girl continued immediately, "Since childhood, I have foreseen that one day we were destined to pay for the sins committed by our family. And all the suffering I have endured is just to repay this debt! I have never committed any villainy, neither has Raphael, nor Helene, nor even our father. It's this surname that has committed the sin. This ancient surname. For its own glory, how many lives has it dragged into the darkness? Can this little bit of miseries we bear be enough to repay the heavy debt we were born with?"