VTGWH 508

508

"That's right."

Gilbert's words made me think about Julie-sama.

I never would have guessed that the person with the same thoughts as me was Julie-sama... I might have been able to gradually understand her personality, which I had never been able to grasp.

"I'm starting to get a little interested in you."

"So, will you tell me some information about Julie-sama?"

I asked him with a smile.

That's what I came here for. I didn't want to go home empty-handed after all this. If Gilbert was interested in me, I couldn't let that go to waste.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"I want to know everything about her."

"Like how she dotes on the King?"

"I'm not looking for that kind of obvious information. Currently, I can't read her movements at all. That's what's frustrating."

"People tend to think that Julie-sama is a cunning woman, but I've never seen anyone as clumsy as she is."

Gordon-san interrupted my conversation with Gilbert.

I remembered what Julie-sama was like in Uncle Will's diary. ...If she really had hated Uncle Will, she wouldn't have gone out of her way to see him.

"Alicia-sama, what you want to know is what feelings Julie-sama had for Will-sama, isn't it?"

Gordon-san had completely seen through me. I didn't deny it, and waited for him to speak.

"Julie-sama definitely felt hatred towards Will-sama. But at the same time, it is also certain that she felt affection. ...You know, they say that hatred and love are two sides of the same coin, right?"

"I can't believe there was any love at all."

If she had even a little bit of love for Uncle Will, she wouldn't have gouged out his eyes or exiled him to the village of Roana.

Uncle Will was a prince... and yet, she so easily deprived him of his human rights.

She must have really wanted Uncle Will to disappear. And yet, Julie-sama's words and actions were contradictory.

I would like to know the intention behind the words she said to Uncle Will at the end: "I'm glad you're alive."

I thought it could be taken as sarcasm, but I felt that it couldn't be so easily summed up.

"I think she wanted Uncle Will to die."

Yes, I think so as well.

Although I couldn't say it out loud, I replied to Gordon-san's words in my heart.

"But she wanted herself to die more than she wanted Will to die. She was always haunted by such a strong sense of self-loathing."

"She didn't seem like that at all."

Looking at the path she had taken, I think that Julie-sama must really love herself.

Selfishness is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I just couldn't imagine Julie-sama being consumed by self-loathing.

"You can't tell just by looking, can you? No one can see what's in someone's heart. We all have things we carry around with us."

I couldn't argue with Gordon-san's words, so I kept my mouth shut.