Chapter 50: Foundation of Trust
Jess maintained a calm expression despite Raisa's questioning.
"I am not disturbed by your presence, but I cannot say the same for your actions."
Raisa frowned. She had suddenly changed from an innocent little girl to a cocky arrogant noble in a flash.
"Oh? And what exactly about my actions are so offensive to you?"
Jess couldn't help but furrow her brows slightly.
"...If you wish for me to be blunt about it, then I will. People like you only get close to others when they see benefits for themselves, often ruining the other person. I've seen it happen far too many times before!"
Raisa clicked her tongue before smiling exaggeratedly.
"Oh? That's what you believe? And what exactly could I be so desperate to create a fake relationship with Bryson? Is it really so strange to believe I just want to see him?"
Jess promptly nodded.
"Yes. Yes, it is. Do you think I don't know what happened to the Baignard family? Suppressing the news may make people stop talking about it, but they do not forget."
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"The Baignard family?"
Though incredibly confident before, Raisa promptly panicked after hearing that. It looked like Jess wasn't just distrusting her for no reason. Raisa grabbed onto my arm and gave me a strained smile.
"Th-That isn't what it seems like! I truly didn't have a choice in the matter."
...Huh.
Perhaps before she became the Daughter of Chaos, there were still some shady things going on.
I gave a wave with my hand.
"So, what exactly happened then?"
Raisa tightened her grip around my arm.
"P-Please, you really don't have to hear it."
I turned to her with a soft smile.
"I promise I will listen to both sides of the story. If it truly wasn't your fault, then you should have an explanation, right?"
Raisa began losing her strength, faltering somewhat.
"R-Really?"
I promptly nodded.
"Of course, given that you aren't lying."
She flinched but seemed to accept it. Jess took a deep breath before beginning her narration.
"The Darcy family had contacted the Baignard family. As a Viscount, the Baignard family naturally responded in kind. It appeared as though they were getting along quite well, as they began cooperating in their businesses. Just a friendly relationship."
She then tilted her head to the side.
"And all of it started because the daughter of the Darcy family had formed a connection with the heir of the Baignard family."
Jess let out a sigh.
"The Darcy family appeared rather generous, expanding these businesses greatly with their liquid funds. This allowed both families to prosper, and it appeared that the Baignard family would even promote rapidly with this kind of support."
She narrowed her eyes hatefully at Raisa.
"But then, at an outing with the daughter of the Darcy family and the heir of the Baignard family, only one person ended up coming back. He was never found. Then shortly after, both the viscount and viscountess both disappeared as well."
Raisa stood up with an indignant expression.
"That wasn't my fault! I never-"
"Raisa, I will listen to you after she finishes speaking."
I raised my hand and cut her off. Raisa was still breathing rather hard,
Jess gingerly sat down with her arms crossed.
"Then, the natural ownership of the businesses naturally went over to the Darcy family. And this isn't a standalone occurrence either. The Darcy family has a habit of cooperating with new and upcoming nobles, whether they be Barons or Viscounts before those families strangely disappear"
She frowned harder.
"But it looks like, for whatever reason, they seem to have gotten more greedy and ambitious. Perhaps they are desperate to drag others down with them in their fall."
Jess practically spat that last part, not hiding her disdain at all.
Raisa slammed both hands on the table.
"That's not why! It's not why at all!"
Her face was spasming with uncontrollable emotions. It appeared that she was about to break down right then and there. However, her shudders gradually began to fade, replaced with a strange stillness.
I waited for a moment before speaking.
"You can explain what happened on your own end now."
Raisa quietly sat back down in her own seat, and deliberately avoided looking at me.
"When I met with the heir of the Baignard family, it was for the purpose of usurping their businesses. It was what my father had told me to do."
Well, that wasn't a very good start.
Raisa seemed to realize how it sounded and quickly followed up.
"But it was never supposed to end up like that! Just because we wanted to take their businesses didn't mean we intended on killing them."
Jess snapped, slamming her hand against the table.
"And how are you supposed to usurp all they have without killing?"
Raisa leaned forth.
"Because they were just supposed to be demoted to commoners!"
Jess raised an eyebrow.
"So you were not the first person to kill the heir of the family?"
Raisa paused.
She looked down at the table as though instead of a plate with food on top, there was actually a deep and endless hole, in which she found herself trapped.
"I wasn't the one that asked to go on that outing. He made the suggestion to go hunting with him without our guardians. Since there were no dangerous animals within, I agreed."
Raisa fell silent after that. Hearing how it went so far, I had an idea of where this was going. It seemed that Jess had a feeling as well, thus didn't press her any further.
