Chapter 67
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Sweet Interrogation
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“I know. My willpower shouldn't be this weak. It's become a habit of its own, but I do prefer the candy.”
I seemed to recall him saying he pops a candy in his mouth whenever he feels like smoking...
Which meant my question had made him crave a cigarette.
“Why didn't you attend the reception?”
What was the big deal...?
Wait.
Suddenly, a plot twist straight out of a soap opera flashed through my mind. Was Knox in love with his own sister?
As I stared at him, my eyes twinkling, Knox let out a dry laugh, the lollipop still in his mouth.
“Miss Cherry, I can see exactly what you're thinking. You should work on your poker face.”
“What do you mean...?”
I played dumb. It was for the sake of his social standing and reputation.
But Knox, as if the thought was still too absurd, covered his face with his hand and laughed for a good while.
“It's not what you're thinking. Isabella and I are family. Not biological siblings, to be precise, but still. So please, get that horrible look off your face.”
Huh? What was that supposed to mean?
“Not biological siblings?”
“I'm not the true son of the Marquis and Marchioness Ludpersher. My brothers and sister, however, are their biological children.”
“Aren't you famous for being the beloved youngest son of the Ludpersher family?”
“That's to keep people from getting suspicious.”
“What? Suspicious of what?”
“The ones who murdered my biological parents and usurped the title of Marquis Ludpersher are the current marquis and his wife.”
The words that followed were shocking. The current marquis was Knox's uncle. This family's relationships were just as tangled. Was I even supposed to be hearing something this sensitive?
Knox spoke as if telling someone else's story, a faint smile on his lips around the lollipop.
“My real father was poisoned by my current one.”
He calmly recounted his family's history.
Marquis Ludpersher had apparently poisoned his own brother, seized control of the family, and then taken in his brother's young son, Knox, raising him as his own.
The marquis was both despicable and weak-willed. He killed his brother with his own hands, yet believed himself to be a good man, simply because the previous marquis had been a cruel, heartless tyrant.
“Do you know what the real irony is? I found all this out when I was about fifteen.”
Knox replied, stifling a laugh.
According to him, he was only three years old when his real father was poisoned. The marquis must have thought he could hide the truth forever.
But love isn't an emotion you can simply force. They spared no expense in supporting Knox, but love was the one thing they couldn't give him.
The marquis and his wife's love was always reserved for his two older brothers and sister. Knox never once had a share of it.
Knox, who grew up with one question after another, finally learned the truth around the age of fifteen, as he was entering his adolescence.
In a gambling den forbidden to minors (it seemed Knox was already a delinquent by then), he met a distant relative of the family, one the Marquis Ludpersher went to great lengths to avoid.
Did he burn with rage upon learning the truth? Did he resent Marquis Ludpersher?
No. Surprisingly, Knox said he felt nothing at all.
He had no memory of his real parents to fuel any vengeance, and he had grown up as the pampered youngest son of a marquis, leaving little room for resentment.
Not receiving as much love as his two brothers or his sister? That didn't bother him much either.
He said he'd never had it to begin with, so he didn't know what it felt like. And you can't be angry about losing something you never had.
The story left me feeling a little somber. It felt like just a few days ago, in this very spot, I'd listened to Ethan's 'what if' confession. Was there some kind of magic on this place that made people so honest?
“So that's why you left the way you did on the day of the wedding.”
“I didn't even know you were there. Had I known, I would have stayed longer.”
Knox replied with a smooth nonchalance, a faint smile playing on his lips as our eyes met. He rolled the lollipop around in his mouth, twisting the stick between his fingers, before pulling it out with a soft pop.
He twirled the stick in his hand, staring down at the shrunken candy before suddenly adding another comment.
“Don't pity me.”
“I wasn't going to.”
Of course, Knox continued without even hearing my reply.
“I don't hold any grudges against Bella. The same goes for my two brothers.”
I see. I stared blankly at the lollipop stick twirling in his hand. Knox held it up in the air.
“Candy is a funny thing. Its sweetness is so tempting, but if you crave it too much, it just wears away.”
What was that about? I couldn't even begin to guess what he meant. I just blinked, staring at him. What was I supposed to make of that? Why the sudden talk about candy?
Seeing my expression, Knox laughed and said I looked funny. Was he trying to pick a fight?
“That's been my life.”
Knox said, his words full of meaning, then pointed at me.
“Speaking of which, isn't your nickname Star Candy?”
“Don't call me Star Candy.”
I meant it. The cringe was making my skin crawl.
“The more you hate it, the more I want to say it. Miss Star Candy.”
I felt sick to my stomach. No, I really felt unwell. My head was starting to spin, too...
When I shot him a look like I'd just bitten into a rotten apple, Knox finally stopped teasing me. He popped the lollipop he'd been twirling between his fingers back into his mouth.
“Ah, that reminds me. There was something I wanted to ask you...”
Knox's expression instantly sobered. His gaze turned sharp, changing into a fierce look that seemed to ensnare me.
I felt as if his gaze was peeling back my layers, exposing my innermost thoughts.
This seemed like a good time to be on guard. Right. Wondering what he was about to say, I braced myself.
“The Elpinus Herb. Where did you get it?”
“...”
A loaded question, just as I'd expected. Was he testing me?
Knox's expression suggested he already knew something about the Elpinus Herb I'd found.
When I hesitated, unable to answer right away, Knox added, as if he had no other choice.
“The Elpinus Herb you brought. You got it from 61 Notium Street, didn't you?”
“What?”
I was so shocked to hear that, I could only stare at him with wide eyes.
My mouth opened and closed, my movements as jerky as a broken robot's, before I finally managed to spit out a question.
“How did you know?”
“I was investigating the Elpinus Herb even before the world fell apart. I was looking into the monsters, as well.”
Knox continued, rolling the lollipop in his mouth with a relaxed air.
“How did you know there was Elpinus Herb at the manor on 61 Notium Street?”
“I didn't.”
“I saw the Elpinus Herb in your pocket that day. How did you recognize it and know to bring it with you?”
Damn it, how did he see that?
“I just picked it up because it looked unusual. It was something the man I rescued at the manor that day had dropped.”
“And why did you try to plant it in the manor's garden?”
It was just as suffocating as being interrogated by Ethan.
But they were perfectly reasonable questions for him to ask, so I tried my best to hide my panic and answer calmly.
“I heard it was an herb that helped with recovery. And I wasn't just planning to plant the Elpinus Herb.”
Knox stared at me, his expression unreadable.
Then, a gentle smile spread across his face, the kind one might use to soothe a child.
“I'm not trying to interrogate you. So please, relax.”
Knox's gentle tone had a way of making one lower their guard without even realizing it.
But if I actually relaxed, I felt like he would swallow me whole. I couldn't let go of the tightness in my chest.
When had Knox become this kind of scheming mastermind? In *Love in a Ruined World*, he was nothing but a gentle soul. Had he only shown that side of himself because he was with the heroine?
“As I said, I'm investigating the monsters. I only asked because I thought it would be best to share information, should you know something about them. Please don't misunderstand.”
When I didn't answer, Knox added coaxingly.