Guidelines for the Perfect Goodbye - Chapter 239

Nigel’s lips twitched. Pressing the corner of his split lip, he spoke.

“Oh, so you’re saying I lured Cecilia into this ordeal just to mess with you?”

Hearing his half-brother, who was the complete opposite of him in every way, Nigel couldn’t suppress a laugh.

“Pfft! Puh… Hahaha!”

It was a laugh so loud and carefree that if Marquis Rosencrantz had heard it, it would have twisted his insides.

“You’re full of yourself. Do you really think you’re significant enough for me to go to such lengths? You’re delusional.”

“If not, then why? Until recently, you harbored no feelings for Cecilia. In fact, you regarded her as less than an insect in the grass.”

“When exactly is ‘recently’? Are you talking about a year ago? Your memory seems to be failing you. Cecilia and I met again just a few days ago.”

That day, in the study where they had sealed their deal.

“Alone, I might add.”

Ulysses inhaled sharply, and Nigel taunted him with a smirk.

“Unlike you, so stiff and rigid, I happen to have a flexible mindset.”

To be more precise, Nigel was capricious. He was well aware of his unpredictable nature. Still, he had no intention of laying bare his temperament in this situation.

Though his actions carried malice, they were also calculated. Nigel used his volatile personality to justify his decisions.

“The only reason I held animosity toward Cecilia in the first place was because of you. It was the petty spite of a child who’d lost their parents. Your incessant moral lectures back then were nauseating, but… I’ve decided to accept them now.”

He grinned wickedly.

“So from now on, I’ll separate you and her in my mind. Aside from being distant relatives, there’s nothing connecting the two of you anyway.”

Strangely, his own words resonated with him. Ulysses and Cecilia shared no blood. Without the name Lasphilla, they were practically strangers. The dirty blood of Guinevere had nothing to do with Cecilia.

‘In that case… isn’t it permissible for me to claim her?’

As this sudden desire surfaced within Nigel, Ulysses sharply interrupted, as if to shatter it.

“And you’re only saying this now?”

Even as Nigel’s blatant mockery was thrust at him, Ulysses remained calm.

He hadn’t asked the question because he had an inflated sense of self. He had considered every possibility and discarded them all. Nothing fit, except the notion that Nigel had acted out of pure malice toward both him and Cecilia.

…No, there was one fleeting thought that had struck him like lightning.

Cecilia and Nigel colluded.

‘But for what purpose?’

Cecilia’s motives were unclear. There was nothing she could gain from Nigel.

She had spent her life at the country estate, confined to a narrow world with limited ambitions. Could she have endured such public disgrace for some grand objective? Even aligning herself with a man who had once openly humiliated her?

The memory of her desire to annul her engagement resurfaced. But if that was her only goal, she wouldn’t have needed Nigel.

Many men in the capital now desired her. She had no reason to seek out the man she despised the most.

If she had to choose Nigel, then surely it could have instead been…

Ulysses clenched his hands resting on his knees. Beneath his stoic expression, his nails dug into his palms. He didn’t let it show.

Nigel clicked his tongue mockingly, his gaze dripping with malice as he looked down on him.

But finally, Nigel relaxed as though showing mercy to a defeated opponent. That condescension only made Ulysses feel more wretched.

“What’s the issue with me acting this way now? Wasn’t it you who most wished for me not to conflate you with Cecilia? Shouldn’t you, then, see this situation as a positive outcome?”

“……”

“Let’s all get along, shall we? Who knows, we might end up as much closer relatives than before.”

Ulysses’ nails drove deeper into his palms. Internally, he warned himself: Don’t fight him a second time. Don’t stoop to his level, Ulysses.

“It’s a shame our tastes in women overlap,” Nigel quipped with a smirk.

A fist trembled atop a knee.

However, Ulysses restrained himself.