It took her a decent while, but she did eventually speak up.
"H-He tried t-to-"
She slowly took in a breath.
"Take my first time. He... pushed me down and didn't listen to me saying no."
Raisa looked down at the ground sheepishly.
"So I... killed him just a little bit."
The fuck? How do you kill someone just a little bit?
Jess let out a sigh after hearing that.
"Fine, I can overlook that. However, that does not change anything. In the end, you approached him with the intention of seizing everything they owned."
Raisa frowned deeply.
"But that wasn't why I approached him at all! My father didn't say anything about that."
Jess leaned over, tilting her head to the side slightly, and spoke softly to Raisa.
"And how are we supposed to believe that?"
A bitter smile formed on my face.
"As much as I want to defend you, Raisa, she is right. I have no grounds on which to truly trust you."
Raisa looked at me with her mouth agape. Her eyes opened slightly as her face fell.
"You... don't trust me?"
I leaned back in my chair and let out a soft sigh.
"It's not like I don't want to believe you, but no matter what, there are going to be doubts. If you've had a previous reputation for doing things like this, then what will stop you from doing them now?"
Raisa grabbed onto my arm with both hands and pulled.
"Bryson! I'm really not doing it because of that, I swear! I just want to be friends."
I waved my hand dismissively.
"I'm not going to judge you based on your past or the rumors about you. Being friends is still more than fine, but you should understand that trust doesn't come that easily to people that have done things."
Raisa slowly let go of me before giving me a slight bow in her seat.
"What do I have to do to make you trust me?"
I blinked a few times.
Well, to be honest, I didn't really know. It wasn't as though I actually doubted her, but there was always that slight chance I was mistaken. Besides, more important than that, I feel as though Raisa's father is definitely far from a good person. Chances are, if he feels the relationship between the two of us is good enough, he will make her take action against me.
I don't know how obedient Raisa was to her father, which meant that I couldn't be sure if she would choose following orders or our friendship.
But maybe... I could make it so that she chose right now.
"Trust is something that is built over a long time. But more importantly, over that long time, friends must never hide things from each other. Even if it's an uncomfortable secret that may put you in a bad light, you should still share it with them."
Raisa began squirming around quite a bit before eventually yelling.
"Ok! I'll tell you, I wet the bed when I was nine!"
My eyelid twitched.
"Er... more so secrets that are relevant to their relationship. Those you can keep to yourself. Unless you want to share them, of course."
Raisa stared back at me, hardly able to keep her lips from twitching.
"...Oh. Could you forget that?"
I blinked a few times.
"It's not like I can forget things at will. To be honest, reminding me is only going to make me remember harder. By the way, isn't wetting the bed at nine like really ol-"
"Stoppppp!"
She grabbed onto both of my shoulders and began shaking me. I let out a laugh, while Raisa's cheeks had become beet red. She eventually slowed down, before gingerly letting me go.
I put a fist up to my mouth and cleared my throat.
"Well, that's enough talk about that. Our food is already cold by now, but... it's still probably good enough."
From there, while it was definitely awkward, the three of us finished up the lunch that was prepared for us amid the sounds of clacking cutlery and glares. The servants had already left the room a while ago, but I forgot when exactly they did.
I got up and let out a small sigh.
"It will take some time to get to the slums, so I suppose we can prepare to set off right now."
Raisa jumped up out of her seat and bounced as she got closer to me.
"Ah, I'm so excited!"
Jess narrowed her eyes.
"What is going on?"
I looked at Jess before scratching the side of my head.
"Ah, I was going to go out to the slums to hand out some food. Raisa wanted to join in so I let her."
Jess's eyes widened.
"Eh? That's what you've been doing all this time?"
I tilted my head to the side.
"Uh, yeah?"
Jess promptly shook her head and pointed at Raisa.
"But you can't go with her!"
Raisa bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists.
"What? Why not?"
Jess frowned and crossed her arms. She looked down for a moment before looking back at her.
"Fine, but I'll be joining in to watch."
Raisa puffed up her cheeks.
"What? I-"
"That's fine."
I waved my hand without too much care. Raisa looked at me as though I had betrayed her.
"Wait what? But I thought it was just going to be us!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Didn't you remember? It's supposed to be a place where we hand out some stews. No matter what, anyone is allowed to sit down there."
Raisa seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied, but if there was someone to blame, she should blame herself.
With that, I got the servants to get ready, and the three of us then set off in a carriage to the slums.
By the way, Raisa also had her servants follow us but refused her bodyguard's request to sit in her own carriage.
Oh well.
I wonder how Nathan's doing.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